The Journey Home and Beyond

Our kiwisforthesummer2018 Iwi

 Kia Ora.  Having been immersed in Kiwi and Maori culture for the past five weeks will now make the journey back to American culture another adventure.  Our students will take with them lasting memories of the challenges and opportunities of what not only New Zealand faces, but what the rest of the world faces as well. Preserving biological diversity, conserving resources, and maintaining a balance between natural and human built environments are key to a sustainable future.  And, it will take all of us with our diverse backgrounds to come together in many different ways to help make lasting change for a bright future.

Dear students, we hope that what you have experienced with us in New Zealand will help shape the decisions you make for our future in exciting and positive ways.  We thank you for giving of yourselves openly with your hearts and minds so that our time together could be such a special learning opportunity for us all.  We have really enjoyed being with all of you, touring the wop-wops, and sharing a daily cuppa. Sweet As!

From the land of the long white cloud, safe and happy travels!  See you in the land of the flowers (La Florida).  

With a Hongi and hug to each of you, Mark, Meryl, Jámm, and Tupelo

Freetime Fun, Day Out in Christchurch

Devin Checks out the Time in Christchurch

Tupelo learning to skate backwards

Sadly, we have only a few days left.  Our five week journey seems to have gone by so quickly. We started our day with student’s choice - a morning out in Christchurch where the students had time to sightsee/shop, or ice skate, and then tucked into some Hillyers pies for lunch.

All manner of birds were brought with early settlers of New Zealand including these Sebastopol geese with crazy feathers.

Not sure why you would pack up and bring a wallaby to NZ, but NZ has trouble with those too.

Bailey feeds a Kea with a broken beak.

Personality of a rock, but Tuatara are soooooo awesome!

The Girls give Poi a go

The Guys give the Haka a go

A Hangi feast

With Devin, our Chief, heading up our table, we enjoyed a four course meal by a warm fireplace.

We spent the afternoon and evening at Willowbank.  Willowbank is a wildlife reserve where we had a chance to see up close both exotic animals that settlers brought and cause problems here in New Zealand (everything from deer to rabbits to wallaby, etc), as well as native animals which the reserve is trying to rehab, educate the public about, or help with repopulation efforts (kiwi, kaka, etc). In addition, we had a Ko Tane or Maori experience where Devin led us as our Chief into a Maori village, and during a music and dance performance, the “gals” got to try Poi Balls and the “guys” got to try a haka Kapai! Afterwards, we gathered in the restaurant to have a hangi  which is food smoked in the ground. Very tasty!

Cheers, Dr. H and Meryl

Grassy Knees and Licking Trees

This morning began with a relaxing stroll through the Riccarton Farmer's Market. Pies, sweets, breads, and cheese were the main fare along with fresh fruits and veggies. A violinist raising money to record with a band, a high-school trumpet player fundraising a band trip to America, and a man playing the harmonica near the entrance serenaded us as while walked among the tents. 

Maddie and her donut-thing

Maddie and Eliza enjoying the morning

Soon, we were all gathered around this bench watching the ducks swim past with our various purchases. Jámm finally got his baguette, Cole got some good cheese, and I got a beeswax candle. There we were, minding our own business, when suddenly... 

He was not enjoying the market

this guy shows up uninvited. Shaking his tail, bobbing his neck aggressively, and hissing at our baguettes and cheese, we fled the scene just in time for tea. On the way to Darfield Bakery, we had a lively debate about Devin's so-claimed "lack" of a belly button (he has one). At the bakery, we could get a drink AND a snack, a luxury much appreciated since Lincoln's breakfast start-time and our depart-time were relatively close together this morning.

(There were open seats)

After that, we completed our drive to Trevor and Heather Taege's farm. Trevor is one of the first farmers to begin planting natives on his land. The blocks are spread across the farm between sheep and cow paddocks. We walked through them and assisted Trevor with pulling dead natives that didn't survive the season and trimming some of the trees and bushes in the way of the path. In a deal with the local city council, Trevor provided the land needed to plant this native bush and bought even more plants to put in after fencing in the blocks himself and saving some of the money he got for the project.

Broadleaf, Matai, Pokaka, Totora, Black Beech, Coprosma, Kohuhu, Kanuka, Golden Akeake, Fuschia, Kowhai, Whauwhaupaku, Kahikatea and some BIG New Zealand Flax were some of the plants growing here.

A Jámm for size reference

We were also delighted by the presence of Trevor's lovely sheepdog. 

This is Pete

Eliza may be a little less enthused than the others.

"Did this all come from Pete?!"

Maddie and Emily also shared an intimate Hongi before we broke for lunch. 

"I am in your bubble"

After that, Trevor told us more about the animals he keeps on the farm. Currently, there are about 170 sheep and 75 cattle, but with the birth of lambs and the change in seasons, those numbers bump up to 500 and 100, respectively. He also selectively breeds the ewes to give birth at a certain time to ensure that the lambs have enough grass to eat around the farm. Then we got a demonstration of herding by Pete, who is a heading sheepdog.

Pete, being the best boy

They seem a little nervous... 

After that, we went inside to watch Trevor shear a sheep. If you have never seen the process, I have a video of that for you as well! Little did we know that we were spending the day with a champion sheep shearer, his record is 350 sheep in 8 hours!!

Just look at that wall!

After shearing, the wool gets sorted into the good fleece, the belly wool, the head and neck wool, and the miscellaneous bits and pieces. From then on it is shipped off to be processed and sold.

From left to right: belly, bits, and neck

The good fleece

We then toured one last part of the native bush before playing some cricket. 

"Can I ring the bell??"

Little did we know that the Tuatara's crushing defeat against the Hungry Keas was attracting an audience.

The curious cows watch on...

They were obviously Tuatara fans

Our last stop for today was the Lords Bush Scenic Trail, where we licked honeydew from Black Beech trees. A scale insect eats the sap of the black beech but can't process it, so excretes it. This excretion is what bees take to make honey and what we ended up licking. 

All of these pretty little beads are sweet little bug poops

And, to close, a collection of us licking trees:

1 lick

2 licks

3 licks

4,

normal

honey's

such

a

bore!

Thank you Scale Insects of the world!

-paige

Finding the End of the Rainbow

We started off a bit later today on our journey into Akaroa. The first stop was at our favorite little cafe, over in Little River. Morning tea went quite well and got us in the mood for kayaking on the open waters of Flea Bay. And on we went to meet with the Pohatu Penguins team (Ave, Ben, and Kevin). We left our vehicles behind and hopped on the tour vans. Some of us got to meet Ave's daughter as well, who likes to pretend she's a tiger (ferocious!). It was a long, winding road that led around Akaroa Bay and into Flea Bay, our kayaking destination. We got a few chances to take pictures along the way, often seeing the end of rainbows (something that was a trend today).

Akaroa Bay surrounded by fog

Akaroa to the right

On the way to the bay, Ave talked about the origins of Akaroa and how there used to be so many whales, you could use them as stepping stones to go across. Whaling greatly declined numbers until recently. These great mammals, along with other aquatic species, have been making a comeback in the last 50 years due to conservation efforts like with Pohatu. Also, the inactive volcano crater that is Akaroa was originally colonized by the French, but the English beat them to a land agreement with the Maori by only 6 days. One of the coolest things about doing the kayaking was that our "tourist activity" acts as a secondary source of income for some of the farmers in the area. These farmers are now quite involved in conservation efforts and growing back native forests. 

We finally arrived around lunchtime, only to find some friendly, yet camera-shy sheep. Once lunch was over, we prepped to go out with tons of kayaking layers and got a lesson on how to paddle. And we had a little fun with it too!

Emily enjoying the sheep

Learning how to use the kayak bibs 

Soon enough, Ben and Kevin helped us out into the bay and we took sail! Some of us forgot to grab our sea legs today but it was tons of fun and an amazing experience. We got to kayak by the Pacific while looking out for little penguins and fur seal pups. We even got to see Northern Giant Petrels at the edge of the bay. Ben explained that for a while, little penguin numbers were low, but now there are 2000 breeding pairs nesting in the area. Although, there are only two pairs of yellow-eyed penguins which we, unfortunately, did not see. This marine reserve was more beautiful than we could've imagined, especially with the rainbow on the horizon. Eventually, we had to return to shore and say goodbye to the shaky waters.

 Our journey begins!

Will we find the pot of gold at the end?

Fur seals chilling on the rocks

Primary color jackets

After landing and bringing the gear back, we got a super special surprise. Kevin went to check penguin nest boxes and we got a great look at one! We had to be super quiet and still, so we didn't stress it out too much.

Penguin Nest Box

Little Blue Penguin

We didn't have much time to waste, though. Soon enough, we were ferried off to Christchurch for a talk at Smash Palace's Tuesday Club. Although we showed up a tad bit late, it was a great talk with tons of questions. They spoke about making a global research organization focused on recovery of cities after a disaster. After the earthquakes in Christchurch a few years back, many people have tried to come together and foster creativity in a new way. They seek to bring these creative thoughts in and help create progress within disaster-affected areas. We ate dinner there and headed back to our dorms, hoping to get some rest before another long trip.

Adios for now,

Devin