Last day in NZ

Kia Ora!

Okay folks. Get ready for a long update.

So the first few days were spent at Kiwanis Huia Camp, which is in the Waitakare forest ranges of the North Island of NZ. We settled in and began exploring the area. Our days usually consist of an early morning, with breakfast usually at 7:30. After that we have a few lectures followed by lunch. The food so far has been pretty amazing. Much better than expected. In the afternoons we typically go into town or a forested area for field lectures. One day we ventured into Auckland and did some more exploring and souvenir shopping. The roads here are ridiculous. They twist and wind up and down through the hills. The cliffs tower over the roads and the drive gives amazing views. I took about a million scenic pictures.

We went to the Auckland Museum and spent a few hours learning about the Maori culture and the history of NZ. We saw a cultural performance by the Maori and saw their traditional clothes, songs, and dances. A few of the students even got up on stage to try poi. Poi are balls on a rope that are spun for dancing and percussion. It looked pretty sweet.

When we were at Kiwanis we spent our free time going on hikes, to the local store, and walking on the beach. We spent a night watching the Flight of the Conchords, and had a cupcake decorating contest. Unfortunately I was not creative enough to win.

After spending 4 days at Kiwanis, when went to a Mauri, which is a meeting place for the Maori. We stayed with the Prime family, who were incredibly generous and nice. The greeted us in the traditional way, by calling us into the building with a welcome song. Kevin Prime, the father of the Prime family then greeted us in Maori and English. All 29 of the students slept in the same room, which got pretty cramped.

Kevin took us into the bush, and we learned about the native trees and animals. We also learned about the methods used to deal with invasive species, particularly the possum. The hike to the bush was hilly and extremely muddy.

One night we had a hungi. A hungi is the traditional cooking style of the Maori. A pit is dug and lined with coals. A pig and vegetables are placed on top of the coals and covered to cook the meat. After dinner my friend Rebecca and I sang and played guitar for the Prime family women.

We also had a talent show to showcase our many talents. The students in our group had talents ranging from singing, to karate, to dancing, to playing the cup game. After the show was done it pretty much turned into a dance party. Epic amounts of fun.

Kevin’s cousin passed away the day before we arrived, so some of us got the opportunity to go to a Maori wake. It was interesting to see how similar it was to a Western wake. We had tea and a light supper after the ceremony, in which a friend Erica mistakenly drank 2 glasses of cream, which she thought was milk. We returned to the Mauri for dinner and stargazing (we could see the milky way! The Mauri was out in the country so the stars were clear and bright. We even saw about 10 shooting stars!).

The Prime family Mauri was not very ornately decorated, but we did get to see a fully carved and painted Mauri. The wood carving was absolutely beautiful. Inside the building was full of photos of the current and past Maori tribe members.

We also went to Waitangi, where the Treaty of Waitangi was signed. This treaty established the land use agreement between the Maori and European settlers. We ended up not going into the area where the treaty was actually signed because of a price misquote on tickets. Instead we ended up going to a Maori rally about sovereignty and the treaty. We then explored the city and found faux penguins (they were actually pied shags. Sad day)

After spending time at the Mauri we returned to our home away from home at Kiwanis. We stopped at a native bird recovery center. This was one of the highlights thus far. There we got to see a talking Tui bird, and an injured Giant Petral, and a Harrier hawk. We even got to pet a Kiwi! Back at Kiwanis we had more field lectures, hanging out time, and visited another museum.

We stayed at Kiwanis for 3 more days then headed out to Tiri Tiri Matangi, an island bird sanctuary for the day. There we saw all sorts of native birds and had an AMAZING view of Auckland. After we returned from our ferry ride we were set free in Auckland (which brings us to this weekend).

In Auckland we were finally able to let loose. On Saturday we visited the Auckland Zoo and explored the city. My friend Rebecca and I explored the city, eventually ending up at a vintage clothing/record store. There the unbelievable happened. As I was rummaging through the vintage t-shirts, I happened upon a Wisconsin shirt. It was a vintage Coca-Cola shirt that was from APPLETON WI! I travelled half way around the world just to find a shirt from my hometown. Crazy.

After shopping in town we went to a local pub to watch the All Blacks (NZ) vs Whales rugby match and eat dinner. Then we went out on the town to experience the local bar scene.

From here we head out to Australia bright and early Monday morning. Wish me luck!

Ps. More pics on facebook! check em out!