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New Zealand Semester in Environmental Studies
Updates from the Field
New Zealand Semester 2009
Leader Updates
January 6 – 11
All students arrived on time in Christchurch. They were lodged in the University of Canterbury's dormitories, vacant now for NZ's holiday and summer break. The first few days were spent outfitting, organizing, getting bus passes, and being introduced to the city's layout and surroundings, landscape, flora and fauna. We spent only a week here before our first big outing. We will return in mid-February and use Christchurch as a base of our activities until the end of the program.
January 12- 18
Just a week into their arrival in Christchurch, the students were split into two separate brigades. They planned and then shopped for meals before heading southwest toward Mt. Aspiring National Park to begin a five-day tramp on the well known and scenic Routeburn Track in the Southern Alps. We were blessed with clear, warm, sunny days the entire trip (except for a 45 minute period of drizzle on the last leg of the trip). We were told that it was highly unusual to have such fair weather the whole trip. Views of the snow covered peaks, glacial waterfalls, and river valleys were spectacular. Around each bend of the track we marveled over the distinctness and beauty of the natural surroundings. Many stops were made to identify bird life and note the vegetation as it changed from extensive Nothofagus (beech) forests, to rainforests dripping with mosses and ferns, and alpine meadows with a variety of wildflowers in bloom.
On a side hike, some of us climbed a small peak above tree line and were rewarded with a 360o view of the surrounding mountains and a glimpse over to the fjords and Tasman Sea. Throughout the trek we were struck by the geology of the rocks, rivers and valleys and became keenly aware of the effects of glaciation. We were fortunate to have amongst our group a number of students who enthusiastically engaged us in observing and learning about their specific interests: rocks and geology, birds, trees, wildflowers, ferns, and insects. Thanks to this group sharing, all of us arrived back from the trip with a richer knowledge of the natural history of this Southern Alps region. Through this wonderful experience, the group formed a kinship and bonding that is proving to serve us well as we continue our adventures together here in New Zealand.
January 19 – 20
We drove north from Christchurch on the afternoon of the 19th and we stayed in Atlantis youth hostel at the harbour in Picton – a very funky hostel. High point of the stay was James Sterrett walking out the front door of the hostel just as Libby Waylen (EC '02, SWFS 01 ) and her husband were walking past. They are in NZ as WWOOFers, traveling widely. It is always great to run into Earhamites in all corners of the world; enjoyable, but not really surprising, we're everywhere! On the 20th we took the ferry from Picton through the picturesque Marlborough and Queen Elizabeth's Sounds out across the Cook Straits and into Wellington. Highlights of the crossing were the sightings of several albatrosses, shearwaters and one blue penguin. After off-loading our University of Canterbury vans and trailers we continued on to Whanganui on the North Island.
January 21-28
We arrived at the Quaker Settlement in Whanganui on NZ's North Island on the afternoon of the 20th. The settlement is a quiet enclave at the edge of town where a number of Quakers and fellow travelers own homes on communal land. Housing is dense, environmentally friendly, and attractive in a matrix of lush flower gardens, food gardens, fruiting trees and pasture/forest. Students are staying in dorm-like, shared rooms with access to a large kitchen and common area/ library. Faculty stayed in separate nearby apartments. On our first morning the cobalt sky was full of stars (some of our students had never seen the Milky Way before) as we gathered early with just the first pale emerald light of dawn beginning to show. Mandy and Nigel Brooke of the settlement had invited us to watch Obama's inauguration on their TV. We acknowledged we were sharing the experience with family and friends back home in real time if not exactly the same clock hour or date!
Our academic work at the settlement focused on natural history and on indigenous Maori culture and language. Colin Ogle, a local naturalist of great ability, gave several lectures on the characteristics and biogeographic origins of New Zealand's flora and led us on a field trip to a remnant forest of indigenous "kahikatea." Bill reviewed ecological and evolutionary foundations for his course on Island Biogeography and worked with students on identifications of native and exotic species. We had a field trip to Bushy Park, a 90-acre mainland island reserve surrounded by a mammal/predator proof fence. Within the predator exclosure a number of bird species are being restored and young Brown Kiwis are being raised for release at other sites. We talked with one of their managers about the treats posed to the New Zealand fauna and flora by exotic species, particularly mammals, and the purposes and maintenance methods of this conservation site.
Anne Poteka, a Maori, gave us a day-long "Treaty Workshop", a formalized presentation on the history of Maori and of the Treaty of Waitangi that was written and signed in two languages, the Maori version being signed first should have precedence, but the translation from Maori to English is flawed and the two versions are substantially different. Anne also led us through a day's work on Maori language, social structures, traditions and protocols, especially those important when visiting Maori settlements, "marae".
January 28 – February 1
Following Anne's time with us we had the unusual opportunity to travel by canoe over a 4 day period on the Whanganui River with Maori guides through their native areas including parts of the Whanganui National Park. Most of the trip was on little-traveled stretches of the river with deep, verdant canyons cut through volcanic ash and festooned with ferns, mosses, tree ferns and other foliage. Small waterfalls cascaded into the river from side streams and the calls of Bellbirds, New Zealand Robins, Grey Warblers, Long-tailed Cuckoos and Silvereyes produced the audio background experience. At all of our overnight sites the local owl, the Morepork, was calling.
Our guides have developed an educational program that emphasizes and attempts to recreate/ maintain Maori cultural protocols. We spent each night on a marae. Our first was a former marae, now pre-empted by a Department of Conservation hut and campsite; the next a modest forested site, just being developed. The third night we stayed in a large marae high on the riverbank and were hosted warmly. At this point we were moving into more developed, modern areas of the watershed. Our final site was a well-developed marae with its own dining rooms, kitchens and museum in addition to its sleeping hut. Except for the first night, when we used tents, we slept traditionally in a large common room in each marae's central building – densely spaced on mattresses.
Maori tradition developed in a cultural setting with high levels of contest and warring between neighboring groups on all scales from the local "hapu" up to the larger tribal "iwi". As a way to open communication for cooperation with other groups and to be able to travel through the areas held by other groups, elaborate ceremonies have developed for the purpose of entering other marae space and to open dialogue between groups. Our guides described these protocols to us and had us behave traditionally as we came to each new marae.
Contact begins with the senior woman on a group of approaching canoes (in our case) calling out in a beautiful, tremulous, far-carrying song that announces approach and requests the possibility of visiting. The senior woman on the marae answers this call and eventually the canoes disembark. The group of visitors, led by their women followed by the men, moves to the marae gate. The women visitors exchange songs of greetings and respect as they enter the site. When inside the visiting men move to the front of their group, take seats facing the men of the marae and an exchange of speeches follows. The purpose of the speeches is to resort to and recognize the sacred nature of ancestors, the presence of those ancestors' remains in the soil around the marae, the importance of how those who have gone before have made the way for those who are alive today, historic ties between the groups, etc. After each man speaks, the women, typically led by the woman closest that speaker, raise up in song backing up the worth ("mana") of the speaker. Speeches and songs progress, each side attempting, by the voice, long-windedness of oratory and superlative memory of ancestors and events, to establish their respective "mana". Accounts indicate that this stage can be full of challenges or at least bluster.
Following this, visitors line up to pass by members of the marae, froming essentially a reception line. Individually, each marae member grasps the hand of a visitor, leans forward looking the other in the eye steadily until their noses touch and each breaths in, theoretically taking some of the breath of the other into their lungs. This activity, the "hongi", occurs successively down the line. The action if seen as establishing a lack of aggression and a presence of good will between the participants.
We were obviously on a program that was very intentional in its attempts to give insight into historical and modern Maori life. While some of the activities may have seemed contrived for us, we all came away realizing we had shared in some things few have the opportunity to experience and it gave us a lot of information and food for thought as we approach cultural issues and history in New Zealand. Certainly we developed high levels of respect and comfort with our Maori companions.
The canoe trip itself was enjoyable and relevant to many aspects of our program. Our paddling was intermittent, sometimes we powered into and down through a rapid or moved swiftly down stretches of placid water. Often we just floated quietly, discussing the natural history and ecology of what we say; hearing about Maori history at several sites, talking with our guides about their lives and stories. We also sang and practiced songs to get ready for our marae visitor responsibilities and for just the fun of it.
Opportunities to get wet were frequent – several of the rapids were significant! Jumping 20'+ off the canyon wall into the river got some folks "outside their boxes." It is hard to really believe someone who maintains, they "still hate water" after they've gleefully jumped, gleefully climbed/ran back up and gleefully jumped again! We also had the opportunity to "body surf" down some of our largest rapids.
We have included some thought and reflections form some of our students.
Student Updates
We have now been living in the glorious New Zealand summer for about a month. We are about to leave the Quaker Settlement after 2 weeks of amazing hospitality and group bonding. We have gotten to experience various activities including early morning bird walks, a four day canoe trip, intensive naturalist lectures, weaving harakeke, organic farming and permaculture, and the Maori culture.
Even with the carsickness and cramped car trips we keep smiling, oftentimes while sleeping, and absorbing new knowledge with ease. Not to mention reaching destinations that look like they came straight out of a movie. We did a hike across Mt. Tongariro, which was featured as Mt Doom in a movie people might know called, Lord of the Rings. On the 12-13 mile hike that took us over 8 hours to complete we stayed in good spirits by reflecting on experiences at Earlham while trying to identify new plant life, especially all the amazing ferns.
Each adventure is challenging to each individual. Comfort zones have been pushed and there is no velvet seat cushion to pad the weak. All of us have toughened up to meet the various tests and bonded over the many scrapes, bruises, blisters and cuts we have obtained after hiking or canoeing for a combined total of 10 days. A tui, a native bird, calls outside as we all plan our first independent travel time that will be taking students all over the North Island including Raglan, Rotorua, and Auckland.
During our travels so far many people have been able to experience a period of excitement
within their own specialties. The biologists are in new species of birds and plant heaven,
the social scientists are experiencing what Maori culture is and how it has shaped New Zealand,
the geologists have collected at least 10 lbs of rocks by now, and the artists have found
a land full of woolly sheep and a plant that has endless possibilities. Excitement spread
like wildfire around the group.
In a country 12,000 miles and a day ahead from home, we slowly start to feel comforts of belonging,
be it the beach, or in lectures about geology, island biogeography, or permaculture. We talk
to the kiwis with the same confidence as we would our fellow Americans. With independent travel
coming up, no one has a face of fear, but delight to be going on their own various places
in New Zealand to the adventures and taking in the scenery so unique to this country.
By: Sydney Sogol
Reuben Goldstein
Reflection on the Wanganui river trip
After a week-long stay at the Quaker Settlement, we traveled down the Wanganui river in canoes (wakas) for three days. We spent our journey immersed in the river (figuratively and literally) and Maori culture. Each night we were welcomed in the traditional manner onto a marae (Maori meeting and living space). The welcome ceremony (powiri) consisted of an exchange of speeches, prayers, and waiata (songs).
On the river, we paddled in six-person wakas steered by Maori guides who had grown up on the river. They shared their songs, stories and land with us as we journeyed. We all shared in the joy and beauty of the river, both in moments of peaceful silence and moments of chaotic hilarity when we hurled ourselves in the river and splashed each other with our paddles. We were able to see how deeply tied to the land Maori culture is, and how it lives in their lives, language and community. Taking part in the traditional ceremonies was an incredible, powerful, eye-opening experience that none of us will ever forget. We all grew over those three days.
We came back to the Settlement
with funny stories, new songs, an obsession with harakeke weaving, and changed in our hearts
and spirits by the river and its people. We were blessed enough to be able to understand,
at least in part, what is meant by the Maori proverb: I am the river and the river is me.
By: Amy Boxell and Linnea Meier
Reflection on the Routeburn Hike
Never having been backpacking before, I cannot imagine a better introduction to wilderness hiking than trekking the Routeburn with this year's New Zealand program. Every turn of the trail brought an awe-inspiring vista: the lumbering slopes of richly verdant Nothofagus forest, sweeping alpine plains in high-summer bloom, the Southern Alps' rugged grey shoulders sternly guarding the restless mountain brooks and sudden valleys. And each of these sights had countless details worthy of both artistic and scientific scrutiny: massive boulders encrusted with orange and scarlet and pale blue lichens, imperial purple fungi pushing out of the forest floor, delicate curtains of spleenwort fronds hanging from tree limbs and outcroppings, mounded mattresses of moss lining the sides of a cascade…
The members of the brigade–student and faculty alike–could not be more appreciative of these wonders, or more eager to share new discoveries. Not an hour would go by without the group crowding excitedly around a dainty green orchid springing form a fallen log, scrutinizing a minute flatworm scooped out of a stream, or straining their necks to catch a glimpse of a Yellow-crowned Parakeet foraging in the epiphyte-covered canopy. Perhaps the most memorable of these moments was the sighting of the Rock Wren, an uncommon little bird of rock falls and mountain slopes. The contagious elation of a naturalist jumped from person to person as we watched this understated, absurdly rotund little bird busily bobbed at the edge of a ravine, each of us delighting in the excitement of identifying a new species! I fell asleep that night to the two-note call of New Zealand's native owl, the Ruru, glowing with triumph and reverence for the wilderness that had enveloped us.
By: Dan A-M
Contact Us:
Wilderness Programs801 National Road West, Drawer 87
Richmond, IN 47374
phone:(765) 973-2121; fax: (765) 983-1207
Wilderness@earlham.edu