The Journey Home and Beyond

Our 2015 Iwi at Takahanga Marae in Kaikoura

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

Last JC Penney pose at CHCH Airport this afternoon

Winding Down

Student Journals from the past 5 weeks recounting both scientific information and personal responses to our experiences were due today, and we celebrated the course end tonight with time together with the folks who have helped us along the way and a slideshow (cramming as many photos as we could of over 4,000photos into just 150 slides).  We have done so much – worked hard and had a lot of fun! Thank you for the good memories All.

Sweet Dreams, Meryl

Saturday, August 1 - Inspiration from Graeme's Farm and a Walk on the Wild Side

We started our day with inspiration from Graeme and Karen's lifestyle block farm.  Graeme works at Landcare Research and in his "spare" hours manages to keep a farm of apples, apricots, and almonds.  When he is not tending to his trees, he is busy keeping up with all of the latest technology from the world so that he can be as off the grid as possible.  He especially loves the technology coming out of America and believes that we have all that we need to make the world sustainable. Graeme’s house and farm sport solar panels and all sorts of gadgets he has rigged up and is even working on getting his own wind turbine up and running.  All very inspiring to show how much can be done with little things and little steps to lower our impact on our planet.

Of course Graeme and Karen also keep some sheep for keeping the orchards clear and it is lambing season so we even got to see and feed a few babies!

 

Solar Panels

Cute Lamb

 After lunch at Hillyers and some time at the Lincoln Market, we watched some girl’s rugby at Lincoln before heading out for a special visit to Willowbank.

Uni Rugby at Lincoln

Willowbank is a wildlife reserve where we had a chance to see up close both native and exotic animals. The highlight is that we actually got to touch a Tuatara! In addition, we had a Ko Tane or Maori experience where the “gals” got to try Poi Balls and the “guys” got to try a haka. Afterwards, we gathered in the restaurant to have a hangi, which is food smoked in the ground. Very tasty!

Pukeko

Kunekune pig - only found in New Zealand

Kea investigating Niko's head - hello?

Tuatara

Willowbank guide explaining about the kiwi

Poi dance

Hangi dinner

Cheers Meryl and Dr. H