Final Presentation

Below is a link to a video of our Final Presentation we presented at the district conference.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FPbLyv8cfU&feature=youtu.be

Kiwi Talk

Hello Everyone!
Here is part of our speech from our final presentation.  It was greatly enjoyed by all! Thanks to our friends in New Plymouth who helped write it!

"Right, the welcome in Wellington was quite the bun fight, and before you knew it, Bob's your uncle, the exchange was underway.

We came prepared with our togs expecting summer weather and instead have had to parade around in gum boots, parkas and beanies. But that's life.

We have had our share of adventures; there was this one time we got up at sparrow fart to go on a tikki tour and ended up the boo hii.  Our kack-handed driver, with his pucker rude Holden Ute had no clue. Some of those roads really gave us the colly wobbles.  After my feed of greasies and shandies the night before I had a case of the dreaded lurgy.  This didn't help, Boy.

Strewth! Take a shifty at this mate! The boot was stuffed with our new merino jumpers and the chilly bin, which was chalk a bloc full of pavolva, hokey pokey ice-cream and pineapple lumps. We had enough for Africa!

One thing we really have been impressed by is the outdoor and active lifestyle of so many kiwis.  For example one of our hosts, who was 74 years old busted a gut doing a ton while we climbed a mountain! He went on for yonks! We really had to rattle our dags.  Crickey Dick! Did we feel like bugger lugs.

So, I had to bludge some glad rags for this flash do in Rotorua.  I thought I might meet a young hot Rotarian. Yeah Right!

I think at the end of the day we were home and hosed and I never even had to pack a sad. But I do need a nanna nap."

Conference Presentation

A Great Idea?

Remember the ingenious idea Laura and I had to open a Merino store in Edmonton?  Well check out this link that hit the news today - ah, the wonders of wool...

http://www.dnaindia.com/lifestyle/1829412/report-now-shirt-that-can-be-worn-for-100-days-without-being-washed

Goodbye Aotearoa

Well, the time has come for Laura and I to go back to the land of the silver birch…

The past few days have been jam packed, and it’s been a great way to finish off our month of fun, friends, and adventure.  On Friday morning, we left New Plymouth bright and early for an “unknown” adventure.  We ended up in Waitomo and spent the afternoon caving. 

After donning our wetsuits, helmets, headlamps, and gumboots amidst a flurry of giggles, we set off for the cave.  The first “test” was climbing down a ladder into the cave.  The opening that we had to climb down was barely wide enough to squeeze through, and you could not see the bottom.  After passing the claustrophobia test, we spent the next two and a half hours walking, swimming, climbing, crawling, falling, squeezing, pulling, and pushing our way through the cave.  It was grueling at times, but it was the most fun I’ve had in a long time.  Highlights included jumping off a cliff backwards with an inner tube held to our rear ends, floating on the tube down a pitch black corridor while “star gazing” at glow worms and singing (very badly) to random songs which echoed back to us, and being “reborn” while climbing through a very narrow tunnel in the pitch dark and then sliding down the mud through the opening at the end.

View from hotel of Lake Rotorua

We arrived in Rotorua just in time to quickly change and run to the opening of the conference.  Nathalie, Laura, and I later left the conference for the hotel where we ordered pizza and worked on our final presentation until the wee hours of the morning.  Then it was up again bright and early for the conference sessions on Saturday.  It was really great to see so many people who we had met along the way meet up again in one big room.  Immediately after the conference ended, we headed off to spend the afternoon doing a “canopy tour”.

The canopy tour was three hours long in total and included zip lining above the trees from platform to platform as well as walking along swinging bridges without handrails.  The highest platform was 22 metres in the air.  It was an absolutely amazing to see the virgin forest from that vantage point and to hear the birds singing around us as we sailed through the air.

 

 

Then, it was back to the hotel again for another Superman-like transformation into our evening costume for the formal dinner and dance.  The theme was “Starry starry night and everyone was to dress up according to the theme.  There were some amazing costumes including the cast from Star Wars, rock stars, the Beatles, a starry knight, and a team dressed up as the Van Gogh painting.  We went as Canadian princesses since we have been treated as such for the past four weeks and it was all we could afford at the $2 store!  The room was decorated beautifully, the food was great, and we had a lot of fun dancing until the music stopped.

 

 

Then, it was up bright and early again to head back to the conference and give our final presentation. (I plan on posting a copy of our final presentation here when I get back, so keep checking for that).

Immediately after the conference, our team was finally split up as Mary headed off with her husband, Terry, to tour the south island, Laura and Nathalie headed off to Auckland where Laura will join me to fly home today.  Nathalie will stay for another week touring north of Auckland, and I headed back to Wellington with John and Rachel from the Harbour City Rotary Club for another vocational at the New Zealand Qualifications Authority, which is where Amanda from the team who came to New Zealand works.  On the way to Auckland, Nathalie was able to fulfill her lifelong dream of zorbing, and on the way to Wellington, I was able to see some amazing geothermic activity, which was something that I had wanted to do while here.

Nathalie is sloshing around in this ball as it bounces down the hill.

 

Although we are looking forward to seeing our families again, we are all very sad to be leaving this great country of New Zealand and all the wonderful people we have met along the way. 

We cannot appropriately express our gratitude for such a wonderful opportunity and unique experience.  The hospitality and generosity we have encountered cannot be outdone. 

Kia Ora.

A New Day in New Plymouth

The day started off bright and sunny, and our first stop on the tour train was the local port.  We had a tour around the 5 star enviro building as well as the port itself and the security building where the loading of oil tankers is monitored.  We also saw a LOT of milk powder...

Then, our Scottish friend and Rotarian, Robin, took us to our morning vocational visits.  I visited the Western Institute of Technology to learn about how the college meets the NZQA standards while Laura and Nathalie visited the District Council.  Mary and Robin took in St. Mary's Cathedral.  Then, Nathalie went off to another vocational while Robin, Mary, Laura, and I headed thirty minutes into the countryside.

Pukaka bird

Constructed wetland used to catch sediment and clean storm water in New Plymouth

We were on our way to 84 year-old Rotarian Barbara's "farm" house for lunch.  The house was an amazingly kept time capsule of days gone by, and the lunch has set the standard for all future lunch parties that I will ever personally host.

We were greeted with orange juice and mini appetizers.  Next, we moved to the table for a very generous bowl of pumpkin soup, a heaping basket of fresh bread and buns, and a glass of wine.  Then, Barbara brought out cream cheese stuffed dates, candied kiwi, a cheese and fruit platter, blueberry muffins, lemon muffins, whipped cream, AND walnut cake.  This was all savoured with a steaming cup of tea.  It was so amazing, we had to take a picture of the food before anyone was allowed to start eating.

After stuffing ourselves, we learned that Barbara maintains 7 acres of gardens and pathways.  We rolled ourselves out the front door for a quick tour of the grounds as that was unfortunately all we had time for.  The well-manicured grounds were immaculately maintained by one part-time gardener.  There were also 500 cattle on the farm.  Barbara was definitely the hostess with the "mostess", and she is an inspiration to all who meet her. (We learned that while in her 70s, Barbara became the Rotary District Governor.  This entails driving all around the district to attend meetings.  The running joke, apparently, was whether or not Barbara was going to make it to the meeting before her licence was revoked as she is quite the speed demon!)

We then toured an old lighthouse that contains very interesting information about the Rutherford family.  This is an important link to Canada because Mr. Rutherford did some very important work at McGill University and is responsible for splitting the atom.  There are many important things in Edmonton named after him, but I didn't read anything about him visiting Edmonton...

A Note from Nathalie

While the other girls were stuffing themselves and enjoying the sites of the area I was hard at work!  I had been recommended that I meet with Hive, a local environmental education trust in New Plymouth.  I was lucky that the program coordinator Kama agreed to met with me and I was able to learn more about a few of the cool programs they offer.  One program that I really like is that they encourage donations from individuals in order to buy trees.  These trees are planted at local Enviroschools and help the individuals offset their carbon footprint.  The Hive benefits from the donations, schools get trees, people can feel better about their carbon emissions.  Its a win win win!  I thought that the staff at my work, the Battle River Watershed Alliance would like this program so I bought us three trees that will be planted here in New Plymouth.  Maybe an upcoming staff trip to come visit them? 

The BRWA leaf representing our donation to the Enviroschools tree planting.

Now back to the girls...

A couple of us fell asleep on the drive back into town (who wouldn't?) before being dropped off at our host families' houses to quickly get ready for the evening Rotary meeting and our last presentation.  It was a wonderful night and the ladies of the Inner Wheel did a great job pinch hitting for the woman who normally does the catering.  It was actually our last time presenting our Canadian presentation! We had probably done it 15 times so having it be the last time was something to celebrate!  

Upon arrival back to my host family's house, I got a call from our wild child, Nathalie, saying that the bars were hopping downtown and that I was to meet her immediately.  After much protest, several misinformed phone calls, and very bad directions, Laura, Nathalie, myself, and our host families ended up in a local pub where we enjoyed some great company, cold drinks, and a few peculiar quiz questions.

Stratford

Tuesday morning, we headed off from Whanganui towards Stratford, which is about an hour and a half away.  Coincidentally enough, we were in Stratford on April 23, which is the same day that Shakespeare was born and died!

Nathalie was unfortunately detained however was quickly released after they found out she was Canadian. Apparently that explained everything.

After the ordeal with the law, we were off to our vocational visits, which for me meant touring a local high school with the principal since the students are off on a two week break.  Nathalie and Laura met with 4 different people at the Taranaki Regional Council to learn about their riparian protection and land planning for farmers, environmental education and bio security.  It is amazing how much you can learn in a short period of time!

James showing a map they create for farmers to help them in managing their riparian areas. Many lessons and good ideas from this visit. Lesson 1: GIS at the office is a good idea... 

The Possum.  Introduced from Australia  this mean looking animal has caused much trouble for the NZ forests and keeps the bio security workers busy trying to reduce the population! 

 
Then we met a number of the Stratford Rotarians and the mayor for lunch at the Shakee Pear, which is located just outside of the Stratford village.  The village is similar to Fort Edmonton park and includes many interesting artifacts and a small train that goes around the village.

On the train

Then we were off to a local bird reserve for an interesting and informative talk by one of the conservation officers as well as a short walk around the reserve. We stopped for a quick tea at club president Barrie's house before driving 30 minutes to Inglewood for another evening meeting and presentation.

Predator Proof Fencing surrounds the park.  All introduced pests including Possum, Deer, Rats and even Mice have been eliminated!   

Wood Pigeon.  A huge and culturally significant bird. 

After the meeting, we were driven another 30 minutes to New Plymouth to meet our last host families.

At the Cluster Meeting at the Inglewood club. 

Thank you Stratford club for a wonderful day.

Whanganui

Sunday morning, we were transported in to Whanganui to meet up with our next group of hosts.  After a brief morning tea, we headed out for an afternoon of sight-seeing while Nathalie rushed off for another vocational visit. 

We walked by an old fashioned steamboat just heading up the river, went to an open glass studio called Chronicle (Whanganui is famous for its glass), and then paid $2 to ride a 100 year old elevator up through a hill.  Then, it was time for lunch in a local Irish pub.  In the afternoon, we toured the museum and art galleries as well as a very cool peace monument made out of the casts of children’s hands.  After a stop at home for a quick freshen up and cat nap, it was off to another cluster group meeting and presentation.

Monday morning was a vocational morning for everyone.  I spent the day with my host, Lei, who teaches in an intensive literacy program run out of a private training establishment (PTE).  Then we met up for lunch in a local café before heading out to a marae called Ranata.

Ranata is the name of the marae as well as a prophet, the church, and a faith.  The faith believes in the tolerance of all religions and that, one day, all New Zealanders will come together as one.  Apparently, the prophet Ranata also predicted Hitler and the September 11 attacks.

After another quick afternoon tea, we were off to club president Kate’s house for pre-dinner cocktails.  Then, it was back home for dinner after which Nathalie and Laura joined Kate for her Scottish country dancing class.

Thank you Whanganui for another great couple of days.