Falling behind...

Last night was daylight savings time, so the clocks fell behind an hour, which was a little strange since we just sprang ahead an hour back home.  Apparently it was a little too complicated for me because I almost missed my ride this morning! I set my clock back an hour before going to bed, and then it corrected itself at 2:00 a.m. so that when I thought I was getting up at 8, I was actually getting up at 9.  Luckily, everything worked out in the end, though.

Before leaving, Christine, my host, and I were looking at a website that records the felt earthquakes in New Zealand.  Do you know that there have been more than ten felt earthquakes in the last week alone???

Anyway, we were soon off to Martinborough where we partook in an early morning wine tasting.  Then it was time for a very scenic drive through the countryside and along the coast for a fish and chips lunch at the Lake Ferry Hotel pub where we met the local "biker gang" who very amiably posed for a photo with us. 

Learning about the wine making process

Wine tasting

Lunch at the pub

Tough biker chicks

Next, we drove along the windy and rugged coastal road, past the remains of houses that had fallen into the sea, and through numerous sheep farms to the fishing village of Ngawi where bulldozers are used to lower fishing boats into the water because it is so steep and rough.  A little further along the road was an amazing seal colony where we were able to get right up and close with dozens and dozens of seals and their pups.  It wasn't until the car ride back that we saw the amazingly huge male in the water a little ways down from the colony itself.  What we all noticed was how amazingly natural it all was.  There were no signs or fencing or anything, and if you had been a tourist, you wouldn't have known how to find it, and even if you had, you would probably not have had the right kind of vehicle to get there.  It was really an amazing opportunity.

The fur seal colony

We then carried on down the road to an old lighthouse and climbed up the 250 stairs to the top for an amazing view and photo opportunity.

It was then time for the trek back home to meet up with our host families for dinner and a quiet evening at home.

And to catch up on some pictures...

Hi everyone. I wanted to share a few pictures with you. Shannon has talked about most of these adventures in the previous couple of blog posts.

While Shannon was having a great time at Whitera Polytechnic and Partners Poirarua during our first day with our Plimmerton hosts, Nathalie and I were also learning some really interesting things. First we visited the ESR or Environmental Science Research Institute where we learned about microbiology, and drinking and waste water research they were conducting.

After a lovely lunch at the ESR cafe, Nathalie and I went to visit the Turner's sheep farm. This was an excellent visit. We learned quite a lot about sheep in general but the main purpose of the visit was to learn about the riparian fencing and planting that was being done on the farm. The work done by the Turner's with the help of the local council has made a noticeable difference to the quality of the water.

And now some pictures!

Learning about riparian management

Nathalie feeding the sheep

At New Zealand Rugby headquarters

Mary and Nick exchanging banners at the Plimmerton club potluck

District Governor Graeme Blick and his wife Christine

Mary shearing a sheep at the Osbourne farm

A night to remember...

We've just come back from an amazing night with a great group of people.  The evening began in the wool shed with an expert demonstration in sheep shearing.  Alistair gave an amazing performance and was able to cleanly shear the entire sheep in 3 minutes flat.  Then, we each got to have a go at shearing it ourselves (while he held it, of course!). 

Then, we headed over to the pasture out back to have a go at clay pigeon shooting, and amazingly enough, we were all able to hit one!

A short while later, it was time to take the lamb off the spit and watch Alistair quickly butcher it into dinner, although little cutting was actually needed as the meat was tender enough to fall right off the bone.  It was then time to fill our plates to overflowing since just sampling small portions of the amazing dishes provided by the 40 guests resulted in a mass of food large enough for two grown men!

The rest of the evening was filled with great conversation and story-telling interrupted only by a quick trip up to the dessert table for another plateful of New Zealand fare.

As I walked out the door, I caught sight of Alistair heading out the back door while his wife, Nicky, was shaking her head at his need to set off fireworks that would rival the neighbour's display erupting overhead.

From the city to the country...

Yesterday morning, we began the day by visiting the New Zealand Rugby Headquarters.  We had wanted to see an All Blacks game including the famous haka (YouTube if you don't know what that is), but it is not yet the season for that, so we were treated to a tour of the brand new headquarters instead.  It was an amazing workspace, and we were able to take a couple of good photos as well.

Next, it was a picnic lunch in the sun at the local boat club and then off to hike up Colonial Knob with our Maori guide, Gary.  The hike up the gorgeous hillside included 739 stairs, but we all make it in one piece to the lookout point where we could see the south island.  Unfortunately, we didn't all make it down the "mountain" in the same shape.  As we started to descend the back of the mountain by way of the road, Laura slipped and rolled her ankle.  That resulted in a scavenger hunt-style search for the key to the gate that would allow one of the cars up the road to pick up our injured teammate.  In the meantime, Laura hobbled her way down the rocky terrain so that by the time the gate was finally opened, Nick only had to drive up about 200m to rescue her.  (She is now doing fine).  In the end, what was intended to be a 1.5 hour "tramp" resulted in a 4 hour adventure.

It was then back home for a quick freshen up before heading off again to our evening engagement at another Rotarians home for a potluck dinner and a casual presentation.  It was great fun and we enjoyed all of the homecooked New Zealand food.  I keep saying that I really need to eat a kiwi while I'm here since they are in season right now, and I haven't had one yet.  Nathalie keeps reminding me to qualify that with the word "fruit" since kiwi can mean the fruit, the bird, or the people, and I most definitely mean that I want to eat a fresh kiwi fruit!

This morning, we headed off to our next location, which meant heading over the very scenic yet very windy Rumatuka mountain into the Wairarapa valley.  After driving for about an hour, we arrived in Greytown, which is one of the oldest towns in New Zealand, we are told.  It is a really great boutique town of little shops, restaurants, cafes, and galleries.  In one of the cafes, we met two of the Rotarians who would be hosting us, including Alastair who owns the sheep farm where we will visit this evening for sheep shearing and a spitroast dinner. 

After tea, we had a couple of hours on our own to wander through town, and then we met back up at the Jack and Jill cafe to meet our host families for lunch.  I am now sitting in a gorgeous farm house looking up at the sheep grazing on the hill above me.  If I wander across the house to my room, I will be able to look out one of two walls of windows onto the green farmland in the valley below.  It really is quite bucolic. 

One of the interesting things that we've noticed is that many of the families we are meeting are actually from England originally.  I also found out today that you can golf at several of the beautiful nearby golf courses for $5 - $15 and some of them even have an honesty box where you pay before you play.  I was talking to my host family this morning about how it would be so wonderful to live here, and the conversation somehow evolved into a discussion about the hundreds of mini earthquakes New Zealand experiences each year.  Apparently only about ten of those are felt, but I'm not sure I could handle that.  At Te Papa, I went into the earthquake house, which shakes about in order to simulate an earthquake, and it was quite unsettling.  However, after making my way through the countryside today, I might just be able to put up with it!

I don't have wifi access right now to upload my pictures, but I will keep you posted over the next couple of days until I can add the photos.

Moving on to Porirua

First thing in the morning, we drove about 30 minutes to the beautiful Pataka complex to meet our second host family in Porirua.  Unfortunately, Nathalie had to immediately leave to go to the doctor.  The day before, her sore throat had gotten worse, and it sounded like she was about to get laryngitis.  Since we desperately need her as part of our presentation, I suggested that she try a natural remedy that had worked for me in the past - green tea with baking soda.  Unfortunately, she listened to me and ended up vomiting it up as soon as she reached Porirua.  She has since recovered, thank goodness.

A stunning hand-crafted lae in Pataka

We were then whisked away to our next vocational visits, which for me meant spending about three hours at Whiterea Polytech.  I was able to meet with the program manager of the pre-apprenticeship programs, sit in on a pre-tourism class, and meet with the woman responsible for foundational programming leading to health and social services careers.  It was a wonderful morning, and I learned a lot of interesting things.  What I am quickly learning is that the education system in New Zealand is VERY different from the one in Canada.

It was then off to my second vocational visit, which was a Partners Poirurua.  I met with the woman in charge of programming there and learned how they partner professionals with classrooms in schools in order to create relevant learning for students.  I also learned about some of their transitional education and employment programs and all the wonderful work they are doing for single parents under the age of 18 as well as youth under 18 who are living on their own.  The government has recently started a new welfare benefits program, which is set up more like an allowance and was really interesting to learn about.

It was then back to Bruce and Sue's wonderful home with amazing views for a great lamb dinner before heading back to Wellington to socialize with some more Rotarians.  This group meets monthly as a travel group, and the hosts' son and his partner were there to show photos and talk about their trip around the world.  They are in the seventh month of the trip (They live in Germany, so they are stopping at mom and dad's on the way) and have had the wonderful opportunity to visit both the Galapagos Islands and Antarctica.  The presentation was wonderful and the photos were absolutely amazing.

We then came home, where I immediately fell into bed.

Windy Wellington is also wet...

Today was another jam packed day.

For me, the day began with another vocational visit to one of the local ITOs (Industry Training Organizations).  The ITO I visited dealt with training related to agriculture and primary industry, but the wonderful gentleman who took three hours out of his day to speak to me also worked for the adult literacy authority in a previous position and was able to answer a lot of questions related to education for adults with lower literacy skills.

After that, we were wisked off to the harbour to learn about the work the marine police do and had a very cool trip out of the police boat, which can travel up to 80 kph and has the unique ability to "walk" sideways, which it needed to do in order to dock in the strong winds.

Next, we took a cable car ride up the hill and were met by two of our wonderful hosts who treated  us to tickets to Zealandia, which is an incredible bird sanctuary.  The entire area has been fenced off to prevent predators from entering, and there are an incredible number of birds and other species that can survive without worry.  Unfortunately, we were not able to see any kiwis, though, because they are actually nocturnal birds.

Passing the other cable car

Shag birds

Fern korus (one of New Zealand's national symbols)

We then took an hour as a team to prepare for our first presentation.  The Habour City Rotary Club provided us with warm fellowship and an amazing dinner.  In return, we "treated" them to the first go at our presentation as a team.

Giving our first presentation

With Amanda and Aroha, who were part of the team who visited Canada

It was then back home for our last night with our host families before setting off for our next adventure.

All in all, another great day!

Official Welcome in Wellington

We were so honored to have a traditional Maori welcome with lots of song and dance at our official welcome to the district.  We were also welcomed by the District Governor Graeme Blick, Wellington City Mayor and the Minister of Education. Check out this video of this 'action' song they invited us to come and join in!

Windy Wellington is sunny too...

Today turned out to be a gorgeous day.

We began with a briefing by the local GSE organizers who have made our adventures possible.  We learned a bit about Maori protocols as well as what would be expected of us during our stay.  Then, it was off to lunch on the waterfront at a wonderful restaurant that was built to hold two very large waka (canoes).

In the afternoon, we split up to go to our first vocational visits.  I was able to go to the local polytech and meet with the director of professional development.  I learned a lot about how the college is offering training programs that integrate literacy and numeracy into their courses as well as the framework that New Zealand uses for their tertiary education programs.  It was a great base upon which to build during my future vocational visits.

After a quick trip home to change, we were off again to City Council Chambers for cocktails and canapes and our official Maori welcome.  We were greeted by many Rotarians as well as the Mayor and the Minister of Education. It was also very nice to see Amanda Burgess from the team that came to Canada.

 The Maori welcome was amazing.  There were a series of songs and dances as well as a speech in Maori.  After each speaker, another waiata was performed.  We introduced ourselves and sang O Canada as our waiata.  Then we were presented with our "survival backpacks", which included Tylenol, earplugs, a cap, and Marmite among other things.  We were also presented with beautiful New Zealand green stone necklaces.  At the end, we were invited up to learn the last dance that the Maori group performed and then we exchanged hongi (nose to nose greetings) with the performers. 

It was truely and amazing and unforgettable experience.