How living in New Zealand has changed us

When our American family decided to spend four months in New Zealand for my sabbatical, the objectives were for me to get some writing done, make some connections, and otherwise have a wonderful adventure together. We had not anticipated the impact the experience would have on us. Here are 11 surprising ways we have been touched:

Fran relaxes in Auckland

1. We are less stressed

I believe this is a combination of working less and being in nature much more. We aren’t more physically active here than we are back home, but that activity has almost all been outdoors and is more a part of our everyday lives, such as walking to the store. This has led to the next change:

2. We have realized how much we need nature

Our improved mental health is likely a direct result from all the hiking we have been doing. We have decided that we need to make getting out among the trees and water a priority when we get home. New Zealand may be the most gorgeous place on the planet, but Colorado is a close second. My already acute love for our planet almost hurts now- I am so grateful that I have devoted much of my professional life to helping protect Mother Earth and the diversity of life here.

All my clothes, KonMari style

3. We have learned that we can live more simply

All of my clothes can fit in one drawer here. All other personal belongings fit into a suitcase. We heat with wood and hang clothes to dry. Although we are eager to get our electric clothes dryer, central heating, and well-insulated house back, I hope to incorporate living with less “stuff” into our lives at home.

A tiny, typical NZ "rubbish bin", plus all our American junk

4. We produce less trash

Living in New Zealand has shown us just how much more rubbish (to use their word) Americans produce than Kiwis. Every place we stayed had tiny trashcans, and it is not unusual for public parks to not have any- and yet no trash problem. I believe that this is because: A) Kiwis don’t eat out as much and when they do “take away” (fast food), it is in much less packaging. No cups with lids and straws, for example.

B) Kiwis each much less processed food. Fresh food has less packaging (if any), and

C) Most stores don’t give you a bag unless you ask for one. Some grocery stores charge for plastic bags.

Fran and Jeremy embrace on the Driving Creek Railway (DCR) in Coromandel

The view on a rainy day on the DCR

5. We have become closer as a family

All of the together time that results from doing homeschool and traveling for days on end at one go forces issues to surface.  It actually amazes us that we are still enjoying each other’s company after these four months! We aren’t perfect, but we are much better at voicing hurt feelings and frustrations in a productive way and thus working through it and becoming closer as a result. Jeremy still has to tolerate the PMS of two mothers (poor kid), but we can have a sense of humor about it.

Jeremy gets a tutorial on the Erhu at the Dunedin Chinese Garden

6. We have a new perspective on “school”

We see education differently now that we have allowed the world to be Jeremy’s classroom. As my mother says, “You can’t stop children from learning,” and we have seen what a sponge Jeremy is on this trip. We are glad that he will be going to a school this fall that uses a student-customized, project-focused pedagogy. This trip has given him loads of ideas for “units” to study further when we are back.

My crazy "New Zealand hair"

7. We are less concerned with our appearance

Four months without our 10x lit magnifying mirror has been a good thing. To my surprise, I have had fewer breakouts and generally have better skin here than at home. Fran tweezes her eyebrows much less often. None of us has really been that concerned with our appearance. Casual rules the day, and we only brought clothes we liked wearing. Since no one around me seems to, I’ve not worn makeup of any type since the first week here. I’ve also embraced the “Curly Girl Method” of hair care here, which actually means that I haven’t combed or brushed my hair in four months. No kidding.

Even if it's local and not organic, it's likely to be expensive

8.     We are willing to spend more on food

Meat and produce are ridiculously expensive here -$4 USD for one NZ-grown avocado, anyone?- but so delicious. Given my sensitivity to corn, it has been wonderful living in a place where all dairy and meat are from pasture-fed cows and the sweets and jams aren’t made with corn-syrup; back home we’ll have to pay extra for this. The produce is so good, we are now much more willing to spend more on organic, fresh local food when we get home. And we are now chocolate snobs!

Jeremy enjoys his first "fluffy"

9.     Our legs are stronger

Between hauling more weight around (see chocolate, above) and climbing the hills and mountains everywhere, our quads are pure steel! The increased strength in my legs has been great for my knee problems, which have been nearly non-existent here, despite all of the stair-climbing (I guess the physical therapist was right, dang it!). This doesn’t stop Jeremy from complaining at some point during every hike, but we hear “my legs are tired” much less.

On the Routeburn Track

10.  We have fallen in love with birds

I’ve always thought birds were sort of cool, but after living in the land where birds rule the day, they have earned our respect and affection on a whole new level. Since they didn’t evolve with mammals (including us), many native birds aren’t skittish around humans (see previous blog post for videos documenting this). Thus, they seem much more friendly than birds in the US, and so also more endearing. Fran and Jeremy’s favorite are the little blue penguins (that’s really what they are called), and my favorite are the fan-tails, which follow you around when you hike, making one feel like Snow White.

Jeremy with new friend, Mango, an eclectus parrot

11.  We are now citizens of the world

It is one thing to travel, quite another to live in another place for several months. We learned that we can adapt: we can call a new place home, make good friends, find new favorite foods, and generally adjust to what feels strange and different. We know what it is to be the stranger, at the mercy of the locals (and how very merciful and generous they have been!). As we literally repeat each night during prayers, we are deeply, deeply grateful to have been able to have this experience. 

A view of Wellington from Mt. Victoria Lookout

"What I Learned About Māori Culture in New Zealand"

This is Jeremy's second blog post, another homeschool assignment, this time about the Māori. This is based primarily on our recent visit to the North Island, where the Māori settled more densely than in the south, due in part to the warmer climate there (North=warmer in the Southern Hemisphere).

Waka (boat) carving at the Aukland War Memorial Museum

Over the last two weeks, we have learned about the indigenous people of New Zealand, or Aotearoa in Te reo Māori, from the extensive collection of art and artifacts at the Aukland Museum, a cultural education experience at the Tamaki Maori Village,  at Te Puia in Rotorua, as well as extensive Māori interpretative signage at most of the sites we visited on the North Island and northern sites of the South Island. A lot, but only the tip of the iceberg.

Tamaki performer, in Rotorua

Just like in the U.S., Europeans did their best to systematically erase the culture of the indigenous people when they achieved control of the land. Children were beaten in schools for speaking their native tongue, as one classic and horrible example. Fortunately, attitudes and policies have changed, although one cannot erase scars from early mistreatment, and certainly racism persists.  One sign of progress is that signage nearly universally has both English and Te reo Māori (recognized an official language of New Zealand in 1987), and in some places (such as in the museum) it is before/above English. 

Exhibit in Aukland Museum: a doll and temporary tattoos from Disney movie. Interpretation is in Te reo Maori first, then English, and reads: "The Makers of the Moana movie consulted Pacific tatau artists when giving the Maui character is tatau. But do they lose their meaning if anyone can buy Maui's tattoos and temporarily apply them to their own body?"

It is difficult to say anything about "the Māori" as a group, given that there are dozens of tribes, each with distinct cultural practices and traditions. It is my understanding that the Māori share language and many legends, which Jeremy discusses. 

A carving in a whare whakairo (carved meeting house) in the Aukland Museum

Also, they are commonly referred to as "warriors;" it was explained to us by our Māori guide that they mercilessly fought "over land and women." We were also told that while there were some tribes that had female warriors, others have rules still barring women from taking leadership roles or even speaking at certain important events. 

I have been struck by the maleness of the culture as reflected in the art: erect penises are a common theme, but I've seen almost nothing I recognize as relating to the female experience- no birth images, no babies, no breasts. This doesn't mean these things weren't important, only that they don't seem to be in representative art. While human figures are common, I have only seen two that were recognizably female (at a visitor center), and interestingly both included phallic symbolism.  

Our feminist son was bothered by what he perceived to be a lack of equality of the sexes. In particular, he became upset when our Māori guide at the New Zealand Māori Arts and Crafts Institute told us that women were not admitted for carving. 

A beautiful dress made by a woman, out of flax, at the New Zealand Māori Arts and Crafts Institute. Women are only admitted to do fiber arts at the Institute, in accordance with their tradition. 

Men can do any activity they liked, but women are barred from any type of carving, which appeared to be the greatest part of the school. Jeremy originally wrote about it in his essay. He also wanted Fran to be the "chief" of our group at Tamaki (each bus/waka needed to assign one to be admitted), but women weren't permitted to be chief.

Jeremy observing a carver at the New Zealand Māori Arts and Crafts Institute

A box carved in the traditional style, at the Institute

This spurred conversations in the family about sexism but also about the dangers of passing judgement on another group. We have had conversations about racism and colonialism. We talked about power and history and the limits of our understanding of another culture. As a result, Jeremy asked that I not include the part of his essay on his perception of sexism in Māori culture in this blog post.

Here is the rest.

"What I Learned About Māori Culture in New Zealand" 
by Jeremy Simon, age 10

The Māori are and were the native people of New Zealand. They have many different customs, some disturbing and some sensible. They also had many different stories about how things came to be.

First let's talk about the disturbing things to get it over with. One of the more disturbing things is that the Māori were cannibals. And if you want to know what a cannibal is, then go look it up, because I don't want to tell you. You’ve probably seen a picture of a Māori man sticking his tongue out at you. This is an indicator that they were cannibals; whenever they stick their tongue out at you, it is a aggressive motion suggesting, “I am hungry and I will eat you.”  It is often done in war dances called Hakas. 

The Tamaki bringing baskets of food out of the cooking pits

         One of the cooler things that the Māori do is that in areas like Rotorua, one of the ways that they cook their food is with volcanoes. The way they do this is by digging a big hole in the ground, putting volcanic rocks in the bottom, and then putting in their food on large trays.

A feast, prepared in earth ovens 

           Some of the other cool things that the Māori have are spiffy stick games and toys such as the poi. The poi is a rock or something such as a sponge (in modern days) attached to a string, with a knot or a tassel at the end of the string. You use a poi by swinging it around you in circular motions while looking really cool.

The Māori have many stories about how things came to be. For example, there was a story about the South Island of New Zealand. The Earth Mother and the Sky Father had kids. 

A Maori wood carving in the Otago Museum

Those kids were sailing in their canoe to visit the Earth Mother when a terrible storm struck. Their canoe flipped over, leaving them up on top of the canoe (trying to stay dry). The rain from the storm was magical, and so it turned them all to stone on top of their canoe. That stone is now the South Island. The sons are now the highest mountains of the South Island. 

Aoraki/Mt. Cook - the oldest son

Another story I have heard about is a story about how some rock got to the shape that it did. The story is that there was a giant, evil lizard. The lizard kept on coming back to terrorize a town. It came back every single year and killed one maiden. But one year, the maiden knew that the lizard was going to come for her. So she took up arms and killed the lizard.  She scattered his scales everywhere with a single blow, turning them to stone. The rock formations they say are the lizard’s stone scales.

The scales of Te Ngārara Huarau

In conclusion, the Māori are a very interesting people with many different customs and traditions. They also had many interesting beliefs and stories.

Which way to The Shire?

I don't normally post blogs on a single destination, but this movie set for scenes from The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings (LOTR) was among my top priorities for this trip (see a film clip here from LOTR of its first appearance). As a short person with hairy feet (yes, the truth comes out), I have always identified with halflings. For the past ten days, our friends Michael and Lyna (from Fran's California days) joined us for our exploration of the North Island, including Hobbiton, the Movie Set. We were grateful for the gorgeous weather that has graced our entire trip.

The mill and stone bridge that can be seen in the movie

The big fans, in front of Bag End, Bilbo's house

Even if you are not a fan of the J.R. Tolkien books or Peter Jackson's work, you might just appreciate the design, attention to detail and adorable whimsy of this 5.5 hectare (14 acre) creation.

The scale is awe inspiring: 44 hobbit holes, at various scales so as to make the actors either look small or big. We had opted to begin with the "Shire's feast" (a delicious buffet lunch), followed by the tour of Hobbiton. It is so big that you must travel with a tour guide, and even then she said that people get lost.

Our gang, including "Uncle" Michael and "Auntie" Lyna, visiting from the States. We are coming out of one of the Gamgee doors.

The tour was full of wonderful stories about the selection of that particular sheep farm (because it had a large tree by a pond and no evidence of other human habitation), and the creation of some of the scenes. It now takes a grounds staff of two dozen hard working people to maintain the site for tourists, including gorgeous plantings, all real (except for one detail, see below).

One of my favorite stories was the filming of the touching very last scene of the LOTR's trilogy, which takes place in The Shire. In it Sean Astin, the actor who played Sam Gamgee, Frodo's loyal companion, is "coming home" to a wife and two small children. This is presumably a few years after the big return, to show that he finally had the guts to ask his crush of many years to marry, and we can see in everyone's faces how grateful they are to be together, even the four-ish year old daughter. The actress who plays his wife actually had a baby, so that part was easy. For the older child who was to run to him, they decided to use Astin's actual daughter, which was kept as a surprise from him. He had not seen her in months because of the filming schedule, so the joy in seeing her is real, as is his interest in the new baby of his acting companion. They only needed one take (it's worth watching again with this in mind).

Bag End, Bilbo Baggin's house, with the sign featured at the beginning of the Lord of the Rings series. Note the realistic but fake tree above.

Another interesting fact was that the oak tree above Bilbo's house is completely realistic... and completely fake. This was because they filmed The Hobbit after The LOTR, which is the wrong order chronologically. Thus, they had to replace a real tree with a younger, smaller version for the second trilogy. I hate that they cut down a majestic old oak but had to marvel at the artistry of its replacement.

The detail of the set was staggering- each hobbit hole was distinct and identifiable by hundreds of tiny props: the small bee-boxes and jars of honey, the doll-size ceramic mugs, the real leather saddle fit for a hobbit, and on and on.

Jeremy at the cheesemakers house

Notice the tiny chess set!

In fact, the miniaturization was a large part of the appeal, reminding me of my doll-house days.  I delighted in every detail. But this was nothing compared to Jeremy's excitement. He said, "I never thought I would get to see this in my lifetime!"

Perhaps the town drunk's house, the carpenter's or both. See the tiny tools!

Jeremy in front of the Green Dragon Inn, in heaven.

The final stop of the tour was the Green Dragon Inn, where we were treated to ale in ceramic mugs; we all passed on the beer, I had the hard cider, and most others had the ginger beer, all delicious.

At the Green Dragon Inn, behind the bar

The Inn also features a guest book with plenty of recognizable names!

Legolas!

Gandolf!

 In all, it really was a dream come true, at least for Jeremy and me.

Close Encounters of the Bird Kind

Jeremy, age 10, is our guest blogger as a homeschool assignment. He chose the topic- his new favorite type of animal, the dominant native fauna of New Zealand. Make sure you view the movie of our scary encounter with a kea. Enjoy!

Jeremy and a paradise duck visitor

This blog essay is about the birds I have learned about here in New Zealand. I have learned about birds in existence, and I have also learned about extinct birds. I have learned about land birds, flying birds, and even water-dwelling birds.

Model of Haast eagle

 First let’s talk about extinct birds. One of the main extinct birds that I have heard about is the Haast eagle. The Haast eagle was gigantic. It was the largest bird ever recorded. It had an average weight of 500 lbs, and an average wingspan of 10 ft. 

Stuffed South Island giant moa at the Aukland Museum (with Jeremy for scale)

Another extinct bird is a moa. A moa is another huge bird. I think that moa look a lot like ostriches because of the fact that they are both big and flightless. Now I will tell you how they became extinct. The way that moa became extinct was the Maori. The Maori are the native people of New Zealand. They were the ones who hunted the moa to extinction. And that didn't work out so well for the Haast eagle because --fun fact-- Haast eagles ate moa so you can imagine that the eagle didn’t have so much to eat and... yeah.

Three of the five species of kiwi, at the Aukland Museum. They are strictly nocturnal, so it is hard to photograph them. Jeremy gets upset when he sees a photo of one taken during the day, saying that "it's cruel to the kiwis."

Next let’s talk about land birds. New Zealand has a lot of land birds. The main reason is that New Zealand doesn't have any [native] mammals. This is because New Zealand became an island before mammals evolved. The reason why it's so hard for these birds is because of the new, introduced species of mammals.

I will now list some of New Zealand's birds: kiwi, takahe, kakapo, pokeko, and a lot of others.

 

Now let’s talk about flying and gliding birds. There is the gliding albatross, the cheeky kea, the playful fantail, the singing bell bird, and many more. 

Fantails are super friendly- this one followed us on a walk

As I said earlier the kea is very mischievous. I will now list some of the mischievous things that keas will do: they will destroy your windshield wipers, and your hiking boots. They will also steal your car keys and your wallet.

 

And last let's talk about water-dwelling birds including penguins. New Zealand has two types of penguins: little blues and yellow eyed penguins (YEP). The little blues are slightly shorter and have blue back feathers. 

The YEP have yellow crowns of feathers. 

There are also paradise ducks, black swans, and shags. 

Jeremy with young shag (also known as a cormorant) 

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In conclusion, I hope you liked my essay about what I have learned about birds in New Zealand. New Zealand has changed my perspective on birds forever.  I LOVE BIRDS NOW!

model of New Zealand giant penguin, now extinct