Rangitoto

There once was a Tupua couple on the North Island. These Tupua were children of the Fire Gods. One day, while they were home in Auckland, they quarreled and cursed the goddess of fire, Mahuika. The slighted Mahuika petitioned Mataoho, the god of earthquakes and eruptions, for his help. Mataoho created an eruption that swallowed the Tupua couple's home, creating a hole in Auckland - a lake replaced land. At the same time, the strength of that eruption thrust an island volcano up from the ocean.

In this way, Rangitoto was born.

Rangitoto is a now supposedly extinct volcano near Auckland. The picture featured above, stolen from Google, shows the beautiful island at sunset (or sunrise?). One Saturday morning - my definition of morning equates to the afternoon for most people - I went with a small fellowship of people. We were eager to climb to the top of that volcano... and we were anxious to throw in and, thus, destroy a ring that we had acquired.

Uh...

Oh. Sorry. That's the wrong story. I'm short, but I'm not that short. And unlike my brother, my legs aren't as hairy as a hobbit's.

Anyway. One Saturday morning (at 11:00am or so), I left UniLodge for the ferry terminal on Quay St. I passed by a Gelato store, did my best to ignore the big ads for a Gelato Burger, and promised myself that I would return later. With a bagged lunch in hand, I boarded the ferry.

We ate our self-made sandwiches on the second deck of the ferry, then proceeded to take pictures as the boat slowly sang its high-pitched farewell to the beautiful city. Yes. These pictures are actually taken from my camera.

That's my first picture. You can see the dock, the other boats, and the city. I took this from the ferry, so you can see it in the frame.


We're slowly leaving the city. More tall buildings.

Ah. Finally. We're far enough away to actually see the skyline. You can see Sky Tower, the big needly thing there. It's no longer as clear though.

The ferry trip cost us $20 per person. I would guess that's somewhere between $16-$18 USD, but my estimation skills are horrible. It actually wasn't too bad... and we got to see a bit of what Devonport looks like. The ferry stopped there first, letting off some passengers and picking up some others.

Devonport, by the way, is a small community in Auckland. It's one of those places where everyone knows everyone else... but, since I actually did take a trip there, I'll save Devonport for another post. I forgot to bring my camera, though, so I'll have to tell that story without any pictures.

Once the ferry left Devonport, we finally landed on the shores of Rangitoto. There were a couple small buildings around the dock... there was a little house, an old truck, bathrooms, and a larger tourist truck thingy that provided a tour of the island for the lazy people.

Surprisingly, I didn't take that tour. I actually hiked up....

My first impressions?

Did you see Mama Mia? Other than the volcanic rock that made up the island, this place felt like the island in Mama Mia... minus the singing and the locals.

Here's a bit of the rocky shore.

Once the ferry had left, we had no choice but to make our way up to the top of the volcano. We had three hours until the last ferry left the island, and we had a two hour hike in front of us - an hour up the island and an hour down. Though there were occasional constructed paths (all the paths were undoubtedly man-made), the majority of the trails were tramps over loose, volcanic rock. There were a couple fallen logs in the way and small puddles that remained from the last rainfall. It's winter in New Zealand, after all... but I definitely prefer this winter to the winter back home.

The perilous, rocky path.

Since Rangitoto is relatively young for a volcano, vegetation's slow, and animal life is sparse. There are a couple birds... and my imagination warns me that there are killer ants under all the rocks... but we really didn't see too much wild life.

We did, however, see a pretty tree.

Pretty tree!



There's this field where ferns are supposed to grow... in the summer. There aren't any ferns there now... but look at how flat that piece of land is. It's uncanny.


We were at a rest area with a good view of Auckland. You can just make out the Sky Tower from here.

Oh. And since I said that there were a lot of rocks... I guess I should stop showing you the green, and satisfy the thirsty Geo majors out there.

Volcanic rock surrounded by trees and stuff. You can also see the tip of my finger. That's how you know I took the picture. My little sister would be proud... Either that, or she's at home, shaking her head at this.

Oooh. Let's zoom in all the rocks. Pretty rocks.



Gah. Fine! Here's one picture of me... and more rocks. This picture's for my parents... so please just cover me with your thumb. Thank you.

After an hour of strenuous hiking, we finally reached the top. The sudden increase in man-made paths and structures alerted us to our arrival, and a new sound reached our ears. Birds were chirping... and, since we could finally relax for a bit, I figured it was a sign that we had reached Mt. Olympus' peak.

Things are out of order here... but here's the walkway that lines the peak.

Oh right. Before we actually reached the volcano's summit, we reached a crater. It was this big hole in the ground... covered by an impenetrable group of trees. I strained to see the bottom of the crater, but I wasn't tall enough.

You can just make out the center of the crater.


A pretty bird on the walkway to the summit.

And, finally, the view from the top:

When we finished playing with our evil cameras, we turned around and took the hour hike back down. When we were going up, we told ourselves that the trip the other way would be easier....

Needless to say, my hike down resulted in nearly-twisted ankles. We encountered more unstable rocks on the way down... and my downhill leg muscles suffered. I think we saw two kids trip, fall, and cry. Don't worry - their parents were with them.

By the time we reached the bottom, my legs were sore... and a big, purple bruise had appeared on my left ankle. We rested while we waited for the ferry to return, walked slowly on, and sat inside the ferry on our way back to the city. I think I napped during that trip....

After that nap, we treated ourselves to some gelato. I used this opportunity to try out the gelato burger. It's essentially a hot donut with cold gelato in the center. Delicious.

Anyway, I returned back to UniLodge, inspected my bruise, and decided to ignore it. I proceeded to go to fencing that Thursday night for some interaction with Kiwi fencers... which is always fun... before I returned home for some much needed sleep.

EDIT: I lied about the date... twice. Mixed that up. I thought it was a Saturday... and then thought it was a Thursday... when, in reality, it was a Monday.

Home...

Now that orientation's over - and it's been over for at least a week - things have settled down a bit.

On the less adventurous/more real life side of New Zealand, I've moved into UniLodge in Auckland. For most people, it's five to ten minutes down the street from the University of Auckland campus. And.. uh, for me... I guess five to fifteen minutes sound about right. I haven't had to go anywhere too hilly, though, and the Arts/Anthropology building's just right on my street. If most of my classes are in there, I'll be fine.

But, before I talk about anything else, let me introduce you to my new home.

My bedroom. A little messy...

My living room! You can see my bedroom in the corner there.

The kitchen. It's on the other side of the living room. You can also see a random bedroom through that door.

My... bathroom. Two of them... for a flat with four people.

The view from my window. You can see the harbor... and my reflection.

And that's all for now. There will be more later, but.. I'm currently busy Skyping with my cousin. Hope you enjoyed the, uh, tour.

The End of Orientation

A picture of a Whare Hui on a Marae. Not the one that we stayed at, though - this one's googled.

Alright.. I'm back. I was a little sick these past two days and couldn't gather up the energy to write here. It's... tiring, you know, pushing down the keys on a keyboard. Takes, uh, a lot of energy.

Right, um. So we're back on the bus, waiting outside the Marae when Andrew, one of the Butler staff, gestures for us to get off. He must have heard the welcoming calls of a Maori woman - the summons, the beginning of the karanga, sets off a series of back and forth exchanges between a female from the host party and a female from the visiting party. A Maori woman (possibly from another tribe?) joins our group to perform the reciprocal calls in the Maori language.

According to the briefing that we had the previous night (a briefing that taught us Maori pronunciation and the basic protocol of this powhiri/welcoming ceremony), this exchange of greetings is a time to remember those who have recently passed away. It also states the purpose of the upcoming meeting.

As the karanga took place, the group stepped through the gates and onto the Marae. We took slow steps forward... with the women in front and the men behind us. The only men who stood in front of us were the two students whom the women had voted as our speakers for the night. We all stood there, shivering in the cold, as the next part of the powhiri began.

Then came the Taki or Wero (I'm getting these two names from Wikipedia which we all know is... an extremely reliable source). For our group, this meant that a Maori man in the traditional outfit of a Maori warrior came out of the Whare hui (I'm getting this from memory) and slowly advanced towards us with a staff in hand.

I was shivering with three layers of heavy clothes on, and this man didn't even have a shirt on; for a second, I wondered how he could stand the cold... or if the adrenaline from the ceremony pushed those thoughts aside.

Anyway, he advanced towards us with a mixture of battle cries, intimidating glares, and thrusts of his staff. He came right up to our two male student speakers and thrust the spear by their faces... then stopped, backed off, and placed a small branch and leaf onto the ground. One of those speakers stepped forward and slowly picked up the branch. Then the Maori man retreated back into the Whare hui, and we followed.

We had to, of course, take off our shoes as we entered the Whare hui. We were later told that the whare hui is the women's domain. The columns surrounding the doors were a women's leg and the room inside is the womb where its occupants are watched over and protected. As the next part of the welcoming ceremony began, the women (who were previously in the front) filed into the last three rows of seats while the men filed into the first two rows. This setup is supposed to act as a defense for the women - if the host warriors were to attack, the men would be able to protect the women.

The host elder and speaker stood up and welcomed us in the Maori language. While the Maori warrior who had given us the branch outside had been in traditional garb, this elder was wearing a western outfit - pants, t-shirt, jacket, etc. I had realized that the majority of the ceremony had been a bit of a show, designed for visiting students. We were told, later, that this Marae wasn't open for tourists... and, while I truly respect the ceremony and the culture, I wondered if a group of visiting students deserved the honor that such a ceremony traditionally grants.

Regardless, I did greatly appreciate the experience of the ceremony. As the host elder gave his speech, I sat back and listened to the language - taking the time to both enjoy the undercurrents of the speech without understanding its literal meaning. I examined the designs on the walls and the figures (with their glowing, seashell eyes and the extended tongue) and waited for the speech to end. When it did, the group of Maori hosts all stood up and sang. The singing that follows a speech acts as a signal that the rest of the group agrees with what their speaker has said. When the song ended, the Maori hosts sat down.

It was our turn to give our speeches.

Two students and the Maori man who taught us the basics of the protocol of this ceremony (a man from another tribe) acted as our speakers. After each speech, we all stood up and sang a song. As I wrote before, our group sang two Maori songs and one American one - Amazing Grace. If you're interested, here are the words to the two songs. I'll.. keep them here as a reminder to myself later on:

Tutira Mai
Tutira mai nga iwi
Tatou tatou e
Tutira mai nga iwi
Tatou tatou e
Whaia te maramatanga
Me te aroha, e nga iwi
Kia ko tapatahi
Kia kotahi ra
Tatou tatou e
Tatou tatou e

Te Ahroha
Te aroha
Te whakapono
Me te rangimarie
Tatou, tatou e
(Repeat)

--
If you're interested, wh is pronounced f in the Maori language. Go ahead and try singing it. I'm sure you'll be able to google the tunes. It was.. quite fun, even though I'm glad that the overall singing drowned out my horrible singing voice.

Once the speeches and the songs were done, we all went up and gave a Hongi to each of the host Maori. A Hongi is a Maori greeting, where each person shake hands and press their noses against one another. It is a traditional "sharing of the breath of life" (once again from the extremely reliable Wikipedia).

If you're wondering about the pictures... I still hadn't found my camera, and we weren't allowed to take pictures during the ceremony anyway. But here's a googled image of the hongi.


That marked the end of the ceremony and the beginning of the feast. We went to the dining hall (there's another name for this, but my memory's failing me here) and ate a great meal. The meat was cooked underground - the chefs dug a hole in the ground, buried the food, and cooked it all with burning coals. During the meal, a group of Maori men and women performed on stage for us.


This image, I actually stole from a friend's blog... but this is the group of people I saw and it's taken while I was watching. I should be... a good bit behind the camera. Anyway, they showed us some traditional dances and items. There was a ball on a string - once used as a training implement for young men - as a part of the dance, as well as a small club. Several of the female students were dragged up for a dance involving the aptly-named ball on a string. Afterwards, the guys were dragged up and disrobed.

That's.. um.. right.

Then they were all taught the haka. The haka, from what I could gather, is a war dance that involves stamping, making lots of noise, sticking your tongue out, bulging your eyes, and, in short, making yourself as intimidating as possible. If you haven't seen it, you need to youtube a video of the New Zealand All Blacks (the #1 rugby team in the world) performing it. It's.. pretty intense.

After the show (and a reciprocal thank you via a magic effect for the performers), we cleaned up and reentered the whare hui for a good night's sleep. We lay mattresses out on the floor, set up the pillows, pulled out our sleeping bags, and prepared for a moe (sleep).

But, because we weren't tired yet... and it was our last night with everyone - some of the students would be leaving for Christchurch and the Butler staff were probably tired of us by that point - I performed some more magic. After half an hour or so, we returned to our sleeping bags and sat bag to an information session by a Maori woman who told us a bit about Maori history, religion, and politics.

When she was done, we finally closed our eyes and passed out for the night.

7 July: The next day, we woke up to our last good breakfast. Once we finished, some of us helped with the dishes while we waited for the farewell ceremony. When all the eating and the cleaning was done, individual students took turns standing up to thank our hosts. Then one of our male student speakers stood up to give the final farewell and handed our small hosts a small tree. We all stood up and sang Te Ahroha one last time.

When we finished, our hosts gave their speeches and sang their songs. We ended with a farewell hongi, gathered our stuff, and left the Marae with both a lot of new information, an amazing experience, and, it seems, new Maori relatives.

Before we left for the airport to drop off half our group, the Butler staff had one final mystery destination for us. The bus drove us through Auckland and into... the Villa Maria Vineyard for some wine tasting. We wafted the scent, twirled the glass, wafted more, sipped, gurgled, and swallowed. We were supposed to spit it back out, but our guide through the building forgot to take out the spitting bowl thingies.

We tried two white wines and two red ones - I took small sips of each and swallowed a lot of water afterwards. Honestly, though, the sweeter wines were manageable, flavor-wise. It's a good place to bring my parents if they come down....

Afterwards, we got a tour of the interior of the vineyard. A machine fills up the bottles, caps them, labels them, and cleans them, while humans package the bottles into boxes. The first and last forty bottles of wine are discarded each day to ensure quality; these bottles, of course, end up in the hands of the vineyard's staff. After some students bought bottles of wine (to take home for their parents, of course), we loaded back onto the bus and headed to the airport.

We gave the other students a brief farewell before heading to our new home in Auckland - UniLodge. And thus ends our orientation - what I call Camp New Zealand. The next stage is the "living on your own" stage... and then, finally, comes school.

But we're not there yet.. and I think I'm done for the day.

Astonishment in Aotearoa

I'm writing from Aotearoa, the Land of the Long White Cloud. In English, Aotearoa is crudely translated to "New Zealand." It's a small island nation off the coast of Australia with rolling hills, beautiful harbors, glaciers, many species of endangered flightless birds, flocks upon flocks of sheep, and, of course, it's home to the legendary hobbits.

Fortunately, it seems my very presence on this island has driven New Zealand's monkeys into the sea... where they are all currently permanently checking their eyelids for holes. What does that mean? Go ahead. Check your own eyelids for holes. Check for a minute or two... and then imagine doing that for ETERNITY.

While you check your eyelids, I'll go ahead and talk about my experiences these past few days. It's been wicked fun... and, as they say here, totally sweet as!

Yeah.. er.. By the way, since I didn't manage to take my camera out of my bags yet for this four day orientation, I'll find pictures online to show you what I saw.

July 2nd: I got onto an Air New Zealand jet from LAX. On the plane, I watched 21 (about Black Jack) while the flight attendants served some of us free red wine and coffee. I was a little surprised by the wine, but it was a sign that I had left the States.

July 4th: After thirteen hours on a plane, I discovered that a giant line in the middle of the Pacific Ocean has eaten the 3rd of July. I also discovered that it was no longer 7/4. It was 4/7. And, worst of all, it was winter.

I called home, traded my nice, green rectangular dollars for colorful and strangely cut Monopoly money, and set foot onto Middle Earth. I discovered that food here is called "kai," and the comment "sweet as" actually means "cool" or... "awesome" or.. something like that. It's not actually a comment on.. you know... er.. yeah.

The organizers of the IFSA-Butler program picked us up from the airport and helped us combat our jet lag by spraying water on us every time we drifted towards sleep. No... wait. Nature did that all by itself. We went for a wander around our orientation place, also known as Shakespear Lodge. I watched two giant, hairy pigs eat the previous day's leftovers, learned a bit about the sheep shearing process, and dodged sheep poo and puddles of water on a hike (here, a hike is known as a tramp) up a hill towards a lookout point. There, I saw the beautiful scenery, the faraway city of Auckland across the bay, and a small island where the nation's indigenous animals and plants are watched over and protected.

I stayed in that blue house there.

I'm disappointed that I didn't managed to dig my camera out of my luggage by then, but the staff and my fellow IFSA-Butler students took a lot of pictures. At one point I'll get those pictures from them, and I'll put the real ones up.

Once the wander around the place was over, we went back to the Lodge for some kai (food).

The beach where we kayaked.

Then, with my leg muscles sore from the short hike, I jumped on a kayak with another student and paddled a bit around the shore. There was a shipwreck by the beach (literally), a constant wind pushing us back, and a little shore with little crabs, snails, and sharp rocks. I hopped around a bit on bare feet before paddling back. On our way back, one of our kayaking guides decided that we should play a little game. We pulled two kayaks together. My fellow rower and I sat, straddling the two boats, and used everything we had in us to pull the two boats together... while the other two rowers stood up and rowed...

An authoritative voice ordered all four of us to stand.
All of a sudden, three of us were standing. I was still sitting, trying to stand... and - no - the boats were separating. I sat back down, trying to pull the two together. Without my partner, I failed.

And, needless to say, I happened to be one of the three people there that day who fell into the cold, winter salt water.

After some more kai and a quick warm rinse in the shower, we went to some hot springs where we could finally warm up and relax. There was more kai after that and, finally, at 8pm, I hit the sleeping bag.

5 July: The next day, we started off with a morning Pub-less Quiz that both tested and informed us about basic New Zealand stuff. The Quiz was formatted as a multiple choice competition between small groups. At one point or another, each group had to give a little presentation/skit/song/dance/anything about the previous day. I used this time to introduce a little magic to the trip... and did that one, you know, where "The card just went all the way to the other side."

Heh.. it wasn't too hard, but it was effective. And fun.

Then came the Rogaining. I think it stands for... "Recreational outdoor gaming activity involving navigation." It was basically a gigantic scavenger hunt across the entire establishment... up and down small mountains, across electric fences, through sheep paddocks and poop hills, across streams and small rivers, and... well... wow. My leg muscles swelled and ached, my hiking boots are covered in mud, and I was soaked in the cold rain. But wow. Despite all that, I have to admit... it was kinda fun.

And, if you were wondering, my group got 5th place out of 8th. Not great work, but not too shabby either.

After getting wet and eating some kai, we went out onto a grass field near the beach (I guess everything here is near the beach) and learned to play Rugby. It wasn't too hard. The back and forth movement is tiring on the legs, but they're getting used to the movement... and hey - I think my defense isn't too bad.

After rugby dried us up, it was time for the "activity of your choice" time. We could either do some rock climbing (up and down a wall), shoot some arrows in an archery session, go mountain biking, or try our hand at mountain boarding.

I decided to take the risk... and go down a giant hill on what was, essentially, a skateboard.

Yeah. Um. I screamed a bit. Fell a bit. Twisted my ankles and legs into weird positions. Fell face first into sheep poo... and turned my pants into a yucky brown color. That's all. Wasn't much to it.

Then I showered. Was briefed on the correct procedure to use in the Maori welcoming ceremony. And fell asleep soon afterwards (thus missing my first chance to watch an All Blacks rugby game).

6 July: The IFSA-Butler staff separated us into Auckland University students and Canterbury students. We were briefed on academic information and campus life... then we learned two Maori songs and an American one (Amazing Grace). We packed and loaded the trucks. While we waited to leave, the guys played cricket...

We went to the Auckland Museum and then we headed off to the Marae...

Since it seems I've gotten to the point where I'm skipping over some major details, I'll save the Marae visit for another day. I want to do this part some credit. I'll be back later to finish this up. Good bye for now.