A Journey to The Island, Part 2: "If you hear a crunch, you've just killed an endangered species."

Somes Island's sole inhabitants are the two D.O.C. rangers that live in their small houses. After about 5:30, Jo left us to our own devices and went back home for the night. After learning that the penguins on the island were only visible for two hours after dusk, we made a point of quickly going back to our house and making dinner so as to budget our time correctly. Continuing the fantastic motif of feeding us for free, the rangers had stocked our refrigerator with many great ingredients for dinner. I did find the choice of food a bit humerous, though, as they seemed to reflect the stereotypical American food: Burgers, chips, fries, apple pie and oreos and ice cream. I could just see  the kiwis going "I-I don't know what they eat...just get them some burgers or something." To be fair, we were really happy with the choice of food, especially since they don't sell oreos here (it's some ripoff brand) and they were definitely imported specially for us. Fantastic. 

We spent about 20 minutes looking for "the grill" that Jo had mentioned. We pictured a glorious outside charcoal grill in which to have an authentic american barbecue (albeit without any actual barbecue sauce). We came to the conclusion that "the grill" was probably just the plain old gas stove inside of the house. A bit of a shame, because there's really nothing better than grilling burgers on an outside grill. Anyways, what followed was the most absurd and unique form of burger grilling that I've personally ever witnessed. We basically used a huge wok-like pan that covered the length of two burners and dumped all of the burgers, onions, and mushrooms on it at once. I declared myself grill master and manned the wok. We were all pretty hungry so the food got done fast, despite the oven refusing to preheat. We ended up cooking the fries with the burgers on the grill. Innovative. Burgers here taste VERY VAGUELY of sausage, at least much more so than beef. This coupled with the fact that they did not think to provide us with ketchup (I'm telling you, they just don't get the concept here) led me to give the burgers probably about a 6.5 out of ten. Nothing awful, but nothing earth-shattering. Again, though, it was free, so I can't complain. Here's a few choice scenery shots that I grabbed at dusk along with some stills of dinner.

Still big on the Garden of Eden theory

This is near the top, the only signs of human civilization on the entire island.

See the harbor opening up into the Pacific Ocean in the distance.

After dinner, the quest began. We left at about 7:30, knowing that we had only about an hour to find some penguins. When one is presented with the opportunity to see penguins, one does not tarry. The pace was unrelenting and the pace was brisk. While walking along the infinitely dark, increasingly curvy paths of this isolated, lonely island, Jo's parting words continued to echo in my head: "If you hear a crunch, you've just killed an endangered species." The New Zealand Weta was plentiful on this island, and being a noctournal species, they spend their spare time sitting directly in the middle of all the footpaths on the island during the night. They are undetectable, sort of intimidating, and also very endangered. I'm absolutely sure I killed at least five just by walking through the paths, every time I actually looked down with a flashlight I saw myself just narrowly missing one. RIP Wetas; The lord giveth, and the lord taketh away. Amen.

Fun Fact: Peter Jackson's visual effects studio is called "Weta Workshop"

So basically we spend the night discussing how frighteningly close our situation was to a horror film. We were on a small, isolated island with no electricity (the generators turned off at 9:30) with literally one other person on the island and far outside of our reach. It was pitch black aside from Aaron's cavediving headlight (the luminescence from the city didn't reach us) and our group consisted mostly of females. You know how the horror films always have the last surviving person be a female? The odds were with us that that'd happen. Also, it was a full moon. Anyways, we trekked along in the quiet darkness of this nature reserve for about two hours, searching for the ever elusive blue penguin. At last, on the shores of the sea, came the end of our search. We found one sleeping underneath some rubble from a knocked down World War II hospital that used to be on the island. We were definitely intrusive and annoying humans (we tried to snap as many photos as possible) but WE SAW A PENGUIN. How often can you see a penguin, really? This country is great. The poor thing was just trying to get some sleep, but we shoved our cameras in its face for as long as possible. Victory.

"Dude, go away."

Other activities that night included an awesome inventive photo session involving a camera with a 40 second lens exposure setting, resulting in many awesome doodles in the air with a flashlight. Now, we all have our talents. That night I learned that "light drawing" is not one of mine. However, you may observe one of my many failed attempts to draw my name in the air with a flashlight. It's actually very difficult because you have to write backwards and inverted so that the camera can capture it as readable to the Naked Eye. I'm actually sort of happy with my attempt at "William" (despite it's almost nonexistent form and backwards "a"...the a really confused me); I successfully dotted the second "i" with the moon. 

The night was very strange. Our generator turned off at 9:30, and we found ourselves hanging out in an electricity-deprived house on a small isolated island. It was pretty cool. We found a couple spare candles and lit them on the table. At this point, some of us wanted to play some cards, but most of the volunteers were wiped out and we all ended up going to bed relatively early. I was happy I did this, as I was able to catch a hot shower in the narrow time window (7:30-8:30 a.m.) that our water heater was on. 

I took this picture of the candles and I think it's awesome.

Before I go, quick P.S. with my cousin James in mind. I saw some really cool geckos on the first day. I was shoveling out weeds/quarantining them in big bags and about 100 little geckos came scrambling out periodically; they had made a home in the pile. I was a bit sad to be shoveling their home away, but the pile was made of infestious weed growth, so no loss. We found a few squirming tales at the bottom of the pile, but I guess at those numbers, an occasional tail trim is inevitable. I hear they grow them back. Anyways, here's a picture of me with a smaller baby gecko. I'll get some better ones when I go back to the island in a couple of weeks. I also got a quick video so you can see what it moved like. They like to flick their tongues a lot; it's how they smell things.

I've got to write a big chunk of a paper now, but more coming soon. Sorry I've slowed down a bit with the postings, it's my midterm week, but break is coming so soon you'll be overwhelmed with a torrent of endless posts. Prepare yourselves. 

The Little Differences

After six weeks of observation, I thought I'd take a moment to reflect upon small differences that I've noticed here in language, culture, and everyday life in the last six weeks. The overall way of life and social norms are basically the same as the United States, but small differences in "lingo" often throw me off. I think I've done alright adjusting to this, and I've already begun to find myself taking a few of these terms on in my everyday life.

- Where we would say "tons", they say "heaps". I haven't adapted this one yet, but I've seen some really funny New Zealand tee-shirts that just say HEEPZ in capital letters. 

- As I've already mentioned, they call restrooms/bathrooms "toilets". This actually makes a lot more sense.

- There is a tendency, some showing it more frequently than others, to add the syllable "ay" to the end of a sentence when stating a fact that the other person should rhetorically agree upon. They don't really raise the end of the sentence in a question mark way (this is more of a canadian thing), but rather utter it as another normal word at the end of a statement.

- As the Kiwi accent is basically a hybrid mix of English and Australian, a lot of Aussie lingo creeps over here. The word "reckon" is used frequently. 

- Probably the coolest and most recognizable/easy to adapt term here is "cheers". Cheers can be used in a wide cornicopia of different circumstances, but it's most commonly uttered in place of "thanks". I've personally began to train myself to say "cheers", but am not yet comfortable enough to feel like I've sufficiently thanked the person. Because of this, I am at a sort of compromising crossroads where I now say something like "Cheers. Thank you." This way I've adapted the awesome lingo AND feel like I've actually thanked the person. Cheers alone doesn't feel comfortable enough yet.

- Kindergardens are called "creches". I know this because there's one down the street on my way to school. Is this french or something? I'm not sure. 

- Kiwis aren't really sure how to make the following things: Ketchup (it's called tomato sauce and has a slight barbaque aftertaste with an overly runny texture), Peanut Butter (it's rather sweet and less dense), Ranch Dressing (they just don't make this), Root Beer/Cream Soda (bloody shame), and I have yet to find a simple bag of frozen meatballs. 

- Credits cards are replaced by EFTPOS cards, basically the same concept, just a harder acronym to say.

- I also periodically hear such australian sounding terms as "She'll be right" (it's alright), and "good on ya" (good for you).

- McDonalds has a "KiwiBurger", which is a regular hamburger (you're on board so far, I know) with an egg on top (Blasphemy).

- Fast food in general (Burger King and McDonalds) is much classier here, and I often find that the inside aesthetics look something like a Johnny Rockets. I think that this is their idea of the "American Ideal": the shiny, everybody smiling look of the '50s. 

- Being a small, isolated country, everything is a commodity here. I went to a fish shop yesterday where you have to pay 90 cents for every small packet of ketchup you used. They charge your internet by the space you use, not the speed you get. Things just aren't as plentiful here. It's far from being impoverished or lacking, but things just cost a bit more.

- Speaking of which, a coke costs four dollars. I'm not lying.

- I've already spoken about this but the money is just downright exciting. It's colorful and multisized. I don't carry cash around much though, which is a shame.

- People generally like Americans here, especially after Obama came into office. They still love to have a go at Bush, which none of us really mind.

- "Have a go", there's another one that I've sort of adapted.

- Outlets are indeed frowny shaped, and there is a little switch next to all outlets that turn them on or off. I suppose this saves energy. Also, there are no toilet handles or lightswitches, but different little tabs that you click up or down. 

- Central heating isn't big here, and people are usually fond of space heaters (I rock one of those) or just wearing a bunch of sweaters. To each his own.

- "Classes" are called "Papers"

- All the taxes are included in all of your purchases. Not having to mentally add 7 percent to everything is fantastic.

- Nobody tips here. It's not rude, it's just not socially required or even expected. Kiwis gape when I tell them of how much money I make delivering pizzas off of tips. Interesting.

- I'm not sure what term they use to replace it, but the concept of learning through "grades" (i.e. 1st grade, 2nd grade) is unknown here, and I often get confused faces when I mention a grade I was in at a certain time. I then have to translate to how old I was instead.

- Obviously Celsius is used here, but I've gotten quite good at doing the conversion in my head. It's actually very easy once you get used to it.

That's all I can think of for now, but this list will be ongoing and probably limitless. 

Bill

A Journey to The Island, Part 1: Extreme Planting

Hi, everyone. Sorry about the lack of posts recently, I've been trying to keep up with my readings and I suppose I'm also a tiny bit lazy. Onward with the grand narrative...

Four weeks of interesting but increasingly tedious schoolwork yielded a fair amount of local exploration around the Wellington area, but inside of me laid an ever growing thirst for a more nature-rich, truly "New Zealand" experience. Last weekend, in what turned out to be a very lucky choice of dates weather-wise, My study abroad program organized a weekend volunteer project at Matiu-Somes Island, a small land mass laying in the middle of Wellington harbor, visible from most high points in the city. Somes Island was originally used as a quarantine area for infected immigrants seeking to enter Wellington, followed by an animal quarantine station, followed by what has now become a rather extensive and beautiful nature reserve. I was very excited for the opportunity to see another beautiful piece of the country and to give back to the land I now inhabit, and the forecast foretold sunny skies and not much wind. 

I awoke around 7:45 a.m., a time which would have struck extreme fear into my heart at home but one that I've grown used to after choosing 9 a.m. classes. It's good to get the most out of the sunlight as it sets at 5:30 during the winter here. I had a pretty decent breakfast (I've branched out from just eggs recently into more gourmet options such as sausages and oatmeal. Exciting.) and packed quickly. I've yet to buy a sleeping bag so I packed my top two layers of sheets into my pack along with a change of clothes and some toiletries. I also found an ingenius method of attaching my pillow to my pack through a loop on the side. It only gets more exciting from here.

The walk from my flat to Wellington Harbor is a solid 25 minute walk, but I probably walk through the city more extensively than this at least 4 times a week, so it wasn't a huge deal for me, even with the pack on. I am noticing my stamina increasing very slowly after living in this walking-intensive city, which I'm happy about. A few friends and I met up at the top of the hill and made our way down the impossibly steep slope known as Vivian Street. I'll expand more on Vivian Street later, but to make a long story short, it's everything evil in the world manifested in a city street. It's the quickest way home but is legitimately at a 70 degree angle uphill. To make matters worse, at this angle, you look equally as ridiculous going down the street than you do going up it. 

So we trekked down Vivian, walked across the city through Willis St., and came at last to the shores of the sea at Wellington Harbor. At this point it was about 9:35, and our wharf departed at 10:00. After some confusion of which boat to go on and how to get tickets and a solid 20 minutes of sitting in silence/staring into the abyss due to the fact that we still hadn't really awoken, we shuffled onto the Daily Post ferry, soon to set out for Somes Island. The weather channel didn't lie (a rare occurence around here; weather is ever changing and impossible to predict) and we enjoyed a beautiful, cloudless day with minimal winds, about 15 degrees Celsius. I'm going to act really smart and pompous and leave it at that, letting all you Americans calculate the Fahrenheit on your own. 

Wellington City seen from the water.

After about 20 minutes we began to approach the island. Myself and several others, without prior planning, all found ourselves spontaneously whistling the theme to Jurassic Park. It really, really felt like that scene in the movie when they approach by helicopter and Richard Attenborough goes "Welcome...to Jurassic Park." Only we approached by ferry. We spared no expense.

Landing on the island, we were met by two rangers who introduced themselves and shuttled everyone from the boat into a small shack immediately after getting off. We found after a short lecture by the woman ranger, Jo, that the shack was a containment area, used for inspection of all bags and shoes for unwanted plants, dirt, and stowaway rats and mice. New Zealand has a fragile ecosystem as it's very isolated from other lands, and this island in particular is home to many endangered species. We all shuffled through our bags and picked our shoes free of dirt, and proceeded to listen to Jo talk a bit more about the island. They loaded all of our bags onto a small, beat up but hardcore looking tractor rig and hauled it up the hill. Our bags got the easy ride. We, however, had another experience altogether.

First task: carry a 20 foot, rather light looking but in fact very heavy drainage pipe up the side of the island to the summit. I still haven't decided if this was a real favor he needed or if it's some sick form of hazing that the D.O.C. puts its volunteers through every day. We split into teams of three, switching off every hundred meters or so. It was actually executed quite impressively, with military precision. Even with two other people, the pipe was very heavy, especially at such an incline. The weather was still beautiful and the sun was out, and I felt that this was a great way to get our energy going for the day ahead.

Our house turned out to be a very nice vacationing flat full of nooks and crannies to sleep many  people. I grabbed a nice chunk of bed sitting in the family room overlooking the harbor and dropped all of my things, finally feeling that weighless sensation after being released from a heavy load. After divvying up our sleeping places, eating some "morning tea" (it was quiche, and it didn't taste too bad) and "taking ten", we walked up the hill to begin our first assignment. Our activities for the next four hours can only be described as a hardcore form of "extreme planting", an activity that should most certainly be coined as the next olympic sport. 

The land on the island was beautiful and we soon found ourselves walking along a roped off path along the beach. The scenery reminded me of the opening scenes of "Prince Caspian". The beach was located at the foot of a large, steep mountainside. We were to plant about 50 saplings of the endangered plant species "Euphorbia" into this mountainside. After demonstrating the technique of digging a level ground, making a hole, pouring in a water-saving concoction called they called "liquid rain" (I kept calling it Purple Rain for kicks), etc, Jo asked for 3 volunteers to go up the steep side of the mountainside to attempt to plant some saplings there. I was in an adventerous mood and raised my hand along with a few others. 

Getting up the hill was a mighty challenge. To start, my sneakers have little to no traction, and the ground constantly fell apart at your feet as you climbed. Using the spade as a grappeling device, I was able to slowly climb the steep mountainside until I found blessed solid footing upon a rock. I helped the other 2 up and we began the arduous process of finding small bits of plentiful earth in an area rife with large rocks. 

Yes, that's me up there

It was an incredible challenge just to journey up this hill, let alone to gain the proper leverage and grip to dig a hole and plant a sapling. It took about five minutes each time to find the right angles and footholds to start planting again. I took occasional breaks to watch the sailboat races in the distance and the birds as they circled above the sea. About an hour, 15 plants, and several precarious slips and a few epic "QUICK grab onto a random vine somewhere to save yourself from falling to your death" moments, we made our way sideways across the cliff face to plant some more, because why not? At this point it became an issue to watch out for already planted saplings as other groups had covered areas in between. 

My "extreme planting" team

Remember that book "The Lorax"? That was a great book.

I found the most ridiculous, rocky and steep way down because, as I said, I was in an adventurous mood, and scaled my way down to join everyone for lunch. Before I decided to turn around and scale this bad boy, my friend Alise grabbed what may become the most epic picture of all time:

"This Summer...One Man...Has Had Enough."

I don't think I've mentioned this, but they fed us 3 square meals a day, which is very exciting when you're cooking your own food all the time. Lunch included chicken/lettuce/tomato in a torpedo roll, an apple, and a ridiculously rich and delicious piece of brownie/cake. 

After lunch, Jo asked for yet another few volunteers to join her on a particularly difficult ascent to plant saplings in a difficult area. I joined a few other kids and the rest journeyed back to our house with all the equipment. The ascent we took was so unstable that we took all of our backpacks, plants and planting tools with us, planning to basically climb to the top of the cliff and make our way home from there, as climbing back down would be impossible.

 Following You, I Climb The Mountain

We had a good time and go to know Jo a bit more. She turned out to be a pretty cool person, despite my initial impressions (she asked a woman and her baby to leave the shack during the intro session when the baby was making noises. It was a bit awkward). We some great discussions, ranging from such topics of geckos to sociology to the book "1984".

Jo keeping ahead of the pack

The EXTREME extreme planters

 

I still can't believe how beautiful it can get here, especially since it's during the winter (albeit at the very end of it - Spring in three weeks!). It was all blue skies and warm sun. Wellington has been blessed with now officially 8 days straight of sunny Spring-like days. In a town infamous for its wind and rain, this is incredible for the Winter months. People were kayaking and sailboat racing and all of the animals were demonstrating their various chirps and bellows (particularly the birds). 

The second leg of extreme planting took another half hour, and reaching the summit and some solid walking ground was a welcome relief. We walked with Jo back to our house and took a half hour break to rest. Our next task involved planting some particularly porcupine-like grass plants in a lamb and sheep breeding area. I'm going to wrap part one up now because I need to get some work done, but I promise part 2 will be up quickly. Sorry again for the delay between posts there. I'll leave you all with a priceless portrait/memento (can be utilized as a signed 8x10 glossy upon my return) of yours truly as a sign of reconciliation. Until next time,

Bill