Each winter, the Maori celebrate the arrival of Matariki in the mid-winter night sky.  It marks the passing of the old year (according to the Maori moon calendar) and the beginning of the new year.  Rituals and celebrations take place at this time to farewell loved ones, to acknowledge our relationships with each other and with the natural world.  Matariki is a time to have fun, share stories, and to enjoy kai (food).

Ka puta Matariki ka rere Whanui.

Ko te tohu tena o te tau e!

Matariki re-appears, Whanui starts its flight.

Being the sign of the [new] year!

(information from Te Papa museum)

I went to a Matariki ritual in which there was a bonfire, people spoke, and they sent off candles in the pond to say goodbye to the old year.

Check out the link below for a children’s book about Matariki.  The story is signed, sung in Maori and has English captions.

http://www.kdec.school.nz/learning/Te%20Reo%20Singalong/index.html

 

Kapiti Island is a very special island that is about an hour north of Wellington.  I decided to do an overnight trip to the island.

Kapiti Island is special because it is predator free.  That means there are no animals- like possum, stoats, or rats- that would attack the birds or eat the plants.  The island now looks like the original New Zealand from hundreds of years ago.

Prior to 1840, the island was controlled by a Maori iwi (tribe).  Then Europeans started to arrive because the water way was a good place for whaling.  The men hunted whales and then boiled the whale fat to get whale oil.

They also burned the trees and brought over animals like sheep and goats to set up farms on the land.  Rats, stoats and possums would hide in the boats and soon arrived on the island too.

In the late 1800s, people began to understand that bringing mammals to New Zealand had hurt the native birds and landscape.  In 1897, people thought the island could become a bird sanctuary (protected area).  The government began the process of removing invasive (not native) species from the island.  First they stopped the farming and removed the farm animals.  In 1986 all of the possums were gone and in 1996, rats were finally gone.  It took 100 years to get the island back to a natural state.

Now the birds and plants and flourishing (growing and multiplying).  You can see a variety of bird life- some of which is endangered.

Today only 160 people each day are allowed to visit the island.  There are trails that a person can hike.  I hiked some of the trails- and now my muscles are sore!!  haha

At night, a small group of us went hiking to look for kiwi birds.  Kiwi birds are nocturnal- that means they are active at night.  We got lucky and saw two kiwi birds and could hear them talking to each other!  No pictures of that though because it was night.

About a month ago I felt my first earthquake.  I was sitting in my flat and suddenly felt a vibration.  It’s funny what went through my head- Is my chair vibrating?  Why is my chair vibrating? Did a big truck drive by?  It’s still vibrating. Maybe it’s an earthquake. I think that is an earthquake.  Oh wow- that was an earthquake!

I went to http://wellingtonquakelive.co.nz/ to see if the earthquake was recorded and it was! The earthquake happened on the South Island but it was able to be felt here in Wellington.

When I first arrived in Wellington, you could still see areas that were effected by the November 2016 earthquake that happened in Kaikoura.  The large movie theater was shut down and only recently reopened in May.  Many windows have signs explaining the store is closed due to earthquake damage.  The port where ships bring in supplies still has damage so only one ship at a time can come in.

The nickname for New Zealand is the Shaky Isles.  Why does New Zealand have so many earthquakes?

The islands are located on the Ring of Fire.

 

In New Zealand it seems that people camp year round.  It doesn’t matter if it is warm or cold!  I’m not sure how much camping is done in the winter in the US.

I decided to give camping a try- but  not in a tent!  I rented a mini van that was transformed into a camper.  It had cooking equipment I could take out to use if I wanted.  And it had cushions that I used to make the bed each day.  It was a really fun vehicle!  I rented a heater-  but that was worthless!!  It did not heat the inside of the van.  And it got cold at night!  Luckily the blanket was warm.  But one morning I woke up and it was 24 degrees!!! BRRR!

I had a lot of fun adventures during my camping trip.  I got close to some seals which was crazy!!  I saw a whole group of baby seals.

These huge boulders are called the Moeraki Boulders.  They are just huge boulders laying on the beach!  They were formed from sea sediments 60 million years ago! The largest boulders weigh 7 tons and took about 4 million years to grow so big!

I visited a place called Pancake Rocks.  That was some AMAZING geology!  The rocks have been layered over time.  Even scientists are not sure what the process is.

I got to see little blue penguins come home after their day at sea.  But pictures were not allowed.

I also did some hiking.

I visited the Orana Wildlife Park.  I fed some lemurs and road in a truck with lions all around it!

Enjoy the pictures and video!