New Zealand Impressions

View pictures from my trip!

December 2006

The Journey

I dreaded the long flight to New Zealand. We were scheduled to leave Huntsville at 11:30 on Saturday, November 25, 2006 and scheduled to arrive in Christchurch at 10:00 on Monday, November 27, 2006. That seemed like a scary amount of time to me. However, when you factor in that Christchurch is 17 hours ahead of Huntsville, that wasn't so bad. So, we began our journey.

The purpose of this trip is to learn photography. Why New Zealand? For me, it’s a dream place. It’s where Lord of the Rings, my favorite book, was filmed. It’s a land of scenic vistas, mountains, ocean, and sheep. So, when invited to write a grant taking me on a dream professional development trip that would aid me professionally, personally, and help me teach my students better, I wrote it for New Zealand. I won the grant. Talk about excited.

At the Auction

We stumbled upon a ram auction on the way to Twizel from Christchurch. Too cool. There was a big tent set up in the middle of a field and there were cars and trucks parked around it. There has been lots of rain recently so we were a bit concerned about getting stuck but we found some grass and parked. Watch out for the sheep droppings—they are as plentiful as mushrooms after a rain. We went into the tent since it was raining outside and found four rams in each fenced area. These sheep are to improve other farmers’ herds—not to eat. What makes a good sheep? Narrow shoulders, a big rump, thick fur. Just as we have learned with how Canine Companions for Independence (CCI) selects dogs for their breeding program to get the best dogs to help the disabled, that’s how sheep are selected. Some of these rams sold for $2400 NZ (about $1800 US). Wow! That’s a lot of money for some wool and chops.

While I was taking a picture of an interesting gentleman in the tent, the dogs appeared. I guess the auction was about over and they were moving the sheep back up to the farm to graze. The heading dog looks like a border collie. His job is to stare at the sheep and intimidate them into moving where they should. The other dog looked like a big terrier mix. His job is to get behind the sheep and bark at them. More on dogs later. They did their jobs when instructed and off the dogs and sheep went down the chute to go get lunch, I guess. The farmer was a strapping looking young man in a rain jacket. He was covered in mud and sheep droppings. I took his picture very quickly and hope it turned out. He had to go help the others work with the sheep.

Snow

We moved up into the mountain country to Twizel. It is virtually deserted up here. There are a few houses but just one church in town I’ve seen. In looking in the phone book, if you want to go to church, head to the coast several hours away. Looks like we’ll have to miss church on Sunday as we will still be here and have limited access to transport and time to get to church.

While on a road heading up the mountain, all of a sudden, my husband, who was riding up front, said, “Sue, look!” It was snowing. I love snow. So, the group found a spot to stop the van and we got out and took pictures of flowers in the snow. I’m still learning about exposure of a picture and don’t know if I got the best shots. We review in our camera but the real truth is when it’s downloaded into the computer. Then, when we return home and have a larger screen we can really see what we have.

Hail

It hailed twice while we were in New Zealand. Once was our first day in Christchurch. We had come back to the room after lunch and settled in a bit. Then, we prepared to leave to go do some sightseeing at the city center. As I put on my shoes, I heard a loud rattling. I looked out the window and saw hail falling on the metal roof outside our room. Hey were pretty large—almost dime size. The ground was covered. It wasn’t long before the sky cleared up and we were on our way walking downtown. There was no sign of hail then. The sky cleared up nicely and we had a nice afternoon in Christchurch.

The other time we had gotten up for the sunrise at 5:00 and were at the Portobello observation point. We were searching for albatross returning from the sea. Got nice pictures of the lighthouse with the sunrise showing on it. Suddenly, a squall blew in from behind us and we were being pelted by hail and strong winds. It was very cold. The rain and hail didn’t go away after about 10 minutes of us standing there so we decided to get in the van and head down the mountain for a warm breakfast and to get in some dry clothes. On the journey back to the hotel, we stopped to get some photographs of some boathouses in the harbour. The light was perfect on the blue boathouse and we snapped several pictures. As the sunlight bathed the harbour in it’s glow, a rainbow appeared. It grew brighter and brighter as we snapped shot after shot. It spanned the entire harbor at one point and then a double rainbow appeared. We were all very excited.

Kiwis

New Zealanders call themselves Kiwis. Let’s not confuse this with the little green fruit we like to eat. Those are called kiwifruit here. I haven’t had kiwifruit but once. Kiwis are very friendly. That said, they make it a wonderful place to visit and the country caters to tourists. The hotel we stayed at in Twizel was very friendly and helpful. Several of us needed to do laundry and there was only one machine. One man in our tour group mentioned this at the front desk and the guy offered to do his laundry for him. Not only was it washed and dried, but neatly folded. This is a wonderful country to visit. The kiwis have public toilets available just about everywhere and the roads offer plenty of spots to pull over for a picnic or to take photographs.

A kiwi is also a weird, flightless little bird. It is nocturnal so we don’t see any. They are also rare now from what I’ve gathered. The bird looks hairy to me, has a long curved bill, is short, and is brown. It would be interesting to research. It is a symbol of the country.

Food

Fresh bananas are common as are prepared fruits. I eat prepared pears and peaches mostly since that’s what’s offered. Apricots are common as well.

For breakfast, I prefer muesli (oats, dried fruit, and nuts) with yogurt, fruit, and milk on top. It give me fiber, calcium, and a fruit. The milk is probably 3-5% fat and tastes more like cream to me since I only drink skim at home. Bacon is more like ham here rather than being like our bacon and is often served at breakfast along with eggs and toast. I had a black current juice for breakfast that was wonderful, but mostly people drink orange juice. Coffee and tea are always available. I will drink herb teas and have found these to be available everywhere down here.

Lamb and salmon are on every menu. Unfortunately, so are bell peppers which they call capsicum. I am allergic to these, or at the very least am pepper intolerant—it makes me have terrible stomach aches, and that’s just eating a little. This runs in my family. My mother and one of my sons also react strongly to peppers. Needless to say, capsicum is found in just about everything. Even when I say I can’t have it and am assured it’s not in there, it often is.

Fried foods are very common—especially fish and chips (French fries). They eat meat pies, too. I had a steak and mushroom pie three times. Twice it was like a beef stew in a pot pie crust. One time the crust was very flaky and the insides were not in as much gravy as the other two times. I liked them all.

Hot chocolate is served in almost every restaurant. Often it comes in a tall glass cup on a small plate with a lace doily accompanied by two small marshmallows. There is always froth on the top and often a sprinkle of cocoa. However, often the hot chocolates I had there were just served just warm. I quickly learned to be very forceful in requesting it be hot. Sometimes the hotel rooms had hot chocolate in them. We went to the grocery store to see if they had instant hot chocolate for the times it wasn’t in the rooms (hot water is always available for tea and coffee there). Nestle had one unlike anything I’ve seen in the states. It’s low-fat and low-cal. When mixed in the cup, it even frothed up a bit. They have a shaker of cocoa in the box. It reminded us so much of the great hot chocolates we had in restaurants that we went to the grocery store before we left the country and stocked up on it.

I love chocolate and no visit anywhere is complete without a sample of chocolate things. In our tour van, the guides always had snacks for us. I tried to be good and ate bananas but then had a cookie called Tim Tam. These are chocolate covered biscuits with some sort of a creamy center. In our snack box they also had granola bars, crackers, juice, and water at the ready. I drank lots of water daily to stay hydrated.

Speaking of chocolate, my husband and I went to the Cadbury factory in Dunedin. Unfortunately, the factory wasn’t up and running the day we were there so we had a mini tour and a movie. They gave us samples of several of the candy bars they manufacture there. I like the Crunchies which is chocolate-covered hokey pokey (a type of air filled hard-sponge candy). I purchased Moro bars for my students since they are only available in New Zealand.

Photography

This trip has been so wonderful. We ranged in picture taking ability from novice to photo club teachers. I am understanding depth-of-field better, how to use my camera equipment, and how to compose shots for best effect. At the end of the trip I was voted by our guides as the “most improved” photographer they’ve ever had. The best part is these are skills which I will always have with me and can use again. Am already planning what shots to make at home and on future trips around the world. Now I won’t be so afraid to carry my camera with me and use it. I learned that it’s always good to have the camera available since you never know what serendipitous things will happen (like a sheep auction or a rainbow). On the plane home I looked out the window as we were entering Memphis. The sunset shone on the wing and looked fabulous. I went for my camera—it was stowed in the overhead bin as I was using the computer. Figures. No shot.

We even had Photoshop tutorials from other members of the group on the tour. It was fun to listen to the tour group share how they will edit a picture. It’s very advanced. For me, just learning how to edit out a blade of grass will be a big step.

Whales

We went on a whale watch before the trip started since we got here a day early. Went by tour bus up to Kaikoura, which in Maori means “eats crawfish.” A crawfish is a lobster here and gets to be quite huge.

We saw two sperm whales on the trip. It was fabulous. I had never seen a real whale in the wild. They had a marvelous graphic presentation on the tour boat explaining about the sperm whales and other creatures. I learned that New Zealand is located on the Pacific plate. The mountains here are caused by the plate crashing into another. New Zealand grows a few millimeters taller each year due to this seismic activity. Someone said there are about 15 earthquakes here daily. I never felt any since they are very tiny ones. That’s good. Anyway, New Zealand’s continental shelf is very small. There is a huge canyon right off the east coast. There is an upwelling of nutrients feeding the many creatures here. The sperm whales have teeth and come up from the depths and eat these many creatures. They have the largest brain on earth. The whales we saw were males who live here year round. These males usually eat alone though they are a social animal and if a pod is passing by they will visit with them. Females prefer warmer waters and they travel in pods farther out to sea on their way to breeding and feeding grounds.

Schools

Since I’m working, I really wanted to see a school in New Zealand. I had visited schools in Russia in October and in South Africa last September so no trip would be complete without a comparison of the schools.

There are many schools in Christchurch—seems like you can’t go anywhere without seeing children at 8:00 am riding their bikes or walking to school. Everyone is in uniform to go to school. Boys wear a blazer, tie, white shirt, knee shorts, and knee socks. Girls wear a blazer, white blouse, and a jumper or skirt. Christ College is a private boarding school for boys and is right across from the Arts Center, my favorite part of the city, and next to the Botanic Gardens.

Monday evening we went walking down the street near our motel and walked past two schools. One was a private high school for girls and looked like a lovely home rather than a school. The second had an interesting fence around it with girls’ images doing things such as music, art, and science. As we commented on the cool fence, a lady went by in a wheelchair and commented that the fence images were of the students themselves. I asked if she is a teacher there and she replied she is on the school’s board of directors. I told her I had tried to contact several schools in Christchurch to arrange a visit and received no answer. She made sure this school wasn’t one I had contacted and assured me if we went to the front desk the next day we would get a tour. Sure enough, we showed up around 8:45 in the morning and were greeted warmly by the office staff and principal of the Selwyn House School and taken for a tour by the teacher of the gifted and talented.

Selwyn House is a private school for about 330 girls in grades 1-8. There is also a co-ed preschool attached (more on this later). We learned that about 30 girls are boarded there. Their parents either live abroad for a time or the girls live in the country and the commute would be too long to be practical. Trust me, there are some pretty deserted areas here.

Let’s talk differentiated curriculum and teaching to the big ideas. The regular classroom is a teacher of the gifted’s dream. There were concept maps everywhere and the teachers use cluster grouping to get these concepts across. It was exciting to see the 5 th grade class group projects on “building a community” that was going on. The girls had to plan everything about a community from public services, buildings, streets, down to how the homes would be situated. They then actually built their community. Girls were using hand saws to cut up blocks of wood to represent houses. Others were painting the board their town would be on—the boards showed streets and parks. Still others were painting the buildings. I was very impressed with all that went on.

In the arts building, named for the lady we first met who was in the wheelchair, we discovered students taking private piano and violin lessons in small practice rooms and a large group in the main hall doing a drama lesson. The art room is huge and student projects were everywhere around the building and in other buildings. It was fabulous.

When we had first arrived at Selwyn House school we stopped at the first open door. It was the preschool. We inquired about the main school’s entrance and were pointed to a building down the street. All the little girls in the play yard outside the front door were dressed in beautiful pink dresses and obviously were dressed for a special occasion. I asked what the occasion was and the teacher said she was being married in January during the summer break. School lets out next week for 2 months for the summer (remember we’re in the southern hemisphere here so the seasons are backwards from ours). The children had organized a wedding ceremony for the teacher, Amanda, and her “partner” as they are called here. The children had made the groom a tie, watch, and crown. They had designed and made the bride’s veil and dress. The wedding was scheduled for 11:00 that day. Although the weather threatened rain, we hoped the sky would clear for their wedding. Amanda invited us to the wedding so we made a mental note to attend.

After a trip to the mall for about 45 minutes, we returned to the school for the wedding. Four year olds greeted us at the entry to the courtyard with a program. The children were lined up in the preschool to begin the processional. The boys accompanied the groom and the girls lined up with the bride. Parents, grandparents, teachers, and other students from the school made up the audience. The children had made hearts to decorate the “pews” of this outdoor “church.” There was a little boy who was the “celebrant” (officiator) of the wedding and a little girl who helped him. The ceremony was very short and the weather cooperated with the sun shining and the clouds blowing off. It was a beautiful ceremony complete with a song sung by the kids and “Silent Night” being sung by all as it is the Christmas season now. A special visitor showed up and congratulated the happy couple—Santa Claus. He then led the children back to their play yard for a wedding reception. What a wonderful event to stumble upon.

Our tour started shortly after at noon. My husband has joined me on this journey, making it that much more fun for me. There are 9 of us altogether in a small van traveling around this island country. Four of us are using Nikon equipment and five are using Canon cameras. We have two guides—Kathy and John Baker. They conduct tours in the US, Europe, and New Zealand.

I have learned so much on this trip about photography—and that’s just in the first ½ day. We went into the mountains around Christchurch and photographed the vistas.

I learned about composing shots from John and how to work my camera better from Kathy. She gave me some focusing exercises to do as well as how to balance the light with my camera’s metering system.

I love to take pictures of people’s faces. I also am looking for an interesting shot. What makes a photograph interesting? Color, shapes, perspectives, and often the subject matter. It is very pastoral here with sheep grazing in the green fields set against hills and mountains.

Communications

It was difficult for us to communicate back home. Although I had a phone card making calls cost very little, we were rarely around when we could call home. Those early morning photo shoots had us out the door before dawn and in a rush. When we returned to the room in the afternoon, it was the middle of the night at home. Internet availability was another problem. Often the rooms didn’t have it. When in a town where we could buy some internet time, we didn’t have time to do it. I preferred to make the most of my photography time anyway.

Sheep

I fell in love with the sheep in New Zealand. They are so fluffy. They remind me of caterpillars—eating machines. They are almost always eating. Many of the lambs had recently been born. They are adorable. I was impressed by how they looked to the wisdom of their mothers for guidance. They ate when she ate, rested when she rested, and moved when she moved. When mother called, they came right away—not when it was “a commercial break”. I loved watching the sheep lie next to each other in the grass—or graze together.

Sheep are very social with their own kind—or with other grazing animals. However, they aren’t real social with people. I traveled all over New Zealand looking for a great sheep shot. What did I get? Lots of sheep backsides since they turned and ran when we pulled up. It took a lot of persistence and opportunities to get a couple of reasonable shots of sheep.

Dogs

We watched a National Geographic video back home called “Those Wonderful Dogs.” It’s all about working dogs—actor dogs, guide dogs, sled dogs, and sheep dogs. The sheep dogs in New Zealand are either Huntaways which bark at the sheep or Heading Dogs which look like Border Collies but control the sheep with stares. My biggest desire was to visit a sheep station and see these dogs in action and get a picture of it working. Usually the sheep were just grazing and peaceful. Once, on a back road, we came across cows being herded with a pickup truck and a dog. When the cows strayed from the road they were walking down, Tony the dog was told to get them back where they belonged. The light was very poor and the dog didn’t sit still at all. None of those pictures turned out.

On the last day we were driving back to Christchurch, we would stop occasionally and take pictures. At last my moment arrived. John said, “Blue shirt, dog, sheep waiting for something”and he pulled over. I jumped out of the car and ran to the sheep yard where literally hundreds of sheep were standing in preparation for a bath to get rid of parasites. The dog was running on top of the sheep and a young man was giving the dog commands. We leaned the dog’s name was “Tip”. She was a Huntaway and so smart. I learned that the young man was just 17 and quit school since he knew what he needed by working on the farm. I took many pictures and hope a couple will turn out for me. I gave him my card and told him I am a teacher. We’ll see if he emails me.

Return

It was so wonderful in New Zealand. Someday I will return. It’s a lovely country with friendly people, great food, lots of chocolate experiences, and cute sheep. You might want to visit it yourself.