NEW ZEALAND ADVENTURE
including the story of THE MYSTERIOUS KAIMANAWA WALL
By Karyn Collett Illustrations of NORA by Ilja De La Guerre Published by CASE OF ADVENTURE
HEY THERE TRAVELER!
Are you ready to have the time of your life? We’re gonna go adventuring in the fascinating country of New Zealand!. This country is even further South than Australia and is made up of two large islands out of more than 10 000 in Oceania.., It’s jam-packed with mystery and beautiful places to explore.. Grab your passport and let’s go! Your instructions are on page 60.
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CREDITS
Longest Place Name Photo By foolfillment (Flickr) [CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
L&P Statue https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/42/Lemonpaeroa.JPG By User Roisterer on en.wikipedia [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)], via Wikimedia Commons
Savory Pies https://www.flickr.com/photos/srslyguys/7992201799
2 FLYING TIME Greetings, passengers! Tena WELCOME! koutou! I’m Captain Marco, the CASE OF ADVENTURE pilot! I’ll be flying you to exotic countries all over the world. Today we are flying waaaay down South to the beautiful islands of New Zealand.
Remember to fill in the blanks on your airplane ticket and paste it on your project page!
We hope you enjoyed your special breakfast of fruit salad, yoghurt, scrambled eggs, chick- Hi there! Kia Ora! I’m en sausage and baked beans! We will be Nora. I’m so happy to landing very soon. meet you. Welcome to the beautiful country of My special friend, Nora, will be meeting you New Zealand! in Zealand and showing you around her country! We hope you have an awesome I hope you enjoy time and thank you for flying with CASE OF exploring New Zealand! ADVENTURE Airlines! We hope to see you We have giant mountains, again soon! volcanoes, stunning beaches, lakes, glaciers, rainforests, lively cities MARMITE and lots of sheep! ON TOAST
The friendly Kiwis as I like to call them, would not be happy if you confused them with Australians! New Zealanders are di erent. For one thing we prefer Marmite to Vegemite!
Vegemite is Australian, but Marmite is British. Have you tried it? It’s a brown-black paste that some people find kind of gross, but can be really yummy! AUCKLAND IS THE LARGEST CITY. IN NEW ZEALAND 4 TWO MAIN ISLANDS
New Zealand has two main islands, North Island and South Island. I live on North Island in the capital city of Wellington. The largest city, Auckland, is on the top end of North Island, while we’re at the bottom.
On the South Island, Christchurch and Dunedin are my favorite places. Can you find them on the map? To travel to the South Island, my family likes to take a slow trip on a ferry or boat, but sometimes we go by airplane.
The Southern Island also has the amazing Southern Alps. The Alps have 18 peaks, which are over 3000 meters above sea level.
The name of our country comes from the Dutch “Nieuw Zeeland”, which means "new sea land".We have only about four million people living here, which makes New Zea- land one of the world’s least crowded countries in the world. RUGBY, VOLCANOES AND BARBIES Have you heard of rugby? It’s a sport similar to American football, but rugby players don’t wear helmets. They just wear shorts, t-shirt and shoes! Rugby is not just a sport in New Zealand, but it’s part of the country's identity! When there’s a big game on, all our family and many friends gather at my grandmother’s large house, where we watch the game on the tele and have a barbie where we cook meat over a fire. We eat bangers (sausages), kebabs - which is meat and veges on a skewer - with salad and bread. We hang out around the pool and us kids play ball games outside. It’s lots of fun!
Did you know we have some active volcanoes in our country - like Mount Ruapehu in the middle of the North Island. Our.country is part of the Pacific Rim of Fire where many earthquakes and volcanic eruptions happen. We haven’t had a scary one that I remember, though. I’m very glad of that!
One of my fave things to do, is to put on my togs and jandals and head o to the beach for the day! We have so many stunning beaches here!
A really cool thing about Kiwi-land is that there’s nothing much here that can kill you! You can set o for a tramp in the bush, happy to know there are no venomous snakes, lethal spiders, or crocodiles. That works for me!
5 NORTH ISLAND SPLENDOR
CATHEDRAL COVE Cathedral Cove is on North Island, near a place called Hot Water Beach which was used as the tunnel through which the children first re-enter Narnia in the movie, “The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian”. The Māori name Te Whanganui-A-Hei (the Great Bay of Hei) refers to a man named Hei, who supposedly chose the area around Mercury Bay for his tribe to live. He called Motueka Island "Te Kuraetan-ga-o- taku-Ihu" (the outward curve of my nose)!
WAI-O-TAPU Hot springs, mud pools and geysers are found in many places across Rotorua. The Wai-O-Tapu hot springs are amazingly colorful. The smell of sulphur is characteristic of volcanic activity.
6 MOUNT COOK Mount Cook is the highest mountain in New Zealand. It lies in the Southern Alps, the mountain range which runs right across South Island. There was a large rock fall in 1991 that reduced the height of the mountain by about 10m.
SOUTH ISLAND SPLENDOR
FRANZ JOSEF GLACIER The Franz Josef Glacier is 12 km long and ends near the Tasman Sea. German explorer, Julius von Haast discovered the glacier in 1865 and named it after the Austrian emperor, Franz Josef I. It’s a stunningly beautiful wonder of nature!
7 WHERE IS NEW ZEALAND?
New Zealand is part of the region of Oceania. Besides the two main islands, which are connected by the Cook Strait, there are more than 10000 smaller islands in the Pacific Ocean. Check out this cool picture taken from space.
Oceania is made up of fourteen countries: Australia, Papua New Guinea, New Zealand, and 11 others plus some smaller territories.
THIS IS WHAT NEW ZEALAND LOOKS LIKE FROM SPACE!
You’ll probably find that driving anywhere in New Zealand takes twice as long because you are so busy looking at the view - the landscape is so amazing!!
New Zealand’s highest point is Mount Cook which is 3,7 m above sea level. The lowest point is the Taieri Plains, which are 2 m below sea-level. The plains are in Otago to the southwest of Dunedin. Can you find Dunedin and Mount Cook on the map on page 11?
Did you know that over 90% of the New Zealand land mass is submerged under water? Isn’t that amazing? Kiwis almost faint when the temperature hits 30 degrees Celsius - that’s 86 Farenheit! New Zealand has a mild climate and doesn’t usually get very hot. There is lots of rainfall and often, THE WEATHER you’ll get four seasons in one day!
The west coast of South Island is usually extremely cold and wet, especially during the winter season. Christchurch is the driest city in the country. I love going to see the snow and the amazing Franz Josef Glacier on South Island. Wellington, where I live, is the coolest and wettest city - I don’t mind the rain though.
There are tons of earthquakes every year, but apparently only about 100 of them are big enough to be felt. I’m very glad about that! Our houses are built of wood because of this. 8 SKY TOWER Check out the city from 220 metres up with awesome views in every direction! Spot the volcanoes, the ocean and awesome landmarks. Visit the revolving restaurant or relax with your cheese board or ice cream at the Sky Café. If you are really brave, bungee jump 192 meters straight down from the tower!
AUCKLAND The largest city in New Zealand is Auckland. It’s located on North Island and is known as the City of Sails because one in three people there own a boat!
RANGITOTO ISLAND Amazingly, Rangitoto Island rose up out of the sea six hundred years ago! It's now covered with lava. The top of the volcano rises 260 metres over the Hauraki Gulf near the Great Barrier Reef!
9 NEW ZEALAND IS IN OCEANIA
OCEANIA
Australia
New Zealand Check out the amazing number of Islands around Australia!!
Greenland ARCTIC OCEAN U.S.A. Iceland
Sweden Finland Russia Norway Estonia
Latvia Canada Lithuania
United Belarus Ireland Kingdom Netherlands Poland Belgium Germany Czech Republic Ukraine SlovakiaSLOVAKIA Austria Moldova Kazakhstan Austria Hungary Switzerland Hungary France SLO Mongolia Romania Italy Croatia B/H Serbia
MNE Bulgaria
Albania MCD United States Spain Greece Turkey of America China Iraq Iran NORTH NORTH Algeria Libya Mexico ATLANTIC Egypt Saudi PACIFIC Arabia India Mauritania Mali Niger Oman Chad Phillipines Sudan Yemen
Nigeria Venezuela Ethiopia C.A.R.
ColombiaCOLOMBIA Kenya Democratic Republic of Papua the Congo Indonesia New Guinea Peru Tanzania Brazil INDIAN Angola Zambia Malawi OCEAN Bolivia Zimbabwe Mozambique Paraguay SOUTH Namibia Botswana Madagascar PACIFIC Argentina SOUTH Australia South ATLANTIC Africa
New Zealand
ANTARCTICA
10 CAPITAL OF NEW ZEALAND
Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It’s at the south-western tip of North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Mountain Range.
One of my favorite things about Wellington is the Red Cable Car funicular which you can ride on from downtown Wellington. It’s such fun and the view is awesome! I love to take a ride on it with my Mum when we go shopping together.
In Wellington’s Cuba Mall is a cool contraption made from buckets filled with water. The water spills down the fountain and splashes people as they pass. Sometimes on the weekend, they even add bubbles to the fountain - can you imagine!
Our National Day is February 6. It’s called Waitangi Day. This is the day when, in 1840, the Treaty of Waitangi was signed between the British Crown and more than five hundred Māori chiefs.
This treaty is regarded as New Zealand's founding document and was the beginning of British sovereignty over New Zealand.
New Zealand o cially became an independent country in 1947. We are now indepen- dent from Britain in almost every way, but Queen Elizabeth II is still the country's o cial head of state.
16 TE PAPA MUSEUM The Te Papa Museum is the place to go to see what New Zealand is all about! The “Earth- quake House!” will give you quite a shake up. You can climb a lava flow, dig for fossils, cross a swing bridge, and visit the glowworm cave!
WELLINGTON Near the southernmost tip of North Island of New Zealand is the capital, Wellington. There's a fun waterfront promenade, sandy beaches, a harbour and colourful houses on green hills.
THE CABLE CAR The awesome red Wellington Cable Car runs from Lambton Quay up to a lookout place at Kelburn. There's a Cable Car Museum and Space Place at Carter Observatory and a planetarium for star-gazing! Travel back down through the beautiful Botanical Garden.
17 THE FIRST PEOPLE
Fifteen percent of New Zealand’s people are Māori. The Māori arrived on the islands about 1,200 years ago. Their name means “ordinary people”.
The Māori were excellent hunters and fishermen. The earliest Māori are sometimes called the Moa Hunters as their main source of food was the moa, a huge flightless bird that’s now extinct. They wove fishing nets from flax and carved fishhooks from bone or stone. After they arrived, they cultivated land and planted vegetables from Polynesia, such as the sweet potato. They also ate roots and berries.
The Maori name for New Zealand is Aotearoa which means the land of the long white cloud. Captain James Cook was the first European to begin making contact with the Māori people, and began trading clothes, food, and other items.
Can you paint your face like a Maori? 18 FUN There are thousands of earthquakes in New Zealand every year, but Try these sheep jokes on your friends: only about hundred can Q: What do you call a sheep covered in actually be felt. chocolate? Have you ever felt an A: A Candy Baa. earthquake? Was it What did the polite sheep say while holding scary? the barn door? A: After ewe. Have you ever tried Marmite or Vegemite on Which farm animal is always the quietest? Toast? Tell about your A: A shhhheep. first experience. Try to find some at your grocery store to try!
THE LANGUAGES CHECK OUT THESE MAORI PHRASES. New Zealand English is the main language spoken by CAN YOU SAY THEM? most New Zealanders. Kia Ora (key-or-a) – Hello, goodbye, thank you. There’s also Māori and Haere Ra (high-reh-rah) – Goodbye New Zealand Sign Language plus a few Kia ora tatou — Hello everyone others. It’s cool to have Hei konei ra — See you later sign language as an Ka kite ano - Until I see you again (Bye) official language.
Have you ever tried it? Ka Pai! - Good work! Try a few signs from this Whanau (far-no) – Extended family web page. Whare – House Type: nzsl.vuw.ac.nz in Ai – Yes your internet address bar. Kau – No Kai – Food
20 TRY OUT SOME NEW ZEALAND SLANG
Chocka – “Have you had enough to eat?” “Yeah, I’m chocka block” or “Can you fit this into the car?” “Nah, it’s chocka” Eh (pronounced ay) – “It was cloudy this morning, eh?” Maaaate – “I forgot to buy you a bag of chips” “Aw maaaaate” All good: That’s ok, never mind. No worries: You’re welcome, no problem. Jandals – Flip flops Chilly bin – A cooler bin, used for keeping drinks cold.
The wops – Really far away, the middle of nowhere. e.g. she lives far away, out in the wops. Macca’s – McDonald’s Togs – Swimsuit Bonnet & boot – Hood & trunk (of a car) Mince – Ground beef Hot chips – French fries Cuppa – A hot drink, usually short for “cup of co ee” or “cup of tea”
21 FUN FACTS WOTALOTA SHEEP There are more sheep than THE STEEPEST STREET people in New Zealand. In fact, The steepest street in the world is Baldwin there are between 6 and 9 sheep Street in Dunedin, South island - it’s a rather for every person here! steep slope! Every year, Dunedin hasa Ja a Race where LIVING IN THE FUTURE people can take part in rolling a Ja a Lolly (a New Zealand is the first country round sweet about the size of a large grape) in the world to see a new day. down the hill. East Cape is the easternmost point of the country and is on North Island. It’s just under tional 500km from the international CLEAREST LAKE orld. date line, meaning they are living The Blue Lake in Nelson Lakes Na in the future! Park has the clearest water in theou w can’t. I’d love to swim in it, but sadly y You can see up to 80 meters deep. TALLEST TOWER The Auckland City Sky Tower is the IT’S MOVING t about the tallest structure in New Z New Zealand is movingour fingernails a grow. the tallest tow ealand and s the edge Hemispher er in the Southern same speed as y ving e. It’s 1,076 f Because the country lies acros The tower also has a revolvingeet high! of two tectonic plates, it's always mo restaurant and two observa and twisting. floors. It serv es as a transmitttion station to the Radio and TV er stations in Auckland.
22 SCOTTISH INFLUENCE New Zealand has more Scottish pipe bands compared to the number of people than Scotland itself! If you head to Dunedin which is named for the Gaelic name for Edinburgh, you’ll get to see some of Scotland’s influence on New Zealand. You can even check out Larnach Castle, New Zealand’s only castle!
THE BEACH IS EVERYWHERE If you fancy a beach holiday you’re never more than 128 kilo- metres from the seaside in New Zealand! 90 Mile Beach at the top of the North Island is in fact e with the only 55 miles long - which is 90 LONGEST PLACE NAME Did you know we have the plac kilometers. I guess they got a bit t name! Taumatawhakatangihanga- confused! longes koauauotamateapokaiwhenuakitanatahu.en fit on one Yup, that’s a word. It won’t ev A RAILWAY LINE PAS line! THROUGH A LANDINGSES ountries in STRIP THE QUEEN The Palmerston North New Zealand is one of a few c the world that has two o ciale nationalthe Queen Gisborne railway line pas ealand. anthems. The first is Godend Sav New Z right through the middle sesof Gisborne Airport! T and the other is God Def ouris To become a New Zealand citizen, you can even go on a st ts train to see it! eam have to swear an oath of loyalty to Queen Elizabeth. SPLIT APPLE ROCK Tokangawhā / Split Apple Rock is a geological rock formation in Tasman Ba the northern c y o oast of South Island. It’s made of granit and is in the shape of an e apple which has been cut in half - it’s really amazing t see! o
SPLIT APPLE ROCK
23 GIANT STATUES IN NEW ZEALAND
New Zealand towns really llike to show o what they are famous for.
WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING IS NOT A GIANT STATUE FOUND IN NEW ZEALAND? KIWI FRUIT GUMBOOT SHEEP HEAD CARROT ANSWER: MILK BOTTLE DONUT SODA BOTTLE KIWI BIRD
SALMON FISH Plateau, North Island! North Plateau,
seen all the others - yup, even a carrot - in Ohakune, Central Central Ohakune, in - carrot a even yup, - others the all seen
statue of a milk bottle that I know of in New Zealand! I have have I Zealand! New in of know I that bottle milk a of statue ANSWER to the question above, is a milk bottle! There is no no is There bottle! milk a is above, question the to ANSWER
You can’t go all the way to New Zealand and not try a kiwi fruit. Te Puke is the kiwi capital - you can get your picture taken your picture beside the town’s giant kiwi! There’s a huge kiwi bird statue in Otorohanga, a giant soft drink L&P bottle in Paeroa (my favorite soft drink), and even a giant donut in Springfield. The L&P (Lemon & Paeroa) bottle statue is seven metres high, and stands proudly in the town of Paeroa, near Auckland. The town of Taihape hosts a gumboot festival at Easter, where you can toss rubber boots or get a photo taken with a giant one.
GIANT KIWI STATUES
26 MAKE YOUR OWN MAORI JEWELERY
1. Have fun making one or more of these symbols with clay. Remember, they’re not supposed to be perfect!
2.Use a toothpick to make a hole in a thick place at the top of one of your symbols. WHALE TAIL SPIRAL TEARDROP
3.Leave them to dry.
4.Put them on a string to make a necklace or bangle.
FISH HOOK TOKI CIRCLE
MAKE A TINY MODEL OF A NEW ZEALAND GIANT STATUE
Use modelling clay to create a model of your favorite giant statue from New Zealand.
Look at this website to see the shapes: backpackerguide.nz/21-big-things-in-new-zealand/
Kiwi Fruit Gumboot Sheeps Head Carrot Donut Soda Bottle Kiwi Bird Salmon Fish
27 NEW ZEALAND CURRENCY
The New Zealand dollar is the currency of New Zealand! The exchange rate changes, but in recent years, one United States Dollar was equal to about one and a half New Zealand Dollars. Our currency is often called the kiwi - yup, just like the bird and the fruit. That will be one kiwi, please! Did you know, the kiwi bird appears on our one dollar coins.
GOVERNMENT OF NEW ZEALAND
New Zealand’s government system is called a constitutional monarchy. The Queen of England is our chief of state. Commander-in-chief of the country is the governor general, who is appointed by the Queen and the Prime Minister.
Documents issued by authority of the Queen, decisions of our courts and acts of parliament make up our laws.
In 1893, New Zealand was the first country in the world to give women the right to vote!
PARLIAMENT HOUSE IN WELLINGTON
28 THE CHRISTCHURCH TRAM Take a trip through Christchurch on a Heritage Tram! Wave to passersby from the open windows. Hop off and visit the Christchurch Botanic Gardens, the Gondola Shuttle bus, Cathedral Junction, the Avon River, Gothic-style Arts Center and the Canterbury Museum.
CHRISTCHURCH Known as the Garden City, Christchurch is the largest city in South Island. It’s New Zealand’s third largest city and is full of beautiful parks and gardens.
CHRISTCHURCH CATHEDRAL Christchurch Cathedral in Cathedral Square is in the heart of the city. The 2011 earthquake badly damaged the building. It's in the process of being restored. Originally, there were thirteen bells in the tower. The heaviest weighed almost two tonnes. It also had a stone staircase with 113 steps.
29 ANIMALS OF NEW ZEALAND
Bats are the only land mammals that have always been here in New Zealand! The rest were brought by Maoris and Europeans at various times in history. We have all kinds of interesting creatures here now - we have blue-eyed penguins, skinks, tuataras, wallabies and of course, kiwi birds!
We also have GIANT meat-eating snails. New Zealand is only place in the world where you can spot the Powelliphanta – a Giant Carnivorous Albino Snail. That’s right, it’s a meat eater and an albino, which means it's white in color!
They love to munch on slugs and earthworms, and amazingly grow to around eight centimetres (over three inches) in length. If you see one, my advice is to run! After you take a photo that is!
PROJECT: To learn about our animals, make the booklet called 'Animals of New Zealand' from the cut-out pages at the end. Research and write a fact or two about each animal.
30 ADRENALIN FOREST Adrenalin Forest is an adrenalin rush adventure park in a beautiful forest. There are rope bridges, Tarzan swings and flying foxes from platforms built in the tree canopy. You literally feel like you are flying through the trees!
TAURANGA Tauranga is a harbourside city in the Bay of Plenty region on New Zealand's North Island. A bridge over the harbour connects Tauranga to Mount Maunganui, a beach town with hot saltwater pools and an extinct volcano.
WAIMARINO ADVENTURE PARK Waimarino Adventure Park is the perfect day out for your family. Bring your togs, barbeque supplies or picnic and go kayaking in this peaceful paradise on the banks of the Wairoa River just outside Tauranga city.
34 THE WAITOMO CAVES
Deep inside a huge underground chamber in the Waitomo Caves are huge rock pillars, steeples, caverns and deep holes in the floor!
There are stalactites and stalagmites. A stalactite is icicle-shaped and forms on the ceiling of a cave, then grows downwards as water and minerals drip through the cave ceiling. Stalagmites grow upwards in the same way from the water and minerals that drip down from the stalactites - then the two join in the middle to form natural pillars in the cave. Great way to support the roof, I think!
Up ahead, on the cave ceiling are what look like stars in the sky! They can’t be stars as there are cave walls all around They are actually glowworms! They glisten in the huge, underground chamber. The eerie lights of the glowworms attract other insects and the insects get tangled in the silky threads that the glowworms spin. Then the glowworms pull in their threads and eat the trapped insects - that’s why they’re called “stars of death”!
You travel through the caves on a rowing boat - it’s eerie and really cool!
GLOW WORMS ON THE CEILING OF THE WAITOMO CAVES
35 NEW ZEALAND CUISINE
Sometimes my family likes to go to Macca’s (McDonald's) and grab a Big Mac but usually my Mum or my Dad cook at home.
We Kiwi’s love our tip-top ice cream. It’s gotta be the best in the southern hemisphere! The hokey pokey flavor is also one of my faves. I also love chocolate-coated marshmal- low fish and pineapple lumps. They’re so yummy! Kiwiana is our name for pineapple lumps - they’re chocolate-covered sweets with a soft, chewy pineapple-flavored inside.
The kiwi fruit is not native from New Zealand. It’s actually from China, but it was named after the kiwi bird. It a sweet fruit with a brown furry outside and a green inside - have you ever tried one?
People say New Zealand Blu Oysters are the best in the world! They come from the deep South and are only in season for a couple of months a year.
KIWI BURGER You’ll either think it’s weird or it’s genius! What makes a “Kiwi burger” Kiwi is the fact it has beetroot and fried egg along with your standard burger patties and whatever else between two burger buns. Try one for your Kiwi meal!
PAVLOVA Ask an Australian and they will swear that Oz invented the pavlova. Ask a Kiwi and they will tell you di erently. Pavlova is a much-loved desert in New Zealand made with meringue, ROAST LAMB whipped cream and fruit. You’re gonna learn to make one for your We have so many sheep, so yup - New Zealand meal. roast lamb is definitely a favorite. My Mum likes to make it once every week or two with roast potatoes. I also love lamb chops on the Barbie.
36 SAVORY PIES These delicious pies have savory WHITEBAIT FRITTERS fillings like mince and cheese, steak From August to November each and cheese. We don’t have sweet year, you’ll see heaps of keen pies like pumpkin or blueberry pie “whitebaiters” setting up like in the USA. temporary shacks and jetties along the river mouths of the West Coast, catching tiny fish that are not yet fully grown to make whitebait fritters. Think of them as a fishy omelette.
HANGI Traditional Maori hangi is meat and veges slow-cooked in an under- ground oven. A pit is dug and then the food wrapped and placed in baskets on hot stones to cook. The PLAN YOUR NEW result is tender, juicy and delicious. ZEALAND FUN MEAL
Plan a fun New Zealand meal with your family!
- Kiwi fruit kebabs for your starter. - Kiwi burger for main course. - Pavlova for dessert - you can buy STARTER DESSERT the meringue base or bake it from scratch.
See the recipes page for instructions.
MAIN COURSE * Wear your Maori headdress for the meal and use the food flags and table flag to decorate. * Try out your New Zealand jokes and slang! * Show your project pages and tell about what you have learned about New Zealand.
37 UNIVERSITY OF OTAGO This Victorian style university building was inspired by Sir George Gilbert Scott’s structure for Glasgow University. Its oldest part was opened in 1881. The chamber behind the north gable which used to house the library has housed the university council since 1965.
DUNEDIN Known as the Edinburgh of New Zealand, Dunedin wears its Scottish heritage with pride. Surrounded by dramatic hills, it lies at the foot of a picturesque harbour. Dunedin is one of the best-preserved Victorian and Edwardian cities in the Southern Hemisphere
LARNACH CASTLE New Zealand’s only castle sits on a hill overlooking the magnificent Otago Harbour. Tourists can enjoy a stroll through the stunning gardens. Much of the stone used to build the castle came from a basalt quarry nearby. There are 43 rooms and a staff of 46!
40 THE MYSTERIOUS KAIMANAWA WALL
I want to tell you the story of when my P!p! took me on a trip further north on North Island to the mysterious Kaimanawa wall! It’s a journey I’ll always remember, and an amazing adventure that I’ll tell to my children and grandchildren. P!p! is Maori, Mummy is of British descent and I am kind of in between. My skin’s neither pale nor dark. I like to think that I have some of each heritage in my genes. People think it’s funny that I called my folks, P!p! and Mummy, but I guess it reflects their individual cultures. Good ol’ English fish and chips is my fave, and I also love many of the Maori traditional dishes. Mummy and I have had fun over the years learning Maori cooking from Papa and my kuia, my grandmother. We love to cook chicken or pork and vegetables in a hangi pit. You dig a big hole in the ground (we have a permanent one that we use) and you place the baskets of food on hot stones at the bottom of the hole. The food is covered with a wet cloth and a mound of earth to trap the heat around the food. Long ago, the ‘kai’, the food was wrapped in leaves – but nowadays we use aluminium foil to make it easier. The food is in the ground for about three or four hours, and comes out tender and is smoky and delicious. We even make h!ng"-steamed pudding for dessert – which is sweet and cakey. I love to drizzle syrup on top. Mummy and I made some Rewena Pararoa for my journey with Papa. That’s a traditional Maori sourdough bread made from Maori potatoes. I love it with butter and Manuka honey. Sometimes we don’t even spread them on top but just dunk the bread in them.
JOURNEY TO THE WALL
It was the Christmas holidays when P!p! and I drove from Wellington northwards to the town of Taupo. P!p! told me we were going to investigate the Kaimanawa Wall near Mount Tauhara in Taupo. It’s is a very exciting wall to explore. Nobody really knows if it was made ! 41 by man more than two thousand years ago or if it’s a natural phenomenon from volcanic rock. If it turns out to be man-made, I would have a ton of exciting questions: How old was it? Who made it? Maori? Pre-Maori? Why was it built? Why here? You see, the Maori people are supposed to have arrived in New Zealand around eight hundred years ago and to have been the first people on the island. History books say that long before the British came, the first Maori people arrived around 1200AD. According to the Māoris, the first explorer to reach New Zealand was named Kupe. He used the stars and ocean currents as his guides as he ventured across the Pacific on his ‘waka hourua’ canoe from Hawaiki. You’ll not find Hawaiki on a map these days, but it’s believed he came from an island or group of islands in Polynesia in the South Pacific Ocean. We drove about 12 km down the bumpy, narrow Clements Mill Road. There were no signs or anything special – just a lonely old wall sitting there, barely noticed.
INVESTIGATING
Knowing how important the wall really was, I was excited. I leapt out of the car with great anticipation and began to examine it top to bottom. The lines between the huge stone blocks were amazingly straight as if they had been carefully chiseled and fitted together. The wall was partially covered with moss and on top of it lay some deep soil and a large tree. Papa removed a few inches of soil at the base to see if the wall continued much farther down. It did - deeper than we were prepared to dig. In between two of the stone blocks, on the right side of the wall, was a small crevice but it was too dark to see inside. It seemed logical to me that the stones had been cut. The four stones you could see in the front wall were about one and a half metres tall, and about a metre wide. In one place Papa could insert his arm into a root-ridden cavity and feel behind. He said the rock face was amazingly smooth back there as well. I ran my hands over the perfectly shaped rocks wondering how they came to be there. Dad beckoned to me and we walked further up the hill where he had discovered the tops of some other stones sticking out of the dirt. We examined them. Papa thought perhaps more stones were buried in the hill. These perfectly shaped stones also had very smooth flat surfaces. I was starting to become convinced that the wall was an ancient structure built by people long ago. Papa says that archaeologists tell
42 us the stones are at least 2000 years old which would mean that if people had placed them there, then there were definitely people in New Zealand long before the Maoris arrived! Papa said that the wall could also have been formed by old volcanic rock that is common in the Taupo Volcanic Zone. The rock would have been heated in a volcano and then cooled after flowing into place in the structure. “How unlikely is that?” I thought to myself.
DISCOVERY
I sat on a rock looking at the tall green trees around me, thinking about it all. I loved being surrounded by such an amazing piece of history and wondering about who had been there in that exact spot before me hundreds or even thousands of years ago. My fingers idly scraped at the sandy ground nearby. They brushed against something that felt smooth and curved. I looked down in surprise to see what my fingers were touching. An old dish left by a picnicker? I dug a bit more and then gave a whoop of excitement. Papa came over and helped me scrape away the sand. I saw what seemed to be the top of a large jar. We dug a bit more, until Papa said that he was worried we could damage the jar without proper equipment. He dug in his backpack and unearthed an old toothbrush. We worked painstakingly removing the dirt around the jar, alternately digging with a stone and scraping gently with the brush. After a couple of hours of exhausting careful digging, we uncovered a beautiful sculpted marble jar! I was so amazed that I was speechless. Dad was afraid to move the jar in case it crumbled, so he used his cell phone to call a historian friend of his. Dad’s friend knew of a friendly archaeologist and we soon heard that he was on his way to meet us. When Neil arrived, we shook hands, introduced ourselves and then showed him our find. He seemed quite overcome with excitement and sat on a rock looking dazed. “Do you know !
43 what this means?” he said. “This could be huge! We’ll have to excavate this whole area and if we find more, well, it would tell us all kinds of things about this land thousands of years ago.” He lifted the jar from the earth using special equipment and then took many photos of us pretending to hold it (although it was actually resting safely in its box – we just put our hands around it). CELEBRATION
We gave thumbs up signs and grinned at each other pointing to the jar and then posed for photos of us digging it up. Neil said we would be remembered as the discovers of the jar and that it would be displayed with our photo in the local museum. How awesome is that! Me in a museum, part of history! After Neil had left, and the light was fading, we sat and watched the sunset while Papa told me stories of a legendary people called the Patupaiarehe who did not cook their food and supposedly could not tolerate sunlight. He said they were supposed to have excelled in the arts of weaving and net-making. They did not use a loom, but their cords were woven together to form a fine cloth very like ancient Irish linen. This was long before any known Europeans arrived in New Zealand. They were said to have taught the skill of weaving to the Maori people. Papa said that Captain Cook, on his first visit to New Zealand in 1769 had noted that "the natives used nets woven exactly like our own". According to Maori legends, the Patupaiarehe people were said to have been here before the Maori people, and then to have once co-existed with them. They were said to have had fair hair and white skin, as well as blue eyes and to have lived in constructed hilltop forts. If they did indeed exist, these people either did not survive or departed again, leaving only very faint clues behind. It is said that, in some very remote forests, a few survivors may well still exist! We wondered whether we had found evidence of their time here. Papa wondered aloud about whether they might have built the Kaimanawa Wall. We sat on a log side by side. I looked around at the peaceful but busy forest with its cool air, its many birds and creatures, the wind blowing through the trees and the awesome rocks and hills surrounding me.
44 I felt again a deep excitement at the thought that so many people before me had been in this spot – people from hundreds and maybe thousands of years ago. I wondered how their lives had looked and how their days had been filled. I wondered if the wall before my eyes had been built by people and if so, what did they build it for. How did they move the giant rocks and piece them together so perfectly? It reminded me of my own life, being built piece by piece as I learned and discovered new things, developed new interests and developed my skills. I wanted to use all my talents and gifts to serve and help others and to make a difference in the world. I wanted to share the blessings that I had been blessed with. It was a profound trip which shaped my thinking and my direction in life and I am so thankful to Papa for taking me on it. It’s an extraordinary thing to be part of something so much bigger than yourself. I often remember my father’s words to me on the trip. “Sometimes my child, we don’t know the answers. The Lord Jesus knows all, but we do not know all. Most important is to trust Him, and as for the past… and our history, future generations will continue to investigate. “It’s important that we don’t lose any of our history – for we are not simply Maori or British but we are members of the human race. We are all in this together and there is so much to be gained, so much knowledge to be learned from previous generations.” We walked hand-in hand back to the car, my heart full from the amazing day – ready to call Mummy and tell her all about our amazing adventure.
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