We are well underway into our second week in this country. My group spent the last three days in Cambridge, which is a quaint town inland on the North Island. After no heating or beds for five days at the Waharau Reserve, it was definitely nice to have central heating, an indoor bathroom, and stationary beds with sheets. Our stay was filled with lectures from Waikato Region (where Cambridge is located) government officials, as well as environmentalists who work in a variety of fields.

            One day we ventured to Maungatautari, a forested volcano cone and reserve that is the sacred mountain of the Ngati Koroki Kahukura people. We were hosted at the Pohara marea (a marea is a Maori meeting house that each Maori community has) in Maungatautari. We were welcomed at a powhiri, which a meeting ceremony. I was one of the three “callers” in our group. An elder woman, who was a member of the Pohara marae started chanting as we slowly approached her and the rest of the members of the marae. Me, and two other girls in my group stood in front of our group and took turns singing verses in the native language of Maori. We then sat facing the members of the marea and sang songs back and forth and one of our teachers is Maori and is fluent in the language so he spoke traditional verses to them. They were impressed by the few songs that we sung, which we learned at the last place we stayed. We then had tea with them and learned more about their particular Marae and discussed the journey of co-governance between the Maori and Kiwi’s (the rest of New Zealand). New Zealand is currently trying to reconcile their relationship with the Maori and give them back land that was originally taken away by original settlers. We spent that same afternoon at the Maungatautari Ecological Island Trust and hiked around while learning about the Trust from an environmental educator.

           It has been really interesting to learn about all of the environmental issues in New Zealand. New Zealand eco-tourism motto is “100 Percent Pure”, showing beautiful images of the landscapes. However, we have been learning that astounding amounts of land have been cleared for dairy farming, and other agricultural use, and the rolling green hills were in fact once dense forests that were cleared for farming practices. It’s been eye-opening to hear from members of the parliament and other government bodies and learn about different initiatives and organizations that have come to be to combat the degrading ecosystems. We are headed to Raglan next, which I heard is a beach town very similar to Stinson Beach (a little beach town near me in California). I’m excited to see what our next leg of our “field trip through the North Island” holds.