Submitted by Katherine Heller on the 2016 winter session program in New Zealand sponsored by the Department of Kinesiology and Applied Physiology…
On our first weekend in the land of the Kiwis, we went to a beach carved into the cliffs just south of Dunedin as well as a tour of the natural life found in the Otago Peninsula. Tunnel Beach was beautiful and insane. It amazed me what variety of people I saw hiking down/up to the beach like it was no big deal while us young, relatively fit and loud Americans could barely keep it together. I was able to appreciate the lifestyle that New Zealand makes possible for people who live in its “leg day every day” terrain. Thanks to Brad’s driving tour afterward, I learned and saw just how much Scottish influence the settlers brought with them, especially to Dunedin. Since then, walking around the city, I’ve noticed it more in the people, goods and buildings than I had before. It also opened my eyes to the diversity of other immigrants in Dunedin, including the fairly strong Asian influence on cuisine that is evident when walking down George Street, for example.
The Elm’s Wildlife Tour opened my eyes further to understand what influence these foreign settlers had/have on the wildlife and plant life of New Zealand. The islands lost about half of their bird species since people began to populate New Zealand. That is an insanely large and shameful loss of biodiversity. Learning this helped me to understand why it is so important to protect the albatross and penguins that Elm focuses so strongly on. Invasive species, diseases and the introduction of hunting greatly damaged New Zealand’s unique ecosystem. The land and environment was over-hunted and under-protected by both large groups of settlers (Polynesian/Maori and Scottish). It was interesting to learn how few land mammals are indigenous to the region, and I really noticed this the next day when we hiked Mt. Cargill. The lush, natural undergrowth that I saw during that hike also made me realize how different of an environment Otago has compared to many parts of the world and anything I’ve ever seen before. In a place that went so long untouched by nature, I found myself really appreciating what comes naturally over time and our human responsibility to preserve it to the best of our abilities.
These two experiences helped me become more culturally competent because I understand not only that vastly different cultures that were brought here and mixed by different settlers, but their effects on the natural environment that have remained hundreds of years later.
Oh, and I finally discovered my spirit animal. I’m really “finding myself “on this trip!