Kapa Haka

The Kapa Haka is a traditional Maori greeting for visitors - kapa being the female movement and sound and haka being the male.

This was the Maori welcome for the Hudson Valley Group Study Exchabge visit to New Zealand in March, 2007 performed by the Kapa Haka group from Mana College in Wellington, NZ.

Thank you to the Plimmerton Club for this footage.

Plant Life

Just some pictures of plants in the area.

Helen here chiming in!
I would like to add a photo here... this is an unfurling fern tree frond known in the Maori language as "koru". It signifies new life, growth and pure potential, appropriately symbolic of all the new life experiences we are having on our exchange.

cable car

One must see site of Wellington is the Cable car. This is how I, Heather, was able to get up and down from my first hosts house into Wellington City proper. There is only one cable car in Wellington, but, many Trolley buses are still in service, deisel bus, and train service to aid in commuting into Wellington. Kiwis in Wellington have similar issues as we do of more cars than parking spaces.

Welcome to New Zealand!

Hello From Down Under!
We arrived in New Zealand to a warm welcome by our Wellington Hosts as well ad a Maori High School group who greeted us with the traditional Maori welcome. We have already had some wonderful experiences including visits to the Botanic Gardens via the Wellington Trolley, a visit to the Karori wildlife preserve (some of us via "gut buster" run to the top), walks along the harbor, a yacht ride in Wellington harbor, a welcome by Wellingon's Mayor, dinner at Parliament, and visits to Te Papa Museum and Waiwhetu Marae.

With three Rotary Club presentations under our belts thus far, we are starting to get the hang of things and relaxed speeches are coming easier. We have met "Team Kiwi" and are excited for them as they are readying themselves to travel to our neck of the woods and we look forward to sharing with them the same sort of hospitality and enthusiasm they have shown with us. Local bug repellant, Kiwi music CDs and cell phone loaners were absolutely over the top welcomes from our Kiwi counterparts.

Tomorrow, we are off to Mana Island off the West coast of the North Island where the entire Island is a protected preserve. It is quite a privledge to be going there as special arrangements have to be made for a visit and it is actually closed to the public for our visit tomorrow. Althjough unlikely as they are nocturnal creatures, I hope we get to see some Kiwis - the birds, I mean!

Animals

We have all seen a variety of animals while on our journey through the Wellington Area. Sheep, deer, one legged kiwis, and sheep herding dogs.

Wellington

Friday March 2nd we landed in Wellington to some beautiful vistas, buildings, and wonderful weather. Sunny, mild and touch windy. We each were able to relax, read, or walk around to see our new surroundings.