For our :Land Journey's and Ethics course (Tepe 112) we did a traverse of about 9-10km through the Port Hills of Canterbury. For our Journey we were divided into two groups; our group being the 'All Americans' and the other group naming themselves 'Ladies and the Tramps'. John was our team leader for our group and a fella named Alan was the Ladies and the Tramps team leader. We started at the Northern part of the hill and used the Victoria Path to come to our first trig (high peak or landmark) called Sugar Loaf. This was a tall point so named because when it snows, the top of the trig looks like a glazed donut of some sort. Presentations were given along the way first about Harry Ell, second about Christchurch earthquakes and the formation of the city, third Quale Island, and finally Sign of the Bellbird where we camped overnight. After Sugarloaf we pressed onto Sign of the Kiwi where we were able to refresh and fill up on water. We tramped on and along the way noticed that rally racing practice was occurring! These were very fast, manual, Audi and Subaru's racing up and down on tight turns through the hills. Very exciting to watch! We them arrived at the Sign of the Bellbird where we settling in and setup camp. My sleeping companions were two girls named Sarah and Casey. Together we made an excellent couscous dish with peas, green curry paste, coconut powder, onion, and peas - made famous by Chris North. After we played cards and had s'mores using our cookers. We all gathered for a group meeting in the burnt down structure of the Sign of the Bellbird and discussed how Canterbury had changed because of human interaction. Every city in the world has its own specific adjustment for some reason, but is it always justified and is it always ethical? Some members gave input on their cities back in the US how the landscape had be adjusted for better or worse. While all this was occurring a colorful and rare pigeon named a Kereru fluttered down onto a nearby bush to check us out. We could also start to see a couple brush fires in the distance with smoke rising. Afterwards, when it became dark, we did some stargazing! The milky way looked spectacular! We also were able to depict the 6 stars called the Taurus constellation. This means "Unite" in Japanese and was named Pleiades by greek gods. We also were able to spot the parallelogram that forms the southern cross. From this we can use the stars to see where due south is. We stayed up for a bit longer and I listened in on some of us telling stories about food, funny jokes, and people all the while trying to keep an eye out for shooting stars. Bed Time!
The next morning many awoke to "wake up motherfuckers.......bang!!!". Supposedly, someone shot a firework off at 6am and lit up the entire brick fortress nearby. I myself never heard it and woke up at about 8am for breaky. We then did some plant ID which I found fascinating, because i'm a forester! Some very neat colors and trees in the woods including supplejacks ( very strong vine like structures, native to New Zealand). Afterwords we did some orienteering and made sure to adjust for declination (23 degrees)! We left the Sign of the Bellbird and tramped to Gibralter Rock, our final destination. We passed through valleys, forested paths, and roadways until we finally were able to arrive at a natural spring, that fed from the mountains via a drinking nozzle. It was just but a trickle but tasted so fresh. Our journey ended just up the road where we awaited to be picked by our vans.
This journey really opened up my mind about how much humans have altered the landscape not only in NZ but the rest of the world as well. I would agree to the fact that humans have to be involved in order to create and make things sustainable and conserve nature. It has to be for the right purposes though. Don't to force something that won't fit.
"You can put a tuxedo on a goat, but......still a goat!"
