On our last day here in Aotearoa, we got to spend time driving around the suburbs, visiting new places. We got the awesome opportunity to give back at a community garden. It was really fun to get to talk to the matua and learn about how Maori are slowly gaining back their lands. I enjoyed getting to work in the dirt pulling weeds, and the matua were extremely kind to us, as they shared some freshly harvested veggies, fresh-baked bread and oh-so-ono New Zealand butter with us. I got to try an apple cucumber, which is really sweet, and feijoa, which is green and similar to guava. We got to see the beautiful landscaping they've done at Bastion Point. We also got to go to Unitec and see their Marae. It was beautiful and represented a kakou effort on the parts of the entire community. The carvings were extremely intricate representations of a timeline of Maori history. We were invited by the university elders for tea and biscuits afterwards, which was pretty fun. I love Earl Grey tea. When we drove back to the city to pick up our bags, we took the long way back (in reality, I think we had a hard time following the GPS) but it was fun. We got to drive on the motorway and see lots of sights, including an L&L BBQ, the Auckland tower from afar, and One Tree Hill (which the girls visited on our first night in Auckland). We had a lot of fun reminding Mr. Kamalu to drive on the left side of the road too! Today was a pretty chill day, and I had fun adventuring. I'm sad to be leaving, but I have tons of pictures and memories to remember this trip by. -Katie K. Sakys
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May 2015
CategoriesContributorsThe members on the Mālama Honua journey will maintain this area to document their experiences. |