Experience NZ Chronicles
The USU Experience NZ Programme is about exploration, adventure, culture and friendship, and 2011 was no exception. This year Unitec students from New Zealand, the Middle East, Asia, Europe and North, Central and South America all took some time out from study to get together and do something uniquely kiwi.
We started off semester one with a double-decker bus tour of Auckland. Our first weekend away was up to the Bay of Islands for some sailing and sand-boarding. We were lucky to meet a kiwi (the feathered, and unfortunately 1-legged, kind) up close on this trip, and we also swam with dolphins and spent an evening relaxing at Russell beneath a brilliant pink sunset. We made the most of what seemed to be an extended summer in semester one, with lots of water-orientated day trips including a kayak mission down the Puhoi River to Wenderholm Regional Park and snorkelling at Goat Island marine reserve.
One of our first adventures for this semester was a hike through the Waitakere Ranges and along the north end of Whatipu Beach up to Karekare. After 2-3 hours of trekking through forest and sand dunes there was a mad dash into the surf for a mid-winter swim. Despite the cold drip drying that is the result of an un-planned swim in August, spirits were not dampened and winter dips have continued – black water rafting at Waitomo Caves, white water rafting in Rotorua, and some hot water swims too, at natural springs in Rotorua and Taupo. On a horse trek along Pakiri Beach, only the horses took the plunge as they carried us through a waist-deep estuary, and on one of USU’s fairly regular pilgrimages to the snow, the students who hiked to the summit of Ruapehu were wise enough to stay out of the sulphurous crater lake, despite its popularity with swimming skiers in the 1950s.
Unitec’s international students from around the world have been making the most of natural NZ, they’ve learned a lot about Maori culture and our country’s history and are enjoying our sweet as kiwi ways (before you know it, they’ll all be walking around barefoot). In exchange, they bring us International Food Day, where we can swap pies for empanadas, and cultural celebrations such as Oktoberfest (steins instead of pints), the National Day of Saudi Arabia, and Diwali. The Experience NZ Programme is not just about kiwi culture, but experiencing and embracing diversity and making friends from around the globe.