South Island Reflection--the lovers, the dreamers, and me

Samantha Russell
Southern Alps Reflection
February, 2009


Though it only has roughly the same land area as Wisconsin, I have seen that the landscape of New Zealand’s south island is far more diverse. From ocean beaches to alpine areas and even to agricultural fields and urban areas, there is a lot to the south island.
Agriculture plays a huge part of everything that New Zealand is. I have read varying figures regarding the people to sheep ratio in New Zealand, with one stating that there are about 45 million sheep and roughly 4 million people. While countless acres of native forest have been cleared to make way for these wool-y bovines, New Zealand’s often harsh landscape and climate make this a very practical animal to farm on a large scale.
We had an opportunity to visit a New Zealand Sheep farm. I was surprised by the sheer number of sheep that a family-owned operation owned and even more surprised at how efficiently each individual sheep could be shorn. However, I was curious about the impact of our visit—was this truly a typical kiwi farm, or some stereotyped ideal put on for us tourists? Either way did our dollars help to preserve individually owned farms in New Zealand, or were we helping to support a new kind of corporate farming? If we were, is there anything wrong with that? For now, I have been unable to answer these.
Based on information presented in Dr. Fletcher’s lecture and that our South Island bus driver shared, despite New Zealand’s sheep, dairy is an even bigger industry in New Zealand. Especially on the South Island. While I’ve noticed that much of the milk is refrigerated in New Zealand (whereas in Australia, a big shockingly, it was not) I was a bit disappointed to hear that it is still reconstituted from a powdered milk product. However, this makes sense as the majority of milk is exported and helps to feed China, and a prolonged shelf life is most definitely a bonus, however disgusting the idea of rebuilt milk may sound.
While driving near Lake Tekapo and Lake Pukaki on the way to Mount Cook, I realized that happy cows do not come from California, and, sorry, they don’t come from Wisconsin either, they come from New Zealand. Though I wasn’t looking for them, I did not see any of the long, low barns typical of factory farms, nor did I see many cows all crowded together in one small field—however practical that may be. I saw a few cows, set out to graze—grass fed cows-- along the most fantastic gorgeous turquoise blue lakes I have ever seen set against a back drop of rolling hills and mountains.
As we traveled south towards Queensland, the farming scenery slowly shifted from being sheep dominated to being vineyard dominated. While I like to think of myself as a Jeffersonian Democrat who loves nothing more than to “venerate the plow,” we were told about a kind of disturbing process in which grapes are protected from early frosts. Helicopters are employed, or, more recently wind turbines, to engage and, in the wee hours of the morning, disturb the air flow so that the frost cannot settle. While this protects the grapes, natural rhythms in and around the vineyards are then disrupted. However, I suppose that since many of the critters and flora around the vineyards are considered introduced and are therefore undesirable, this may not be as horrible as it may seem.
Moving away from the world of agriculture, something less familiar to me as a Wisconsinite was the rugged beauty of mountain terrain in the south island. The Southern Alps have made providing a grid-like highway system in New Zealand nearly impossible and highly dangerous. At one point, as we traveled to Milford Sound, there were signs prohibiting stopping at certain times of the year because the risk of avalanche was too high. In order to create a pass underneath the Southern Alps, many lives were lost due to avalanches. While it still takes seemingly forever to drive anywhere on the South Island because of winding, zig-zaggy roads, the main roads are well maintained and solid.
While the mountains were filthy with introduced European flora (and fauna), they didn’t take away from the feeling of smallness when I stood in the mountains and looked around. There has been much discussion about the rugged individualism of the people of New Zealand, and I can’t help but wonder if that idea comes from living in and around such harshly beautiful behemoths.
In that same vein, I took notice of a tree of a high rugged individuality—the beech tree. The beech that I saw is native to New Zealand and dominated the alpine landscape. Additionally, while touring more alpine terrain, we were introduced to the Kea. Kea are a highly intelligent alpine parrot who, when bored, are known to destroy cars and can even kill and eat parts of weak sheep.
One thing that New Zealand has more in common with Wisconsin, though, is a rich glacial history. While at Mount Cook, we had the opportunity to see and experience the Tasman Glacier via boat. I was again reminded of how small I am as we made our way around the immense and fairly ancient chunks of ice.
Less foreign to us were the urban environments we explored. Though nowhere will be as large as Sydney, where there are more people in that little space than there are in this entire country, a city is still a city. Right off, we were able to enjoy what Christchurch had to offer, especially in the way of Hagley Park. Because we arrived so close to Waitangi Day, we were able to enjoy a variety of free entertainment in the park. One event, Sparks in the Park, was a stunning display of pageantry and national pride, and provided a fine introduction to how New Zealanders view themselves. It began with the Christchurch Symphony playing rather majestic music, interspersed with images of the All Blacks on the video screens. We were also treated to a jousting match, which I’m finding has no place whatsoever in New Zealand culture, but it fit with the general theme of pageantry. The production then moved on to a troupe performing a montage of Broadway musicals (mostly American) that most of the 2,000+ people in the crowd were able to sing a long with, and the show finally ended with the symphony playing the William Tell Overture accompanied with well timed fire works. This event leads me to surmise then, that New Zealand is an arts-loving nation, not too concerned about which country “owns” the art, as much as enjoying celebrating the art works, and coming together as a community to see a great show.
While in Christchurch, I did take note of the wildlife situation as well. There weren’t squirrels or raccoons or any other city mammals that I am used to, but there were some heart-breakingly familiar birds—English House Sparrows, Rock Doves, Mallards, Starlings, and Blackbirds seemed to be the only birds I saw. Then, I started to notice more and more birds. The gulls were of completely different species than we find in our parking lots and Great Lake beaches, though they still fulfilled the role of flying garbage can. I began to listen around as well, and have heard more birdcalls than I know what to do with. Christchurch, though overrun with invasive birds, has still managed to maintain a healthy population of non-European, if not native, birds. Unfortunately though, I have noticed that there doesn’t seem to be any thought that leaving the pet cats outside could cause any harm. I have asked my host-family about it, and was actually told that it’s a good thing—they eat the birds that way. While perhaps she was referring to the awful starlings that plague our yard, it almost seems like a backwards way of thinking.
Queenstown is a town built for the fast, adventurous, and dangerous, and run by the young, for the young—you can tell by the fact that you can get a good burger at 4:45 am. Adventure and nature have become inseparable here, with the focus being on adventure. I was able to enjoy a morning on the Shotover River on a raft and was able to see first hand the infestation of rabbits and goats in New Zealand. I was also able to enjoy the awesome, angular, harsh rock valley that defines the Shotover while being sure that my life was about to end at any second. I was also awed by the Nevis valley, as I whizzed into it at about 60mph, bounced a bit, and whizzed deeper. The adventures that Queenstown has grown famous for wouldn’t be nearly so spectacular, popular, or fun without the special nature that surrounds the area.
An important aspect of the urban landscape that I’ve noticed is that you can never feel that you are in a forest of concrete and steel. There are big parks to enjoy a green commons in, as well as being able to see “not city” surrounding you—especially the hills in Christchurch.
Overall, something has struck me though, is that in order to preserve this fantastic diversity, New Zealand has turned to tourism. Tourism lends a tangible value to the landscape and allows communities to, in essence, work with the land rather than exploiting it. Though I didn’t discuss it, many animals are seen as a resource, rather than competition or something to be harvested. The people within all of these environs, have, after a turbulent past, found ways to eek out a living without existing in direct competition with the surrounding environment.