I know we have all found and heard tons about the Kaituna River. Our Whitewater Kayaking Videos and white water kayaking photos came leaps and bounds while based on this river. It gave all the students some time to focus on one area and a subject that was important to them. With video its always been hard to focus on one thing at once especially when your away from home for the first time in an incredible spot. So we took the opportunity and each focused on a specific subject. Some did documentaries on the Kayak School that they are a part of as well as the ones that we travel and meet up with, others did thiers on straight whitewater kayaking, but the in the end I think every got the chance to focus on something non kayaking related. Stephen focused on the Kaituna River. And even though it has kayaking in the movie his focus was more on the are around the river and how unique it is. I hope you all enjoy what he has put together here.

Paddle Hard,
Tino

After a great trip in New Zealand I am now in china finishing up a bit of video work for Pilot Media and Vital Films. We came out of New Zealand with tons of video. This means that we have tons of videos coming your way. So keep your eyes out for tons more mini movies coming your way. I hope everybody is having a great Yule Tide Season!
Paddle Hard,
Tino

Here is our very own Jason Craig and a documentary he made on his quest to catch a New Zealand Trout!

It was a big jump from New Zealand summer weather to Ottawa River winter weather. I arrived at the airport in shorts and my soft shell jacket...oops. We have two feet of snow and below seasonal temperatures that approach minus 30 at night. 
Now that I have recieved my boat and unpacked all of my gear and settled in, I am looking forward to my trip down south with Stephen Forster and Devyn Scott. The Black River is rising and Inner City Wave in Watertown is IN! I am looking forward to a possible visit in the next couple  of days. 

I will post some pictures of the beautiful Canadian winter and hopefully paddling in the coming days.    

 

    The women in Maori tribes had very significant jobs. Although they could not fight in war or have full facial tattoos, they were considered very sacred because they would provide the tribe with generations to come.  Without the women they couldn’t have meetings because the women did the opening calls, a man could not.  Women also were in charge of the songs and dances, they were responsible for the stories to get told. They also were supposed to take care of the family and the cooking. The men also helped with the cooking as well. Women were not allowed to be near the carvers or carve at all because of their menstrual cycle.  Women played a key role in the Maori culture.
    The mokus (facial tattoos) on the women were mainly on the chin.  If a woman had them on her nostrils or in between her eyebrows she was very important. She was probably the chief’s wife.  The more tattoos you had the higher rank in the tribe you were. The tattoos told your story. It told where you were born, who you were born to, what tribe you belonged to, and what you did. It sometimes also told who you were to be married to.  In the old days of the Maoris the mokus were chiseled into your skin. It was scarred into your skin. It was a very painful process and tattooists were held in the highest respect.  
    Without women in the Maori culture it would be impossible to have meetings, greet other tribes, and have families. Maori women are often over-looked but they play a key point of the culture with dance and song.  The art of poi, which was first a strengthening tool for the men, the women turned it into a dance, a very beautiful one.  Women brought new ideas to the culture.

Claire Dibble sorts through the rubble.


Photo by Tracy d'Arbeloff


Photo by Tracy d'Arbeloff

 Do you ever wonder why New Zealand has so many sheep? Well it all started in 1882 when the economy was in an economical slump and people needed to find a way to preserve their culture. Then some farmers had a plan to send sheep meat on a ship called the Dunedin to England. You might ask how they would do this because in those days it would take a little over three months to get the meat to England! So they made this refrigerator that they would pack the meat in ice. There for keeping it frozen but fresh! This process enabled the frozen meet industry to become an economical staple. Now sheep out number people 1:13! There are more than 70 million sheep and the government is able to give farmers a state payment to boost their stock numbers! 

There are two different ways that geothermal hot springs are heated. The most common way is non-volcanic, where the water is heated by geothermal gradient by passing through rocks that are very hot inside the Earth’s interior. The other way in which hot springs are heated is volcanic zones. Yellowstone National Park is an example of this. The water is heated by magma inside the earth’s crust. It is very common to have hot springs with temperatures near boiling point. When in a volcanic zone water is often superheated, creating pressure and steam, resulting in a geyser. The average temperatures of hot springs used for swimming are 98 degrees F (36.7 C). Flow rates of hot springs range from little seeps to rivers of hot water.
People have discovered therapeutic uses for the natural hot springs. Heated water is able to hold more dissolved solids. Warm and hot springs often have high mineral content, containing Calcium to Lithium and even Radium. With the warm water and its mineral content hot springs are a great way to relax your body.
Swimming in these hot springs can also be dangerous with several illnesses that are common. Hot springs create ideal conditions for infections to spread on the body. The common types of infections are Naegleria Fowleri, an amoeba that lives in warm waters, can also be the leading cause to Meningitis. Deaths have been attributed to this amoeba that enters the brain through nasal passages. The other two less common infections are Acanthamoeba, and Legion Ella Bacteria.
    Rotorua is one of the world’s most spectacular Geothermal Wonderland’s, with five main Geothermal Parks. Whakarewarewa, has the largest geyser in the country, and is one of the most visited. Tikitere (Hell’s Gate), is Rotorua’s most fierce geothermal park. It contains whirlpools of boiling water, and the largest hot waterfall in the Southern Hemisphere. Waimongu is a tribute to the devastating eruption of Mount Taraweraover 100 years ago (1886). The park contains multi-colored lakes and stunning landscape. Waiotapu includes some of the most colorful volcanic features (NRA went here). Orakei Korako, the Hidden Valley, is accessible by boat; this park is lauded by Lonely Planet as “Possibly the best thermal area left in New Zealand and one of the World’s Finest.”
    Meningitis is a medical condition caused by inflammation of the protective membranes covering the brain and spinal cord. The common symptoms are headache, and neck stiffness, along with fever, confusion or altered consciousness, inability to tolerate bright light, or loud noises. The way in which Meningitis is diagnosed is by lumbar puncture, which involves inserting a needle into the spinal cord to extract a sample of cerebrospinal fluid that envelops the brain and spinal cord. This must be treated promptly with antibiotics and several antiviral drugs. Without prompt treatment it can lead to deafness, epilepsy, and hydrocephalus. Ways to prevent getting Meningitis in hot springs are by keeping everything from your neck up completely dry. After getting out of the water, when drying keep your towel away from your face. Do not put your hands into your mouth, and wash your hands as soon as possible. Those are the simple ways to prevent a very harmful infection.

Note- Ross submitted some great photos and examples of NZ hotsprings.  Unfortunately, they were unreadable from our base.  Thank you Ross and readers for being patient as we sort out the bugs.

    Recently, the New River Academy visited New Zealand's Hukah Falls. Hukah Falls is a gigantic waterfall on the Waikato River. Before it was damned, the Waikato used to be the  biggest river in Austral Asia. Hukah falls is around 25 feet tall with clear turquoise water and massive volume all flowing out of a very narrow canyon gorge. It has been a sacred place to the Maori people for a long time. When I first saw it I was amazed at how gorgeous it was. The water was amazingly blue and clear and looked so refreshing. The water was too high to run in a kayak that day but it was still fun to try and pick out which line you would take if you were to run it. The place was probably one of the most beautiful places I have been to and it is just an example of the beauties of New Zealand and the Earth.

    The New River Academy has been going to many Maori related cultural activities and I realized I knew little about Maori religion. So I decided that for this blog, I would look up a few Maori gods and their creation story, which goes hand in hand with their gods.

Students visit a Maori Cultural exhibition. (c) Belle Burche

    The story begins with sky father (Ranginui) and earth mother (Papatuanuku) lay in a tight embrace. They had many children who lived between them in darkness. The children wished to live in light so they forced their parents apart separating the sky from the earth and creating the world we live in today. The Maori believe that rain is the tears of sky father for earth mother and that mist are sighs of warmth as her body yearns for him.
    After the many attempts it took to separate them some of the children began to wish that it had not been done and went into a practical war against the other children. The main one of these is Tawhirimatea, the god of storms. He has children of his own such as wind.  Tawhirimatea attacks the other children such as Tane, the god of the forest and Tangaroa, the god of the sea. All of these fear the attacks of Tawhirimatea, except one group, Tu, which is human kind. All of the gods are bickering now between each other, however Tu subdues them all except Tawhirimatea, the god of storms.
    Tane however decides that Rangi (father sky) should be appropriately dressed and so he searches out heavenly bodies such as the stars, the moon, and the sun and throws them up on to Rangi dressing him in an appropriate matter.
    After reading about this creation story I have begun to see many connections between the Maori religion and the Greek mythology. Both of them begin with the old gods who are the sky and the planet. And in both their children wish to leave and so in Greek mythology they kill them and in Maori simply separate them.
These connections between the two begin to make me question if there was a connection between the two cultures and if there was, what was it? Was it a common ancestor or just interaction between ancestors?

by Belle Burch


David Gorski rides a New Zealand river trolley.

The day is November 24th, 2008. A historic day for New River Academy students. On the banks of the Rangitikei River on the north island of New Zealand stand the competitors, adrenaline pumping in the crisp morning. Each in turn must take a speedy trolley ride across the river, climb out onto the rocks on the other side, dive into the water, swim back and scramble up the river's bank to where they started in the least amount of time possible. Nicholas Roberts, 18, of Wales won the race with an outstanding time of 2 minutes, 6 seconds.

Nick Roberts represents the New River Academy's international student program as a Gap Year student from the United Kingdom.  Here is a Q&A with champion Nick Roberts.
Q: How does it feel to be the champion of River Race 2008?

Nick: It feels pretty awesome. I didn't expect to win. I came into the competition hoping for a medal and I was delighted to win.

Q: Did you do anything special to prepare yourself for your spectacular win today?

Nick: As far as training I've been working on my jump and particularly developing the "flailing", which gets me swimming before I even hit the water. I think that definitely gave me the edge today.  

Q: Do you have any advice for young swimmers out there hoping to compete?

Nick: I think if you're hoping to compete with me, don't. I've developed my swimming technique from swimming while kayaking. It gave me this sense of urgency that I can transfer to my athletics. I would advise trying to leap up waterfalls, like a salmon.

Q: What are you going to do to celebrate your victory?

Nick: I think-- I've been thinking carefully-- I'm going to buy as many jam doughnuts as I can with my prize money.

Today my mentor group of Claire Dibble and Belle Burch go to explore the town of Murchinson by bike. Instead of the usual morning workout we went and biked around and had an amazing breakfast at a place dibble used to eat at when she lived in this area. The cool thing about murchinson is that it is 3 river valleys combined into one which i thought was very cool, and it has some awesome whitewater kayaking around like the Maruia Falls which is a 35 feet waterfall which everyone ran. It was by far one of the scariest things i have ever done. Our mentor activity this morning was a great way to relive some stress before our exams which start tomorrow. we got to stop on the road whenever we liked to take pictures of the very pretty valley. The quarter is coming to an end and it will be very sad to see everyone go, but i already can not wait for next semester in Chile to begin. 

    I will be talking about electricity generation through geothermal energy. The earth consists of five major shells beneath the ground we walk on today. These layers are the crust and upper mantle, which make up the outer shell, also known as the lithosphere. This layer is very tough. The next layer is the asthenosphere, which is a weaker more molten layer. This is the middle of the mantle. The lower mantle is composed of a tougher rock that also exists in the upper mantle. The most inner layer is the core, which consists of two parts, the inner and the outer.  The inner core is composed of liquid iron and the outer core is composed of solid nickel and iron.
The lithosphere is composed of plates. The plates are rigid slabs that collide into one another forming mountains, volcanoes and other molten activity. This molten activity takes a large part in geothermal energy.
    Most of the heat of the earth is stored in magma, beneath the earth’s crust. The heat from the magma conductively is transferred to the surface of the earth. One example of the earth’s crust that is heated is called a geothermal well. A geothermal well consists of steam and water at very high temperatures.  Most wells at high enough temperatures are confined on the northern island of New Zealand located in the Taupo Volcanic Zone.
    Basically the steam in the high temperature wells is separated from the water and used to drive the turbines that generate electricity. The first geothermal power station was built and used in Lardello, Italy in 1904. This was a huge breakthrough in the alternative energy industry. Because of WW2 the lack of people in rural communities, which hampered the agriculture committee forced the government to make drastic decisions about their future. One was the adoption of geothermal prospecting. Wairakai New Zealand had the second geothermal power plant, commissioned in 1958. The Wairakai area was perfect for a geothermal power plant because it was close to the Waikato river, used for cooling and the area was undeveloped and unpopulated. Currently the Wairakai power plant produces 4 percent of New Zealand’s electrical needs.
    Steam- water separation is the most important step involved in geothermal electricity generation. A geothermal well consists of eighty percent water and twenty percent steam. Because it is a necessity for only steam to be put in the turbines, the water must be removed. The steam water mixture, which is removed from the earth’s crust, enters a machine called the separator vessel. This machine spins at an angle and at high speed. Centrifugal force separates the steam, because it rises, from the water. After the steam is collected the excess water is then boiled to produce more steam. The excess water is then let out into the Wairakai stream. In the future the water will naturally be reinjected in the ground for further use.
By Stephen Forster

Students take a cultural field trip to learn about the Maori culture.  Photo by Belle Burch 

  Ta Moko is the permanent body and face marking by indigenous Maori people of New Zealand.  Unlike the tattoo or tatau, where the skin is punctured, the skin was carved by chisels, known as uhi. The skin was left with shallow grooves, rather than a smooth surface. This was an incredibly painful tradition and is no longer in practice today.   
 The Maori, who came to New Zealand from eastern Polynesia, used the moko to define social class.  The higher your rank within a tribe,  the more markings you would have. Means of gaining rank include being a brave or skilled warrior, and looking after the family. The one exception is that the son or sons of the chief of any tribe will receive his fathers Moko as birthright.
Apart from the clear display of social status and rank, the traditional markings were used to make a person more attractive. Women typically receive moko on their lips, called kauae, and their chins aswell. Men traditionally wear moko on their face, bottom, thighs, and stomachs.
The moko was largely abandoned in the late 1800’s because of the european influence. However, in the modern age, moko has made a comeback and can be seen on the descendants of native Maori tribes in New Zealand.  The moko is used by both men and women as a sign of cultural identity, and is common place on most parts of the body including foreheads, backs, necks ankles and calves.
With all the benefits of the modern age and the resurgence in ta Moko. There are also some increasing concerns. One of these is the use of moko by non-Maori people. Ta Moko is an important reflection of the impressive revival of Maori language and culture.
By Keegan Grady

by Michael Jorgensen
    At Solscape the New River Academy learned about the idea of embodied energy from Phil.  It is the idea that every thing produced has some energy taken out of the earth to create it and at some point some or all of that energy will return to the earth.  Some things made of oils can never return to the earth, and will never decompose, such as plastic, while others that are purely organic will return entirely to the earth, such as an apple.
    To start off with something familiar lets talk about a Bliss-Stick kayak.  The energy that goes into a kayak can be seen in its price. One can pro-deal a kayak for around 300 dollars implying that all the production cost (excluding design and mold making) can be covered by 300 dollars. Now to convert to some measurement of energy, that is depending on the current market, about  3 barrels of oil, or 100 gallons of gasoline. Now how much of that energy will ever return to the earth?
    All of the plastic will, by all practicable purposes, never return to the earth. Plastic is a huge polymer synthesized from oil and can only be recycled not decomposed.  As to the out fitting of the boat, some of that is plastic, but the rest is metal, cord, foam, and cloth. The cord cloth and foam are all just as bad as plastic, they are (unless it is cotton, silk, wool or another organic material) just as impossible to be returned to earth. The metal over time will eventually rust and return to the earth as oxidized ore, but that is a fairly slow process.
    So until a natural plastic is discovered (which will never happen because otherwise plastic would not have been made in the first place) what can we do to reduce our impact, as kayakers, or as people.?
    We can buy fewer kayaks (reduce), buy used kayaks (reuse) and try to  buy kayaks made from older kayak plastic (recycle). As people we can try to buy only things that we know will return to the earth. so don’t buy plastic bottles, polypropylene shirts, or any thing made from plastic and oil.  We must also try to use for as long as possible the things we have already bought, and then try to recycle them. Also as smart consumers we need to know the what it means for the earth if we buy a fleece made of 50% recycled materials or a wool sweater. (which would you choose?) Through buying the fleece you are creating 50% of it that will never return to the earth and taking half the responsibility of the rest of it, depending on how many previous uses the recycled materials had. If you bought the wool sweater then you are responsible for nothing. If it was finished with the environment in mind it should biodegrade entirely on its own.
    The current problem we face today is a complete lack of motivation for companies to be “green”. Without a effective carbon tax or cap and trade system companies only goal is to make money. But some people are attracted to a supposedidly environmentally friendly company, the new goal is to be economically efficient (usually not “green”) but to appear to be green.
    So for now we just have to do what think is right, (which is usually more expensive) and hope that Barack Obama sticks to his promise of installing a carbon tax, or cap and trade system, which if done properly could be a huge step in the right direction.
Some green and cheaper ideas
-drive less, bike more
-only buy one water bottle, and reuse after you have bought 10 plastic ones that is the cost of one reusable water bottle
-buy a fuel efficient car
-turn down your water heater at home from 140 to 120 degree

The Kaituna river area is one of the most unique and beautiful places on the planet. Our video class has spent the time documenting it to give you a look into this gorgeous place. I hope you enjoy it!

Isaac Holden catches air on New Zealand's Raglan Beach.

 The New River Academy left our New Zealand base camp Thursday morning to drive to the longest left hand break in the world. We some how managed to stuff ourselves, gear, and 16 kayaks and then we hit the road. The drive was four hours of the neverending green lush New Zealand landscape. We arrived, unloaded the boats, and hit the water. The waves were 4-7 feet breaking down a rocky beach. The waves would break one bit at a time making it really gentle for surfing and paddling out. It would not crash on you but push you to the shoulder allowing for endless tricks. There were some surfers on the point. As kayakers we were a little skeptical of the surfers because there are lots of incidents of kayakers and surfers not getting along. We gave them plenty of space to make sure we were not disturbing them. The session was fine with no incidents happening. As the session went on I worked myself up the beach where the waves got bigger and bigger.
    Stephen Forster, Keegan Grady, and I were waiting for a set to roll through when all of a sudden a huge hulking mass of water popped up on the horizon. I think I took four strokes up the face of it as it passed.  I looked back and Keegan was gone, having caught this beast. I turned to Stephen and he gave me a look of disbelief at how big that wave was. The next wave was as big or bigger as the last one. I paddled out to meet the break and was nearly pushed back down the monster. When I looked back Stephen was gone. The next wave was mine.

 It was a great day of surfing.  Stephen, Keegan, and I think those waves were around 10-13 feet, Ah Yeah!!!!!!

From Tasman Sea,
Jason Craig

    On Saturday November 15, 2008, after traveling for several hours from our quick two-night trip to Raglan, which was amazing, the New River Academy stopped at a very educational event.  This event takes place every two years and is known as Global Fest.  This event was held in a big stadium, that I guess is used for Rugby, or maybe cricket.  When you pay to get in you receive a passport that has a map of the different stands and other interesting facts.  There are also spots set aside for stamps, so after visiting a country a stamp was put into your passport.  When we walked in we arrived first at the Maori tent where they had food and articles of clothing with natives talking and doing demonstrations.  There was a lot of food here, from different countries.  So after getting some really good cookies from Holland, I went to Fiji for a quick tour and after that I went to France for a crape, and then China for an egg roll, and this continued for over an hour. In all there were 14 different countries that were displayed and all consisted of a tent with food, natives, music, and arts/crafts. 
    One of the coolest countries that I visited was the Cook Islands that seem awesome! When walking into Cook Islands area they were playing really good music that is what some people would call “Island music”, it was cool.  After seeing the world in a short time period of less than 2 hours I had to rest.  There was a stage that provided great entertainment the whole day.  They had dances that were native to the different countries and different instrumental dances.  This was a very interesting event to go attend because of the ability to see, taste, and hear the different cultures that are from around the globe.  After the event we finished our drive with arriving back in Rotorua on the Kaituna River for another week before heading further South.    
    ~Ross

This past week New River Academy traveled to a town called Raglan on the North Island in New Zealand. The drive from Go Huge’s last destination was about three hours. New River Academy pulled into the long windy roads in Raglan town and the students were excited to see a huge trashy left hand point break. NRA reached their camping destination called Solscape, which is a self-sustaining campsite that is on Maori land. After NRA got unpacked at the beautiful jungle-like campsite we headed straight to the point-break to surf the ten-foot left hand break. The waves were perfect. Most of them did not barrel, and each one offered a lot of bounce and huge air. The best part about a point break is the formation of the waves. The Manui Bay (the bay where the group paddled) is shaped like a U. NRA paddled on the top of the U where the waves started to form so the waves rolled into shore for about a hundred yards. There are no waves in the middle of the bay so a person could paddle around each of the waves. This made it a lot easier for the group to get many surfs.

    The second day the group surfed on the bottom part of the Manui bay. In the middle of the bay there is a large sandbar. This makes the waves break very far out from shore. The waves were not nearly as good as the point break that was surfed the day before, but because of tides the point break was not breaking the same way as yesterday. The waves in the middle of Manui were about 5 feet tall and were smooth breaking waves that offered a variety of wave tricks and sometimes beat downs. In all, this day offered a lot of opportunities to have a great time.


Stephen Forster is on the 5 am dawn surf patrol.

The third day in Raglan involved NRA’s departure. In the morning a group led by Tino, consisting of Michael Jorgenson, Keegan Grady, Stephen Forster, and Jason Craig left the campsite at 5:00 am to get on the water for a morning session of surfing and big waves. The small group headed out and left Manui Bay to take on the famous Raglan waves that are known in many surfing magazines. As the group paddled over to the 14-foot Raglan waves they were in awe as breaks of ten waves in a row crashed into shallow rocks. Many surfers were here at the early hours, but they were surprisingly friendly, even though they are known to be immoral. The waves were large and offered feet of air on every wave that the small group surfed. Overall NRA’s Raglan experience was positive.

    I broke my leg during the first quarter, which took me out of commission for a little while. So I arrived to New Zealand late, just earlier this week. Here is how my first day went.
    I was woken up on my plane at about two o’clock New Zealand time, arriving in Auckland 2 hours later. The first thing I did was to take all of my gear through customs. Normal customs, as most of you know, are worried about how long you are staying and what you will be doing. Not New Zealand, they did look into those thing but the thing they cared most about was their bio security. This is just a way for them to check and make sure that you are not bringing anything into their country that would harm their beautiful country. I could already tell I was going to like it here.
     After I caught my plane to Rotorua and Ian picked me up I met the group in a museum in Rotorua. This was a great first experience to have in New Zealand because it allowed me to start my trip with a better understanding of the geology of the region as well as a better understanding of the Maori culture.
    They day didn’t end there. After the museum and lunch we went over to a thermal park and were able to look at some of the geology of the region that we had just been learning about such as hot springs and mud pots.
    My first day in New Zealand was a pretty awesome way to be introduced to the country.

By Z-money

Life on the road is a lot different than normal life, you don’t always have what you want or what you need. Your life is basically the clothes you have on your back and the few fringe items you can fit in your bag and your pack. If you’re someone who travels by airplane, then you have another rule to follow, the dreaded 50 pound limit. This rule is an athlete’s worst nightmare. The 50 pound rule can limit what gear or extra gear you can bring. I’ve been a competitive snowboarder for 2 years now and when I have to travel by plane, I am forced to really think about what gear I need. How many snowboards do I need, how many pairs of boots, pants, jackets, gloves, socks, bindings? An athlete never wants to under pack gear because, as Murphy taught us in physics,” What can go wrong, will go wrong”.  Sometimes, things just break!  When this happens, things can get real stressful, especially if you’re competing. Tips I use to make sure that I’m set for success are:
1)    Pack on a scale, a bathroom scale is best. This will eliminate the 50 pound rule if you can do some simple math. Just weigh yourself first, then grab your gear and jump back on the scale. Now subtract your weight from the total amount ( you + your gear) and get the difference; “And that’s the magic number”.
2)     Pack things you know would be the hardest to find if it broke. Because clothing, batteries, cables, food (I could go on but I think you know what I’m talking about) are easy to find and replace. Boards Boots Bindings are not.
3)     Pack your heavy things in your carry-on because they don’t get weighted. Items not checked on an airplane DO NOT get weighted. Pack your backpack in your checked bags and use a duffle bag that can fit more as your carry-on. This can give you more room in your checked bags.
4)    Last but not least, step up your game on fake crying, because if you do end up over packing then crying is your best bet to get out of paying mucho $$$. I hope these tips help you on your next flight.