For our Social Studies class we have been looking at the topic ‘Managing the Environment’. As we are kaitiaki of our taiao it is important that we understand how we can ensure our taiao is left in a better state and that it is thriving for generations to come. More specifically we have been exploring the marine environment which has developed a ‘killer algae’ formerly known as Caulerpa.

Caulerpa is a  thick, fast growing killer algae that was bought to New Zealand all the way from a country in Europe. Caulerpa was first used in Monaco for the use of aquariums, it was used as a decoration. It accidentally got rinsed down the wrong drains and ended up leading to the oceans. It also spread out to the bays near San Diego, and they had tried to stop caulerpa by putting tarpalins over it and injecting chlorine. Due to Caulerpa being invasive and fast spreading, it spreaded to the coastal wetlands of Australia – Sydney and Adelaide. It is dangerous to the marine world because it’s fast growing, and covers the sea bed completely and kills everything around it. It also impacts us humans, because some people rely on it as a main resource to help them live, and also there won’t be any sea food for the ones who eat it. To try and stop Caulerpa in Aotearoa, there is a big vacuum that will hopefully suck up the loads of Caulerpa that’s smothering the sea floor. This process is currently occurring within our backyard of the Bay of Islands.

This is my flow chart of Caulerpa, which shows the origin of it and a tracking timeline of where it has come across around the globe.

This is my acrostic poem on Caulerpa, which I think are words that best describe Caulerpa.

In social studies we have been exploring the topic ‘Managing The Environment’. Here we understood that resources are water and we decided to focus on the documentary within Ngapuhi called ‘Restoring the Mauri of Lake Omapere’ The following is what I captured from the documentary.

The Maori owned 66 million acres of land, and 34 million were taken from the pakeha people. Nowadays, the Maori people have less than 4 million acres of land in their hands. There used to be 2500 residences but now unfortunately there are only 80 people living there. They harvested loads of crops like potatoes and they shared it within the community. They got the dead bodies that deteriorated on rocks and buried the bones in the crater of maunga putahi. And the lake was also used for swimming, and for also washing themselves.

In Utakura there used to be 2500 residents, but now they are left with 80 people. They harvest wood, like Kauri, Kahikatea and Totara. The soil was slowly deteriorating through burning. And there was water pollution in the lake. Due to the farmers, potassium cyanide was now in the lake. And because the lake was a major use to the community, they can’t utilize the lake how they used too. They can’t use it for their crops, or drinking, or to wash themselves.  Because going into the lake could majorly affect your nerve system and stops oxygen from flowing through to your brain and organs.

There were heaps of Maori people, hundreds if not thousands, and they were gum digging in the gum fields spread across 14 acres of land. Spearing eels were risking because if they went to the wrong parts the other would rise and all the eels would have left by then. The people knew that there was a taniwha lurking beneath the midst of the murky waters. There were some polluted parts of the lake and the pollution all came from the drains of the pakeha farmers. The Maori launched an application to the Maori Land Court to investigate the title of the lake in 1913. Judge Acheson ruled that the bed of the lake did not belong to the Crown and it was Maori owned. Farmers on the lake edge were petitioning to lower the level of the lake because every time it floods not only does the lake expand but they lose out on the farm lands. They had a continuous process of draining the land every time it flooded. There was tension (active tension) with the crown to the extent that he would withhold plans from Maori because that would then frustrate the investigation.

One interesting thing that I found out was that the Ngawha prison was built on top of a swamp and in front of a Pa. But back when the wars were happening, people would go to commit suicide at that Pa. Another interesting thing was, women’s breast milk. If the women were vegan or vegetarian, that meant that their breast milk would have been polluted and they wouldn’t be able to go over the border.

From the information I gathered about the documentary, I learnt that the council in Kaikohe used Lake Omapere, as a water supply for the community, but this was before it was toxicated. While the lake was toxicated, everyone was saying that humans were the biggest pest. Before the lake had a lot of Mauri, but ever since it got polluted, it lost its Mauri. To ensure the lake stays maintained, farmers need to find the right amount of fertilizer, so it doesn’t affect the contamination of the lake. In the water of the lake, there was algae inside, and that made the lake polluted, because in the algae, it consisted of Potassium Cyanide. The algae managed to spread across the whole of the lake, making it harder to be cleaned. Eventually, Carp was added to the lake to help maintain it.

The council utilizes Lake Omapere as a water source for the town of Kaikohe. The Lake provides a significant amount of the town’s water supply, therefore, it’s a reliable resource for the needs of the local community.

Kawakawa Bath Fizz

For today’s lesson Kalee, Erica and I made some Kawakawa Bath Fizz. We first got a bowl then added all the dry ingredients. In another bowl we added all the wet ingredients. We combined the wet ingredients with the dry and then started mixing it. It was a really good consistency dry but would hold together if you tried. We then packaged them into clear bags and made 11 of them.

Dry Ingredients – 1 1/2 cups of baking soda, 1 cup corn flour, 3/4 cup citric acid, 1 cup Epsom salt and a few handfuls of dried kawakawa.

Wet Ingredients – 3 tsps of water, 2 tsps of vanilla, black raspberry essential oil, 4 tsps of melted coconut oil and a few drops of food coloring.

Kawakawa Tea

For our tea, we measured out 100ml of the Lemon, Ginger And Honey fruit syrup and poured it into a clear bottle. Then we had around 3/4 of a cup and filled the rest of the bottle with the Kawakawa tea.

For our vocational class, we have been learning about Rongoa Maori and the medicinal properties. We have been learning about Kawakawa and the medicinal properties. Kawakawa is used in many ways including, a tropical balm to soothe eczema, boils, bites, stings and grazes. As well as relieving tooth aches, gastrointestinal and genitourinary problems.

I was in the gummies group but then had some changes to the groups and ended up in the tea group.  There is two types of tea that we have, a black currant tea and a lemon, honey and ginger tea. Although I wasn’t present for the exercise on the trials of making the tea, it seemed the first batch had turned out bitter, having too much lemon and ginger. Due to being really bitter,  they needed to add more sugar and honey and the results turned out better. We ended up making another batch of the black currant tea.

For the black currant tea, you don’t need much ingredients. Just Kawakawa leaves, black currant syrup and water. To make the tea, we boiled the leaves in water and poured around 200ml of black currant syrup in a bottle. Once the leaves are ready we poured the water into the bottle without the leaves.

For the lemon, honey and ginger tea, we just boiled the leaves in water, squeezed a few lemons, and added the honey and ginger into the bottle. After the honey and ginger goes into the bottle, the lemon juice does the same and then you add the boiling water without the leaves.

The waka we made is to show how the migration of how the first people came to this land and what they brought, what they ate and how they lived. Migration is every movement of human beings from one place to another, either temporarily or permanently. Purakau/Pakiwaitara is another way of storytelling but in the form of hakas and songs. Wahi Tapu is a safe and “sacred place to the Maori.” This all relates to migration because when the people first came, they named different places to a special meaning. And they share their stories from their ancestors by songs and hakas. Some places are sacred.