#te waipounamu

[balthazarslostlibrary]

Acanthoxyla prasina, Spiny stick insect. Te Wai Pounamu, photo credit me.

The entirety of the Acanthoxyla genus is made up of species that are female only and reproduce asexually through parthenogenesis. This means that every member of a species are essentially clones of each other!

This genus most likely came about through hybridisation of two different stick insect species which produced a few individuals that, while could not reproduce sexually, still had the ability to reproduce asexually, creating a genetic separation and entirely new genus!

There are a few different Māori words that refer to stick insects more broadly, such as rō or whē, which are also used for many species of preying mantis, as it was thought that these two types of bugs were related. It makes sense, as they are very similar in looks and body plan, and many stick insects and mantises also have similar habitat requirements to each other.

#stick insect #entomology #rō #whē #acanthoxylus #spiny stick insect #te waipounamu

[mxmollusca]

Te Waipounamu (South Island) and Rakiura (Stewart Island), Aotearoa, February 2024

#aotearoa #new zealand #rakiura #te waipounamu #photography

[sandumilfshou]

some choice photos from my road trip around the south island/te waipounamu in aotearoa new zealand 💛

(pictured: glenorchy, wānaka, gillespies beach, milford sound/piopiotahi, cathedral caves, southernmost point of te waipounamu)

#why has it taken me literally 28 years to explore the other island of my own damn country #photography #nature photography #new zealand #aotearoa #te waipounamu #nz #nz photography #roadtrip

[gregor-samsung]

Nûde Tuęsdäy [Nude Tuesday] (Armağan Ballantyne, 2022)

#Nûde Tuęsdäy #Nude Tuesday #comedy film #Jackie van Beek #Armağan Ballantyne #new-age #family #marriage #gibberish #fictional language #Auckland #South Island #Te Waipounamu #miscommunication #acting #improvising #subtitles #arguing #Fitzmaurice Voicework #Sea of Love #Damon Herriman #life #Islands in the Stream #Jemaine Clement #escapism #couple #Time of the Season #Road to Nowhere #communication #fidelity

[dec0mposing]

Rock climbers at Long Beach/Warauwerawera, Dunedin/Ōtepoti, New Zealand/Aotearoa, 1925

Image from The Hocken Library

#dunedin #new zealand #otepoti #otago #longbeach #long beach #rock climbing #1920s #1925 #vintage #vintage photography #day trip #beach #Aotearoa #East Coast #South Island #Te Waipounamu #Warauwerawera

[gothwizardmagic]

225k people spread over an area the size of RI is absolutely not a city. You live in a town with delusions of grandeur

jokes on you anon i made a typo in those tags its only 125k people

#Anonymous #also tbf its a bit smaller than rhode island but like. not by much #listen te waipounamu is Very spread out lmao #island the size of the state of georgia with a population just over a million #we got lotsa breathing room down here #im in the second highest populated city on the island #the definition of city starts at 100k tho so 🤷‍♂️ #not every country has a population to support multiple million person cities but that doesnt mean the cities we do have arent cities

[lexablackbird]

New Zealand considers changing its name to Aotearoa to confront its past : NPR

Restoring the name of Aotearoa as is something I've long hoped for, ever since I learned of it. I was just about to type that as a foreigner, I wasn't sure what I could do to help the effort, but then I realized of course there is, and I've been doing it for years -- simply by calling it Aotearoa in conversations and posts, and telling people who've never heard it the beautiful meaning of it, "land of the long white cloud".

#aotearoa #maori issues #decolonisation #aotearoa me te waipounamu

[crabussy]

(for clarification, aotearoa is the original māori name for new zealand and is used widely across the country. nz is also often referred to as "aotearoa new zealand" instead of one or the other!!!)

please reblog because I'm kiwi and I need this to get to people who don't follow me directly for less biased results!!!

here's a pronunciation guide for all of you asking [:

EDIT: someone has brought it to my attention that the FULL māori name for new zealand is aotearoa me te waipounamu, which encompasses both north and south island. Some iwi (māori communities/tribes) would rather that aotearoa me te waipounamu become the official name for the country. thank you everyone who is providing opportunities for learning in this post!!

#poll #tumblr poll #Youtube

[zaldrizdoron-darilaros]

If u think me saying "nz" on the shoutout post was cool wait until u find out that was an old version of the post ive been begging people 2 stop reblogging 😭😭😭 it says Aotearoa on my blog

marry me <333 jfkdhfhd no but fr thank you

#asks #aotearoa me te waipounamu

[deermouth]

i'm in the mood to talk. have i ever shared on here the time i saw a sea lion almost kill two people?

when i was in middle school, i had an aunt, uncle, and two cousins living in aotearoa, due to my uncle's work (they are usamerican and eventually moved back). when i was in 7th grade, i took time off school and my parents and I went to visit them over the month of december. we stayed with them for some time, but also spent a while touring te waipounamu in a campervan.

at one point we stopped to camp at a national(?) park on the coast. idr where it was. there were sheep there from a nearby piece of farmland, but that wasn't unusual. they kind of go wherever if the farm isn't big on fences (that's a whole other colonial ecology post i'm not qualified to write).

the day after we'd slept over, we went up on some cliffs above the sea. we had a great view of the beach near where we'd parked our camper. that's when we saw the whakahao.

he was coming around the point of the cliffs when we were down lower, looking at the tide pools, but when we'd climbed higher, the tide had risen. we were far above the beach, but noticed him swimming towards it, and then coming out of the water onto it. during our climb, a couple had set up towels and an umbrella toward the back of the beach, close to where it turned to grass, and were sunbathing on their backs, looking up at the sky.

so then. we could only watch, as the sea lion, a huge male and clearly territorial, discovered the sunbathers, and decided to charge. we were so high up, and i remember there was a breeze and the waves were a bit choppy besides. I think i was yelling, but those sounds would have swallowed it even if we were closer.

thankfully, the couple must've heard the charge as it got closer. they sprang up, and ran. as soon as they touched the grass, leaving the sand, the sea lion stopped. i think the beach, and the beach only, must've been his territory.

i don't think we managed to connect with the other beachgoers--they must've left right away. mostly i was left with the certainty that had they not run, i'm sure the sea lion could have bitten, slapped, etc them to death, but I think before all that, he was probably huge enough to just crush them with his bulk.

we didn't see him upon returning to that camper. it's been well over a decade, but i hope he lives forever and patrols that beach for all pakake.

#txt #using my blog as a blog

[d3epfriedangels]

pls I wanna know more about your Satine

She’s the fucking villain

She’s the fucking villain

She keeps her culture, her history, and keeps the peace and neutrality - to such a degree where she forces her subjects to become bystanders to a shit ton of injustice from the CIS + pykes +her own councillors

Obi-Wan is hopelessly infatuated with CODY and SATINE doesn’t like that (Cody says ‘really?? little rat man??? really??’ he doesn’t like obi wan that way)

She is WoManipulative to the max, a total narcissist that she disguises as protectiveness for her people

Yada yada something xygeriia??

Bo katan is kept on a LEASH. She remains with SATINE but is an informant to Maul/death Watch because she knows SATINE is bad but knows so little about DW apart from her insisted downplaying it

Mandalore is a combo between the biomes of Eastern Te Waipounamu and Andalusia in the North - very different and diverse but still scarred by war as shown in tcw, maybe not to that extent though?

Based off Iberian Peninsula/Andalusian Islamic and Māori cultures for a large portion of human/humanoid Mandalorians

#Txt #this is just me babbling I haven’t thought too deeply about this #Thank you sm!!

[jennifilm]

Maukatua, te Waipounamu

📷 Canon RP

#photography #queer photographer #trans photographer #canon RP #Aotearoa

[aonoexpat]

26-11-2023

Not very sure how to start this one. Returning to Te Whanganui-a-Tara has been a bit of a wild ride.

After sleeping in my van for 125 nights, moving back into a house was a welcome change. I was so happy to be able to shower again, do my laundry, and get some social contact. I had definitely been alone for long enough. I was very grateful to be welcomed back to my old job, and to get to work with some beloved colleagues once again!

But I've been experiencing the same thing that happened when I returned home from Australia eight years ago: in going back to "normal life", it seems like the entire Te Waipounamu trip has been one long dream. Nobody that I know here was there with me, which means I'm the only one who really knows that it happened, and it changed me. I have grown in those 125 days, and I have experienced an incredible collection of sights and adventures. And now it almost seems like ancient history. I don't talk about it anymore. I answered the initial questions of 'how was it' and 'what were the highlights', but after that I've switched my focus forward and I haven't really looked back since. It saddens me, because that trip meant the whole world to me. It was a very emotional time for me, both for positive and negative reasons. I had to spread out getting my stuff out of Elrond over several days because it made me cry too much to take apart what had been my home, my safe space, for four months. I hated it, and I hate seeing him empty and stored in the garage. And now, I almost feel emotionally stunted. Like I'm grieving the loss of that lifestyle, that sense of adventure, but I can't even identify where the hole is that it left behind in me. It's invisible, partly because to everybody here, it might as well not have happened. I was gone for four months, but now I'm back, and it's business as usual again. That confidence I gained in driving? Gone, because driving in this city is not comparable and absolute hell. The skills I learned in surviving and making do with very little resources and luxury? No longer necessary. The solitude that I did enjoy? Over. The sense of freedom, and the ability to truly relax? Ruined by both real and imagined expectations, and unlimited access to the internet again that I absolutely indulge in distracting myself with non stop.

However: the discomfort from not knowing when or where my next shower or even toilet was going to be, the struggle of trying to cook on a little gas stove in the whipping wind, the cold, the sandflies, the leaky manual faucet, the weird people, the feeling lost, the loneliness? Also gone. It does help me to focus on that every now and again. My god, the places I've gone were worth all of it. But I can't let myself forget that it was still a challenge. It was never going to be a lifestyle that I could keep up. Not like that, at the very least. I knew that, and I still know it. But damn it, now that it's over, I really, REALLY miss it. And I don't know where to go with that feeling. It's like this lump in my throat that I can't get rid of, and don't even know how to name.

And I'm still not even home-home. I'm still traveling, but it doesn't feel like that at all right now. I'm in a weird limbo, where I'm not really on an adventure, but not really not either. I've got the luxuries of being back in a city, of getting to rest from the trip, but it's not home. I'm almost just waiting until I get to go back to The Netherlands. I've seen most of what there is to see here. I struggle to enjoy myself at all, and I feel like I haven't truly relaxed since getting back to Te Ikaroa.

This is partly due to my mental health taking a bit of a hit since getting back. With the Dutch elections having come and gone and witnessing a lot of global unrest, I've been having almost non stop political and philosophical talks with my new housemates, and it's been extremely destabilising for me. This is far from over, so I'm not even quite sure how to describe it right now. I feel like I've been hit with the realisation of how easily I believe people, and I don't really know what that means for me going forward. It's made me doubt a lot of things I used to take for granted, and pretty much shaken the very fundamentals of my world view. I think I had, at some point in my life, made peace with not understanding everything in the world, and that has been damaged. This past week has been especially bad, as hormones have been messing up my system even worse, and I barely go a day without crying. In my worst moments I feel like I'm truly losing my mind, in my more lucid ones I am hopeful it'll all make sense again soon. But right now my world is nothing but uncertain and it's a very disconcerting experience. Because I can't just stop and figure everything out in one afternoon. I'm trying to have many conversations, across several time zones, some about very polarising topics, all while still going to work almost every day, trying to catch up with friends, and just putting on a smile while my head is spinning with questions. I'm actively working on dialing back the talk of politics at home and getting some more alone time, which is helping a little. I've spent some time organising my new room, and trying to get a grip on everything on my to do list that I've been really dropping the ball on lately. Writing this post was on there too, so I feel like I'm slowly catching up a little!

All of the above means I unfortunately don't have any pictures to share with you this time around. Most of my camera roll is me trying on different frames for glasses, as I got lucky enough to get a friends & family discount at a high quality optician! I've just received my new glasses this week, and they do the coolest thing: when they are hit with UV light, they turn into sunglasses 😎

I do want to say that I have also had my fair share of laughs since coming back. I've been playing games with friends (It Takes Two, and ttrpgs like Ten Candles and Call of Cthulhu, would recommend!), I've gone bouldering, and I'll pick up busking and playing at open mics again soon. I know it may seem like it's all gloom and dread for me right now, but I still have good moments to compensate. The weather, while significantly colder than in Te Waipounamu, is predominantly sunny and warm, which helps a lot. I've also been helping out my housemates with house tasks, like organising the bathroom, getting furniture for the living room, and giving them ideas and tips for meal planning and prepping. These are things I enjoy, and that is all they are asking in return for me occupying a room in their house. They are not asking me for rent, which is an extraordinarily generous offer on their part. This takes away a lot of financial stress, because even while I haven't sold Elrond yet, I don't need to work full time to sustain myself. So I try to take everything nice and slow, to have a steady self-care routine, listen to calm music, cuddle with my housemates' dog, and just take my time. The coming weeks I'll have fewer shifts at work, so I'm hoping to be able to rest a little more and slowly catch up to myself. And: figure out what I'll be doing for the holidays!

#aotearoa #backpacking

[plokoonsdisapprovingeyebrows]

got tagged by @dukeoftheblackstar (thank u!!), doing a separate post bc might pin this one until i get around to a proper intro lolol

+++

Name: Kem! Short for my old deviantart username lmfaoo

Pronouns: any!

Where do you call home? Aotearoa New Zealand! Te Waipounamu born and bred, babey <3

Favorite animal: Cats! I've had at least one for all but like. a year of my life lol.

Cereal of choice: Once upon a time it was a thing called bugs'n'mud - chocolate rice crispie things with unflavored things mixed in so it kinda looked like grubs in mud lol. Unfortunately it is no longer being made. ;A:

Are you visual, auditory, or kinesthetic learner? All three?

First pet: I thiiiiink this would technically be Tippy? Orange tabby cat adopted from a shelter, who got his name bc he was missing the tip of his tail XD

Favorite scent: Really good fish'n'chips XDD Sometimes you just walk into the shop and you know you're gonna be eating well tonight lmaooo

Do you believe in astrology: Nope.

How many playlists do you have on spotify/apple music? None lmao

Sharpies or highlighters? Neither XD

Song that makes you cry? None, but there is one that sometimes gets close: Gallipoli by Sabaton.

Song that makes you happy? Hands Up! by Kota Shinzato <333

And finally, do you write/draw/create? Yes to both! :D

#no tags bc today is a Bad anxiety day but if u want to do it pls go for it

[gothwizardmagic]

So basically the government said, "we're going to count this whole big island as one city instead of the multiple towns it actually has." As like an administrative thing. In America we would call that a county. I understand now.

Nope, not quite! Sorry if I wasn't clear enough - Ōtepoti is a city on the island Te Waipounamu. There are two other cities on the island, plus a ton of independent towns and villages, and the island is broken up into seven regions, which are our equivalent to counties. Ōtepoti is in the region Otago. You can see the city borders in this map, though it uses the colonial name (Dunedin) - Ōtautahi (Christchurch) and Waihōpai (Invercargill ) are the other two cities. The different coloured sections are the seven regions, and the outlined sections are the districts within those regions.

Everything I described in my last reply is in that outlined area labelled Dunedin, which is a bit smaller than Rhode Island - the lines on that map are the city borders. Dunedin has a population of about 125k people, the island as a whole has about 1 million. Aotearoa is a lot bigger than people internationally tend to think it is, because of our relatively low population. Here's a scale comparison with the US.

#Anonymous #but no when i say the city borders i mean the city borders

[cobblepotindustries]

Now I'm wondering why Porphyrio hochstetteri re-evolved that ability where the other swamphens did not. Something about the island insular population, perhaps? They're one my favorite birds, and one of the best examples of modern conservation's effectiveness. An ancient, human-friendly species that was though to be entirely extinct by the 1890's. Until a small population was discovered in the Murchison mountain range of Te Waipounamu in 1948. Conservation in the period was limited, and often fraught with rows over interventionism versus attempting to allow the species to return by themselves. Politics manages to get in the way of many a good deed, doesn't it. Ultimately, the involved choice was made to set up multiple island sanctuaries: away from the invasive deer, stoat, and cats that poach their eggs and trample grasslands. They made the correct choice, in the long term, for the species.

Regardless, from just about one hundred birds to a increasing population of four hundred and forty as of 2021 is an astounding rebound.

They're the largest of their family, and they sound like the soft noises of a brass trumpet. I adore them.

#feathered friends #Takahē #talkies and squawking #Youtube