Kaitiakitanga is the Māori word for “Guardianship or someone who is trustworthy to look after something” and that is our theme for this semester. This is mostly shown in environmental activities like the people who work at Botanical Gardens and Tōtara Park but sometimes it can be in sports events or any sociable occasion. Today, after the bell went, we all came inside to our home whanau spaces and did our daily morning roll.  After Mrs Fowler double-checked that the people in Kāhu 3 and 4 were present, the Kāhu students were sent outside to gather all of our belongings and lined up in our home whanaus on the basketball court. We then walked to the Botanical Gardens with Miss Rowland in the front and Mrs Dissmeyer in the back of a 150 students. When we arrived, there were some differences I noticed:

1. In Tōtara Park, the footpath gets more cramped the further you go down and it’s more dim because towering trees cover the sky, above the ground. Whereas in the Botanical Gardens, the footpaths are more spacious and the zones are spread-out into different sections of the garden.
2. At the Botanical Gardens, the employees requires only a small amount of people if you’re bringing a bundle of kids to there. They also suggest you let one group enjoy one of each section so you’re not disturbing others’ time. In Tōtara Park, you can bring a limitless group of people to there, just like at Cross Country.

3. In Tōtara Park, all the floral things are seen along the path while in the Botanical Gardens, the floral things are displayed in different areas.

Along the way, there were some similarities too:

1. Tōtara Park and Botanical Gardens both have floral plants in their exhibit. The stormwater system is also similar, when it rains, the shallow rivers are blocked off by large sticks and branches. Then the rest of the water flows to rushing streams where fast rivers are clean and clear.
2. There were some Kauri trees I saw when I was with my group, very identical to the ones in Tōtara Park.
3. There were also some eels and ducks in some of the lakes on our alphabetical scavenger hunt. Only a bit more because the lake is more vast.

Overall, it was a good experience learning more about Kaitiakitanga. There’s some photos below of plants Kanishka and I took during our scavenger hunt.