When holidaying at the other side of the world, it is only natural to compare everything with home. Indeed, there are many similarities between New Zealand and the Baltic Sea Countries – including Finland and Sweden - our dependence on the water, the influence of glacial activity and our awareness of our heritage.
We took the local ferry from Tallinn, Estonia, across the Gulf of Finland to Finland’s capital Helsinki and wandered around for awhile, climbing up the many stairs to the Lutheran Cathedral which gave us a grandstand view of the city – plainish buildings, where the old and the new seemed to blend in together. We took a boat tour, gliding upon still grey waters (not a white cap in sight) past wide waterside promenades flanked by very expensive apartments and hundreds of wooden day sailing boats, and cruised past the ports where 2 icebreakers sat, waiting for winter.
Out to the islands now, small low and smooth mounds, not mountainous as ours are - covered with small industries, houses, and past the Suomenlinna island fortress World Heritage site in Helsinki harbor. The Swedes built it in the mid-18th century, when Finland was under Swedish rule. Because of the weight of the last glaciations the Baltic Sea bed and the islands are still rising - from 1 – 8 millimetres per year in some areas. The Baltic sea is fed by much fresh water from it’s surrounding countries, which makes the salinity so low that some freshwater fish can be found in it, while others, such as shrimp, are not.
Later we boarded the Silju Symphony overnight Ferry to Stockholm, Sweden. Entered through a door on the side of the ship and almost fell into to a one street Shoppers’ Paradise. Families fed their children at the many restaurants then herded into the large stores grabbed the huge industrial trolleys to stock up on duty free beer and liquor, clothes and handbags. The nightclub rocked, old and new danced til dawn (well, there was no dark) and yours truly settled down with a cocktail in the bar at the bow to enjoy viewing the Kvarken Archipelago, another World Heritage site. Alas, all there was to see was the blue/grey waters and fog!
Breakfast time and the sky clears as we glide through the Stockholm Archipelago on the coast of Sweden. One of the largest archipelagos in the Baltic Sea it consists of approximately 24,000 islands and islets. Once many of the islands were inhabited, then people moved to the cities for work. Today holiday homes litter some of the larger islands, while closer to Stockholm people take the ferry to dine at the one of the many island restaurants and watch the cruise ships sidle by.
It was interesting to note that there was much pride taken in the fact that, many places, such as Suomenlinna island fortress, and the Kvarken Archipelago, are proudly announced as being UNESCO World Heritage sites. Finland has seven World Heritage Sites while Sweden has fourteen, including the Naval Port of Karlskrona late 17th-century European planned naval city.
So why are there so many world heritage sites here? The countries surrounding the Baltic Sea are very serious about preserving their waterways and heritage.
The World Heritage Convention plays a very important role in preserving our world for the future. It was adopted in 1972 by UNESCO (New Zealand became a signatory in 1984) and seeks to encourage the identification, protection and preservation of cultural and natural heritage considered to be of ‘outstanding value to humanity’. Its list of 851 sites of 660 cultural, 166 natural and 25 mixed properties encompasses 141 countries.
Australia has seventeen listed sites, with the Sydney Opera House being the latest edition at this year’s July conference in Christchurch.
There are three World Heritage Sites in New Zealand, where I live.
They are Te Wahipounamu – South West New Zealand, the Tongariro National Park, and the New Zealand Sub-Antarctic Islands consisting of five island groups - the Snares, Bounty Islands, Antipodes Islands, Auckland Islands and Campbell Island. Amongst other notable assets 126 bird species breed on these islands, including 40 seabirds of which five breed nowhere else in the world.
Because of the increasing evaluation and monitoring workload, it is very difficult for a site to get on the World Heritage list. The first step is to put forward an inventory to be considered for the Tentative List.
This year, after much public consultation, New Zealand put up eight sites. They are the Kahurangi National Park, Farewell Spit, Waikoropupu Springs and the Canaan Karst System, the Waters and Seabed of the Fiords of Fiordland (Te Moana o Atawhenua) - an addition to Te Wahipounamu - South-West New Zealand World Heritage Area, the Napier Art Deco Historic Precinct, the Kerikeri Basin Historic Precinct, the Waitangi Treaty Grounds Historic Precinct, Kermadec Islands and Marine Reserve, the Auckland Volcanic Field, and Whakarua Moutere, or the North-East Islands including Poor Knights Islands.
Now that I am back at home by our own beautiful waters, and know that New Zealand has not been slack about recognizing about it’s heritage and it’s beautiful islands I can relax. And look! There are internships, volunteer job opportunities and school projects listed on the Unesco Site! What a great way help preserve our valuable earth! This could be the beginning of a new adventure….
References include: http://www.doc.govt.nz http://whc.unesco.org, http://whc.unesco.org/en/108#work (for job oppportunities)
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