Getting into swim of things in Mexico
With Wayne Armour attempting to become the first Australian to swim Foveaux Strait, Jamie Searle catches up with another strait swimmer on what she recalls from her mighty swim.
The next goal for Foveaux Strait swimmer Hannah Morgan is to complete her degree in law and politics in Mexico.
Morgan, 22, and her mother, Jane, spent the summer holidays abroad including time in Africa. For the second half of 2020, Morgan will live in Mexico and study at Itam University.
She chose Mexico to experience its culture.
‘‘I want to grasp and understand its culture, instead of going to Europe and moving from country to country,’’
Swimming from Stewart Island to Bluff in February 2019 was important to her because she was raising money for the Mental Health Foundation of New Zealand and Otago University Students’
Association. Also, she wanted to raise awareness of the increasing number of people struggling with mental health.
One of her friends died in 2018 after battling mental health issues. The $30,674 raised from the swim was split evenly between the foundation and the association.
‘‘I thought [to raise] $15,000 would be a good amount but to double it was much more than I expected,’’ Morgan said.
Ten months of training and planning went into the swim (about 30 kilometres), which she completed in 8 hours, 43 minutes.
‘‘I wasn’t going for a [certain] time, I just wanted to make sure I could cross the strait.’’
Parts of the swim she can’t remember.
‘‘I still don’t think I’ve fully processed what I’ve done. I know what happened but my mind hasn’t.’’
After the big event, her body took ‘‘a day or two’’ to feel normal again.
Morgan said her mother was a huge support for the swim.
‘‘I know she was very reserved about what she was thinking . . . it’s not a thing a mother wants to hear, that her daughter’s swimming in a piece of dangerous water.’’
She has spoken about the swim and her reasons for doing it at about 50 events throughout the country.
Since the swim, she has continued to work with the Otago University Students’ Association and student-led mental health initiative, Silverline, to highlight the importance of mental health.
Silverline was the joint winner of the Youth Health Volunteer Team Award at the Minister of Health Volunteer Awards in June.
In October, Morgan received the University of Otago and Otago University Students’ Association’s blue (sport) and gold (cultural) awards. Morgan got the gold award for Outstanding Member of the University Community, while the blue award was for swimming Foveaux Strait.
The Government’s $12 billion infrastructure package will help eight schools and a hospital end their use of coal-fuelled boilers, in a bid to decarbonise the public sector.
Climate Change Minister James Shaw will announce the distribution of about $10 million of the $200m decarbonisation budget today. The $10m will go towards eight schools with coal boilers, Ashburton Hospital, and Hillmorton Hospital’s mental health unit.
It will cut over 3000 annual tonnes of carbon emissions from New Zealand’s total, the equivalent of taking over 1200 cars off the road.
The schools are mostly rural South Island schools: Wallacetown Primacy, Waverly Park Primary, Te Anau Primary, Catlins School, Opoho School, Fiordland College, James Hargest College, and Ruapehu College.
The schools’ boilers are likely to be replaced with biomass boilers, which burn wood pellets. These have a small carbon profile. Ashburton Hospital’s boiler may be replaced by electric heating at a cost of $2.4m.