Kapa Haka Turanganui Cultural Festival

I felt extremely ohoroa (nervous) when I was on stage because not only was there over 100 people watching and one of the was my mom, I was also ka wehi (scared) that I would do the wrong move and it would be on video so, yeah you get what I mean.

 OH! Hunter just started singing ,"Tu mai Ra Na tamariki." I whakawai (nervously) took one step and then another.  We repeated the song after Hunter sang the first bit. I blinked and we were already doing the end of Tu mai ra. All the boys yelled, "TU MAI RA NA TAMARIKI O TE KURA O WAINUI E!" The volume was unbearable and I started getting a headache. Next we did Haere mai a paoa.

 1 minute later it was already almost the end. "KA MATE KA MATE KA ORA KA ORA KA MATE KA MATE KA ORA KA ORA!" yelled all the boys That's another song finished, two more to go. We sang the last songs and we went back to the area where the busses were parked and the teachers told us we did great. I felt extremely whakahihi (Proud).

 My mom took photos of me and she had to go back to work. We finally climbed in the bus, rode to school and did a picture of our self at Kapa Haka. THE END.

Fishing in the sea!!!

WOW! Look at that HUGE fish I just saw! Hey everyone, once I was fishing at the harbour near a beach. We were fishing there for hours! We set up the chairs and steadily put bait on our fishing hooks. I went to a nice spot to fish in and.... WOW I ALREADY HAVE A BIT- never mind it was just heavy seaweed. Next cast I got a bite but, it took my bait. I raced to the same spot but, The fish was already gone. I casted my fishing hook into the sea and I caught a, CRAB! I raced towards my dad and he took control of the fishing rod and let the crab go. I kept on casting my fishing line in but I didn't catch anything.....I FEEL A BITE YE- oh, it's just seaweed. Next cast I caught an boot. The next cast I left my fishing hook in the water for really long. My dad offered me some bread and I happily said, "Yes please." The bread was really tasty and then my dad said we're going to Surf live saving because we were here too long. I went to my fishing rod and, A FISH BIT MY HOOK! I kept on trying to get the fish out of the water but it was really strong. My brother and Dad said that it was a rock but then suddenly, THE FISH JUMPED OUT OF THE WATER! I quickly reeled the fish in before it was too late and, the fish was a colourful shiny rainbow coloured fish. We drove back to my home, dressed up and drove to SLSC. It was a really fun weekend because we did SLS and fishing in one day. THE END!  

What a fun day it was, THE END!

Fun stay at the marae!

Yawn yawn yawn, a new day and wait... WERE GOING TO TE POHO RAWIRI MARAE!

Eating as fast as an lion that hasn't eaten in a week, showering like my life depends on it and dressing up like someone dared me to dress up in 10  seconds, finally I finished doing everything I needed to no so.. NEXT DESTINATION MARAE... or not. My dad took me to a shop and bought me hot chocolate and then we went to the marae. We were almost at the marae and I was still drinking my hot chocolate. I am so ex- SPLASH! The hot chocolate shot out of the cup onto me. My dad gave me wipes and he stopped next to the marae. I wiped the hot chocolate off me and kissed my dad goodbye. I stood on the court and I was so happy I could play a little bi- "Can everyone please sit in your class groups on the court!" announced an teacher with the microphone. We lined up and some time later we entered the marae after we got welcomed. We sat down and they were talking in Maori in the front. After listening to them speak Maori they told us some stories. We then had lunch and we got into our activities groups. They told us where to go and we did our activity. The bell rang and we went to our next rotation called hongi. After some minutes we sat back down on the grass. We ate again and then we had some playtime. We then went to climb Titirangi for our next rotation. We learned some Maori history and came back. We then had a long playtime and then we went to dinner. We ate our dinner first and then ice cream.We got ready for kapa haka and when I blinked my eyes we were already performing. Next minute we finished and we got dressed and climbed in our beds. I w- SNORK made someone sleeping and I said to myself "I better sleep" and I started getting as exhausted as a cat. My eyes started going shut but then another person made an SNORK and my eyes SHOT open. Well then everyone is sleeping and snoring.  THE END!

This plaque was at the marae with the marae's name on it.

We did our haka we've been practising for months.

We slept inside the marae. We made our beds and it was comfy.

Leighton house

We got our gear and zoomed off to Leighton house rest home . We arrived got welcomed in and started talking to the elderly. I played 4 matches of connect 4 with an old lady. I  chatted with more old people. I then came back and started competing connect 4 with another old women. Unfortunately I lost all of the games, because Abhay was helping her.

I went to a table that was playing Scrabble. An old woman offered me to be in her team. I said "Yes please." and she gave me an seat to sit on. There was a word that said did and she thought it was pip and she told me to take an m put it on the end of did because she thought the m was an E so it looked like pipe to her. I tried telling her, her mistake but she shushed me and but down the m when it was my turn. Then someone corrected her and she said "Oh it looked like pip." she took the m and said "What can we use with this E? Sadly, Koka Rozie announced that we had to go and we packed up everything and got ready to sing our school song.

We sang our song and raced back to the school in Rio's mom's car for the green team show. The end.

Visit at Te Tapuwae o Rongokako marine reserve

We visited Te Tapuwae o Rongokako marine reserve today. I've never been out snorkeling in a ocean/marine reserve. I thought it was going to be flat with little amount of rocks but I was wrong. The smell of Te Tapuwae o Rongokako marine reserve water raced into my nose and.... let's just say it didn't smell nice. Some time later my nose got used to the smell. Some minutes later we reached the spot we were snorkeling. We raced to the water (Because of excitement) , Washed the toothpaste out of our goggles and entered the sea.

 It was really rocky and there was lot of sea life and seaweed underwater. I struggled putting on my snorkeling mask so I was lagging behind. I finally put my snorkeling mask on and I caught up. I quickly put on my flippers and started swimming. I suddenly saw an octopus tentacle and everyone around me screamed, it felt like my ears started having a seizure just when they were screaming. Then an eel raced across the water! WOW! An sea slug, this place is filled with sea life! I've never seen something like this. Then I saw a fish. 

Flynn started feeling cold so we raced to the shore, but Josephine's mom offered to take Flynn to the shore because she was also taking other people to the shore. My snorkel started filling with water even though it was above water. I also felt cold and went with Flynn but he was far away. Then our adult supervising us ( Troy's dad) helped me to the shore. I took my flippers off but I got stuck because the seaweed was slippery and I kept on falling over. Luckily Troy's dad helped me and I went on the shore. We played on the beach and then we had to go dress up. 

When we arrived I  tried to get my bag but koka Rozie was still in the water and we couldn't dress up. Lots of waiting later Koka Rozie finally left the water, unlocked the car and I could dress up. As soon as I finished  dressing up I took my lunch box and opened it.  But the sand flies started chasing me and I couldn't eat. I packed my lunchbox in my bag and sat in a circle. We shared our highlights and got our stuff, and left. We had been at the marine reserve for 4 hours but it felt like 30 minutes.

 We arrived at school and went to kapa haka. It was an AMAZING trip at Te Tapuwae o Rongokako marine reserve. The end.