Day 6-Winter Learning Journey

Day #6: Native Aotearoa

Welcome to Day #6 of your journey and the last day in the south island. You are going to start the day by traveling 63 km north up State Highway 1 from Dunedin to a place called ‘Shag Point.’ Shag Point is one of five places in the south island where the Maori arrived hundreds of years ago to settle in New Zealand. They arrived at Shag Point in large canoes called ‘wakas.’ For more information on Shag Point and other Maori landing places, go to the Waka landing places website.

http://www.kiwidaydreaming.com/p/new-zealand-maps.html

Activity 1: Let’s imagine that you were on the first waka to arrive at Shag Point. You had never been to New Zealand before and you had no idea what to expect. Write a poem describing how you would have felt when you arrived in New Zealand. Would you have been excited or scared? I would have felt pretty nervous, I reckon…

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waka_(canoe)

I see ahead, miles of land

Specked with thousand green spikes

With large brown and green fans dancing in the air

Tiny miracles blossoming on the ground

Everything fresh and Beautiful

But what awaits me on this land?

Vigorous creatures,

Enormous and ferocious

Evil spirits,

Dark and intimidating

But perhaps good things await me on this land?

Beautiful animals,

Majestic and colourful

Food!,

Delicious and heavenly

Feeling nervous as ever, I will soon be able to find out.

Activity 2: After visiting Shag Point, you hop back in the van and drive all the way up the east coast of the south island until you reach the town of Picton. You get out of the van and onto the Interislander ferry. It travels back across the Cook Strait to Wellington. Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand and every winter the city hosts a huge Matariki festival to celebrate the Maori New Year. This year part of the festival is being held at Te Papa, a big museum in Wellington.

Read about the Matariki festival at Te Papa.  There are so many different things to see and do at the festival this year. On your blog, tell us about three of the events. You can choose any three events that you wish.

Timo Timo-

This event is where all sorts of people come together to celebrate Matariki through traditional Maori and Modern storytelling. Exploring a new world with movement, song and taonga puoro.

Matariki Fireworks-

This is event is where the Wellington city council lights up the sky with stunning fireworks to display over the harbour.  This commemorates what Matariki stands for which  is the celebrations of people, language, spiritually and history. Matariki to some is a Maori new year.

Tīramarama: Storytelling for kids-

This is a programme of storytelling for little kids. Told both in Maori and English. The goal of this programme is to entertain and to brighten  the young children. Their story telling sessions are interactive and delighting to a range of audiences. Various of stories are told, stories of heroes, Nz adventures, mythic creatures/characters and ancestral leaders. Stories are told of Matariki too!.

Bonus Activity: As part of the Matariki festival, there is a two day Kapa Haka competition. The haka is a traditional war dance that Maori performed before going into battle. The haka is now performed by children/adults in the community and by professional sporting teams, including our national rugby team, the ‘All Blacks.’  The All Blacks have performed various haka over the years. Watch the following three haka videos (1 – 3) and, on your blog, list the haka videos in order from best (#1) to worst (#3). There are no right or wrong answers ☺

#1. World Cup 2015 – All Blacks vs Argentina

#2. All Blacks vs South Africa 2016

#3. Rugby World Cup 2011- All Blacks vs France

I personally favour and always will favour the original haka that every New Zealander knows and loves, Ka Mate. The “Ka Mate” haka is well known and a beloved haka in Nz. My second favourite would be Kapa O Paonga haka, I love the rhythm and beat in this haka, but not as much as the Ka mate haka. Lastly, the last video I watched, (I don’t know the name of the haka), I didn’t favour as much as the first two. Overall, all hakas were excellent!.

#1. World Cup 2015 – All Blacks vs Argentina

#2. All Blacks vs South Africa 2016

#3.Rugby World Cup 2011- All Blacks vs France

At the end of your day at Te Papa, you head to your hotel in the centre of Wellington. You are staying on Cuba Street, one of the coolest streets in the city.

Bonus Activity: 8 points

Day 5-Winter Learning Journey

Day #5: One Step at a Time…

After a long day at the beach, it is now time to move away from the water and drive inland, through the middle of the south island. You are going to start in Nelson and drive south before crossing a huge mountain range called the ‘Southern Alps.’ The scenery is going to be amazing!

Activity 1: After a few hours in the car, you, your group and Curious Kiwi arrive at your first stop – The Lewis Pass Scenic Reserve. It is a beautiful, regional park located at the base of the Southern Alps. You and your group get out of the van and follow Curious Kiwi. He is going to lead you on a short walk through the park. As you start walking, you notice a really cool looking tree on the side of the trail and you stop to take a closer look. When you turn back, the group (and Curious Kiwi) is nowhere to be found. Eek! You are all alone in the middle of a strange forest.

For this activity write a short story (8-10 sentences) about what might happen next. Please be sure to include lots of details about what you might be feeling, seeing and doing after you realise that you are all alone in the forest…

http://www.kiwidaydreaming.com/p/new-zealand-maps.html

I  turned around to see that C.K(Curious kiwi) and the gang had stranded me. In a matter of seconds, loud and sinister noises echoed through the forest, this left me looking around, wide eyed like a owl. I began strutting through the bushes, looking for the gang, that is when I relieved myself of every horrific thought that flew in my mind until I felt a pair of eyes lie upon me. All the horrific thoughts came flying back, I was as paranoid as ever. I slowly breathed in the cold air, counting to 3, “1…...2…..3”. I ran as fast as I could, continuously looking back and every time I did, a black figure appeared getting closer every metre I moved. Scared out of my wits, I glanced back and the figure disappeared. I looked back to the front, and came face to face with the dark figure. I gasped in fear, gradually fading away, hitting the dirty ground, head first. I woke up to the sight of six familiar faces, “What happened?,” I asked. “Well you ate a berry that made you hallucinate, you ran every where thinking that you were being followed. Then you passed out after you touched a Wet,” C.K replied. We laughed hysterically at this and finished our tour.

Activity 2: After the adventure at The Lewis Pass Scenic Reserve, you are pretty happy to get back into the shuttle van and continue with your road trip. Over the next few hours you travel up and over the Southern Alps, arriving in the city of Christchurch to eat lunch. You have a delicious meal at a café downtown and then hop back into the van to travel to Twizel, a small town at the base of Aoraki-Mt Cook. Mt Cook is the largest mountain in New Zealand. It is also the mountain where Sir Edmund Hillary trained for his climb up Mt Everest – the tallest mountain in the world. Sir Edmund Hillary is very famous because he was the first person to ever reach the top of Mt Everest!

http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1702543,00.html

Now it is your turn to learn about a famous New Zealander. Use Google to research one famous person from New Zealand and then create a DLO and post it on your blog. Be sure to include: 1. The name of the famous person, 2. Where they were born, 3. Why they are famous, and 4. Two other interesting facts about them.

Lorde

Lorde is one of my many New Zealand inspirations. She started off in a small country, New Zealand, and grew up to be one of the most beloved pop musicians in the world. She is like most girls in our country, with high ambitions and courageous. I created a small biography of the singer using google drawing. I forgot to mention her Hit songs which are Royals, Tennis Court, Green light, Yellow Flicker Beat and Team, which are all my favourite songs of Lorde also!.

Bonus Activity: You and your tour group have enjoyed your day in the mountains but you’re ready for a change of scenery. You ask Curious Kiwi to take you to Central Otago, a region of the south island with lots of rolling hills and flat, brown grasslands. While in Central Otago, you decide to join the Otago Central Rail Trail – a 150 km long cycle trail. Curious Kiwi and I (Rachel) cycled the Rail Trail in April and we loved it!

On your blog, tell us whether you would like to cycle the Otago Rail Trail one day. Does it sound like fun? Why or why not?

Rachel on the Otago Rail Trail, April 2017

I would absolutely love to cycle the Otago Rail Trail!. I would love to explore the amazing sceneries as I cycle past them. This will challenge my biking skills as I would probably be biking on sturdy, bumpy, narrow trails which will for sure raise the bars for me. It sure sounds like a fun and amazing experience. I hope one day I will get the opportunity to visit!.

Bonus Activity: 10 points

Whew! It has been quite the day of sightseeing. You reach your hotel in Dunedin tired but excited. Tomorrow you are going to visit a very special and important place in the south island before you drive back to Auckland…

Day 5 ~Jesse Owens!~Eddie the Eagle

Jesse Owens was a black American athlete who participated in the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, Germany. He is considered to be one of the bravest and most inspirational Olympic athletes because he competed at a time when the leader of Germany (Adolf Hitler) did not want black men competing at the Olympic Games. My task for today is to think of someone who inspires me(like Jesse Owns) and why?.

My idol, my inspiration is Martin Luther King. He is my inspiration because he fought for the right of his country and the right for his race. Also cause he inspired me with his speech "I had a dream". One of my favourite quote spoken by him is Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.

Day 5 ~Marjorie Gestring~Eddie the eagle

In 1936, a 13 year old girl named Marjorie Gestring became the youngest person to ever win an Olympic gold medal. She won the gold medal in the springboard diving competition. Imagine that you were alive in 1936 and you had the chance to interview her. What questions would I ask her?. Here are my Questions.

1- Marjorie, were you intimidated by the other athletes, if not why?

2-How do you feel being the youngest person to win an Olympic gold medal?

3-What are your goals to succeeding?

4-What was your reaction when you were selected to represent your country at the Olympics?

5-What are the highlights for you of your Olympic journey?

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