Day #4: Swimming with the Sharks
By the end of Day #3, you have seen a lot of the north island of New Zealand. Hopefully you have enjoyed it and you’re excited for the next phase of your journey – the ferry trip across the Cook Strait from the bottom of the north island to the top of the south island. You will spend the next two days exploring the south island before you head back up to Auckland, via Wellington (the capital city of New Zealand).
Activity 1: When you arrive in the south island, Curious Kiwi rents a shuttle van and drives your group from Picton (the town where the ferry dropped you off) to a beautiful beach on the opposite side of the island. The beach area is called Golden Bay and, at one end of the bay, is a stunning area called Farewell Spit.
http://www.kiwidaydreaming.com/p/new-zealand-maps.html
Farewell Spit has been in the news recently as a number of whales accidentally swam into the spit and became stuck on the beach. They were unable to swim back to the ocean because the water was too shallow. Many local people tried to save the ‘beached’ whales. Please follow this Farewell Spit link to learn more about what happened. On your blog, describe what the local people did to try and save the beached whales.
The heroic local people did all they can to save the whales including these things
- Draped wet blankets, t-shirts, sarongs on top of the whales to keep them wet
- They grabbed their chilly bins, water bottles, cooking pots and mixing bowls to fill with water to keep the whales wet (The reason for this is to because the whales couldn’t breathe our air so they were suffocating, the only way for them to breather was for the helpers to keep them wet!)
- They also tried their best to keep their blow holes clear and to keep as far away from their tales
Activity 2: After a morning of learning about beached whales in Golden Bay, you and your group are driven to a nearby town, Nelson, to watch a special movie called ‘Whale rider.’ It is a famous movie about a young girl who was born and raised in New Zealand. Watch the following movie trailers for Whale Rider: Whale Rider trailer #1 and Whale Rider Trailer #2 and then write a summary of the movie on your blog. What is it about? Be sure to also give the movie a rating out of 5 based on the trailer [1 = bad movie, 2 = okay movie, 3 = pretty good, 4 = good movie, 5 = excellent movie].
When ‘Whale Rider’ finishes, you and your tour group enjoy a delicious meal in downtown Nelson before heading back to your hotel. You need to go to bed early because you have to get up at 4:30 a.m. the next morning to travel back to Farewell Spit to see a group (pod) of Hector’s Dolphins. It is going to be an early morning!
Whale rider
The movie Whale Rider is a film about a very special family. A family that grew from a name called Paikea, a man who travelled to a Nz suburb on a back of a whale. From there, in every generation of this family the first born son had carried on the name of the great Paikea and becomes the leader of their tribe. That is until, instead of a boy being born, a girl was. Paikea who was supposed to be a boy, was looked down to by her koro(Granddad). She feels unwanted by him because of her turnout, because he wasn’t who he expected her to be. The leader her koro wanted her to be, was in her the whole time.
I think movie is excellent[5]
Bonus Activity: Hector’s dolphins are a very special native animal found only in New Zealand. They are the smallest dolphin in the world measuring 1.5 metres long and they are quite rare. Sadly, many Hector’s dolphins are killed every year when they get caught in large fishing nets and can’t escape. Some people have argued that fishermen shouldn’t be allowed to fish in Farewell Spit in order to protect the dolphins living there. What do you think? On your blog, tell us whether you think that fishing in Farewell Spit should be banned (stopped).
In my opinion, I believe that fishing in Farewell Spit should be banned.
Because these dolphins are rare and maybe endangered, this is all the information that should be provided to stop this from happening. Every endangered animal should have the right to be safe, to be saved and to live. If fishing is not banned there, this act will continue to endanger these animals, probably leading to these dolphins being extinct. The benefits of having these rare dolphins around can affect us all is they become extinct, especially if it reflects upon us humans. All sea animals should be left unharmed, unless they have a great reason not to be.
Bonus Activity: 10 points
