Day 3, Activity 1 Adopt a Critter - what animal did you choose, tell us about it

You have now woken up after a long, comfortable sleep at your hotel in Dargaville. You’re ready for another day of adventuring! Today, you will drive around the North island and be introduced to amazing animals that live here in New Zealand. Some are native and some are non-native. Native animals are animals that normally live in New Zealand. Non-native animals are animals that were brought into New Zealand from another country. Examples of native New Zealand animals are the kakapo, the kiwi, the kea parrot, the yellow eyed penguin and the pekapeka bat.

Curious Kiwi, a native New Zealand bird, is your tour guide for today. He is going to take you to visit the Otorohanga Kiwi House and Native Bird Park where many of his aunties and uncles currently live. The bird park is a five hour drive from Dargaville so you hit the road right after breakfast and arrive in Otorohanga at lunch time. As you walk through the birdhouse you learn about the work being done to conserve and protect the native birds of New Zealand. Let’s imagine that you decide to help out by ‘adopting’ a native animal. Visit the Adopt a Critter page on the Otorohanga bird house website to choose one animal to ‘adopt.’ On your blog, tell us the name of the animal that you chose and a little bit about them. What kind of animal are they? What do they eat? Where do they normally live? You can use Google to help you with your research.

I have chosen to adopt the Blue Duck.  It’s Maori name is Whio.

Interesting facts:

• The Maori name Whio - pronounced fee-or - is very similar to the sound the male Blue Duck makes when it whistles.  
• The female Blue Duck makes a harsh purring sound.  

Where do Whio live?  

The Blue Duck likes to nest in hollow logs or small caves along fast flowing mountain rivers in both the North and South Island of New Zealand.   The Blue Duck is a strong swimmer, but doesn’t really like to fly.

• Did you know:  There is actually a place called Blue Duck Station here is New Zealand.  It is located in Owhango, (Central North Island-ish) on the banks of the Whanganui and Retaruke Rivers, where they have a pair of Whio living there, named Gobby and Scarlet.  

What do Whio eat?

The Whio mainly eat freshwater invertebrates or other living freshwater critters.  On the odd occasion, the Whio in the South Island have been known to snack on the fruits of plants near their stream homes.

• The New Zealand Government and DOC (Department of Conservation) have created the WHIONE program which works with specially trained nose dogs to locate the Whio nests, to help collect, hatch and raise the eggs in captivity.

I would really like to visit The Blue Duck Station in Owhango, near Taumarunui, but at the moment it is a little too cold for me and my family.

Day 2, Bonus Activity - Interview with Family Member

Winter Learning Journey

Day 2, Bonus Activity

When you finish your interview with Laura, you decide to keep on interviewing people. For this activity, your task is to conduct a real interview with an actual member of your family. Please ask them to think about their five (5) favourite things to do in the out-of-doors. They can be things that they enjoy doing on land or in the water. Post the list of outdoor activities on your blog.

I decided to interview both my Dad and Mum.  They enjoy doing a lot of the same things together outdoors.

What are your five favourite things to do outdoors?

(1)Olivia - https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9aWcCkjvAVLUjY5QzQ0TkI0LWs/view (2) Jacob - TAD-V

Watching Jacob and I playing sports

Walking around the Panmure Basin for pretend exercise

Trout Fishing in Turangi with grandad

Family picnic & swimming @ the local beach - Pt England

Watching other people play rugby (what can I say, we are a RUGBY MAD family)

I have great memories of spending time hanging out with my family, and heard many fishing stories about grandad.

Day 2, Activity 2 - 5 Interview questions for Laura Dekker

As an island nation, New Zealand is completely surrounded by water. It is the perfect place for people who like to swim or to sail! While in Dargaville, recovering from your busy day of sightseeing, you notice a number sailboats going by. One of the boats is manned by a young German girl named Laura Dekker. At the age of fourteen she sailed around the world the entire world by herself. You can watch a short video clip about her adventures here: Laura Dekker sailing trip.   

Let’s imagine that you had the chance to interview Laura while in Dargaville. On your blog post five questions that you would ask her.

Laura Dekker’s solo-sailing expedition was amazing to watch.  It was a shame that she wasn’t able to visit New Zealand, the place where she had been born.  

If I had the opportunity to interview her, I would love to hear her answers to the following questions;

How did you feel before beginning your journey?

What did you do to prepare to undertake such a big challenge?

Did you feel lonely?  How did you cope with it?

Has your outlook on life changed because of your experiences on and off the water, during your journey?

Is there anything you would change about your experience?

I just had to sneak in one more burning question…

Were you scared when swimming with the stingray? (I know I would’ve been).

Day 2, Activity 1

As a group, you will start at Rangitoto, the largest volcano in New Zealand before driving west to Karekare, a stunning beach on the outskirts of Auckland. You will finish the day by driving north to visit Tane Mahuta, the oldest living kauri tree in New Zealand.

After a very busy day of sightseeing you and your group drive from Tane Mahuta to your hotel in Dargaville. When you arrive you decide to sit down and record your thoughts in your travel diary.  On your blog, tell us which of the three places you most enjoyed visiting and why.  

Travel Diary - Day 2

FREE WI-FI!  I was worried I wouldn’t be able to share a few things before turning in for the night.  Thank you Hobson’s Choice Hotel, you are great.  This is where we are staying after our busy day of exploring and discovering.  

Today started out really early as we had three great places to visit, Karekare Beach, Rangitoto Island and the mighty Tane Mahuta up north.  We made our way to Karekare Beach first thing to watch the sun rise.  It was windy and cold, but still awesome.  Lucky we had our thermos of hot milo.  It is the first black sanded beach I have seen in real life.  We were not the only people on the beach enjoying the morning, there were surfers getting ready.  It was much too cold to take a swim, we might have to wait for the summer.  

We made a mad dash across Auckland in time to catch the 9:15am ferry to Rangitoto.  I have never been on a ferry before. I was worried I would be sick.  Lucky for me I didn’t get seasick.  The return ferry to Auckland was leaving at 12:45pm, so we had a chance to visit the gull breeding colony, and we walked around the island. Rangitoto - means Bloody Sky.  My ancestor, Tamatekapua was hurt on the island during a battle and that’s why it is named Rangitoto, short for Ngā Rangi-i-totongia-a Tama-te-kapua ('The days of the bleeding of Tama-te-kapua').

We had a nearly four hour drive up North, before arriving at Tane Mahuta.  I slept the entire way, sorry.

Tane Mahuta is AWESOME!  When I think about the Maori legend of how Ranginui and Papatuanuku were separated by Tane Mahuta, I don’t have to imagine how strong or how big he must have been, I saw today for myself.  It felt like such a waahi tapu (sacred place) that I wanted to show respect for Tane and his kainga (home/surroundings) by not running around and by not eating or leaving rubbish lying around.  I remember a story my mum had shared about her visit to Tane Mahuta when she was a little girl and had been able to give him a big awhi (hug).  Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to do that, but I did see Tane Mahuta’s brother, Te Matua Ngahere  - “Lord of the Forest”. It was such an amazing spiritual experience.

If I had to pick my favourite place that I visited today, it would have to be Tane Mahuta.  He is AWESOME!  To be in his presence was very humbling, and to have the chance to visit this sacred place where my mum had been many years before, was pretty special to me.

Winter Learning Journey Day 1 Activity 1,2 and Bonus activity

This is my Winter Learning Journey Presentation completed by me. In here is some information about Auckland. Here is the Website and the Doc where I got all this.👍

Chindōgu Problem - Advice Blog

WALT - Discuss and justify my responses to a small range of texts

Complex sentences