Day 4 - Thursday 12 September

Today we went to visit the historical places in Russell. Before we went on the bus we changed into our school uniform, because we didn't want anyone thinking we just kids on the street. After that, we went on the bus and with our bags and our lunch. The first place we were going to visit was the catholic church where our old principal Mrs. Elia, great, great grandfather was buried, and next, we were going to visit the flagstaff up in the hill, and also the museum.

Mrs. Raj, Ezekiel and I first hopped out of the bus because we wanted to buy flowers so that we can put it on the little graves. Later on, we could not buy the flower because they did not sell any, so we walked to the catholic church, we did not know where it was, then a nice women came and helped to find our way to the catholic church. We finally made it to the church, and we went inside and everyone took off their beanies and sat down, being quiet for a while and a few minutes later we got up and checked the little graves. We didn't get to bring some flowers so we sang a song to respect those who died and also did a little karakia.

Next, we were off with Chris up the hill to see the flagstaff. It was quite a long journey, but we eventually made it to the top. At the top stood the flagstaff where hone heke cut down the flags. We got to read about the flag and what happened when it was first put up. We also went to the mosaic. It had little tiles and a picture of Russell, Waitangi and all the places there. We learned about which country is closed to New Zealand. After we got to perform a song and do the haka at the end we kind of messed it up but we manage to finish it. Next, we were on our way to the Russell Museum.

When we got down the hill we waited for the rest of the group to catch up with the others. When they came, they took seven at a time into the museum. I was one of the chosen seven, when I went inside it was so cool because I saw a replica of captain cooks ship, and I saw some teeth from a shark mouth. We also got to watch a video about when the Maori used their waka when they were going into war. It was cool because it was like I was watching a real movie. Group 2 and I came out and we had lunch outside of the Museum. For lunch, I had a delicious tuna sandwich. Then we waited for the other groups to come, when they arrived we packed up all the stuff we hopped inside the bus. We drove to the beach and changed into our swimming togs. The water was really cold, I needed to swim because I was so hot. After everyone changed back, they went inside the bus.


We drove back to Orongo Holiday park, and then we changed and went to the common room. Everyone was at the tables waiting for dinner. while waiting for dinner a few people went to help with making dinner. A few minutes later they finish dinner and we sat at the table and did a karakia to bless the food and the teachers and students. Mrs. Tofa was sending table by table to get their dinner and sit down. Dinner was super yummy and it had a lot of textures. After dinner, we sat in the common room and we all decided to have a talent show. Our group was dancing to Scooby doo papa. I had lots of fun dancing together, and then the next group was pretty good as well. I liked their dance because they made a dance to it, Next group was even better because they made a dance with mixed up songs. They were so good that they won, but we got to have another chance by doing a freestyle round. Three students from our group had to go up and dance, we didn't win but we didn't matter because it was funny and fun. We also got changed into our really warm clothes because we were going to the campfire to roast marshmallows and make smores. It was so yum and sweet, I liked the marshmallows because it was chewy and sticky. We sang some songs and we said thank you's to the person we thought helped to get us to camp. We blew the fire out, grabbed all of our stuff and headed back to our cabins. The boys had a little meeting before going to sleep. It was a really fun and exciting day. I wish that we can come back next year.