SLJ Practice

Today we are practising the summer learning journey so we're ready for the holidays. We are doing the activity 'togs or trackies?'. We need to write about the best season to come to New Zealand and why.

I believe that the best time to come to New Zealand is in the early or late spring. It is a good time to do many activities because it's not sweltering heat or freezing cold. Because of the temperature, you can do activities that are better in either colder or hotter weather. Such as, you can still ski but you can also go to the beach. A great thing if you come in spring is that there aren't as many people, a beach won't be crowded in the middle of spring and a ski lodge most likely won't be booked out either. In spring there is still a bit of rain, this is better if you want to go somewhere like the pancake rocks. With all the extra water all the waves splashing will be much cooler but if you want fine weather, it's a good season too. There will be a fair amount of sun without you having to slop on sunscreen every few hours, it's good for tourist attractions such as Shantytown. Let's not forget all the baby animals. You are bound to see a paddock with little lambs or calves, they're so cute! So come to New Zealand in spring and do lots of different activities in just one season.

Skiing Reflection

On the 11-12 of September, the year 8’s went on a skiing trip as part of our William Pike challenge. I was really nervous before-hand because I had never been skiing before. My mum and I had luckily found some gear that I could use such as waterproof pants and jackets. We all arrived at school and we had a little check that we had everything and then we started heading to Temple Basin. I was in a car with Sammi, Pippa and Sinead. We had a lot of fun getting pumped up for our trip with Sammi’s fantastic music.

When we got there, we all grouped up and two people got handed walkie-talkies to help keep us together when we walked up the mountain. We also put our big packs on the gear-lift. Eventually, we got quite split up, we had a faster group at the front and a slower group at the back. I was near the front with some of my friends. We took a few breaks now and again to let the others catch up. It was so tiring! My legs were so sore!

When we got higher and we could see the lodge we had another break. The ground was absolutely covered in snow! Soon everyone else caught up and we all walked to the lodge where we were staying. We got inside and took off our hiking boots (as we weren’t allowed them inside) and got shown where our rooms were. I had a room with Sinead and Rhea, we were almost at the end of the corridor. After we roughly put our stuff away we went downstairs and had lunch in the dining room. We also played some table tennis in the lounge (it was really fun). Finally, we got our gear on for skiing.

Then we headed to ski-hire to get our ski boots and skis. I was one of the last ones to get everything fitted (so was Sinead). The only problem was that we didn’t get to practice walking. We had to walk to one of the beginner's slopes so we could start skiing. The boots were really uncomfortable to walk in! When we finally got to the slope we had to walk up part of the mountain in our skis so we could ski down. When I finally got up my legs were really sore.

Everyone got a turn at skiing down that part of the mountain. For starters we had an adult help us turn around and do the pizza with our skis for practice. My first few tries, I fell over a lot but I eventually got a bit better. After our first couple of goes, we could walk our skis up with only our boots on (which helped a great deal) and soon after that I was told that I could use the nut-cracker.

The nut-cracker was a belt with a sort of metal handle on it. Think of a regular nut-cracker, it was metal and we had to flip it over a moving wire and hold onto it so we could go up. I was quite scared my first time just looking at it. A sort or rope-wire was moving really fast in a circuit so you could go up and go around if you wanted. To use the nutcracker I lined myself up with the wire(so I was facing the direction I was going to go in) and I used my left hand to grip the wire to start pulling me along while I used my right to flip the nutcracker over the wire to form the metal handle.

On my first go, I fell over (but I heard that most people had anyway). I tried again and I got it. I didn’t want to go up too high so I found an almost flat spot to stop and let go of the nut-cracker. I found it really hard to stop from falling backwards so I usually fell over but it was worth it. It was really fun going down.

When we went back to the lodge I was quite tired already. I almost can’t remember how long it was before and after tea! Most of us hung out in the lounge playing table tennis and after tea, some of the adults joined in. It was really fun beating Mr Sinton White at table tennis. Soon after dessert, we all went to bed.

The next morning was slow, a bit more table tennis, breakfast and then we headed out for more skiing. This time it was really icy and I had a lot more trouble than the day before. In fact once when I was doing the pizza down I hit a patch of ice, came flying down the mountain and almost took out people. Luckily the only thing I hit was the bags.

After lunch was a whole different story, the snow was much more powdery and it was easier to ski. The only problem was that we didn’t have enough nut-crackers and someone stole my one. I shared with other people when they took breaks. In the end, we all went up to the big rock and made a video of us going down. I hadn’t been up that high before but I did well.

Coming down we got poles so we wouldn’t slip and we all went down much faster than we came up the mountain. I zoned out a lot of the trip down and can’t remember much apart from, I was at the back of the faster group. We honestly didn’t talk much and when we got down we got sorted into our cars again to go back to school.

Overall, it was really fun and I loved it but it was also absolutely tiring and I was very sore the next day.

3D Art

A couple of days ago my class made 3D art. We traced our hand onto a piece of paper and drew lines to make it look 3D, then we coloured it in. I also did a bit of shading and this was the outcome.

Kayaking Reflection

On Tuesday the 2nd of July the year eights went kayaking. We went to the polytech to get gear and then we went to the pool to practice. We were showed how to put on skirts to practice escaping out of the kayak. Firstly we got tipped upside down to get used to being underwater. Then we practised pulling the tag on the skirt to escape. It was really fun! We also played a few games such as sinking continents, sponge tag and we even did a relay race. After practising in the pool we went out on a lake. It was really cold so I was determined to stay above water. We split up into groups when we got there, my group was Sinead, Jeordie, Xavier and myself with our tutor, Angus. We practised doing different stroke with the paddle and going backwards. We also did a game where we had to spin our kayaks to face port, starboard… etc. I was in the final three. We also did kayak candlesticks (basically candlesticks in our kayaks). After the game, we headed back to shore and went back to the polytech to get changed.

Overall, it was really fun. One challenging thing for me was staying still as there was a current and it was a bit windy. I still really loved it as I got to learn new skills. Next time I will have to make sure I bring an extra fleece because I only had one I had to borrow one from the poly-tech and I really didn’t want to fall in because of it. The advice I would give to any upcoming WPCA people is, Make sure you have warm clothes and bring a beanie just in case the helmets don’t fit.

Alien Video

My friends and I made a short alien video to practise camera angles. This was the outcome. (no news reporters were harmed in the making of this video).

Cooking tech - wedges

Last week we made wedges at tech, They were alright but we probably didn't need the flour or should've decreased the amount a lot.

Rafting Reflection

The 13 year 8s went rafting on 15/5/19. I found it really fun, I got to learn new things, be in the outdoors. I found it quite easy, to be honest (My friend Sinead can’t say the same though). I loved going over all the big waves and rapids and having the adrenaline rush through me, I guess you could say that I really enjoy being in those situations. I also believe that my raft was the best because we had mixed boys and girls raft of only four people(not including the instructor, Jasper) so we got to build our teamwork skills, and Jasper let us go over all the big waves and rapids. Sinead and I were in the middle of the raft while Xavier and Jeordie were in front and Jasper was at the back steering. When the water was calm some people decided to jump onto each other's rafts, others practically jumped in the water. Unfortunately, Jeordie jumped in at the wrong time and went swimming with a dead cow. Overall, it was a great trip and I can’t wait for the next challenge!

Tech (cooking)

For tech this term, I am in cooking. I haven't been posting often so here are some pictures of the things I have cooked. Apple skewers, basic scones, chicken stir-fry and bread. (We also made pasta but I forgot to take a picture)

Self Portrait

The class has been making self-portraits using google draw for our Kawa Of Care. This is mine. We learned to use different tools that we don't normally use and this is my outcome.