Ngamawahine Day Trip

Last weekend we spent a family day at the river at Ngamawahine. Its such a nice quiet place to relax and explore the river.

We built a dam in the river using the rocks. We found big bush spiders under the rocks and learnt that they hunt in the river for nymphs and other small insects. Mum's not sure if she will go in the river again after that. They are pretty big!!

We played some ball games on the grass too.

It was a really fun, relaxing family day. It was cool because Gran and Grandad came and so did Aunty Ang, Uncle Aaron and our cousins, Kaden and Zane. You should take a trip up there one day. Its fun and free!!

'Nobbie' the Orca - 27 September 2008

Today at Papamoa, a 30 year old male Orca (Killer Whale) named Nobbie, became stranded on the beach. We went down to see him and were lucky enough to see the rescue and the moment where the Orca could head back out to sea.

Apparently this particular Orca has been stranded 3-4 times in New Zealand before and the lady that rode out on him as he swam away, had been flown in by helicopter to help with his rescue, as she has helped him before and has been studying his family.

There were so many people at Papamoa watching the rescue. It is so rare to be able to see a wild Orca this close up and we were just pleased that the rescue attempt was successful.

The orca was pretty big (7 metres long) and seemed happy to finally be back out to sea. We could see him surfacing pretty high as he got further and further out to sea. We hope he found his family and doesn't get stranded again.

We will try and load a video of the final moments where he was sent back to sea but for now, we have added some pictures.

Taupo Holiday

These school holidays, we went on a family trip to Taupo and Whakapapa Ski Field.

It was the first time Holly and I have ever been to the snow. We were really lucky because we got to touch and play in brand new, soft, powdery snow. It even snowed on us heaps when we were there and it was so cool.

We weren't too cold because we had our new snow gear on, but my hands were freezing and Mum had to get me some new gloves because mine got wet. I now have some really cool, proper ski gloves.

We went down a massive slope and the snow was so soft and powdery that we went skidding down it really fast. Mum went down so fast that the snow went flying up into her face and her ears were sore from the cold.

The next day, we went and did a few things in Taupo. Mum grew up in Taupo so she new some cool things we could go and see. We went to Huka Falls and saw the huge amount of water.

Then we went to the Volcanic Experience. We saw lots of different things there about how volcanoes, gysers, tornados and earthquakes work. They had lots of neat things showing how the plates of the earth sit and move. The thing I like the best was the earthquake simulator. We got to sit in it, press a button and feel how the Edgecumbe earthquake felt. It was cool so we did it lots of times.

We also went to Craters of the Moon to look at some geothermal craters and then on the way home, we went to a cool 3D maze. We had to find clues and answers in there. It was so cool cause the walls were really high. Even Mum and Marcus couldn't see over the top.


Here are some more photos of our holiday...

Funky Fun Sports Day - July 2008

I was chosen to go to Funky Fun Sports Day. At FFSD, we got to try some new sports.
We played miniball, indoor soccer, touch rugby and hockey. We won a lot of our games and had heaps of fun.
My favourite sports we tried were rugby and hockey.

My Weekend Rugby Game

I went to Rugby on Saturday and we lost for the first time. We played Mount Green, and there was a big boy who needed two people to tackle him. The boy that was really big is hard to tackle but when he got the ball, he passed it straight away to someone else in his team.

Last week I had to give the trophy back that I got the week before. It was for 'Merit of the Day' and I got this for playing my best.

From Tyler

Whangamata Day Trip

A couple of weekends ago we took a day trip up to Whangamata to try out the Skate Park. We all had heaps of fun. They boys tried out the park and the girls watched, laughed, and decided they definitely didn't want to give it a go, except for Holly who raced around on her scooter.









We went to the beach for lunch and discovered 'bridge jumping'. Wow, check out our pic. Look how high we got. It was extreme!!! especially when we all jumped at the same time.
















We would totally recommend the Whangamata Skate Park. This is our friend showing his talent. Has anyone else been there and if so, what did you think of it?


This pic is of Kaleb. He learn't to drop in off this. He was stoked.