Planes, Trains and Automobiles

If I had to pick how I wanted to travel to Milford Sound I would like to walk because:

1.   I would be able to see some scenes of the Lord of the rings movies.
2.   I would be able to see the rivers from the mountains.
3.   I would be able to walk by the snow topped mountains.

Link to Photo   www.milford-sound.co.nz   Reflections in Milford Sound

The Midnight Zone

The Giant Squid weighs 500kg.
An average adult can lift 25kg
An average child can lift 15kg
How many people does it take to lift the squid?

25 goes into 100 4 times.
The squid weights 5 100's
So 4 X 5 = 20
It will take 20 adults to lift the 500kg giant squid exactly.

15 goes into 100 6 times with 10 remainder
6 X 3 = 18 with 30 left over which is 2 more kids
So 20 kids to lift 300kg
So you have to make up 200kg which the kids can't do perfectly so I made it up with adults
25 goes into 100 4 times
There are 2 100's in 200
4 X 2 = 8
20 kids and 8 adults can lift the 500kg squid exactly.

A Local Delicacy

LEEK AND POTATO SOUP INGREDIENTS:

Vegetable Oil
Onions
Potatoes
Leeks
Vegetable Stock
Creme Fraiche
Black Pepper

Link to Photo             BBC Good Food

Night Owls

I am sometimes an early riser and sometimes a night owl. I can get up early if I want to but if I don't want to get up then I get up around 8.

Dad is a night owl but when he has to go to work he gets up at 4:30.

Mum is an early riser because she is up at 6.30am most mornings.

Scarlett, Jasper and Albert (my sister and brothers) usually get up at 7am so they are probably considered early risers. Albert also gets up in the middle of the night quite often.

Stranger Than Fiction

Venus Flytrap and Hydnellum Peckii are similar because they both:

• They can both be found in America
• They both secrete smells (Venus Flytrap a sweet nectar to attract its prey)
• Venus Flytrap looks like its got teeth and Hydnellum Peckii is nicknamed 'Devil's Tooth'

They are different because:

• The Venus Flytrap is a plant and the Hydnellum Peckii is a fungi 
• The Venus Flytrap eats things (flies and insects) and Hydnellum Peckii is edible
• Venus Flytrap doesn't smell bad to us but Hydnellum Peckii does

Link to Photo   Venus Flytrap Jaws of Doom   YouTube



Link to Photo   The Devil's tooth Hydnellum peckii fungus   YouTube

Mighty Mangroves

I have two people that I think are strong. One is Anthony Joshua who is the world's heavyweight boxing champion. He is from England and is one of the strongest people I can think of.
The other is Eddie Hall - winner of world's strongest man 2017 and is also from England. He can lift 500kg Wow!

Twitter    Link to Photo
Eddie Hall                                                                                                       










                                                  Anthony Joshua vs Joseph Parker
                         The Independent   
                                                                         
                          Link to Photo                 

Weaving a Tall Tale

I have tried flax weaving at school before - we made arm bands and I have also done it with grass (I just made a long line that time) I would not like to become a flax weaver though because it looks very fidgety and hard making difficult things - I get annoyed with fiddly things. I think it would take a lot of practice to get good at flax weaving and make cool things. My Mum says she would like some flax baskets to use as bags at the supermarket.

The Great Taupo Cycle Challenge

If I got to choose any 3 people to have on my Lake Taupo Cycle Race Support Crew I would choose:

• Trent Boult because he is my favourite cricketer and is fit because he bowls at about 137 miles per hour.
• Geraint Thomas because he would be able to help the whole team as he knows all about cycling races - he won this years Tour De France.
• Cristiano Ronaldo (my favourite soccer player) because he is one of the world's best athletes and I think he would help us win with his competitive nature.

Something Smells Fishy

THE OLDEST KNOWN FISH IN THE WORLD IS A 65 YEAR OLD AUSTRALIAN LUNGFISH - TRUE (BUT FOR A START I FOUND THIS Link to 200 year old fish).

SHARKS ARE THE ONLY FISH THAT HAVE EYELIDS - TRUE (BUT IT'S NOT AN ACTUAL EYELID JUST WORKS LIKE ONE, IT'S A MEMBRANE)

STARFISH ARE A TYPE OF FISH - FALSE

FISH COMMUNICATE WITH EACH OTHER BY MAKING LOW-PITCHED SOUNDS (MOANS, HISSES, ETC.) - TRUE (FOR ONLY SOME TYPES)

FISH USUALLY SWIM TOGETHER IN GROUPS CALLED 'CLASSES' - FALSE (SCHOOLS)

Surfs Up!

One of my favourite activities to do in summer is horse riding.

This s a photo of me on Whio at my Du'ee and Pa's.

Horse riding is one of my favourite things to do because you can have races, do work (like move animals) and I can get places by myself faster than walking.

Going, going....gone

I am writing this in the last week of New Zealand breathing air.

New Zealand has fresh green grass, lots of dark mountainous evergreen forests that often go right down to the sparkling sea.

When I go for walks I can hear birds chirping often you can see a river or a lake or hear a waterfall.

It is usually a comfortable temperature and doesn't get too hot or too cold but I live on the West Coast of the South Island an it rains quite a lot here.

We have a lot of pests (not native) that are good to hunt and eat like rabbits, deer, goats and pigs. There are also other pests that we try and get rid of but don't eat like possums, stoats and rats.

A lot of our native animals are birds like the shy kiwi (who can't fly and only comes out at night) and fantail (which has a tail that spreads out like a fan and often follow me in the bush when I go for walks) and we also have lizards.

A lot of New Zealand has farms with animals like sheep, deer, cows, goats, horses, chickens and pigs. Most of our animals are farmed outside and it is nice seeing happy animals eating the green grass.

I wish New Zealand wasn't going, I am going to miss my home.


Link to Photo   Backpacker Guide NZ   10 West Coast Must-Dos   Pixabay

Living on the Edge

Dear Mum

The trip her to the Tundra was boring and long but we finally got here at 1am on Wednesday morning.

It is very cold even though I am wearing 6 layers of clothes, luckily we came in summer!

It was strange seeing wildflowers growing since it's so cold but we went for a walk this morning and saw some! The teacher said we weren't allowed to pick them though.

Yesterday I saw an arctic fox and there was a polar bear destroying the neighbouring village!

It is hard to sleep at night because there is sun all day and night but eventually I fall asleep.

2 days ago I tried digging a hole to see how far down I could get but after I got only a little way the ground was frozen.

Hopefully tomorrow we are going to see a reindeer (they call them caribou here).

I'm looking forward to coming home and feeling warm again.

From Andrew

Towering Timbers

I support logging in New Zealand because:

It is New Zealand's third biggest export money producer, bringing in $5 billion NZ dollars in 2018, this makes the country richer because that money is then spent around NZ.

The industry employs about 20,000 workers and that money that they earn supports them and their families. Those people buy stuff to live and the money they spend pays for other people eg. buying meat to eat at the butcher pays the butcher and his workers.

The wood can be used in New Zealand to build things eg. houses and if we use our own wood then the money is going to New Zealand not overseas.


Link to Photo                     www.ribbonwood.co.nz           convert your land

Salt and Pepper

I would build my hotel on the Cliffs of Moher which is in County Clare, Northern Ireland.
The cliffs get almost 1 million visitors every year so my hotel would make lots of money.
From my hotel you would be able to see the Aran Islands in Galway Bay, the Maumturks and Twelve Pins mountain ranges to the north in County Galway, and Loop Head.
You would so be able to see O'Brien's tower if you looked North.

Pancakes and Maple Syrup

One of my favourite foods is chips steak and coleslaw.
For chips peel and cut up potatoes in to thin long slices and then deep fry them in dripping. When they're ready put salt on them.
For steak you put the steak in a pan with butter in it wait until one side is brown then turn over and when that side is brown take it out of the pan and it is ready to eat.
For coleslaw cut up green cabbage, grate cheese, carrot and apple, add mayonnaise and mix together.
For mayonnaise put one egg yolk in a cup and beat quickly while slowly adding about a cup of olive oil, add salt to taste.

Scaling New Heights

If I met Sir Edmund Hillary 5 questions I would ask him would be:

1. How long did it take you to climb Mount Everest?
2. What made you think a tractor would drive to the South Pole?
3. How did you prepare to climb Mount Everest with no oxygen?
4. Why did you decide to climb Mount Everest?
5. What food did you take with you on your expeditions?

Hillary on the summit of Mount Seally in the Southern Alps NZ 1947. From  Pictorial Celebration Sir Edmund Hillary
Link to Photo

The WWF: World Wildlife Fund

1. The WWF are trying to help save Freshwater Seals.

2. The WWF are building snowbanks for the pups to be born in so they have shelter from the weather, other animals and humans.

3. About 50% of the pups will die without snow banks so they are saving half of the pups born, this is not really a long term solution though, it should be able to happen naturally.

The Secretive Skink

Three good things about working as a DOC ranger are:
1. Protecting and restoring historic sights
2. Making and maintaining tracks, signs, huts and fences
3. Monitoring native wildlife, habitats and plants

Three bad things about working as a DOC ranger are:
1. Having to work evenings and weekends sometimes
2. May have to travel to attend meetings
3. Telling land owners they are not allowed to do things they want to

I would not like to work as a DOC ranger because I don't like 1080.

Fantastic Beasts

My fantastic beast call the Brisban Burner.
It is 50cm long amd is a smooth camouflage orange colour with 2 legs in front, each ending in a poisonous pointy claw and one hopping leg at the back with a retractable pincer.
It has a pointy face with 2 eyes, 2 nostrils and one mouth with no teeth and a pointed snake-like tongue.
If it is scared it can become invisible and it can liquify its bones so it can fit through any gap.
It eats grass using its tongue to wrap around the stalks and break them off.
It likes hot temperatures and lives in the hollows of trees in Australia.
Its poison mixed with Phoenix tears can make any human immortal.

Weird and Wonderful

My cactus plant needs 3ml of water a day.

There are 365 days in a year (366 in a leap year)

To work out how much water my cactus plant needs over a year I X 365 by 3

365X3

300X3=900

60X3=180

5X3=15

900+180+15=1095

My cactus plant will need 1095ml of water in a year

Fabulous Ferns

Three New Zealand sports teams with the word 'fern' in their name are:

1. Tall Ferns (Basketball)
Link to Photo   Basketball New Zealand   TALL FERNS BEAT DPR of KOREA AT ASIA CUP

2. White Ferns (Cricket)
Link to Photo Owner of photo: Newsie Photographer: sportsfile/sebdaly

3. Silver Ferns (Netball)
Link to Photo   The Hits   Photo / Getty Images

My favourite team uniform with the name 'fern' in it is the White Ferns their uniform looks like the Black Caps.

Giants Among Us

I would like to visit Tane Mahuta because it reminds me of 'The Faraway Tree' which I read when I was little - it was a huge tree too.
I also like that kauri were perfect for ship masts and building.
I like forests (because of Rangers Apprentice) so I think I would like the walk to Tane Mahuta.
Also 1250-2000 years old is VERY old, it makes me think the tree is really special.

Link To Photo

Ice, Ice Baby

North and South

Hokitika

I live in Hokitika which is in the South Island of New Zealand.

It is a small to medium sized tidy town which is on State Highway 6 so it has a lot of cool shops for the tourists that travel up and down the Coast.

Hokitika always looks clean, and it is a friendly beachside town.

It is at the mouth of the Hokitika river which is usually a sparkling blue but in bad weather turns angry and grey.

I enjoy running on the grey sand and smooth stones of the beach, playing rugby on the green grass of the park and visiting the cian, diamond sparkling gorge.


Link to Photo

The legend of New Zealand

My top 3 fun facts about New Zealand are:

1.  Gisborne is the first city in the world to see the sunrise because it is 496.3 kilometers away from the International Date Line.

2.  New Zealand was once governed as part of the territory of New South Wales and later a part of Australia.

3.  It is one of the three countries in the world that has two official national anthems of equal standing.  The first is God Save the Queen and the other is God Defend New Zealand.

Math game

Road safety

Maths Rows

Chocolate fudge

On Thursday the 30th of August we had pro chef Ms Byrne to help us make fudge. It was indescribable, it was delicious if I was famished I'd as much of it as I could and stuff my mouth to the limit. I got the loads of the stuff. One on my sleeve and two from a tiny pottle thing

W.A.L.T to summarise a news story

On saturday the 3rd of August the Crusaders played the Lions from South Africa in the 2018 super rugby
finals. It was at AMI stadium Christchurch. Richie Mo'unga was named player of the Match for having
100% kick accuracy. My personal favourite is Ryan Crotty who scored a try. Sadly a Crusaders player got
the sin bin which is a yellow card. Scott Barrett scored a magnificent forward try. Jantjies had an equally
distinguished kicking record but the Lions match ended with defeat to the Crusaders.

Night Comes On

Night comes on

Silently the beasts come

When most animals are gone

Only the horses stay unlike some

White, black and brown in coat

When the going gets tough they surely can run

A wild horse hates being put in a float

Daily they have fun

Underneath the sun

They are horses brave, valiant and true

They don’t run while the bell of danger rings

True of heart, brave of soul

Death does not seem possible while the wind sings

All year round the battle for freedom continues

Sun burns and snow blows, in spring foals are born

On the other side of dawn

Andrew T3W2 E-Asttle Writing

Picture One

Look at the photo. Write to describe the moment in time it shows.

Use the details in the photo to help your reader get a clear image of what you can see in the photo.

Describe:

Think about: what your reader needs to know about the photo to know what you can feel, think, see and hear when you look at the photo.  How you are going to introduce your description the order of your ideas and how you link them. Describe the colours, textures, and shapes you see.

Remember to:

Choose your words carefully take care with

1. Spelling
2. Punctuation
3. Sentences edit – add or delete words or sentences to improve your work
4. Paragraphs.

Start your writing here:

Ugh! Suddenly one of the men on the bikes did a tight turn and flicked hot disgusting sand into my mouth now Daniel Carter on number 13 started to catch up. Driving quickly over damp sparkly bushes suddenly his front wheel lifted off the ground and he was doing a wheelie. Shooting past as fast as a bullet both men got closer to the winding track down to the green and colorful forest. But first the river had to be crossed is sparkled with the light of one million diamonds it was cold and icy compared to most of the terrain.

Dark clouds suddenly swarmed the sky and rain lapped down but when both men went through the river I through my head back in despair as most of the wet water from the river fell on me. “Sorry” came Dan Carter’s muffled voice through the helmet. Now came the dangerous bit driving their bikes down a meter wide path. Dan Carter releasing that whoever had the lead then should lead the way down the path to the forest twisting the throttle as hard as he could he tried to take the lead before the treacherous descent.

Awe shockingly the other rider kept a steady pace and was in front at the start of the path. He turned his head and laughed at Carter. Determined Carter stayed and building up speed he drove straight at the wall drove up the stone and landed on two wheels in front of his competitor. But unbalanced was his bike and fell on the hard stone floor having only his feet keeping him from an 60 meter fall. Suddenly he just fell down. Getting off his bike the other rider ran to the edge to see he had fallen in a bush and was getting out. Quickly he ran back to his bike and continued the race.

Spirit kept Carter going a sheep farm was what he’d landed in just in the next door paddock was a horse he through his helmet off and ran to the horse happily he saw it was already saddled with the girth pulled tight. Little did he know of how to put a bridle on but then it hit him. Hopping up on the horse he rode away to the forest bit of the track. He actually beat his competitor to the final bit of the course. With one hundred meters to go he heard the motorbikes engine and saw his competitor ten meters behind they both turned onto the home straight.

Neck and Neck they raced Carter on a horse the other on a motorbike. One minute Carter was in front and the next he was not. Two meters to go and the race was still the same but Carter fell out of the saddle without time to

Start your writing here:

Ugh! Suddenly one of the men on the bikes did a tight turn and flicked hot disgusting sand into my mouth now Daniel Carter on number 13 started to catch up. Driving quickly over damp sparkly bushes suddenly his front wheel lifted off the ground and he was doing a wheelie. Shooting past as fast as a bullet both men got closer to the winding track down to the green and colorful forest. But first the river had to be crossed is sparkled with the light of one million diamonds it was cold and icy compared to most of the terrain.

Dark clouds suddenly swarmed the sky and rain lapped down but when both men went through the river I through my head back in despair as most of the wet water from the river fell on me. “Sorry” came Dan Carter’s muffled voice through the helmet. Now came the dangerous bit driving their bikes down a meter wide path. Dan Carter releasing that whoever had the lead then should lead the way down the path to the forest twisting the throttle as hard as he could he tried to take the lead before the treacherous descent.

Awe shockingly the other rider kept a steady pace and was in front at the start of the path. He turned his head and laughed at Carter. Determined Carter stayed and building up speed he drove straight at the wall drove up the stone and landed on two wheels in front of his competitor. But unbalanced was his bike and fell on the hard stone floor having only his feet keeping him from an 60 meter fall. Suddenly he just fell down. Getting off his bike the other rider ran to the edge to see he had fallen in a bush and was getting out. Quickly he ran back to his bike and continued the race.

Spirit kept Carter going a sheep farm was what he’d landed in just in the next door paddock was a horse he through his helmet off and ran to the horse happily he saw it was already saddled with the girth pulled tight. Little did he know of how to put a bridle on but then it hit him. Hopping up on the horse he rode away to the forest bit of the track. He actually beat his competitor to the final bit of the course. With one hundred meters to go he heard the motorbikes engine and saw his competitor ten meters behind they both turned onto the home straight.

Neck and Neck they raced Carter on a horse the other on a motorbike. One minute Carter was in front and the next he was not. Two meters to go and the race was still the same but Carter fell out of the saddle without time to

Start your writing here:

Ugh! Suddenly one of the men on the bikes did a tight turn and flicked hot disgusting sand into my mouth now Daniel Carter on number 13 started to catch up. Driving quickly over damp sparkly bushes suddenly his front wheel lifted off the ground and he was doing a wheelie. Shooting past as fast as a bullet both men got closer to the winding track down to the green and colorful forest. But first the river had to be crossed is sparkled with the light of one million diamonds it was cold and icy compared to most of the terrain.

Dark clouds suddenly swarmed the sky and rain lapped down but when both men went through the river I through my head back in despair as most of the wet water from the river fell on me. “Sorry” came Dan Carter’s muffled voice through the helmet. Now came the dangerous bit driving their bikes down a meter wide path. Dan Carter releasing that whoever had the lead then should lead the way down the path to the forest twisting the throttle as hard as he could he tried to take the lead before the treacherous descent.

Awe shockingly the other rider kept a steady pace and was in front at the start of the path. He turned his head and laughed at Carter. Determined Carter stayed and building up speed he drove straight at the wall drove up the stone and landed on two wheels in front of his competitor. But unbalanced was his bike and fell on the hard stone floor having only his feet keeping him from an 60 meter fall. Suddenly he just fell down. Getting off his bike the other rider ran to the edge to see he had fallen in a bush and was getting out. Quickly he ran back to his bike and continued the race.

Spirit kept Carter going a sheep farm was what he’d landed in just in the next door paddock was a horse he through his helmet off and ran to the horse happily he saw it was already saddled with the girth pulled tight. Little did he know of how to put a bridle on but then it hit him. Hopping up on the horse he rode away to the forest bit of the track. He actually beat his competitor to the final bit of the course. With one hundred meters to go he heard the motorbikes engine and saw his competitor ten meters behind they both turned onto the home straight.

Neck and Neck they raced Carter on a horse the other on a motorbike. One minute Carter was in front and the next he was not. Two meters to go and the race was still the same but Carter fell out of the saddle without time to

kick his feet out of the stirrup. Jumping back in the saddle with one meter to go and Carter got every last bit of speed out of his horse. It was a photo finnish. Looking at the photo it looked like Daniel Carter won it by a nose. Cursing the stranger got off his bike and stormed away. On the loudspeakers the announcement was “Daniel Carter is the winner” followed by “Unlucky for Danny O'Donoghue.

Weekly tasks

The Legend of how the Thistle became the flower of Scotland

The prickly purple thistle was adopted as the Emblem of Scotland during the reign of Alexander III  (1249 -1286). Legend has it that an Army of King Haakon of Norway, intent on conquering the  Scots landed at the Coast of Largs at night to surprise the sleeping Scottish Clansmen. In order to move more stealthily under the cover of darkness the Norsemen removed their footwear. As they drew near to the Scots it wasn't the only thing hiding under the cover of darkness. For one of  Haakon's men unfortunately stood on one of these spiny little defenders and shrieked out in pain, alerting the Clansmen of the advancing Norsemen. Needless to say it was the Scots who won the day. The first use of the Thistle as a royal symbol of Scotland was on silver coins issued by James III in 1470

Poems of WW1 Part 2

Stars shine bright     
On christmas night
Bayonets gleam
Under the stars I start to dream
Life without the war
It seemed impossible anymore
Khaki and brown uniforms
I looked at the rainstorms
Slowly a pale light starts to rise
Now the kea cries
We are ordered to get into parade formation
because it is time to see another nation
As we go back we see some Aussies
Next we see some Tommies
The orders are charge now christmas later

Going above the rise
Scarily we are in there eyes
Now there are some cries
Next we need to see how the land lies
Then there is a bombardment phase manny Kiwi soldiers get hit
Now we need to run up the hill with our kit
Suddenly German machine guns start firing
Finally the enemy are in my eye ring

Five Kiwi soldiers rush over to a shed
Luckily enough there is a injured New Zealand Commando on the bed
Horrifyingly the shed turned into flame
The German Air Force was to blame

Poems of WW1 Part 1

Planes buzz and whirr around me
Only when I open my eyes do I see
Khaki uniforms on the ground
With machine guns spitting out round after round
Silver of Bayonetes
Before the waves and waves of Air Force Jets
Men leaving the safety of the safety of there trenches
Then more run out with hopes
Night finally comes


Now there is one more charge of the West Coast Battalion
As I leave my trench suddenly shouts ring out in Italian
Running foard the man next to me falls
"Forward men" an officer calls
My skin got teared with something cold
I fell to the ground and thought my life had been sold
A purple colored liquid started seeping to the dirt
There was a humongous rip in my shirt
Close to me a bomb landed on a poppy
I waited for it to coppie
But it unfolded
Slowly I reached out to hold it
It had not given up so why should I
Slowly tears sprung to my eye
Stood up and kept running up the hill and got through the enemy lines
There was celebration of all kinds

T2W8 Andrew: Recount

Today (Monday the 28th of June) we had two visitors in Ruma
Piwakawaka. Their names were Mr Kanine and Mrs Gurden
they taught us how to use
Tynker and how to code drones. My favourite bit was coding
the drones. For Tynker we made a Pacman game. When we
had finished we got to play it with makey makey. To code our
Pacman game we made a background, an actor and some
scripts. First we used the events coding pieces. Also we
learned the coding had to be like a sentence to make sense for
the computer. For a start I put in when right arrow key pressed
move 10 pixels. But when we tried walking left it keep on
moving right. Funnily enough Mr Kanine called us down for a
maths lesson. Surprisingly doing year one maths was very hard
for us because we didn’t know the name numberline for a
numberline. Luckily for us someone said to do -10 because that
is the opposite of 10. Next we made our maze background.
I coded up and down a different way from everybody else.
Because I made the script when up arrow pressed point
towards top edge or point towards bottom edge.