Writing to the Northland Age

Walt- I am learning to write a level 4 story about our Wellington trip for the Northland age

Huia Whanau Wellington Trip

By Zhara Watson & John Brits

Kia-Ora we are Zhara and John and we are Year Eight students from Kaingaroa School in the Far North. We had a massive goal this year which was to fundraise as much money as possible so we could have a fantastic time on our class trip in Wellington. Our school makes a trip to Wellington every two years so that the senior students can experience first hand, what the capital city has to offer. Our fundraising was full steam ahead from the beginning of Term one. First we started off by selling Whittakers chocolate to our community. In Term two we held our annual school disco, thanks to the Friends of Kaingaroa School. Next, we brought up an ice skating rink to the Te Ahu Centre, this made most of our fundraising money. Finally we started a hot lunch business at school every Tuesday and Friday, that was such a good fundraiser that we are carrying it on for other class trips.

On Monday the 29th of October we met bright and early at school to board out bus to the Bay of Islands Airport in Kerikeri. The vibe in the bus was special, some of us were scared to fly while others were excited. We had flights via Auckland to Wellington and we were scheduled to land around lunch time. Everything went to plan and we were happy to arrive at the Wellington Top Ten at 2pm. After we got settled in we walked to Jumporama (which was coincidently right next to the campsite). We had lots of fun bouncing off the walls and slam dunking at Jumporama. 

The next few days were full of adventures and activities. We got up very early to walk to the train station everyday which took 30 minutes and got everyone in the mood for a busy day ahead. On Tuesday we visited Zealandia which is a sanctuary that has lots of native birds, rode the Cable car, visited Te Papa our National Museum, the best exhibition was the battle of Gallipoli in Turkey. Te Papa, Te Papa was so cool it had so much stuff, our favorite part in Te Papa was That was so interesting- they had these realistic statues, with a sign that said “please don't touch”, but of course we couldn’t help but touch. The statues were so life-like, they were made out of rubber, the hair was made out of horsehair and the arm and leg hair was made of real human hair.

Wednesday took us back into our capital city. We were lucky enough to see the original Treaty of Waitangi in the National Library, we toured around the Parliament buildings. Unfortunately we did not bump into our prime minister Jacinda Ardern. Next we put our acting skills into action and presented a news report at Capital E - this was a lot of the classes highlight. We were all very excited to get back to camp that night because it has finally stopped raining and we could play on the giant inflatable pillow at camp.

Thursday, without a doubt, was the best day. We left the camp by 8.30 and drove to laser tag and tenpin bowling. They were both very fun, some people had never been ten pin bowling or played laser tag before, so that was a great experience. After that we drove to H2O Xtreme, it was a huge pool, with heaps of hydro slides, we all thought it was going to be cold but luckily the water was heated. After that exhausting but fun day we went back to camp and had showers, and got into our nice clothes because we were going out to fancy restaurant on top of a big tall hotel, which was a buffet. The food there was so delicious! A huge spread was prepared of meats, Sushi, seafood, salads and the most delectable desserts.

Unfortunately on Friday we had to leave. We did the same thing that we did on Monday but in reverse. Finally, bus full of very tired students arrived back at school to be collected by our parents. We all agreed it was the experience of a lifetime.

We would like to thank all our parents who helped out with fundraising and who joined us on our adventure. Also a huge thank you to our principal Mrs Hancock and our teacher Miss van der Voort who supported us the whole way and helped us in Wellington.







Reflection: I found this hard but I am glade I have finished it, and its going to go in the news papper.