Matariki Festival

Recently there was a Matariki light trail which took place in the Maybury reserve in Glen Innes to celebrate Matariki. Since it was so interesting to see all of the colourful lights that lit up the Maybury reserve, I am going to write about it.

 The light festival was on for a whole week (actually 8 days). On Thursday night my whole family went down to view the festival. We parked in the G.I. Community Hall car park, near the library. As we entered the Maybury reserve some lights that were hung on the fences were the first lights we saw.  Then there were more lights than I expected. When we stepped into the park it was like we weren't even in G.I. anymore.

The lights were all around the reserve. It felt like we were in a town square in Las Vegas. It seemed like the whole reserve was covered in colourful neon lights.I think some of the lights had meanings but I didn’t know what they meant.

On the last day (Saturday night) the organisers lit up fireworks to help mark the occasion. The last day of the festival was really cold so only my mum, older brother and I went. There were loads and loads of people crowding around the food stores. My family and I tried to work ourselves around the crowd but it took forever. We were going to wait for the fireworks to happen but it took too long to wait, so we left. Even though I didn’t get to see the fireworks I still think it was an awesome thing to put on for the public!  

You can go onto this site to find out more about the meaning of Matariki:

http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/matariki-maori-new-year

Term 2 Reflection

Term 2 has been an exciting term for me because of all the sports that were on.  One of our school Rugby teams (Intermediate open weight team) won the Eastern Zone Tournament and then went on to the Auckland Champs. This term our school has been successful in sport.

I enjoyed using my netbook during class. I think it is a better way to help me learn instead of waiting for my teacher to explain our next task. The last few days of the term were cool because my class had a shared lunch, and my teacher let us have free time. This term the topic was MHKR (My Healthy Kitchen Rules). All the kids in the intermediate block had the opportunity to make sandwiches at school. First we planned our sandwich, then we made them, and finally we let some other people taste them.

The best part of school for me was playtime and lunchtime. This is because I played touch with my mates. The year 7&8 block had a Fun run which was 5km long in distance. I accomplished my goal by completing the course. I am a House-Captain for Te Arawa (Red) and in term 3 the whole school will be having a cross country run. Hopefully I will be much fitter by the time it happens. This term has been cool, but next term will probably be even better!

Fiafia 2013

"And now we have the group from the Rock of Polynesia", announced Gabriel. As soon as I heard that, I was ready to Rock 'n' Roll.

As the conch shell blew, eight fierce warriors approached the stage, and the crowd became silent. Those warriors shouted out "Koe kau ne hau, koe kau ne hau", meaning "the enemy is coming, the enemy is coming". Then a group of girls followed with a loud "Talage ke hau, talage ke hau", meaning "tell them to come, tell them to come". From then on the Niuean group rocked the stage.

As the performance went on, it made me feel that we were the best group. I wondered what the crowds response was. I reckon that the Niuean haka set the bar for all the other groups. We were loud and strong.

I was the leader of the Niuean group. I reckon I did well, and I felt proud of myself. After the performance I knew that my family were proud of me. The whole team did well, and I think it was cool that my mum and Ms Lavakula could take the whole group and teach us the actions and songs.

All the other groups did well but I still think we were the best!!

Blues vs Chiefs

 “Go Auckland Blues!" On Saturday the 3rd of June, 85 kids from Pt England school got given the opportunity to watch the Blues and Chiefs play each other live at North Harbour Stadium. Our school was kindly given 85 free tickets to the game by Telecom.

Anyway I was the 80th person to take my permission slip into the office. “Phew!” Luckily I didn’t miss out! That would of been a bummer. The teacher who organised everything was Mr Jacobsen, and he said “if you’re not at school by 6:15pm on Saturday night then someone else is taking your seat”.

As our two buses (provided by Telecom) arrived at North Harbour Stadium on Saturday night, Mr Jacobsen had to calm all the kids down because we were all filled with excitement. We headed into the stadium with the rest of the crowd and found our seats on level three. Finally the siren went off to start the first half of the game. The Blues and Chiefs were neck and neck throughout most of this half.

At half time every single kid got given a free punnet of hot chips from Telecom. When I received my chips I was happy and then got hooked back into the game. When the second half hit, the Chiefs were on a roll to score their next try. I was getting worried because it looked like the Blues couldn’t hold the Chiefs off for much longer. Soon they broke through their line and scored. The end of this game was heartbreaking to watch because the Blues came so close to winning, but in the end they just missed out. The final score was 41-34 to the Chiefs.

When the game had ended, and we headed back to school, my friends and I kept thinking about how close the Auckland Blues came to winning against the Chiefs. Anyway, thanks to Telecom for providing the opportunity for so many kids to go to watch the game live. We wouldn’t of gone if it wasn’t for Telecom.

The Aussies Are Out Of The Cup!

Last night the Mighty All Blacks defeated the Aussies and knocked them out of this years Rugby World Cup competition. The AB’s will be going head to head against France in the Grand final this Sunday. Hopefully they can take it out this year. The last time the All Blacks won the Cup was in 1987, which was 24 years ago.

As soon as the game started I couldn’t wait to see who will score the first try. I was hoping that it was going to be the All Blacks and sure enough it was. This try was scored in the first ten minutes By Ma’a Nonu but set up by Israel Dagg.

Piri Weepu didn’t have as much success with his goal kicking compared to last weeks game against Argentina. He had a chance to get in eight kicks but unfortunately he only got in four. Even though he didn’t get in most of his kicks I think he still performed well in last nights game.

The right side Winger for the All Blacks is Cory Jane. This guy is awesome under the high balls. Last night Cory Jane was named Man of the match because every time the Aussies kicked the ball up in the air he was always under it.

Even though I go for the All Blacks I felt sorry for the Aussies because I could see the disappointment in their faces.