Marae Noho

 Today I have been reflecting on our trip to the Takipu Marae. On Thursday we brought our bags to school wearing mufti, and then after we had roll call, we loaded them on our bus. There were two busses, one was really big, and the other was quite small. It took half an hour to get to the marae, and then when we got there, some people welcomed us in maori for another half hour. After that we went inside and put down the mattresses and got to choose who we would sleep next to, and then we put down our bags and pillows and sleeping bags. 

After we set up, we went outside and had some free time to play with our friends and do some games. Me and my friends Camille and Hannah just sat around and talked for the free time. Then we went inside and had the lunch that we had packed for ourselves, then when we were finished, we went outside and played some more. Mrs Aperahama put on some music too, and brought out the rope for a game of tug-o-war. 

Then we had dinner, which was delicious burgers and spaghetti. They were amazing! Then we changed into our pijamas and had showers and got our pillows and sleeping bags, and pulled them to where we were watching the movie 'YES DAY!' and I sat next to Tessa and Halo. Sadly we didn't finish the movie because it was really late at night, and we had to go back to where we were sleeping, and you guessed it, sleep. At first it was really noisy because lots of people were talking when others were trying to sleep. But after a while everyone went to sleep.

The next day we woke up and got changed, and it was Friday. I hadn't slept much, but for some reason I wasn't that tired. After we had gotten changed and brushed our hair and done all that, we had breakfast. Breakfast was toast, cereal, fruit, and spaghetti and baked beans. We had to leave and there was a history lesson about how the marae was related to the Horouta waka, and then we got to do lots of activities outside once, and they were really fun!

We had capture the flag with Mrs Naden, but with a plastic hamburger and squeaky rubber chicken. 

Then we had craft activities with Mrs Aperahama, and cup games with Miss Hickling! After that we had some people come from the museum and teach us about the maori ancestors, and we even learnt about some different star constellations! We also had some traditional maori games to play, and we went into the star dome! After that we had lunch, and they were sausages, patties, and pasta. 

After lunch we had free time, and then we had to pack up our stuff, pick up the mattresses, and load our bags into the busses. We said goodbye to the marae, and got on the bus. On my bus, there were six wasps, and a boy on the bus kept aggravating them, and made another boy really scared and cry. But nobody got stung, and we arrived at school safely. 

And here's a link to my friend Camille's blog: https://saintmarysgiscamilles.blogspot.com/

Here are some photos from the Marae: