Winiata’s Blog

On Monday May 12^th, I packed my bags and headed out my front door, on the way to school for our 2008 Totora Springs camp. Most of the students in the symphonic band and choir were attending this camp which was held at Totora Springs.  After I arrived at school, I watched as everyone else filed into the ALC. Quickly, I put down my bags and followed. We settled down on the floor and waited for instructions. Once our music teacher had finished speaking, we grabbed our bags and boarded the bus. The trip there was noisy and loud because lots of people were singing in the back of the bus. I spent much of the travelling time texting my friends.  When we arrived, we unloaded our bags and prepared our cabins by unpacking and laying out sleeping bags, etc.  Then we had our first practise. We set out all the chairs and got out our instruments. We stocked our folders with the music we needed for the camp. The tunes we were given were really great, and I had fun as we learnt how to play them all.  As the day went on, we practised for many hours, and before I realised it, the day was all over. After dinner I lay down and thought of what a fun day I had had, and I couldn’t wait until tomorrow.  The next morning, after breakfast, we commenced our practising. That day we practised for about 6 hours, and at the end I was really tired. But the time had come for the big concert, for which we had prepared many hours. We were going to have an evening show with an audience of hundreds.  We lined up in another room, and tuned our instruments ready for the night. I was starting to get a little nervous. The teacher told us to head for the big room where we were going to perform. But on the way there, the fire alarm went off. Everyone had to evacuate the building, which made a lot of visitors angry. Once the alarm had been switched off, the word was given to go back inside. We sat down quietly in our seats and waited for everyone else to settle down. The teacher lifted her arm. It was time for us to play. I lifted my instrument slowly, and as I did, the beat was given, and we played. I looked at the music as I played my Tenor Saxophone. I watched closely as the audience stared back at us. We played about five songs before the bracket was finally finished. I rested my saxophone on my lap with relief, and watched all the others perform.  The concert carried on for about 1 hour. By the end I was tired and wanted to get out. At the very end, we all stood up and took a bow. We all filed out of the big room with happiness and relief that it was all over. All that practising had certainly paid off. I am proud and happy that I performed that night at Totara Springs camp, and I look forward to the next time I’ll be able to play in the T.A. Intermediate senior band.

 “Ready to climb?” I said nervously. My bee layer simply replied “Climb away”. These words rushed through my head as the long pole swayed in the wind. One by one, I climbed each rung. As I reached the top I hesitantly put my shaking leg onto the first platform. I asked the bee layer what to do next. She told me that the best way to get across to the next platform was to jump, but I wasn’t so sure. Slowly and carefully, I lifted my leg and leapt forward onto the next platform. I had taken my first leap, but was it enough? The next was easier than the one before. I was starting to get the hang of it, but then I saw there was a big problem. The last gap was really big, and worse still, it was going up hill. Suddenly, the rope that seemed to keep me safe from possible danger, got tighter. I was yanked backwards, which kept me from my goal. As I searched around for support, I happened to look down. What a big mistake that was. Seeing all those concerned faces looking anxiously back at me. My legs were now wobbling like mad. Then something made me look across. I watched all the other people struggling to meet their challenges. Then I thought to myself, ‘If they can do it, why can’t I?’ I moved back a couple of steps, took a big breath, and sprang out. I felt a firm surface beneath my foot. YES! I had finally made it. I reached my arm out to tag the pole. Success sure felt good. An excited feeling charged through me. It was done! I made my way back to the middle platform, jumping for joy as I went. I felt relieved as I flapped my arms like a bird on the way down. Boy that day was cool. The experience was fantastic and I hope I’ll be able to repeat this again one day soon. 

On the 8th of April, rooms 3 & 7 arrived at school with all their bags packed and ready to depart. We were going to Ohope for this year’s camp. Ohope is a nice little town right next to the beach. Once the bell rang to start school, we all assembled outside the classroom, but we had to wait for another hour because one of the drivers had not yet arrived. Just before we left, the teacher put us into the groups that we were travelling in. I had the best car because our driver gave us chocolate bars to eat. 

On our way to Ohope we took a detour and stopped at Lake Okataina, and boy was it windy! We went onto the lakeshore and immediately noticed two waka that were beached, half on the shore and half in the water. We played touch on the sand and I got hurt. I was running fast and I fell forward and grazed my knee badly. 

After eating lunch we took a walk along a track into the bush. I was misbehaving and tossing sticks onto the track. Eventually the track led to an even windier clearing by the lake. The force of the wind was so strong that when I tossed a stick straight up into the air it landed 5 metres behind me. After a while we returned back to where the cars were parked. 

On the way back we drove through some very winding roads, and our car came very close to scraping against the steep cliffs on the left hand side. After that, the rest of the trip was ordinary, until we arrived in Whakatane and got lost for a while.

When we finally arrived at Ohope we discovered we were the first car to get there. We couldn’t unpack because the cabins were still locked so we played cricket while we waited for everyone else to get there. My friend accidentally hit the ball across the road and we weren’t allowed to cross over to get it so that ball was history until later on in the day when we recovered it from a bush. Once the others got there, we all grabbed our bags and put everything in the cabins. 

Later that afternoon we went to the beach to play a game of touch. My knee was still hurting and I tripped over again and got sand in it so that didn’t help. So I abandoned the touch game and decided that throwing handfuls of wet sand at the girls would be more entertaining. That night we had meatballs and spaghetti for dinner. I stuffed myself full.  Then I went to bed and slept like a log. That’s the first day done.  

Te Papa

Sparkling jewellery, precious shiny stones

High school students wandering freely around

 Peace, love, and flower power on the hippie van

Searing hot rock at the core of our planet

An earth-moving experience where everything rumbles

Native birds beckon from lofty trees

Eyes into the past through the Treaty of Waitangi

Our tipuna stand among us, looking down upon the crowd

Making men into mummies with tongs and other ancient tools

Embalmed with fragrant oils and spices

While caskets await their eternal demise 

Step back in time to an era of olden day kiwiana

When life was simple and carefree

Rock  Climbing and Abseiling

First thoughts were “Can I DO this?” as I slipped on my harness

Wind whistling around us, waves crashing on to the rocks below

Shaking as I clung perilously to the cliff face

The dangling rope my only life-line to safety

Thank goodness for friends below, cheering me on

Struggling and straining to reach the top

Paired up for the big descent

Locked into the harness and grimacing

For that moment as my image was frozen in time

Cautiously backwards down the rock-face

Glance down at the people below to see how far to go

Can’t see anyone, just….don’t ….freak….out!!!

Trusting others as I am lowered over a ledge

Speed controlled by an out-of-sight operator

Feel my hands go weak as my body tenses up

Cripes, WHERE is the GROUND???

Oh finally, touchdown, and I knew I was safe

Click!! – another photo, this time of sheer relief

  I waited patiently while the other people went ahead of me. It looked hard because it was high, and the sound of the waves crashing below was beginning to make me worry.An adult took a photo and then it was time to go down. My heart was pumping wildly as I took my first few steps. My partner was already a quarter of the way down and he looked like he was having fun. I looked down and I almost lost my footing. I couldn’t see the adults below, but I was too scared to lean out any further to try and see.I took a big breath and began to descent at a moderate speed. The man feeding out the rope had given me instructions but right now I was struggling to remember everything he had said. As I was going down I hit a ridge, a rock that was jutting out and I knew this was going to be a challenge to get around it. I wanted to slow down and think how I could manage this but the operator kept feeding out the rope. The more rope he fed out, the more pressure on my hand to try and slow myself down. The wind was strong and it kept making my shirt flap and that didn’t help the situation. My hand was getting very sore and tired. Finally I made it down under the big obstacle and caught up with the extra rope so my hand relaxed.The rest was easy now. Nearer the bottom I heard an adult giving encouragement so I took a few more steps. I looked down and saw my partner had touched the ground. I felt a bush brush against my foot. I let out a big sigh of relief as my feet finally touched firm ground.