Setting off for Camp!

This morning the year seven and eight students at Glenbrae School assembled in the hall as we prepared to set off for camp. The room was abuzz of excitement, filled with baggage, students and family members who were both anxious and excited to see their tamariki set off for five days.

We said a karakia as a group before we boarded the bus and waved goodbye to our whanau and class mates. The year six students of room 8 said farewell before they made their way to different classes around the school, where they would spend their week learning and mentoring the younger students.

Our first stop on our long journey was to Ruapekapeka Pa, a defense that had been used in the land wars. We had read about the land wars as a class and we recognized that this was the site of the northern war in 1845, a war between Ngāpuhi, Hone Heke and the British. While the Pa was strong, the British greatly outnumbered the Maori and were eventually successful at taking over the land.

We then returned to the bus and headed to the Waitangi Treaty Grounds. Here we were welcomed with a Powhiri and tour of the museum.

                                       
We also met our Adventure for Good Camp Guides here and played a few sports games with them to introduce ourselves.

We then all traveled to Russell on the ferry for fish and chips on the beach before we arrived at our base camp (Orongo Bay holiday park) and settled in for the night.