Room 5 and Room 7’s
Arahura Marae Camp
It all began on the first of May on Wednesday at school.
The class was getting ready to get into the cars and drive to the
Arahura marae. In my car group was Charlie, Hamish and Cooper and Robyn
( Charlie's mum ) was our driver. I was so nervous and I felt my heart beat one
thousand times a minute and I was screaming inside my brain but in the end the
trip was fun. We were going to the marae to learn about our local history.
The Powhiri Porocess
At the Waharoa/gateway we had to squish up into a tight group and then we had to
walk around a flax bush so the Tangata Whenua could begin the Karanga. The
Karanga sounded like a sad moan and sometime during the calling we had to take a
moment of silence to remember the dead. Inside the Wharenui we looked up at the
Tahuhu and heke to find that they were constantly changing colour with L.E.D
lights! How modern! During the whaikorero I felt impending boredom because the
speeches took minutes but they seemed like hours or days even! Then we had to
hongi, and I was so nervous. We were going to do a karakia but someone else kindly
blessed the food before we got to the wharekai. Finally we got to have FOOD,
well morning tea anyway but it was delicious and I had two potato top savouries.
The Food Was Delicious.
My mouth was drooling when I heard what we were having for tea.
Roast chicken, crispy battered fish, chips, a salad and last but not least coleslaw.
I had exactly one piece of lettuce, some chips, a piece of roast chicken breast
and one piece of fish and then I had to sprinkle it with some salt but not too much.
The food was delicious and I had to get seconds it was so good. I nearly asked for a
third round it was so good. THANK YOU Miriama for cooking such perfect food.
For dessert we had fruit salad, yummy, yummy and pavlova. All we drank was water
and it tasted different to the water at home because I get water from the fridge.
Looking For Greenstone
ON the way to the awa to look for Pounamu my head was bursting with thoughts.
Was I going to find pounamu and was I going to get very messy in the sand.
Jerry told us not to look for GREEN, just look for some white crusty stuff around
GREEN rocks. How would I find pounamu if I wasn’t looking for GREEN. I did look for
GREEN anyway and I did look for crusty white stuff and I didn’t find any
GREENSTONE. I was very disappointed so now I hate the color GREEN and stones
that are GREEN. So that was not very fun but then we did a sculpture competition
and my group didn’t work very well together and we split up so me and Ayah were
collecting mud to stick the building together but we ended up just getting sand and
getting wet to make mud. Shannon and Cameron didn’t work together, one minute
went by and we were going to make the Marae but no instead it was a wharenui. All
that drama was tiring so when our work was judged we lost but at least we tried.
Lake Mahinapua Tramline Walk
On the Mahinapua Tramline Walk it was mostly flat but when we had to walk up to the
picnic point it got treacherous and there was mud everywhere. There was lots of
uphill and downhill and we had to find several native trees but me and Olive found
them all and then we just walked. We caught up with Sapphire and Breanna.
We made up nicknames and my nickname was Onion. When we got to the picnic point
we were
gazing at Lake Mahinapua where a battle for Pounamu happened. I could picture the
Ngai Tahu boats sinking and the Shamans storm. I couldn’t see the chiefs heads or
bodies though. Then something broke my thoughts it was !!MARSHMALLOWS!!. I
chose white because the pink taste different to me and the white just looks nice like
snowy !!MARSHMALLOWS!! . The walk back was mostly downhill and then we were on
our way to school…
Personal comment
Overall the Marae experience was great for my education. I would have preferred
to go to sleep a little earlier since I was grumpy in the morning ( although I didn’t
show it !). I hope I can go to the Marae again when I am older and remember
what fun I had.
Some Photos From The Marae
Lake Mahinapua The Ancient Battleground
The Tekoteko Tamaahua
!!!Lunchtime!!!
!!The End!!
