Tumu Town Trip Recount

 Terrific Tumu Town Trip

Hello! Kia Ora! Welcome back to my blog. Today, I want to tell you about the amazing time we had at Margaret Mahy playground on the 20th of May. It was so much fun. 

On the 20 of May, Tumu Hub went on an exquisite trip to Margaret Mahy, where we learnt all sorts of amazing things. 

My group got to hop on the incredible Māori Waka. Wakas are actually canoes, but they have Maori carvings on them and are called Waka’s. We started between the two bridges, and when we hopped in, we traveled up the Avon river, then turned around at the bridge. I was sad because we didn't go under the bridge, but I didn't have to be sad for long. We struggled against the strong current, but we finally sped up and got to the other bridge. I thought we were going to turn right around again, but we sped straight on. A few yards after the bridge, we stopped to let the boys come and turn around to give us a rest. After they went, we tore up the Avon river, and stopped at the deck again. I thought we were going to hop off, but I was wrong. We picked up Taylor and then kept on going. It was easy to paddle up the river because the tide was going our way. We turned around again, then we tackled the tide one more time. We paddled under the bridge and turned around once more. We rushed up the river again, then stopped at the dock, and we got out. It was a truly good sensation. 

After that, we skipped towards Victoria Square, where we studied the pous, statues and water fountains. Our teacher gave us a piece of paper to sketch the pou, and then we were let back to Margaret Mahy playground where we had 10 minutes of play.

 Once we had finished playing, we walked over to the story arc to study the carvings. Then, we were given another piece of paper to rub some patterns on. I used up 3 full pieces of paper! The patterns were very cool. 

After we had finished, we finally got to feed the eels. There was this giant one, which was a female one! I never actually knew that the female eels were bigger than the male ones. We also studied a traditional Māori mat that was just bricks pushed down the long way so It wouldn't break in the earthquake, but could be replaced if it needed to be! Then we hopped on the bus to go back to school after a wonderful day.

My favourite part of the trip was the amazing Waka because I loved the way we all had to work together to make the waka move properly. I also liked the Māori carvings a lot.

Something I learnt was that there are thirteen mats around town, and each is different and has a different meaning. I also learnt that the female eels are fatter than the male eels. I never knew that Margaret Mahy had so many wonders! I also noticed that the small slide and the little hills with the trampolines and the nets looked like the port hills.

The thing I found the most interesting was the story arc. There were lots of interesting carvings. Some carvings were footprints of different birds, and there were also footprints of people and dogs, too. There was a good song and bits of story from the famous writer, Margaret Mahy. The pictures were good, too.

This trip has helped me with my PBL because I can understand Māori patterns and carvings a lot better now. It was very amazing! 

I hope you liked reading my Trip Recount. What have you learnt from this piece of writing? Have you ever seen the eels in the river at Margaret Mahy? Please send your answer in the comments!