Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Day 6 Wednesday June 30th 2010
We woke up at 5:30 and had breakfast at 6:30 in the Maori. We loaded the bus at 7:30 for a one hour drive to Rotorua where we are going to participate in a Full On experience. We had tea and fruit on arrival and informational speakers gave us wonderful and positive information. We had a short walk to the High Ropes course. We all put on harnesses and divided into 4 groups. There were 5 high elements. 1st was partners tight rope where you had to balance on a high wire while helping your partner balance and grab the next rope. 2nd was the obstacle high ropes where you had to climb a ladder which was hooked onto a tire then another long piece of wood then another tire. It is 35 to 40 feet off the ground. We are hooked to ropes and were very safe. 3rd was the giant ladder where the rungs get further apart as you go up and they are swinging at the same time. You do this in partners so you must help your partner before you go higher. 4th was high rope where you hang onto another rope and move across the bottom wire which is 35 feet off the ground. The most exciting, daring, scaring and breakthrough challenge for most students was the Leap of Faith!!! It is a telephone pole 40 feet high, metal footings all the way to the top then you STAND on top of the pole which is only 10” wide. From there you jumped 6 feet to the trapeze bar, grab it and then rely on the student to balet you safely to the ground. Most kids did this and some were scared but believed in themselves afterwards. The students and leaders conquered their fears of heights and jumping as well as trusting their friends to keep them safe. It was an awesome day for all of us. We then went to the dining hall for lunch. The Full On group gave as an uplifting and motivational talk about how to take more responsibility for our lives. We had time to ourselves, we played games, had dinner and now we are watched Finding Nemo as a group.
We woke up at 5:30 and had breakfast at 6:30 in the Maori. We loaded the bus at 7:30 for a one hour drive to Rotorua where we are going to participate in a Full On experience. We had tea and fruit on arrival and informational speakers gave us wonderful and positive information. We had a short walk to the High Ropes course. We all put on harnesses and divided into 4 groups. There were 5 high elements. 1st was partners tight rope where you had to balance on a high wire while helping your partner balance and grab the next rope. 2nd was the obstacle high ropes where you had to climb a ladder which was hooked onto a tire then another long piece of wood then another tire. It is 35 to 40 feet off the ground. We are hooked to ropes and were very safe. 3rd was the giant ladder where the rungs get further apart as you go up and they are swinging at the same time. You do this in partners so you must help your partner before you go higher. 4th was high rope where you hang onto another rope and move across the bottom wire which is 35 feet off the ground. The most exciting, daring, scaring and breakthrough challenge for most students was the Leap of Faith!!! It is a telephone pole 40 feet high, metal footings all the way to the top then you STAND on top of the pole which is only 10” wide. From there you jumped 6 feet to the trapeze bar, grab it and then rely on the student to balet you safely to the ground. Most kids did this and some were scared but believed in themselves afterwards. The students and leaders conquered their fears of heights and jumping as well as trusting their friends to keep them safe. It was an awesome day for all of us. We then went to the dining hall for lunch. The Full On group gave as an uplifting and motivational talk about how to take more responsibility for our lives. We had time to ourselves, we played games, had dinner and now we are watched Finding Nemo as a group.
Day 5 Tuesday June 29th 2010
We woke up at 3:00am already packed and loaded our luggage on the coach, had breakfast at 3:45 and we were on our way to the Nadi Airport in Fiji. It was a 2 hour bus ride to the airport. Our flight to New Zealand was 3 hours long. We loaded the bus, met our DM Anita and our bus driver Michael. We went to the butterfly creek for lunch. The food was great. We had a 2 hour bus ride to Paparoa Marae. by the Maori. We are in the Tauranga Region. On arrival we were met by Maa and she explained the Maori culture. We entered the Maori and the chief explained it in his language and then in English. Our chief was Aaron Motley and he gave a PTP speech. They sang us a song and we sang “We are the world” we practiced for 2 hours and we were good. We then had dinner provided by the Maori which was beef, chicken, lamb, salads and bread. The kids enjoyed the food. After dinner they put on a concert for us by the Maori children and we all got up and participated. After the concert we all entered the” Maori Wharenui” Whare means house and nui means sleep. A sleeping house. Boys on one side and girls on the other teachers in the middle. We are all laughing and telling stories and eventually we will sleep.
We woke up at 3:00am already packed and loaded our luggage on the coach, had breakfast at 3:45 and we were on our way to the Nadi Airport in Fiji. It was a 2 hour bus ride to the airport. Our flight to New Zealand was 3 hours long. We loaded the bus, met our DM Anita and our bus driver Michael. We went to the butterfly creek for lunch. The food was great. We had a 2 hour bus ride to Paparoa Marae. by the Maori. We are in the Tauranga Region. On arrival we were met by Maa and she explained the Maori culture. We entered the Maori and the chief explained it in his language and then in English. Our chief was Aaron Motley and he gave a PTP speech. They sang us a song and we sang “We are the world” we practiced for 2 hours and we were good. We then had dinner provided by the Maori which was beef, chicken, lamb, salads and bread. The kids enjoyed the food. After dinner they put on a concert for us by the Maori children and we all got up and participated. After the concert we all entered the” Maori Wharenui” Whare means house and nui means sleep. A sleeping house. Boys on one side and girls on the other teachers in the middle. We are all laughing and telling stories and eventually we will sleep.
Monday, June 28, 2010
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Today we had a great breakfast at our hotel, loaded the bus and began our 1 hour ride to beautiful Pacific Harbour we stopped at a place called Arts Village in Pacific Harbour for the students to shop and take pictures. We then got back on the bus and drove about 5 minutes to a house where they had snacks waiting for us. The people came with us and we drove about 5 minutes to a little town Navua. There we got on our life jackets and boarded “long boats”. These boats are very long, there is a captain and he uses the outboard motor to drive. We had 5 boats. We boated down the river where the movie Anaconda was filmed. Don’t worry there were no snakes. After about 40 minutes we stopped at a village. We all put on our sarongs and boys put on their sulu’s. We entered the village chief first, then spokesperson, boys then girls. We were greeted in their getting house where they welcomed us with a Kava celebration and performed dances. We then walked the village and visited their school. We came back to the greeting house for lunch. They performed more dances and we all danced, and it was time to board the long boats again. We boated for about 20 minutes and half of us walked through the rainforest to a beautiful waterfall where we jumped into the water and swam around. Then we went and got on a raft that they use for going to the market and rafted down the river for a few minutes. We joined our other groups and began our journey back up the river in our long boats. It was another awesome day. Tomorrow we leave at 3:00am for the airport to fly to New Zealand. I will try and communicate ASAP with you but do not worry sometimes internet is hard to find. We will take good care of your wonderful children.
Connie and Brian
Connie and Brian
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