Day 6: Native Aotearoa

Welcome to Day #6 of your journey and the last day in the south island. You are going to start the day by traveling 63 km north up State Highway 1 from Dunedin to a place called ‘Shag Point.’ Shag Point is one of five places in the south island where the Maori arrived hundreds of years ago to settle in New Zealand. They arrived at Shag Point in large canoes called ‘wakas.’ For more information on Shag Point and other Maori landing places, go to the Waka landing places website.

Activity 1: Let’s imagine that you were on the first waka to arrive at Shag Point. You had never been to New Zealand before and you had no idea what to expect. Write a poem describing how you would have felt when you arrived in New Zealand. Would you have been excited or scared? I would have felt pretty nervous, I reckon…

Poem

Flip look at this place

You can see the leaves singing

But I don't know about this, I think i'm in danger

I like the tree and the water flowing

You can swim in the water when your feet get hotter from the burning sand

I can't wait to see something different

I like looking at the water cause it nice and blue

Scared of the creatures that live out there

Is there deadly animals?

I’m Scared

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waka_(canoe)

Activity 2: After visiting Shag Point, you hop back in the van and drive all the way up the east coast of the south island until you reach the town of Picton. You get out of the van and onto the Interislander ferry. It travels back across the Cook Strait to Wellington. Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand and every winter the city hosts a huge Matariki festival to celebrate the Maori New Year. This year part of the festival is being held at Te Papa, a big museum in Wellington.

Read about the Matariki festival at Te Papa.  There are so many different things to see and do at the festival this year. On your blog, tell us about three of the events. You can choose any three events that you wish.

Star Weave Jam: Maori Women’s Refuge Wellington Women’s Refuge to weave stars that will be installed at the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, as part of the international project One Million Stars, that raises awareness about domestic violence.

Guided Tour through The Great War Exhibition: Created by Sir Peter Jackson and supported by ANZ, The Great War Exhibition tells the story of the First World War in brilliant colour. It brings the ordeals of this pivotal time in history into the modern day, melting away 100 years, helping us to understand the hardships endured by those who served and those who stayed behind.

Heaven and Earth:Based and formed around Matariki, Maori New Year, Heaven and Earth transports its audience to a world beyond. Talented cast members will use black lights along with small and large scale puppets to tell this amazing story.

                                               

                                          

 

Bonus Activity: As part of the Matariki festival, there is a two day Kapa Haka competition. The haka is a traditional war dance that Maori performed before going into battle. The haka is now performed by children/adults in the community and by professional sporting teams, including our national rugby team, the ‘All Blacks.’  The All Blacks have performed various haka over the years. Watch the following three haka videos (1 – 3) and, on your blog, list the haka videos in order from best (#1) to worst (#3). There are no right or wrong answers ☺

#1. World Cup 2015 – All Blacks vs Argentina

#2. All Blacks vs South Africa 2016

#3. Rugby World Cup 2011- All Blacks vs France

1. Haka Number one was less of my favorite because it looked like there was not that much energy from them.

2. Haka number 2 was my second favorite because they did new moves and new words.

3. Haka number three I loved it, they gave it their all, they had a lot of energy and when the french team moved up that just made it looked excited.

At the end of your day at Te Papa, you head to your hotel in the centre of Wellington. You are staying on Cuba Street, one of the coolest streets in the city.

Bonus Activity: 8 points