Day #6: Native Aotearoa

Day 6!

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.

http://www.kiwidaydreaming.com/p/new-zealand-maps.html

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

Wow! Look at this place

You can see all the trees and the lovely nature

But also, its new so I feel like i’m in danger

I love all the trees and the beautiful flowing water

You can swim in water as you get hotter and hotter

I am really excited to see what else is new

I’m just looking at the water it's so nice and blue

Also worried and nervous of the creatures out there

Is there a lion?, is there a rhino or is a ferocious huge bear

This place is giving me spooky thoughts

Please oh please make this be a beautiful home for us. :)

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.

3 Activities

Star Weave Jam - This event is when everyone collaborates with each other and help to create 1 million stars before July 2017. These stars are being used in an installation at the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games

Matariki Lecture - This is basically just a guy that has researched Matariki for over 20 years now and he will be sharing a Maori perspective on the astronomical and cosmological link relevant to Matariki. The guys name is Professor Dr Rangi Mataamua

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.

Sadly I have never been to any of these events and hope that one day I will.

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

Number one was my least favourite. Look, I had choose one and this is the one. I picked up a few mistakes and made it my least favourite. Obviously I had to play the video over and over again so i’d find those.

#2. All Blacks vs South Africa 2016

Number 2 was my favourite. It looked so good from all angles. They were all in synch and they did such a great job performing the haka.

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

Last of all, this one was an ok haka. It wasn’t bad and it wasn’t great, it was good. Again they did wonderful.

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