Pompallier Mission House

On 22nd of August 2017, the year 7 and 8 students from Glenbrae school had the chance to visit the Pompallier mission house at Russell as part of our school camp. Sixteen students visited the Pompallier mission house, along with the 2 teachers Miss Stone and Mrs Tofa.

It took us only about five minutes to arrive at our destination because our camp site was also in Russell. Our groups walked through the path and waited outside the Pompallier mission house for the tour to begin. Minutes later, our tour guide arrived and greeted us with a warm smile. Julie, our tour guide, started by giving us some background information about the house. They say the house was built only by five people and in some rooms, the builders incorporated shells, rocks and sand to make the walls. I was completely shocked.

Julie, took us into the first room. I walked in and saw a printer placed on a cross and loads of brown leather, which Julie said the french missionaries had made. Again I was completely shocked. Julie took us into the next room which was about leather. She took us outside where there was a hole with brown water in it. She explained how they made the leather which made us all disgusted. It included water, bark and cow urine.

Julie took us upstairs where it all explained why they made leather so much, one reason was for clothing and book covers. She said that the whole point of the house was to share a type of Christianity called Catholic. They used the leather to make prayer books too!. They stuck it to the front, back and sides of the book and then gave them out for free.

It came to the end of our tour. The tour guide really wanted us to sing a waiata for her so we sang Hallelujah. I think that we sang beautifully and pleased the tour guide Julie. She was also very impressed

We spent about an hour there and really enjoyed the tour. We all learnt a lot about the house. I was absolutely shocked, surprised and all sorts of emotions. I learnt loads about about my religion that I hadn’t known before  and hope that I come back and visit the beautiful Pompallier Mission House!.

Kayaking

Kayaking

On 23rd August 2017, our year 7 and 8 students of Glenbrae School had the opportunity to go kayaking at Russell as part of our school camp. Six students from my group participated in the activity, along with my teacher, Miss Stone.

As soon as we reached the beach we changed into our kayaking clothing and put on our bright red life jackets. Afterwards, Dan taught us what to do and what not to do when you’re in a kayak boat. We then talked about how to paddle, hand placements on the paddle, how to go fast and to stop. Later on, Dan assigned us to our own kayaks and got straight into the very cold water. We paddled for a short period of time so that we could test out the skills we had learnt. Then we learnt how to raft up, which is when all kayaks get a hold of an object and link with each other.

Moments later, my group paddled around the bay, once again, practising how to direct our kayaks. Dan our Instructor and Sarah our Adventure for Good (AFG) leader, decided to let us got further and experience the beautiful sceneries. The seawater was absolutely beautiful and the sun was shining brightly in the sky but the water was really freezing.

Later on in our lesson, we had races with each other which got us very, very tired. Some of us even bumped into rocks that slightly rocked our kayaks giving us a small heart attack. At the very end of our kayak lesson, we rafted up one more time and  got the chance to walk across the kayaks and cannonball into the water. I was the last person to do it. I jumped into the deep blue sea and it was extremely cold. I  managed to get sea water in my mouth which made it hard for me to breathe. I got back into my kayak and paddled back to shore where my group and I, helped Dan load the equipment into his truck.

Miss. Stone and Sarah allowed us to have a quick swim and play around a bit. I thought it was the perfect time to practise my water survival skills, skills such as help position, huddle, sculling and treading water.  When I finished, I joined the others and played games with them. I was shivering non-stop but I was able to stay in the water for quite a while. As it was time to leave, we got out of the sea and wrapped ourselves with our towels. We got into the vans and drove back to the our Camp site.

Our kayak lesson was such fun and was very cool. I am proud that I came back alive from the kayaking lesson and also for learning several skills. I am glad that I got to practise some swimming skills and I hope that I get another opportunity to kayak again. I had an amazing experience which I will never forget.

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