The Funeral

I was lying ,cuddled up in bed. It was warm. Then I heard a noise. My mum was calling me. "What now?" I thought, rolling my eyes. But I got up anyway.

When I got out to the lounge I could tell mum had been crying. Her eyes were red. "Great Grandma Betty has died" She said her voice quiet. I felt tears coming to my eyes. I also felt as if all the happiness had been sucked from the world .

I slowly plodded back to my bedroom like an slow elephant. Just think a few minutes ago I was thinking that the world couldn't be better.

When I got back to my bedroom I found it impossible to get to sleep but eventually I woke up in the morning to a loud "Crash!" feeling refreshed. What's that noise? I asked myself. The answer was this... We were going up to Dargaville for the funeral. BORING! It was a 3 hour drive to Dargaville!

2 hours later. "Mum we've eaten all the food and me and Rory are hungry!" I complained . "So you mean you have eaten the candy in the back?" she replied. "No!" I said stunned. "Then eat that," she said.

An hour later we arrived in Dargaville. We drove to a motel where we would be staying. That night my cousin stayed at the motel for hours.

The next day my family and I went to the florists to choose some flowers ,but mum just couldn't decide. In the end we chose some roses.

The funeral was fun... for about 5 minutes! People just said things. I didn't even understand half of what they said! I kept fiddling with a greenstone necklace Great Grandma Betty had left down to me . About halfway through the funeral I escaped outside.

After the funeral we went to bury her. Me and Rory put our roses  onto the coffin . Then I was asked  to hold a basket of flower petals and people came up one by one and took some flowers and threw them over the coffin. Once that was finished she was buried above her husband.

Once we buried her we went to a place that has something to do with the army . My Great Grandpa had been a soldier. After playing there for about an hour we went back to the motel.

The Fun Park

It was tall! I quickly grabbed a little mattress and started climbing the stairs. Up and up and up I went around the curly stairs.

"Maeve? Maeve? Come on I don't have...?"

"Ahhh!"Maeve screamed. Not again I thought. 

"Ahh!" I screamed.

SPLASH!!! Water went up my nose through my mouth and out again.

By the time my wet feet touched the first step... "Ahh!" Maeve yelled.

Steam ☁️puffed☁️ through my nose. My face turned red. Maeve came flying out through the waterslide and splashed into the water. 

Suddenly I thought about what it is that I actually look like? I thought Woah!

Outdoor Sleepover

My sister Kabi and I got our sleeping bags, blankets and our teddy bears. My cousin Kajani fixed up the pink tent outside. ⛺️ We all went inside the tent, it was really cozy and warm. Just in case if we get scared of the dark or hear scary noises, Kajani got the flash light. She tied it on top of the tent inside, so we can turn it on and off. It was almost 10 o'clock. We were not sleepy at all. Our parents were sleeping inside the house.

We planned a little secret. The secret was to get some food out of the cupboard. Kajani carefully creeped to the door like a spy. Oh no! The door was locked! Luckily she had the keys. Quietly she unlocked the door and sneaked to the cupboard and got some marshmallow, crackers and lemonade to drink if we were thirsty.

Then slowly the door opened, Kabi and I got really frightened we hugged each other like sardines in a tin.

Oh we were such a scaredy cat, it was Kajani. She brought the food inside the tent. We were really hungry, so we ate some marshmallows and crackers. When we got thirsty we drank lemonade.

After that Kajani also brought the Rock Club Book. In that book we earn badges and medals and trophies. She also took some photos and sticked it on the Rock Club Book. We wrote on a piece of paper about when we were camping, and Kajani sticked that on. We drew some pictures on pieces of papers. Kajani drew a picture of when we were camping, and I drew a picture of when we were eating in the tent, and Kabi drew a picture of everyone in the tent. We also coloured then in. Kajani sticked them too.

After all that camping we were really sleepy, so Kajani turned the flash light off and we all slept.

Persuasive writing

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Persuasive writing

Green Chair

Come and see the green chair for comfy sleep and work.
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Persuasive writing

 Green Chair!

Come and buy a green chair!  

It blazes like the sun with a soft cover made with warm sheep's wool. 
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Its relaxing and comfortable and perfect for falling asleep in.

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Persuasive Writing

The Comfortable Twirling Chair

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Science Investigations

Well done to these students for all the hard work they put into their science investigations.

More excerps from early NZ immigrant letters

Dear Cousin,
                  ...When it was stormy, we had to stay under the deck. Everyone had to squish under while the water was pouring in. Everyone was vomiting. It was stinky. 1 out of 5 babies died. also 65 chidren died during the voyage.
             We had to live in steerage with no windows. We all had to sleep on bunks. We couldn't shower and got quite smelly. The men showered down with salt water. This was how life was during the voyage.
              New Zealand is beautiful. It is filled with forests and mountains. I miss you all in England.

Love from
Sumsijah


Dear Grandfather,
                    ... Now for the exciting part, when I arrived in New Zealand. When I first arrived, I was very glad to get off the ship. New Zealand looked like a very gigantic forest. It had millions and millions of trees and bushes and swamps. Once we got into it we hunted birds and cooked them on a campfire. We are living in a tent. To build the tent we used lots of sticks, branches and a tarpaulin and some rocks to hold the tarp down on a windy night. ...
           
Love from 
Levi

Excerps from Early New Zealand Immigrant letters

Dear Grandma,
  ... There were lots of people sick here on the ship because we were cramped up together and all the passengers were sleeping in the hold.
       We filled in the long hours by cooking, cleaning, washing, reading and playing cards. The older children attended school. In the evenings there were dances and musical entertainment, ...
      
Love from 
Daniel


Dear Mehak,
      ... When we arrived in New Zealand it was covered in swamps and thick green bushes. The first thing our family did was put up a tent. For a couple of days we lived in a tent. My big brother and I went out to shoot some birds to have for our dinner. When we came back with some birds, we made a fire to cook it. Our Mother cooked the birds carefully on the fire. She was really good at that. After a couple of days we started making the raupo hut. We collected a lot of raupo sticks and started to make the wall of the house. My big brother and I collected some shells for a shell path for security. After 10 days we were finished.
            Please tell everybody we miss our family in England. I think when you receive this letter we would have our own land.

Love from 
Mehar

Dear Grandfather,
     ... The ship hit land. We looked around the campsite and all that was there was trees, trees and more trees! Father found the right spot, not in the shade and not in the sun. Father worked and worked to put the tent up. For dinner we ate leftover ships biscuits while dad finished the tent. 
         The next day dad started to collect shells and wood for our raupo but. Dad and I walked through the woods and stopped at a steep hill. Bits of dirt crumbled off into the swamp. I collected shells. Athe hut we 0placed them into a path. Our raupo shut started to come alive. ...

Love
Alistair

Emigrating to New Zealand

20 October 1840

Dear Grandma,
                   How are you? I hope you are feeling fine today in England. I am feeling great. It took us five months to get to New Zealand and settle down on the land.
          While we were on the ship a little boy next to me died of whooping cough and I was very sad. 
          Some of us had to sleep in the hold which was immediately below the main deck.When it was stormy they had to shut the hatches so we didn't get wet. Each of the families had to sleep in a bunk 2.4 metres by 1.8 metres. In the hold there was no windows and no fresh air and light. It was boring in the hold and we were all squished up. 
           We had to eat porridge, ships biscuits with weevils in them, salted meat and potatoes. Sixty five children died from dysentery and whooping cough. Biscuits with weevils in them  made some people sick.
          When we finally arrived in New Zealand it looked like it was filled with trees and swamps. We had to put our tent up near thick bushes. Now we are living in a raupo hut. Soon we will build our real house with wood and build a school.

I miss you in England.
Love from
Mary

Emigrating to New Zealand

20 October 1844

Dear Grandad,
                    How are you? I hope you are feeling better. We have just landed in New Zealand.
          It was boring sailing to New Zealand for 4 months. We slept in very small bunks. Next to my bunk, my friend died because she had a bad cold. It was terrible. I felt gloomy, sad and depressed. It was so sad I was crying and her family did as well. 
          People got sick from the rats on the ship. Also people got colds. The food we had was potatoes, meat, biscuits with weevils, porridge and salted meat. The storms were the most horrible things ever. We had to shut all of the hatches.
           When the weather was calm, we had school. The teachers told us how to write and talk properly.
          When we landed in New Zealand we had to build a tent. We have to wait for a while until we can build a real house.

I hope I can see you again.
Love from Sapphire