Diary Entries for Explores of the Sun

Day one: Imagine you are a crew member, leaving your shore for the first day of the voyage.  what you would have done that day and what you were looking forward to.

Day 1

Our last items of food and water are packed onto the waka and I am just about to start packing my supplies. I have already got the essentials, clothes for warm and cold conditions, first aid kit plus some food and water to add on to our community supplies.  I have a list of other things that I need but first things first, I need to find a bag. Ah there it is, ok flare, check! Fishing rods, check! Bible, check! Plates, check! Cutlery, check! Ok, looks like I will be out of here, sooner than I thought!

We just left Aotearoa and there were a lot of tears as we were saying goodbye and especially when we were sailing away. Well, we don’t really know when we will be coming back, because it may take us years to find Rapanui or it might take us days, who knows? But what we do know is that it is not going to be easy and being away from our family is going to make it even harder.

Even though I am quite nervous about the voyage, I am also very excited. Our whole plan is to follow the path of our Polynesian ancestors from long ago to travel on a waka using traditional navigating tools to get to Rapanui (Easter Island) It will be great to experience what my extraordinary ancestors accomplished long ago to find our beloved countries which we now call home. It will be a time to test our skills and knowledge of the ocean world.  

Day thirty:

You have been on the waka for 30 days now...what may you be feeling now?  

What are you now looking forward to?

Wow! This is 12th time I’ve been sick, the constant rocking and swaying of the waka is like riding on a endless roller coaster. The waves of the ocean have also been quite large the past few days which is making the waka slam against the waves. My stomach seems to be twisting and turning as much as the ocean is.

Other than the seasickness, our travels have been alright. Our head navigator has been tracking the islands well, mainly using the stars and the sea swells, although there was a really bad storm that occurred a few days ago.  The storm made it quite hard to navigate so we pulled the sails down to stop the waka from breaking. Until the storm finished, we all just tried to stay warm and dry, but it wasn’t that easy. The storm lasted a few hours before we could put the sails back up and continue our voyage.

Once the rain stopped, I did notice that the days were getting warmer and the sea spray wasn’t as cold. So we were able to dry all our wet clothes and materials that were wet and damp after the storm. We do expect to stop at an island called Tubuai in about 10 days to have some rest on land before we carry on with our journey to Rapanui.

Class 2 Maths Graphs Presentation

This is a presentation that is full of the graphs that I made with the information from Class 2 Maths Students. I hope you enjoy it and learn something.

My Holiday Highlights

My Highlights:

Going to Tairua

My Birthday

Boxing Day

My Writing about my birthday:

“Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to Ana, Happy Birthday to you!” My siblings all came into my room with a tray of bacon, eggs and hash browns. Even though I had already been up, I hopped back into bed when I smelt the bacon cooking. We had planned to go to Jump with my friends then have an Amazing Race along the waterfront from Mission Bay to Bastion Point. Everyone was coming at 1pm so I decided to tidy up my room a bit, even though it was my birthday.

1pm came and I was on the road waiting for my best friend Josephine and my cousins. My cousins came first followed shortly by Josephine. We went inside and watched tv, talked and waited till we could go to Jump. Since it was the middle of the holidays, me and Josephine had a lot to talk about. We talked for about an hour before we set out to Jump. It was about a ½ hour drive till we got to jump and when we got there, I was so excited, I couldn’t stop smiling. Josephine and I had never been to jump but my cousins, Levi and Jordan had so they knew what to expect.

We jumped for 1 hour and we spent most of the time playing dodgeball. Jordan and Levi were always the last in and after a while, we decided to try the sponge pit. First I swang on the rope then fell in, then I jumped in from the platform. After our hour finished, we all got slushies which was really  great because it was soooo HOT!!

We had a barbecue dinner and after dinner, my best friend Hope came!! I was sooooo excited because I didn’t think that she would come. I ran up to her and gave her a huge hug. Since Hope was a year 8 in 2014, she would go to another school so I would hardly see her anymore. I was so happy, I was still buzzing when we left for the Amazing Race.

Amazing Race was really cool and Levi and I won! It started at the Mission Bay fountain, then to the beach and after that we had to run along the waterfront towards the Yacht club. At each of the places there were challenges. I was pretty tired while we were running and to make it worse, we had to run all the way to Bastion Point! At Bastion Point, we had to do a puzzle, eat raw noodles out of a fizzy drink, stuff our mouths with marshmallows and say, “Fluffy Bunnies!” it has to be clear so our judge (My little sister) could hear it before we could roll down the hill to our pit stop. Levi and I were the first there so we got a packet of Party Mix.

After the Amazing Race we went home to watch a movie. The boys went home because the girls were sleeping over. We watched Step Up 5 but Hope fell asleep during the movie. After everyone else went to sleep, Josephine drew on Hope’s face. When Hope woke up in the morning she looked in the mirror and since Josephine was still asleep, Hope drew on her face. It was so funny because when Josephine woke up, she didn’t even know and she was just talking normally.

Soon they had to leave, I was sad because I didn’t know if I would ever see Hope again and I was sad because I had to wait another 2 weeks till school started and I had to wait till then to see Josephine. It was one of the best birthdays that I have had and I spent it with the best people. :-)

All About Room 3

My New Blog Profile

Talofa Lava,

My name is Ana and I am a 12 year old student at Pt England School. My teacher is Mrs Tele’a and I am in Room 3. This year is my last year at PES and I have been selected as one of the eight Yr 8 prefects. My favorite subject at school is inquiry because I love researching about things that I didn't know about before.

I am the middle child with one older brother and sister and two younger sisters. In my spare time, I like hanging out at the beach and staying up late talking and laughing with friends and family. I also love listening to music and playing sports during the winter and summer seasons. My family and I attend Tamaki Community Church and have been since before I can remember. I hope you enjoy my blog and maybe learn something new. :-)