Train Ride With My Family

Yesterday my mum, dad, sister, brother, uncle, aunty, cousins, pop, nanee and me went for a train ride. The train ride was in Waiuku. It took us about 30 mins to get to there. Along the way I got tired so I went for a nap. By the time I woke up we were at Waiuku. The train station is called Glen Brook Vintage railway. When we got there we all looked around.




We saw all kind of things like trains of course, coal, dirt, train rails, a playground, a face painting station, and a bakery. I was so amazed to see all of the cool things including the hot steam coming out from the train I even got my face painted and my sister as well. 5 mins looking around but while we were looking we heard this really loud noise (TOOT TOOT!)

I got a shock so did my sister. Anyways we all knew the train was coming so we ran to the train. The train was still moving but all of us decided to go on the other side of the train. As soon as we got on the train it was quite full but we still got to sit down. We were in the back of the train, all though it was really really loud I didn't mind it.

Once we got on, there were a lot of animals like horses, sheep's, cows, and also two lamas. Yesterday was really sunny so we needed a little shade. After maybe about 15 min of riding this train the ride just stops. Then I hear "we are going back around" and I knew that we were going to be at the front so I said to myself  "NO" because when ever I hear TOOT TOOT! my ears was ringing so it would have been louder and sure enough it was.

As soon as the lead train came to our side there was water spraying on me, steam coming from the train and the really loud noise (TOOT TOOT!). It took a while to get us going but still I didn't mind. Then 30 mins came around and we stopped, we stopped because the conductors wanted a break so we all just had a look around. Once we finished looking around we tried to run at the front of the train but while we were looking I heard dad saying to me that we have changed seats we were going to sit at the back train, we were still on the out side of the train but it was just a little different (we had a roof).

We took off, again there was beautiful views of mountains river animals it was just amazing. When we got back I said "thank-you for letting us come here and to have an awesome time we stayed for a little while. Everyone had an awesome time, but unfortunately we had to go back home. So we went back home to have lunch, and lunch was really yum. Yesterday was a great day to spend with my family before we all go back to school.

Day 20 Bonus Activity

Hey blog viewers this is my last day of blogging for the SLJ I will be missing to blog these school holidays. School is about to start again for a new year. Yay! Imagine that I walked into my classroom and my teacher asked me to stand up in front of the class and talk about the country that I visited. here are the options of what I would do.

1. Post a short video clip of myself talking about the country that I visited and the things that I learned (1 – 2 minutes)
2. Type out what I would say to the class if I had 1 – 2 minutes to speak.

I would share to the class a 1-2 min speak: That I had a wonderful time at Australia, I’ve  learnt amazing facts about their country like the capital is Canberra. I also enjoyed seeing the outstanding sights such as the beautiful Great Barrier Reef and I wouldn't mind traveling back to Australia once more time. I also liked seeing and learning about the koalas and dingos. My favourite things about visiting the country was mostly all of it like going to see the beautiful Great Barrier Reef, eating the famous foods, learning about all the animals in the country and blogging all about the amazing things in this country.

Day 20 Activity 2 (Two Or More Things From Traviling)

After four full weeks of planning and travelling, I am now safely back in New Zealand. I have now had some time to relax and to reflect on my experiences. What are two or more things that I have learned from the travels?

Here are my answers:

1. One thing that I have learnt from traveling is that you need to know which airline you're going on. Make sure you pay good attention because you might miss your plane, .Australia is surrounded by the indian and the pacific oceans,  Australia is the world's 6th largest country by area, and the last one would be  to always plan everything  before  you start your trip,  for example how much money you would need and also where you would like to go while you are at  the country that you are going to.

Day 20 Activity 1 (Family Meal Together)

My trip has now come to an end and it’s time to fly back to New Zealand. As I board the airplane, I start to think about all of the people who will be waiting to pick me up from the airport in Auckland and I am very excited.

Imagine that I have just arrived at the airport in Auckland. My whole family is there to welcome me. They can’t wait to hear all about my trip! I decide that I’ll go home and have a special meal together to celebrate my return. My mum offers to make me anything that I would like to eat. If it was Rachel, she would ask for homemade hamburgers with ketchup, American-style mustard, onions, tomato and lettuce; Cajun-style wedges with tomato sauce and Greek salad with cherry tomatoes and lots of feta cheese. For dessert she would ask for vanilla cake with chocolate icing and Neapolitan ice cream.

This is what I would eat, I would eat cheese pasta and mini mince and cheese pies. For dessert I would have vanilla ice cream and a raspberry cheesecake. The reason why I have picked these food because these food are my favourite things to eat

Day 19 Bonus Activity ( My Footprint)

I have been asked to create my own footprint. My footprint must include my name and the name of the country that I decided to visit. Otherwise, I can decorate it in any way that 

I want. It’s totally up to me!

This is the finishing footprint.

Day 19 Activity 2 ( vehicles)

These days there are, literally, dozens of different kinds of vehicles that we can use. Some of them are quite familiar (eg. car, truck, bus) but some are very unique and different. I have been asked to choose and tell you what vehicles I would ride.

here are the options:

1. Double round skate, double round skate is kind of like a foot wear skate board.

2. Hover board, the hover board floats 1 inch above the floor.

3. One wheel electric skate board, the one wheel skate is a skateboard with one wheel and it is easy to balance on.

4. Ayeo, ayeo is a cross betwen a scooter a bike and a pair of roller skates.

5. Half bike, riding a half bike is a combination of running and cycling at the same time

6. Air bike awrrow x, the Air bike awrrow x is a bike that floats above the ground and it cost $85000.

7. Suitcase scooter, the suitcase scooter is a scooter that holds a suite case at the bottom and yo u can ride on it

8. One wheel scooter, the one wheel scooter is a scooter with only one wheel, it is also easy to balance and very strong.

9. Segway, sagway is a self balancing eletric scooter with 2 wheels.

10. Jetpack, a jetpack is a flying machine were people can stand on a plat form.

I would choose the hover board, I have chosen this because I always wonder if it is real and if it could float in the air. It also looks so fun to ride on. I also picked it because hoverboard's are so interesting to me.

Dat 18 Bonus Activity (Kakapoo)

I have been asked to give creativie ideas to save the kakapo. If you didn't know kakapos are a shiny green bird that likes to make its nest on the ground and there are only 55 left. but it will be easy for some other animal to steel the kakapos egg, how? if the kakapo keeps making its nest on the floor some other animal will just come and steel the eggs. so here are my ideas:

I think we can save the kakapo by maybe putting nearly all kakapo on a island which has no animals that kill kakapo or the kakapo eggs and let them stay there maybe this will work but heres my other idea: They should get all the 55 Kakapo birds and put them in a safe place in the Zoo so no lions or other dangerous

animals would get to the eegs.

Day 18 Activity 2 (Learning About 2 Australia Animals)

When I am at the zoo, I have the chance to learn about some animals that are maybe only found in my country that I have decided to visit. Since I chose Australia to go and visit I am going to learn about koalas and Dingos. 




I know that koalas don't drink that much water, koalas get some of their water from leaves. Did you know In Aborigine language the word koala means no water.
 Dingos are wild dessert foxes found in Australia.  Australia's wild foxes can sometimes be found in Southeast Asia. 

Day 19 Activity 1 (Train Ride)

It’s the last day in my country and it’s the final chance to head out and see places or people that I haven't visited yet. It’s also my last day to sample the local food and enjoy the atmosphere. I decided that I will head out of the city and explore some of the smaller, neighbouring towns. In order to leave the city, I will need to find a vehicle. It could be a bus, a train, a taxi, a bicycle, a scooter.

Let’s imagine that the neighbouring town was about 30 kilometres away. There are a number of beautiful villages and interesting things to see along the way. I have four options for this trip. I can take a:

1. Train – 25 minute ride; No stops along the way; $12 for the trip

2. Bus – 45 minute ride; Two stops along the way to look at interesting villages; $8 for the trip 

3. Scooter – 1 hour ride; Unlimited number of stops; $5 for the trip

4. Bicycle – 2 hour ride; Unlimited number of stops but there are some hills along the way; $1

I have been asked to tell you's which of these four options I would choose and why!

I would choose the train ride because I would like to get to where I am going a lot faster so I can have a much longer time to have fun, No stops along the way. $12 for the trip yes this is the most expensive one but still I would pay and get there for 25 min.

Day 17 Bonus Activity (Mt Wellington)

I have been asked to take a photo of me standing beside a popular place in your community. I have chosen to take a photo of the Mt Wellington mountain. The mountain is in Mt Wellington and it's called Maungarei, my whole family goes there to do exercise. The mountain is actually a Volcano. When you get to the middle there is this little circular box that shows you what other famous mountains and places there are in Auckland like one tree hill, Waihiki Island, Rangitoto Island and the Panmure basin. Did you know the mountain is 444 ft above sea level and it is 162 meters high.

Day 18 Activity 1 (Zoo)

It’s time to go to the zoo! I have been invited to tour the national zoo with some students from one of the local schools. Although I don’t really know anyone I decided to be brave and give it a go!. When I arrive at the front gates, I walk into the zoo and suddenly see a hippo and a giraffe type walking and dancing at the same time. I see a zebra with a rainbow wig going CRAZY!. I also see all kind of thing like a gorilla with a Tutu and doing Belle, a tiger jumping through burning hot fired little rings, and monkeys putting on a show. The monkeys put on a show by jumping on to another monkeys head, the monkeys make everyone laugh. 

All though I know that this is a lot of fun but I don't know were to start. I diced to go to the jumping tiger. The person who train the tiger said that "his name is Sammy and he will jump through any ring". The person who train the tiger said "who would like to volunteer and sit down while Sammy jumps through the hole. No one put their hand up so she just picked some one random so she closed her eyes and spun and pointed and of course her hand landed on ME!. I got really nervous but  I decided to be brave and I gave it a go. as soon as I sat dow Sammy jumped and did not touch me at all. I was so relieved. Next I went to the MONKEYS that were pretty funny, the monkeys made me laugh😂 I even teared up, happy tears. Then I went to the type walking hippo and giraffe I look up and I enjoyed all of it I didn't have enough time to see the gorilla I  was quite sad but I still had a good time.

Day 17 Activity 2 (NZ Icons)

I have been asked to show a visitor around NZ and take them for a tour. Were would I take them? Rachel would take them to the Sky tower in Auckland, also she would take them to Chums Beach in the Coromandel, and to Mt cook. I would also take them to see the Sky tower in Auckland, also to our theme park Rainbow's End and to butterfly creek. Only because I have been to these places and I always have a lots of fun there.

Day 17 Activity 1 (Famous Sights)

Before I leave to head home, I will want to dedicate a few days to sightseeing in my country of choice to visit. There are a lots of beautiful buildings and gorgeous natural things to seen, for example beaches, historical plans etc. Since the country that I decided to visit is Australia I would love to go see the Great Barrier. I would like to see the Great Barrier because I love the sea and the ocean. I think I would love to see this because it looks very cool and interesting.

Day 16 Bonus Activity (Waitangi Day)

In NZ  our national holiday is on the 6th of February It is called Waitangi Day. On Waitangi day my family and I just relax at home. Last year we had a hangi. It's a really special day to remember the Treaty of Waitingi when they signed the treaty for the english to reside in New Zealand. Now those english people are called Kiwi's just like everybody else who lives in New Zealand.

Day 16 Activity 2 (Holiday)

I have been ask to create a brand new public holiday for the country. The holiday will be 2 day special day it will be called 2 day special day because Christmas and guy forks day will kind of be combined. Everything will be closed but not the movies, so that means parents won't have any work to do. It will be kind of like Christmas. you have to spend time with your family but you could go anywhere like to the beach. you can have a BBQ or have a feast with all sorts of foods, you can also light fireworks through the night just like guy fork day. This spacial day will be on the 19 of Jan.

Day 16 Activity 1 (national holiday)

My big overseas adventure is about to come to an end☹. Before I head back to NZ I have been ask to spend the last few days seeing the most famous and important sights in the country because today is a very special day! It’s a major national holiday and everyone is celebrating!. This is what most people do in Australia. It is a huge event in Australia with most people attending local community festivals, concerts or parties. It is common for people to get together with friends to have a BBQ. This is what I would do, I would go see my uncle and aunty and have a BBQ I would also go to the beach and have a swim.

Day 15 Bonus Activity (The battle)

In Te papa museum in Wellington is a huge exhibition. It is called Gallipoli The scale of our war. I have been asked to tell you 3 things I learned about the battle.
1. ANZAC stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps.
2. Every ANZAC day some people remember the soldiers by wearing a red poppy.
3. The ANZAC solider landed on Gallipoli in 1915.

Day 15 Activity 2 (Kids 100 years ago)

After exploring the gallery I decide to walk across the street to the national museum. It is an amazing place! There is so much information about the history of the country in this museum.

After walking for a little while you come across a display with pictures of children that were taken in 1901 (over 100 years ago)! In this picture, the children are working on a local farm, milking cows. They are not going to school. Back in those days, children usually went to school until they reached the age of 12 or 13. They then left school and went to work. Imagine that I were alive 100 years ago. How would I feel if I had to leave school at the age of 12 I Would be sad.

Day 15 Activity 1 (Art History)

Hey blog viewers! Today is Day 15 of the Summer learning journey. Today's blog post will be about Art history. Let's begin!




When you walk into the local gallery, the first piece of artwork that you see is a painting by Wassily Kandinsky called ‘Swinging.’ While I am looking at it, a staff member at the gallery comes up to me and asks me for my opinion of the painting. 

I have been asked to answer these questions on what I think about it:  

What do you think of this painting? - 

I think the painting is very cool and interesting. 

Do you like it? 
- I do like this, but I think that Wassily should put more interest in it not just shapes.

If you could buy it and give it to someone, who would you choose? - 

I would choose my mother. I think she would really like it because she likes paintings and she is very artistic.