Aucklands Two Earthquakes.

Two earthquakes hit Auckland yesterday, the first at 4:01pm measuring a 3.1 magnitude and was 6km deep.   The other one was a 3.9 magnitude at 4:05pm which was 5km deep. The 3.1 earthquake was 15km north-east of Auckland, on the south-west coast of Motutapu. The second one was directly under Motutapu when it hit.

A Very Hot Holiday! (Part 2)

The island was pouring down with rain when we arrived. Out of the two times I had visited, I had never seen that much rain on Rarotonga. It didn't matter though, because my aunty Leonie had rented a car for us to drive around in. Our first destination was the famous Palace Burger. According to my Uncle Marvin, they had really nice burgers. I ordered to chicken burger and chips. They were huge! I couldn't even finish my yummy burger. 

We stayed in a village called Arorangi. Its where uncle Marvin stays and since my aunties and I arrived first, we got to choose where to sleep.There where 6 people in 2 bedrooms. Aunty Jaky, cousin Vere and I in the front room and aunty Leonie, Khaia and cousin Hyrum in the back. Everyone else had to sleep on mattresses either in the sitting room or outside on the cement porch. 

Everyday (if it wasn't raining) we went swimming at a little spot near the Rarotongan resort. It was our spot for the two weeks that we were there. It was nice and sandy and there were heaps of fish that we could see when we took the snorkelling set. That was my favourite thing to do in the islands. Swim and snorkel. 

We also got to go into town and do some shopping to buy gifts for our families back home. It was packed most of the time with other tourists. But on the other side of the island was my favourite store. Wigmores Super-store. Its where we had the best ice cream ever! There were a wide range of flavours but I only wanted one. Caramel. It was so delicious. Just thinking about it makes my mouth water. 

I have family members that live in Rarotonga as well. We got to meet up with them when we had 2 bbq"s together and when we went to visit there houses. Occasionally we would see them in town or just driving past on their bikes. 

Our trip to Raro and Mangaia was such a great experience. I meet so many new relatives and got to see beautiful places. We travelled around Mangaia on the back of a truck twice for a tour around the island, I got to eat massive burgers from Palace and above all had a wonderful time. And it was so hard to say goodbye when it was time to leave. No one wanted to go. Raro hypnotizes you with its amazing features which makes you sad when its your time to depart. I really miss Rarotonga and all of the family members as well as the places there. My family and I wish to visit the island soon.

Visual Mihi

Hello! My name is Shoal and I am a year 8 and Prefect here at Pt England School. In extension, we were told to draw 5 symbols that best represent ourselves. The first symbol is the smiley face. I drew that because I am a very happy and fun person to be around. I also drew my iPod because it contains my 2 favourite things to do on it. Music and Games. I love playing my favourite game Aerox and listen to my music while doing so. The last 2 symbols represent my cultures. Rarotonga located in the Cook Islands and Niue. I have been to Raro twice but have never been to Niue. I would really like to go to Niue though.

Disaster Strikes at the P.E.S Picnic.

The camera was hanging around my neck. I captured a picture of Pt England School walking down to the reserve for the annual PES Picnic. The sky was grey and I thought that our fun day was going to be cancelled.

I ran up to Rita. Her bag was dangling off of her shoulder. She was walking with our fellow friends. Our lunch spot was coming up. The trees covered the grass and made it a very cool spot. Rita and I threw our bags on the prickly, dry grass and ran to the beautiful beach. “ What's that in the water?” I was worried. It looked like something was moving in the sea.

The great, big creature emerged from the water, screeching and its huge hands slapping the water. Everyone ran screaming and calling for help. Ashleigh, Taamai and Jasmine were the unlucky ones. They were swallowed by the beast and didn’t make it to the grass fields. “ AHHHHHHHH!!” My friends were gone.

I was filled with rage. My eyes had spotted a sword on the deck. I sprinted as fast as I could and drove the weapon into the creatures heart. It fell into the water, blood spilling into the salty sea. The monster was dead. I had saved the day. “ Shoal. You saved the day!” Everyone was running to me, thanking me for what I had just done.

2 weeks passed. The families of Taamai, Jasmine and Ashleigh held funerals for the 3 that got eaten at the Pt England Reserve. The monster was still sitting in the water. It was beautiful ceremony where each one of the family members got to put a sword into the beast to remember their loved ones. They looked like tooth picks stabbed in the breathless monstrosity.

Tamaki Tech 2013

The sun was beaming down on me. I could see the food tech place up ahead. Rooms 20, 21 and half of room 22 were heading down to Tamaki College for Technology.

We all split into groups of year 7s and year 8s. Then one by one our names were called to go into our different groups. I was worried for a second because all of my friends were in Hard Materials. “Shoal”, I heard my name being called. The deputy principal had put me into hard materials. Yes!! I got to be with all of my friends.

Mr Grundy is the hard materials teacher. I enjoyed his class last year and was excited to be in his class again. He gave us a little book and told us to put our names on them. I saw that this year our task was to make a box. It could hold anything you wanted in it.

The 6 ideas I drew were down on my paper. “Mr Grundy, can you check my work please?” I called for him to come but he instead said to pack up.

I am really happy that tech has started up again. Last year was really fun and exciting learning and creating new things.

A Very Hot Holiday! (Part 1)

The plane was bumpy and moving the way it shouldn't have been. I wasn't having the best time. So I pulled my book out and started to read. 40 minutes later we landed smoothly in beautiful Mangaia.

Since I have a lot of family connections, there are a lot of family reunions held in different places. I have been to Wellington, Tahiti, and the Cook Islands when I was 7. It was the second time I had visited the islands. Over the last 6 years, I had missed the beautiful scenery and wonderful family members. 

Mangaia. One of the 15 outer islands located in the southern cooks. I have been to Atiu and Rarotonga but before this trip, never Mangaia. I was nervous and excited at the same time when we got to the place we were staying at. Mangaia School. Other family members that I had never seen before had arrived before we had. Food was set out on the tables for us to eat. Chop suey, chicken, taro and rice. YUM! Real islander food. 

We stayed there for about two weeks. The first to introduce our-selves to the family and the other to enjoy Mangaia and its wonderful atmosphere. We had been slit into groups and had chores to do as well. So we weren't letting the environment around us be dirty and disgusting. 

If I had to choose one thing that I didn't like about Mangaia was that the island was basically rock. Plus the beautiful waterhole that everyone was talking about, was just a small hole in more rocks filled with fresh water. It could only fit about 3-4 people in it! Not a really great swimming place.

During the course of the two weeks we had some really fun evenings where we had a riff off(singing battle) between two teams, played and learnt new games to play with cards and had a really good laugh with the family.




That all changed after my Aunties Leonie and Jaky, as well as cousin Hyrum and I left Mangaia a day earlier than expected. Our departure was set to be on the 10th of January but we went on the 9th and swapped sets with a guy named Sam who wanted to stay in Mangaia for just another day. That was fine with us because we got to go back to the fabulous Rarotonga!

ME...

My name is Shoal and I am 12 years old. I was born here in Auckland but my heritage is Cook Island, Niuean. I am the oldest of the 4 children that my parents had. Khaia, Cree and Kensi are my 3 younger sisters.