The Glenbrae School Concert

On Thursday I went to see the Glenbrae School concert. Renee and I had front row seats as Renee was doing the videoing. The theme was Around the World in 80 Days which is what they have been studying this year, each class looking at a different country in detail.
This is Phillip and Jodene who played the captains of the aeroplane.

These are some of the Year 6 children who played the passengers on the aeroplane travelling all around the world.
These are the New Entrant children who were doing a New Zealand item. Maori people have a traditional type of song and dance called Kapa Haka. They did a song called Toro Mai. They were very cute!
The Year 1 children in Room 5 were studying China and did a lion dance.
This is the Y3 children from Room 1. They did a very cool dance called Chori Chori from India. Don't the saris look lovely?
The Y4 children in Room 8 did a Scottish folk dance called the Waves of Tory. When they studied Scotland, they all most wanted to see the Loch Ness Monster.
This is their teacher, Miss Paton, who supported her class by wearing her tartan pyjamas during the Scottish dance!
Room 2 studied France and did a dance to Frere Jacques. They all wore red, white and blue like the colours of the French flag and had little ribbons on their wrists.
Room 9 (Y5) studied Egypt. They did a very cool dance to Walk like an Egyptian which Renee helped to choreograph. These were my favourite costumes.

These children are in Y6 and Jay, Renee's mum is their teacher. They were studying Peru, where the people celebrate the New Year by worshipping the Sun God. The boy at the back, Sam, was playing the Sun God in his big yellow and orange costume. This item was to a song called Reach up for the Sunrise and Renee made up the whole dance and taught it to the class. She was very happy with how it looked.

This is another picture of Room 7, just because Renee thought they were great!
At the end of the concert, the children all sang a New Zealand version of Jingle Bells which has some very funny lyrics! Renee has a copy of the concert programme and the words to the song to send you.

Glenbrae School Grounds

One of the best things I noticed was that school children in New Zealand have a lot of room to play. Renee was going to take photos when the children were out playing, but she forgot...oops! This is a picture of the senior school - Y4 to Y6. Renee's mum teaches the Y6 students. They are nearly finished the year as in New Zealand the school year starts in February and finshes in December, with the summer holidays over Christmas and January.


This is the view of the junior school from the top field. In New Zealand, Reception is called New Entrants, and the children start school on the day they turn 5, not all together at the start of the year.


This is the adventure playground that was built in the last year. The children are all getting very fit and strong from playing on it. They also have some unicycles (which are like bicylcles with on ly one wheel) and some of the seniors can ride right around the school without falling off!


This is the top field where they do athletics sports and play team games. They mostly play rugby instead of soccer in New Zealand. There are only about 160 children at Glenbrae at the moment, so you can see they have a lot of space to play in.

Glenbrae School (Year 2 class)

This week I have been at Glenbrae School, meeting some New Zealand school children. I also got to go the Christmas concert yesterday, which was great! I'll post some photos of it later. This is Renee introducing me to the children at the school assembly.


I went in to meet the Year 2 class at Glenbrae. It's quite a small school so there is only 1 year 2 class, and they have about 22 children in the class. These are the girls...


And these are the boys! All the children liked me a lot, and I liked them too. :o)

North of Auckland...

This weekend we went up to visit Renee's gran (who isn't her real gran, but a good friend of Renee's mum, Jay) in Kerikeri which is up near the top of the North Island. On the way we stopped in Paihea for lunch - a lovely little coastal town in the Bay of Islands, a popular tourist spot. This is a picture of Renee and I by the water.
This is me in a Pohutukawa tree, a New Zealand Christmas tree. They are all out in flower at the moment and look beautiful, especially with a tawny owl perched on a branch. You may notice that Renee has done some repair work, and all my beads have been reattached. I also now have a lovely piece of New Zealand paua shell added to my decoration.
Renee and Jay had lunch in a lovely cafe by the water and had lots of kaimoana - that's Maori for seafood. Then we headed inland towards Kerikeri which, as I think I mentioned, is a very good place for growing avocados, macadamia nuts and citrus fruit. Kerikeri oranges are world famous in New Zealand!
As you can see, I was a bit tired from the trip, and so was Renee. We had a sleep on the couch with Mitzi, Renee's Gran's dog, and Jay took a photo. It was Gran's birthday on Friday, so I gave her a birthday kiss.
This is the view from Gran and Poppa's house. It was nice in the sun, but there was a very chilly wind. We went to the Kerikeri farmers market before we left and Jay and Renee bought lots of lovely fresh vegetables. Renee also had a blueberry pancake and wouldn't give me any!
We went back on a bit of a back road, through a place called Helensville, and then through Parakai where there are hot pools. We didn't go to the pools though, we went to MacNuts Cafe which is on a working macadamia nut farm. The cafe looks out over the pond and the trees as you can see. We all had a lovely lunch and stretched our legs (or wings in my case) before heading back to Auckland.
We went down to have a closer look at the lily pond, and I thought of Amy as that's her middle name! The lily flowers were all out and very lovely.
And here they are a bit closer (I didn't want to get too close as I can't swim)
The trip back to Auckland was nice, but we were all a bit sick of the car. This week I am going in to meet some of the children at Glenbrae school where Jay teaches. It is their Christmas concert on Thursday so everyone is very excited. I'll tell you more about that later.
Meanwhile, I'll leave you with a picture of the view from where Jay lives (well, just down the road anyway). The mountain is actually a volcano called Rangitoto, which means 'bleeding sky'. Rangitoto is dormant, so although it hasn't erupted for a very long time, it still could one day. The poles are from a new marina they have built recently - Auckland is known as the 'City of Sails' and I guess you can see why!

Wish you were here....

Love, Sophie :o)

Rotorua

After Taupo (pronounced toe-paw), we went slightly West to Rotorua, an eggy smelling place with lots of geothermal activity. There are lots of geysers, bubbling mud pools and natural hot water. We went to Wakarewarewa village for a quick look, and saw the kids who dive into the river for coins that tourists throw in. The river is still very cold, but the small pool you can see is nice and warm. Renee thre in $1.20 for them to dive for.
We went down to Lake Rotorua for lunch. Renee used to be very scared of the swans, but there is wire along the shore so they can't get up anymore. They used to attack children and steal their sandwiches! We found a craft market and had a wander around, and saw this man doing chainsaw carvings using ponga logs (a New Zealand tree. The NZ version of the Seven Days of Christmas has a pukeko in a ponga tree!). He was very clever and he must have to be very careful.
On the way back to Auckland we stopped at the Agrodome for a sheep show which Patricia, the Swiss student, wanted to see. In the gift shop I found a Ruru (morepork)!! He was made out of NZ plant fibres and I thought he was great. Renee wanted to take him home, but he was a bit too expensive, so we just got a photo instead.
This is one of the sheep from the sheep show. I can't remember what type of sheep he is, but I think it is the one they use the fleece to make carpet. There were lots of different sheep, and they got them all up onto the stage and had sheep dogs as well.
Steve, who was doing the show, is also a shearer. Sheep shearers have to shear 300 sheep in 8 hours to make it in the profession. They get paid per sheep, so the faster they are, the more money they make. In New Zealand there are 4 million people and 40 million sheep!
After the show we went to the animal nursery to look at the lambs, and there were also some 5 day old sheep dog puppies. This type of sheep dog don't bark, they stare at the sheep to move them. The puppies were so cute!

We are now back in Auckland and I am staying in Renee's room (with a Dora the Explorer mattress on the bed). Renee is going to take me into her mum's school soon, but I've lost some of my beads with all that travelling so I am going to have a break for some repairs first.

Hope all the owls are having as great a time as me!

Taupo

This is the emblem of Taupo - a trout! There are lots of trout in the lake, and in the rivers around the lake. Taupo is about 30-45 minutes North of where Renee's aunty and uncle live (see previous post)
This is Jay in front of Lake Taupo. It's a very big lake! Taupo is a very popular tourist destination, and lots of New Zealanders have holiday homes there as well.
These are the Huka Falls, North of Taupo. There are 7 power stations along the river, and one is at the Huka Falls - a hydro dam. They do jet boat trips right up to the falls, but I'm not that fond of water.

After Taupo we went Northeast to Rotorua, a part of New Zealand famous for geothermal power, and the resulting smell - something like old eggs! Renee took lots of photos, but we'll upload them tomorrow as jetlag is setting in, and it's probably time for bed. A few of my beads have fallen off, but Renee is getting some superglue to do some repair work, and I might have some New Zealand paua shell added to my decoration as well!

Turangi

This is Turangi which is just Souh of Taupo, a huge lake in the centre of the North Island. Taupo was a volcano which erupted hundreds of years ago before people lived in NZ, and some historians in China saw the smoke and ash. Renee's Aunty Jill, her husband Callum and Jill's 2 grown-up children Sam and Nicole all live in Turangi. Nicole has a 4 year old daughter, Bella, but Renee forgot to get a photo. This is a view from outside Jill and Callum's house. It was sunny but still quite cold, especially at night when the fire was going!There are a lot of trout in the Tongariro river in Taupo, and there is a Trout centre where they help preserve the numbers and breed trout. This is one of the breeding pools for 'teenage' fish.
This is a viewing tank in a stream which joins onto the Tongariro. We bought special trout food to feed them, and they seemed to like it!
We went up to Mount Ruapehu which is one of New Zealand's best skiing moutains. It's not ski season at the moment, as it's really too hot, but there is still snow right at the top. This is Patricia holding me in front of Ruapehu peak.
This is a view of Mount Ngaruahoe, another mountain alongside Ruapehu. All that snow fell the first night we were there.
This is an artistic picture Renee took of an icicle and patch of snow up Ruapehu
This is Jay, Renee's mum, on a bridge over the Tongariro river. There has been a lot of rain recently and the river is very full, otherwise there would be a lot of fisherman trying to catch trout.
This is me and Patricia beside the Tongariro.

Next time, Renee promises to get more pictures of her family!

Hamilton

These are Renee's nieces, Alice (who is 4) and Isla (who is 11 months). Alice liked me very much and might make her own owl too! We only stopped for a couple of hours in Hamilton, on our way further South. We will see them again though...

The flight

Hi Amy and friends,

I've got heaps of photos to upload, so I'll have to do this in installments I think! It's been a very exciting few days.

I don't have any photos of the flight, as Renee had to leave the digital camera at home for Si, but it wasn't very exciting anyway. We got to the airport in plenty of time, and check in was very painless. Renee was hoping to get a free upgrade but no such luck. However, we did get a bank of 3 seats to ourselves so Renee could sleep. We watched a couple of movies, slept, and read and the 12 hours went by remarkably fast.

We had 3 hours in Korea, and the airport was quite nice, but everything was quite expensive. In Seoul airport (it's called Incheon), they accept US dollars, Euro, Korean Wan and Japanese Yen, but not pounds Stirling. Renee changed 20 pounds and got 35000 Korean Wan! She had a shower and wandered around the shops, and we bought some pumpkin taffy which sounds yucky but is very nice.

The 2nd flight, from Korea to New Zealand, was very crowded so much harder to sleep. It was also an older plane so didn't have individual movie screens. The meals were good though, and the flight attendants were lovely.

It was great to arrive in New Zealand and we got through customs really really fast. I met Renee's mum, Jay, and Patricia, who is a student from Switzerland. We got straight in the car and headed for Hamilton, which is about 1 1/2 hours south of Auckland...