Earthquakes Galore

By Eric

I've learned that here in Christchurch there were 18 earthquakes on December 26. We were driving through the city just after one and we heard sirens and alarms everywhere! We didn't feel it because we were in the car.

In New Zealand there are about 14,000 earthquakes a year!!! Earthquakes are caused by plates in the earth that shift. New Zealand is on the crack of 2 plates and this is called the Ring of Fire. In September there was a BIG one (7.1 on the Richter Scale) and there are still roads blocked off, broken glass on buildings, and big holes in houses!!! No one died because the houses are strong, but in Haiti lots of people died because their houses aren't strong enough. That is sad.

If there is an earthquake we will hide under the kitchen table or a door frame.

I'm glad there are no big earthquakes in Canada.

Swimming with Dolphins

By Mary

We went swimming with DOLPHINS- not just any dolphins but the rarest, smallest and friendliest dolphins in the world. Hector's Dolphins are black and grey, have a rounded dorsal fin and can grow to 1 metre long. The Hector's dolphin is only found in New Zealand.
We dressed in long wetsuits and special waterproof shoes to keep us warm in the ocean. The boat took us around the island to look for dolphins. On the way there we saw some wild little Blue Penguins, an Albatross (like a giant seagull) and lots of red krill. Luckily we spotted some dolphins and we all slid into the water. Our guide told us not to jump or splash because it will scare away the dolphins. It was cold at first but it got warmer once we were in. We could not touch the bottom.
We attracted the dolphins to us by singing to them in our snorkel, clacking stones under water, and other crazy actions (It's a good thing we'll never see the other people again). Of course our singing sounded bad, but the dolphins seemed to like it. They started to swim near us! A tour boat came by and the dolphins were jumping wildly in front of it. We started singing louder and the dolphins swam over to play, jump and swim with us. We climbed back into the boat to find another spot. We spotted a mommy and baby dolphin swimming side by side. We hopped into the ocean and the two came very close to me. Three more dolphins joined us (the ones in the video). We weren't allowed to touch the dolphins because their skin is like the thin skin under your eye and it hurts the dolphin. We climbed back into the boat and enjoyed some cookies and hot chocolate before heading back to shore.

Realistic Sculptures

By Hannah

In Christchurch we visited an art gallery displaying work by a sculptor named Ron Mueck. Ron worked on the Muppets and Fraggle Rock. He also worked in London making models for film, television, and advertising. Later he made a sculpture he called Dead Dad. It is one metre tall and was a big hit. We saw this sculpture with many others such as Mask ,which is a giant sleeping head of himself, a 2.5 metre naked pregnant woman, a wild 3 metre tall hairy man, two old ladies, a woman in bed (see photo) and much others. My favourite is the newborn baby girl because it is very realistic. The skin, hair, posture and colour is very realistic in all of his sculptures. There are no life size sculptures because Ron Mueck feels they are quite boring because every day you see regular sized people. He wanted to make something different. Ron's sculptors are made from polyester resin, fiberglass, silicone, aluminium, and synthetic hair.

Ron Mueck's sculptures were amazing and truly one of a kind.

The Hardest Pancakes

By Hannah

Normally it takes just minutes to make a batch of pancakes, but in Paparoa National Park, it takes millions of years. These pancakes aren't just any pancakes, they are "rock hard" pancakes because they are made of rock.
Over the years erosion, rainwater and seawater have formed the limestone into layered rocks resembling a giant stack of pancakes. The force of water has also created blowholes in some of these rocks.
Being at the rocks was amazing. Giant waves would crash up against them making roaring sounds and sometimes leaving us wet from their spray. Occasionally the waves would build up and then boom out of a blowhole.

Punakaiki Rocks was a great day, but Mary and Eric were a bit disappointed because my dad said they could eat as many pancakes as they could get.
What an amazing adventure!

One Winter Day

By Mary

We had our winter yesterday at the International Antarctic Centre that demonstrates Antarctica. One room was a SNOW STORM room and we even had to
wear a coat and rubber shoes to keep us from freezing. Inside the room there was real snow and ice! There was also a real Igloo and ice slide. All of a sudden a strong and very cold wind blew and it was freezing! We watched the thermometer's temperature drop to -8 Celsius. It lasted 10 minutes and we shivered. I was glad when it was over.

There was a room full of Blue Penguins with three viewing areas that you could see penguins. One was under water and the other two were at the sides. All of the penguins were rescued and many were blind or injured. The penguin with pink booties (in the picture) has infected feet. Tags around their wings shows which penguin is which. They had names like Elvis, Bagpipes, and Pengu, We watched them getting fed from under water. It was amazing because the penguins would come swooping down for the fish.
Next we rode in an antarctic vehicle called a Hagglund. We sat in the front and the driver went super fast up and down steep hills. One hill ended up in a gigantic one meter deep puddle. The driver told us we that the Hagglund would float but it started to leak. After a moment he quickly drove right out. He said that when he gets bored, he goes much faster. (I think he was bored). My mom was screaming the whole ride.

It's a good thing that winter is over and now I can jump in the pool again.

Gold, Gold, Gold!

By Eric

A few days ago we went panning for gold in a river. We had to scoop up dirt in the river that comes from the mountains.

First we swished it around the pan and picked the stones out. Then we looked for shiny gold. Easy as that! But we only found about 30 little pieces. A few days later in a museum I found out that 1 ounce of pure gold (the size of a ring) can be stretched out with a hammer to cover ten acres! That's a lot! I wonder how it could do that?

A Walk on a Glacier

By Mary

Today we climbed a GLACIER! We hiked a long way over a mountain to reach the Fox Glacier. We stopped to rest at a stream of icy cold water. We scooped the delicious water with our hands. It was good but very cold. On the glacier you could still wear a t-shirt and shorts. We wore special shoes with crampons. They had weird pointy, sharp metal spikes to grab onto the ice so we wouldn't slip and fall. We also had poles.
Our guide had a pick axe to chop the ice to make it easier to walk on. The glacier was moving along each day because snow falls at the top and melts at the bottom which makes the delicious water.

Sometimes I felt very nervous that I would fall down a never- ending crack, which were all over the glacier!

Our Week on the South Island

By Hannah

We are now on the South Island of New Zealand. We arrived by ferry to Picton and travelled eventually to Nelson. There we stayed in a cute little hotel and went for a swim down at the ocean. The tide was out but on the beach there was a big old saltwater pool. At first I didn't want to go in it, but eventually I did and it was nice. That night we went to the Santa Claus parade. It was weird because there was no snow and there were mermaids on many of the floats.
The next morning we hiked into Abel Tasman National Park, named after a Dutch explorer who discovered New Zealand in 1642. The hikes at the park were amazing! They would lead to beautiful beaches where the sand was so white and the water was so blue. At times it almost looked fake.
After a night staying in an old coal miner's cottage (bach) we arrived at Farewell Spit, the most northern land of the North Island. We hiked to the beach where the sand was blowing so hard it stung our faces and legs. At the beach we saw four or five seals. The first one was very fat and sleeping in a cave on the beach. Here are two photos of the same place from different views in Abel Tasman National Park.

Travel by Train

By Eric

We took a train across the North Island for the whole day! (12 hours). There was a place on the train where you could go outside and an observatory at the back. When I was outside I felt like a hobo.

We stopped at National Park for a lunch break and the engine was switched from deisel to electric because the electric engine is more powerful. All of a sudden the engineer asked me if I wanted to go in the engine. There was no steering wheel, just some levers. If the driver takes his hands off the lever for 50 seconds a light will shine in his face (in case he is asleep.) If he doesn't put his hands on the lever in 50 seconds, an alarm will blast. If he still doesn't put his hands on the controls, the train will stop.

I wonder how the driver goes to the washroom?

Watercolours on Waiheke

By Hannah

We've been on Waiheke Island for two weeks now and have learned that many artists come to Waiheke for the beautiful scenery. So we decided maybe it would be fun to take water colour lessons. We found the perfect teacher at Bluefish Studio because she does watercolours and sketching. We met for our first lesson on the beach. It was the perfect place for painting with all of the wonderful hills, valleys, aqua coloured water and dark blue sky. We all painted and did a spectacular job (for beginners) and most of us were happy with our creations.
Our other site for a lesson was on a hiking trail where the cliff overlooked the water and a volcano! Mary and I got a shading lesson and then I went to an art gallery with Jennifer to see landscapes by Stephen Clark. It was amazing! I have learned how to do washes, layer colours and that “purple is the new black”.
We are hoping to fit in a few more lessons with Jennifer before we leave and if we can't, it has been a wonderful time with her.
Here are some of our paintings. Can you guess whose is whose?

Never Ending Tunnels

By Eric

Today on Waiheke Island we went to Fort Stony Batter that was built during World War ll. I learned that New Zealand was afraid that the German or Japanese army might attack them so they were going to build 3 HUGE guns! But they ran out of money. In 1941 the USA gave more money to finish the fort (only 2 guns were finally built)!

Tunnels were built for the soldiers to get to the huge guns. We went into a tunnel that was 20 metres below the ground. It took an hour to go through one kilometre of dark tunnels, chambers and long, long staircases. There was no electricity and we used flashlights to see where we were going. It was sometimes frightening because we were so deep in the tunnels that we felt we couldn't get out.

I felt like Indiana Jones. Plus there was even a cave that was named The Indiana Jones Cave because it was caved in. This day was a-MAZE-ing!