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!

Stars of the Caves

By Mary

A few weeks ago in Waitomo we went to glow worm caves. Most of it was a tour into a dripping limestone cave and then a quiet boat ride to see the worms. If you got a drip of water on your head, it's good luck. Water dripped on me two times.
Glow worms are a larva of an insect called gnats. Glow worms also go fishing like us, except they hang from the roof of the cave and create a line of sticky mucous to catch insects.

Yesterday we went to the Abby Caves near Whangeri. We hiked to the caves but this time there were no tour guides, stairs or lights. I climbed down into two very steep, slippery caves. We used flashlights but turned them off when we were inside. We couldn't see anything until our eyes got used to the dark. It was creepy.
The first cave I went in didn't have a lot of glows in it. It only had two that we could see. There was running water at the bottom of the cave, so we had to step on wobbly rocks.
When we went to the other cave, there were millions of them! Eric and I touched a net of sticky mucous and saw glow worms.
We turned around for one last glimpse of the sparkling stars of the cave.

Snorkeling in the Deep Blue Sea

By Hannah

We snorkeled at Poor Knights Islands, a famous marine reserve where fish and birds are protected. Our boat left Tutukaka harbour at 8:30am and headed to the islands to anchor.

At first we thought the area was jellyfish infested because there were jellyfish-like sea creatures in the water, but later the skipper explained that they were called salps and were completely harmless. But when snorkeling, it was uncomfortable to feel gooey, slimy salps slide onto your hands, head, neck and parts of your face. I was a bit nervous at first and it took some coaxing to get me in. When I first entered the water it was freezing, but soon the wetsuit helped keep me warm.

While under water we saw many fish. It was really amazing. We also went into the biggest sea cave in the world. We ended the day with a bowl of chili. What a great day!

By Eric

Yesterday was Wamo! I went snorkeling on a wavy boat. I saw fish and giant sea urchins and the biggest snapper ever! I also saw some Jelly-like thing called a “Salp” At first it was so scary under water. The salps looked like Jelly fish. Then Dad told me to pretend it's snowing. It worked, but what really scared me was when I looked down (about 10 metres) and they were everywhere!

Another kind of salp looked like a ribbon that lit up.

It was fun.

By Mary

Snorkeling on the ocean was exciting. We had to go on a 45 minute boat ride to an island. But, you could NOT go on the land because in the 1800s there was a terrible Moari battle and it left a sad and special feeling (Tapu). After the battle everyone left it was made into a nature reserve where no one can go fishing. If you go on the island, you will get a big fine ($250,000). We had to stay on the boat or in the water.

The ride out was super bumpy, but it was calm when we got there. I found the water freezing. We saw a lot of, and I mean over 2000, white, see-through salps that floated just like jelly fish without tentacles. They did not sting and you could pick them up. They felt like jello. We also saw snappers, black angel fish, and sea urchins. I would do it again anytime!

Long Line Fishing

By Hannah

I thought I knew something about fishing. I've caught a lot of fish and I've seen fishing boats, fishing derby's and even ice fishing, but today I tried a whole new kind of fishing. It was called Long Line fishing. Long line fishing is a type of fishing using a very long line that can go out more than 1 kilometer from the beach. About 25 short fishing lines with hooks and bait are attached onto the long line. Then it is sent out to sea.

There are two different kinds of long line fishing. The old fashioned technique involves going out with a row boat about one kilometer to drop the line. The fisherman returns to the land, waits about an hour then pulls the line back in toward shore using a large spool.

The modern technique is when the long line is sent out with a torpedo. A torpedo has a little battery in it and a small propeller. It is sent out for about an hour and it travels for 1 km and sits there with a little red flag on it so you can see it.

When you are long line fishing you can have up to 25 hooks. We were invited to long line fish with a couple at our campground. They were using the modern technique and aiming for snapper, gurnard, and sand sharks. The first day they caught two sand sharks and a gurnard. We let the sharks go because they said that they didn't know how to skin them properly and they had never tried it. (Eric and my dad are shown here releasing the sharks) They skinned the gurnard (the orange fish in photo) and as a surprise gave it to us to eat. We all had some including `Mary the picky'. It was delicious!

Long line fishing is definitely something I would do again.