Quote of the week

Sorry I haven't been putting quotes up every week,but it has been a busy time. This quote caught my eye because it just reminded me not to give up and get downhearted about your efort.

Mt Oxford

"So we can't have far to go"stated Brooklyn confidently.

Brooklyn,her Dad(Greg),my Mum and I were climbing Mt Oxford for the William Pike challenge. We had been going for around 1 hour-40mins and it had been easy going except for the odd steep climb that lasted for a maximum of 5mins. Somehow I doubted Brooklyn's comment because according to people it is the hardest Mountain in our district.

I looked at the map and tried to interpret how far it would be to the top. It didn't look that far(it was) and I began to doubt myself,but I didn't have much time to ponder my thoughts as we were off at Brooklyn's ridiculously fast pace. We Greg talked most of the way until.............................................

WE GOT TO A REALLY,REALLY STEEP PART. I mean it.

It was the kind of steep that made you feel like you were going to fall off the mountain and plummet down to your death,but at that point I didn't really care if I fell of the mountain(in fact I would rather fall of the mountain instead of tackling this any more). We continued on and on in an eerie silence(except for all the huffing and puffing). The ground was covered with rocks and roots(slippery) so we had to choose our footing carefully. At points the bush looked like it was thinning and you thought that you were reaching the end of this treacherous climb,but no,we just kept going and going.

Then,something amazing happened. WE REACHED THE TOP(of the climb).

We were totally exhausted,so we stopped for a very long break. We were out in the open and we just had to get to the summit. We set off and then out of the mist mum pointed out the top and........it was a very,very long and steep way away. After a very,very long time we got to the last climb.

We started already exhausted and puffing. Just as you thought that it might be the top there was another steep climb and it just went on and on. Then I heard a whoop(from Brooklyn) I practically ran to the top. I could not believe that I had actually made it to the top.

After some food we started the fall walk down. I slipped a couple (a couple means 100) of times because it was really hard to get good footing. Somehow going down seemed to whiz by and it wasn't soon before we were sprinting walking causally to the car.

My advice for this walk is to:

Don't do it,okay,okay I will have to think of something really smart and brainy.

DO NOT GIVE UP

Brooklyn and I at the start

Climbing up one of the easiest hill

Statue of Liberty's on the top Mt Oxford

Still got heaps of energy(not) at the top

Our wind shelter on the summit

Trying to take a photo,but Brooklyn and I just can't stop laughing

Rakahuri Rage

Well Brooklyn and I did it and I would like to say we did it in style,but I highly doubt that.

It was starting out to be a very,very hot day and we were going to do a six hour bike ride. Brooklyn and I were in a team of two for the race and I have a slight suspect that lots of people thought that we couldn't do it. After a quite long and boring race briefing everyone that was starting first went to the starting line and I am sad to say that was me. I wouldn't of minded starting,but the people that started first had to do an extra 2.5 kilometres to even it out. I was beside Rhianna and Mr Read for the start and I have to say that Rhianna nearly started dominos with the riders because somehow she managed to topple over at a stand still. Luckily I managed to stop myself before I smashed into Mr Read. After a very long anxious wait,we started.

Starting was one of the hardest bits because everyone was so close to each other and everyone was so slow. We went up not the stop bank and I was trying to keep a steady pace. After what seemed like a click of a finger we were on to the single track, my favourite!!! I was really enjoying the single track and then the rest of the track seemed to be a breeze. Soon I was finishing my lap in a pretty good time,tagging Brooklyn and resting. After I had eaten and drunk heaps it wasn't very long before Brooklyn was back,narrowly missing my bike because she was going so fast and tagging me.

The second lap was better than the first,but I really had to push at the last part because I was so tired. One of the best parts would have to be the R&R at the end of the lap. I grabbed a chocolate biscuit and a roll. I started to eat my roll first,but I had to scratch that idea because the biscuit was melting like the chocolate palace in Charlie And The Chocolate Factory. I had so much chocolate on my hands that it looked like I had finaly got a tan,but sadly it wasn't to last. I was given a baby wipe and it was wiped of my hands in a hurry because someone had spotted Brooklyn.

And soon I was of on another lap. Now I better explain the track so you can get a good picture in
your head. First you had to go along a grass track. The grass was around about one inch long and I know it may not sound hard,but there you are wrong. It was like the grass didn't want you to move
and it stuck to tyres making it impossible to move fast. Then you went on to the stop-bank and down onto the single track. The single track was by far the best because:
1.It weaved around in tight corners making it more interesting
2.It had lots of humps and bumps. My favourite would have to be the three judder bars.
3.IT WAS IN THE SHADE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The single track lasted till around the half way mark. The rest was not very exciting,except for the biggest hill were you had to go down and thankfully not up. The last part was coming of the stop-bank and onto the grass that clung to your wheels. So that was the whole track and it probably sounded short,but it was around 8 killometres long.

The rest of the laps went well,but I was definatly tiring. I managed to do good times for all of my laps considering the searing heat. On my last lap I must of got an extra boost of energy because I did one of my fastest times. I ended up doing six laps in total which I am very proud of.

About a day after the Rage someone came to me with the question of, "Will you do it again in a two and why did you do it in a two when you could of had faster times?". I have been pondering on this question for a while now and I finally have an answer. "Of corse I would do it again in a two because I enjoyed it, I not only enjoyed the biking, I also enjoyed the sense of achievement at the end". This was the best thing I have done in a while,so expect me next time.

Waiata

In the morning we do a song. This is a song we have been getting good at:

NZ Readaloud

Our task for this week was to come up with a rhetorical question based on the book. We looked at advertising on the web to come up with ideas. Here is mine:

Mass

For maths we are doing measurement. Haylley and I made a pic collage estimating the mass of objects. Then we worked out the mass of the objects that we could work out.

Treaty of Waitangi

This year of corse we had to cover the very important topic of "The Treaty Of Waitangi". I wasn't very excited about this because we do it every year and it gets a bit boring,but this year was probably the best yet. Our project was to find a topic that you were interested in and after some research create some hexagons on your topic. The best thing about the hexagons is that they were small so you didn't have to have lots of writing, but you could have as many hexagons as you wanted so you could write heaps of information if you wanted. I wasn't sure on what topic I would cover so Mrs Hanna helped me out by giving me a book that is written for kids on the Treaty of Waitangi. After reading a few chapters I decided to cover Abel Tasmen and his adventures to New Zealand. I am proud of both my hexagons,but the one I am most proud of is the second one because I put some illustrations in(drawing is not one of my strong points).