Thursday 13th of June was one of the best days we have had all year!. The Year 5 (and Year 6 students from Te Ngahere) students all walked down to the Paihia Wharf at 8:30am to catch an Explorer boat out to Urupukapuka Island. We were part of the Floating Classroom initiative run by Project Island Song.
Everyone was excited as we raced along the water over to the island, stopping to spot some penguins and shearwaters along the way. When we arrived at the island we had to cross a heli pad on the water to get to another boat which dropped us at the floating pontoon pathway to shore.
We got split into groups and set about our activities. While one group went hiking across the island to plant trees, the other group made traps for any incursions on the island and a weta house before they set off to find some native fauna.
The first activity we did was making the traps. We split into groups and were given the materials to start building. After looking at the examples of finished traps, we set about using teamwork to get the traps made so they can keep the birds safe on the island. One group also made a weta house to give weta a place to hide out safely.
Our next activity was planting trees. We walked over the hill to Cable Bay and found some nice spots to plant our trees in groups. Once we had done that we went back over the hill to grab our stuff to head back.
On the way home we had a few guest captains that managed to drive us safely across the sea. After a wonderful trip we were all tired and ready to head home! A huge thanks to Ria and Deb for taking us around, our wonderful parent helpers and everyone else who lent a hand to make it such an awesome day!