Noho Marae

NOHO MARAE

A few weeks ago room 1 and 8 went the the Arahura Marae.
We had a few parents come with us. The parents and teachers
that stayed the night were, Matt, Mrs Kemp and Mrs Glue and
Kelly. Other parents and Teachers like, Clark, Steph, Phae, Alana
and Miss Ireland came as well. We are very lucky that they came
because we would not have been able to go if they had not come.

When we arrived at the Marae we got welcomed on with the
Powhiri. Once the Powhiri was over we took our shoes off
and went into the Marae for the speeches.
When the speeches were over we went into the wharae kai
(dining room) for some morning tea, we had some savory
pies and some red velvet cake. Next we went back into the
wharenui (meeting house) to share our mihi’s which took a
long time. After  we had shared our mihi’s we went down to the
arahura river to try and find some Greenstone. While we were
down there 2-5 people found some greenstone. We also went
down to the beach to make sculptures of things from the story
pountini and waitaiki. I was in a group with Dakota, Sasha and
Rebekah we made a small waka (boat) that all of us could just fit
in. Once we had judged the sculptures we walked back to the
Marae and had some afternoon tea.

Later in the evening we had dinner which was chicken
with salad and potatoes and bread. For dessert we
had more red velvet cake and pavlova. When we finished
dinner and desert we went outside and did some activities.
I did weaving for  45 minutes and then I played Ki-O-Rahi for
another 45 minutes. While we were playing Ki-O-Rahi it got
really dark so we couldn’t see the ball so we went inside for the
last 5 minutes. Then we went and sat outside around the fire
and had s'mores while we were having s'mores we sung some
waiata (songs) like Pukanakana and Karoro e. Then we went to
bed at 10pm. The next day we got up and had breakfast at 8am.
Then we packed up and left to go and do the  Mananui Tramline
walk. That took two hours, along the way we had a checklist with
some plants that we had to find. Then once we finished the walk
we went back to school just in time for lunch.

We went to Arahura Marae on the West Coast of New Zealand.
Arahura Marae is very close to the Arahura river.
The people that are the tangata whenua of the marae own
the river. The Arahura Marae is close to the Tasman sea as well.

We went to the Marae on Wednesday the fifth of March 2019
staying overnight. The season was Autumn.  

This experience worked because we had so many adults
helping us. For making the sand boat we used sand, grass
and rocks. We had a wonderful cook making the meals for us.
She must have been working so hard! When we went looking
for greenstone a man from the marae came with us and showed
us what the greenstone looked like. He was really helpful.
He knows what greenstone looks like because he has seen
it so many times in his life and he has probably been taught
how to recognise it.

• By Mackenzie & Dakota.