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.