Roto Vegas

“Ready Reka?!?” My Mum called out. “Ready.” I replied, dragging my heavy luggage in to the Toyota. It felt as if I was heaving Jupiter! “I hope I’ve packed enough clothes.” I said looking thoughtfully at the bulging bag. “Enough clothes? You have enough clothes to share with the entire ULearn Conference crowd!!.” My mum laughed back.

You see, on Tuesday the 18th* of October, most, if not all teachers over New Zealand, gathered to attend the annual 4 day ULearn Conference. Each time the conference is at a different venue, and a different city. This year it was held in Rotorua. In addition to this I tagged along with my mother (Mrs Tele’a - The ICT teacher.) and had an awesome time in Roto Vegas (as it’s known to most).

To start the journey, we took an InterCity Bus, making one stop in Hamilton on the way. It was a long trip there, but the scenery made it all worth the wait. We passed miles of beautiful flora and fauna. I sighed, the journey to Rotorua truly does has lovely greenery. I dozed off half way and woke up when we were just about to enter Roto Vegas. Steam cascaded all over the place, obstructing my view from the bus window. And for a second, I thought I smelt boiled eggs.

I smelt right. Hopping off the bus, the aroma of hot water and boiling eggs filled my nose. “Smells like dinner.” I giggled to my self. We both started tracking down our luggage. It was like finding a needle in a haystack. My mother and I were trapped in a crowd of people hugging, crying, and people boiling eggs. (Just kidding. No one was crying.) Once we had found our bags, I spotted my Aunty Neta with my two cousins, 7 year old Sharon and 2 year old Antonio. After we dropped off my mother, we arrived at their humongous house, and called it a night.

The next day I awoke from my slumber, to what I thought was the sound of my little brother Justus’ voice. And yet, it was Antonio singing. Once we were all dressed and fed, we decided to head off to the Rotorua Museum, (which is also well known as “The Bath House.”) Yes, I said The Bath House. (Well typed anyway.)

We saw all types of cool things and facts there. For example, a little cinema, showed a movie about the explosion of Mt Tarawera. Lucky for me, we learnt all about the eruption last year in extension. It was really fascinating.

After an educational packed day, we relaxed in one one of the egg smelling, hot pools. Our camera lense was always blurry, because of the immense amount of steam. Sharon and I swam silently through the warm boiling waters, giggling whenever we bumped in to each other. Who knew natural water was so beautiful! I mean it was was already nice, but despite the egg smell, Rotorua’s water was sooo relaxing!!

As soon as we had woken from the night of relaxation, my aunty drove us up to Auckland to pick up her daughter Tessa. Tessa is very tall and slim, and has short smooth hair that’s always held back in a high ponytail. I hadn’t seen my cousin in ages!! I’d always been taller than her. Australia must have given her a growth spurt! She came back tanned, and even taller. We caught up with each other on the long drive home. I managed to fall asleep in the car.


Waking up to a bright, egg-smelling, sunny day, I frowned. Much to my disappointment, this was my final day in Rotorua. To cheer me up, my Aunty Neta took us girls to the Gondola. If you’re sitting there wondering “Gonda what??” Then let me explain. It is partly similar to what a cable car is. The view was amazing. We even went over a herd of cows! When we arrived at the top of the mountain, I saw loads of fun things to do. The Luge was probably the best thing there. You had to ride down in go kart things and then you took the Gondola back up. But we didn't have enough time to do the Luge though.

Sadly, my day of fun in Roto Vegas had come to an end. It was time for my mother and I to leave. At the bus station, we kissed goodbye and hopped on to a double decker bus. I looked outside and saw my family waving, I waved before the bus left. I had already missed Rotorua by the time we were in Mata Mata. Surprisingly, I was sad to leave that boiled egg smell behind.

Neptune

As you all know it is now a new term. We also have a new topic.  This term we are focusing about things "Outta this world!" In particular, planets and space.  The planet that I am most curious about is Neptune and Jupiter.  I have come up with  questions about Neptune and researched to find the answers.  The picture above is the final result of my findings.  Thank you!

Character Description

 In writing, we are learning about character description.  I chose my little, 5 year old brother, Justus.

I was 5 years old when I first saw my little brother.  He was pink and rather small. But it’s a whole different story now.  

He has a tone of a light tan brown. Coal black, shiny, hair. And he has chubby cheeks and deep dimples to match.  Some how he manages to wear his dirty chucks almost everywhere. I’m surprised he doesn’t wear them to sleep!  He has dark long eyelashes that flutter whenever he talks in his squeaky high voice.

He tends to always be making noise or be eating something cheesy.  His heart is full of laughs and smiles.  We manage to find him stuck in a tree or something, on one of his ‘adventures’.  I guess that’s why he’s always tired.

Thankfully, his little adventures keep him amused.  But sometimes they lead to trouble. Like the one time he pretended that the hose was a snake.  Whenever he turned it on he said the water was it’s tongue.  The hose sprayed the whole deck.  The deck, which had all of our washing.

He enjoys playing a mini game of league in the living room with my elder brother. And they’re bound to end up laughing or crying.  It might seem annoying, but you kind of get used to it though.

Now he’s at school, and he’s more energetic than ever.  He has heaps of friends, which he plays with all the time.  He’s still cheeky though.  It always makes me laugh when I think back to how he was small and quite.  Although he can be bothering, I still love him.