Earlier this term the Year 6 children (Rangi Team) had a previsit with Robyn and Charlie who are educators from Rotoroa Island. In week 6, Room 17 went on to the island on Monday and Rooms 18, 19 and 20 went on Tuesday. We had to be at school by 7am and were on the bus at 7.10am heading towards Auckland City wharf terminal. Part of our learning was around biosecurity and how to keep our natural reserves like Rotoroa Island safe. Everyone had to clean our shoes and Rosie the biosecurity dog came to check that there were no pests or insects in our bags.
The ferry trip took an hour and a half and we got to observe lots of surrounding islands on the way. Once there Robyn and her team divided us up into groups and off we went. We all got to see and experience the same parts of the island, just at different times. We saw parts of the old township that used to occupy the island. Rotoroa Island is owned by the Salvation Army and a long time ago it used to be a rehabilitation centre for people that were addicted to drugs and alcohol.
During the tour we got to see lots of native birds around. A rarity was a sighting of the Takahe. We also walked past a wetlands and a Pāteke (brown teal duck) swam across the pond. These were both special occasions because it doesn’t happen often. We walked up a hill and from the top we could see Waiheke Island and even the Coromandel in the distance.
All classes met up on the beach called Ladies Bay for lunch. From their we split off into groups and the activities were: exploring and looking closely at all living things on the rocks, using magnifying glasses to look closely at bugs in the bush and on the shoreline and the last task was drawing on the sand.
Rotoroa Island is a beautiful place and our children were very lucky to have gone there. Check out some of our videos below: