My Holiday Recount.

It all happened so fast. On moment I was walking over to the couch to chill and watch tv like any civilized person would, and the next I was desperately trying to cover up the scene.

It all started at dinner. The smell of curry was wafting throught the house, making my stomach rumble loud enough to sound like a possible earthquake.

“Dinner’s ready!” My dad yells, poking his head out of the kitchen.

I harnessed my inner Flash and sped into the kitchen faster than I knew I could run. I ate the food before it came into my grasp and regretted it instantly. My throat was burning from the spice and temperature, so I grabbed my water bottle and filled it with water. Then disaster was waiting to strike. My younger sister asked if she could drink some, so of course, I let her have some. If I could’ve stopped it there and then, I would’ve. Completely oblivious, I cleaned up the kitchen and grabbed the bottle and walked over to the couch. Time. Slowed. Down. The lid of my bottle flew off my bottle and into my sister’s piles of toys and clothes, disappearing possibly forever. The other part of my bottle flew over to the couch and all the water escaped out of the bottle, splashing onto the couch and spreading everywhere. On the blankets, under the couch pillows, staining the leather and ruining the whole thing.

I stood completely still, feet frozen, as I watched in horror.

The Oruaiti Chapel

W. A. L. about the Oruaiti Chapel

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Thursday 22nd May

This morning, Thea, Molly, Nixyn and I were all reading in Kowhai class. When we came in and Nixyn saw us he was beaming and he ran over to us. When he came over to us, he was holding his book bag and grabbed out a book. It was called In the Din. When he opened the book he spped through it without hesitation. Whaea Serenity told us to help our teina spell the words out as they read it, but Nixyn didn’t need any help at all. We finished fairly early, so we had to read another book (That he finished straight away). After everyone was done reading, we went to the library to borrow a book for the class. We walked into the room and borrowed a book called Nanna’s with Manners. When we put it away, we were told to line up outside because there was an obstacle course in the hall. Nixyn boosted out the door and was getting ready to race me. When the teachers said we could go, he started running and he beat me to the blue mat inside. When we were ready and quiet, the teacher explained the rules. We lined up and did the course. After that, we did the egg and spoon race. I love Tuakana Teina and my teina was amazing as well as everyone else’s.

Thursday 6th of March 2025

Today our class was told to be a Tuakana for the Teina in the new enterance class Kowhai. We grabbed cones and skipping ropes because we were going to have relays and skipping lessons. We walked to the top court and got put into groups. My Teina was Nixyn and the people that helped me were Thea and Breeze. Then Thea had to leave and Bryce replaced her and we taught him how to kangaroo hop and throw the rope over him. Eventually we had to stop and do relays. We set up the cones and lined up in our groups. Then we had to run, hop and side step to get to the other side. My favourite one was when we had to hold on to each others shoulders and come back for the next person. When it was time for Nixyn and I to go, we accidently let go and didn’t end up getting there properly. When we thought our group won, it had turned out that we hadn’t and we needed to do one more lap. (We didn’t end up doing it though)

Today was our first day of Tuakana Teina and I think that all the little kids had a fun time as well as the Tuakana.

                                Swimming Sports

Yesterday was the 🏫 🏊 sports competition. It started at 9:30 o’⏰ and it was 🥶 outside. My class was waiting for the 🚌 to arrive so we could do the role and get changed into our 👙. Since the year 8 and 7’s were first, we didn’t have ⏲ 2 do Wa Whanau. After the 🚌 arrived, the year 8💃 had to hurry to get changed. 

The 👪 of 💃💃 that I was in were first up in line to 🏊 and we were a mix of 😬 and 🥶. The first stroke was freestyle, which was a 😮‍💨 👍because I was pretty 👍 at freestyle. 

I was chosen 🏊 to first in the pool so I put my swimming 🧢 on and stood beside the pool. The 🧑‍🏫 (Mrs Bates) 🟦 the whistle which signified that we had to 🧍up on the pool’s edge. She counted ⬇ from three and then clapped to start. I came first in the race and I felt so proud of myself.

Trapped

Trapped. Approximately 5 minutes and 32 seconds away from the chain snapping and the cage dropping, sending me spiralling down to the deepest depths of the ocean. Somehow I’d gotten my foot stuck in a gap between one of the cage’s metal bars and now it was twisted in a way that made my blood run cold. Colder than it already was. It had been such a great day, even though it had started on a bit of a downer with my parents being against me going into the shark cage, even though all my friends had been in one and leaving me to feel really left out. 

Now looking back, I know I should have heeded their advice and listened to them when they said no. Yet in my true stubborn style, I went ahead anyway and brought down a whole heap of fish, despite my instructor specifically warning us to only take half.  The moment I dropped down into the cage, I could feel something was wrong and it seemed as if all the sharks surrounding me just froze, their terrifying noses pointing directly towards me. I could’ve easily mistaken their eyes for marbles- shiny, round and pitch black. They were looking at me as if I was their food, not the fish I held in my hand. 

It then took me 5 seconds too long to realise what happened. 

The sharks swam at me with impossible speed, vigorously slamming into the metal bars and thrashing with such force it squeezed the air out of my lungs. A piece of fish dropped onto my ankle and before I could blink, a shark appeared out of thin air (or rather thin water), latching onto my toes and dragging them down through the gap of the cage, leaving my foot stuck, mangled and broken. The pain was so intense it caused my vision to blur,  my eyes watering under the oxygen mask, and leaving me with an excruciating yet strangely numb sensation. Out of instinct, I threw the remainder of what fish I had as far as I could, which was a bad idea considering I was underwater. 

The sharks were like dogs and as soon as I “threw” it, they all turned around, then turned back at me, frothing with rage. I was stuck in what felt like a never ending shark frenzy. At that point, it dawned on me that the instructor had forgotten about me and there was no way to contact my parents or the boat’s captain. There was no emergency button and nothing to tug on to let them know I wanted out. I could feel my oxygen levels starting to plummet, and that’s when I started to hyperventilate, which made them sink even lower. And when I thought things couldn’t get any worse, through all the circling sharks, I thought I heard a muffled grinding sound. 

In my weakened state, I looked up at the chain attached to the boat and saw there was a shark gnawing at it.I froze and attempted to scare the shark off before it was too late, but I just couldn’t render the strength to make a noise through the mask. I couldn’t move either as I knew it would make my ankle draw blood like I’d never seen before and the sharks would devour me alive. I was helpless. They say your life flashes before your eyes, but I only recalled one moment. The moment before I went into the cage, where I had argued with my mum and dad, yelling at them they were being paranoid and that they should let me be. 

They stepped back in shock, turned and left me and I remember thinking, “Fine, good. Be angry at me.” I now wished with all my heart that I had run after them and apologised, but alas, it was too late. The chain now hung on by a thread and the sharks were relentless in their pursuit. I looked at the oxygen levels, 2 minutes and 7 seconds remaining. I triple checked the cage for any rusted or broken bars. There were none.

Then it clicked.

The instructor had told me that if I was in danger of any sort, (which I definitely was now) I could push against a bar and it would break. That’s why I couldn’t see any way to get out. She had told me why they made the bars look strong. So the sharks didn’t get confident, barge into the cage and destroy the person inside. I bent down to break the bar that my foot was stuck in and it broke free. It didn’t stop bleeding, but I refrained myself from screaming to save air. 

Instead, I bit my bottom lip so hard that it almost drew blood and I really had to try hard to stop myself from bleeding. I howled in pain, trying to swim with one foot, which was almost impossible, but I did it. I bent the bars wide enough to fit through and pulled myself up. I then used the cage to boost towards the surface, swimming like mad and half-watching as the chain snapped, sinking the cage to the bottom of the ocean and taking the fish with it, the sharks chasing it like a shadow.

50 seconds.

I panicked and saw a red flashing light on the top of the tank. That’s when I realised my foot was throbbing and it was turning an ugly purple. In that moment, the shark gnawing on the chain suddenly lost interest, its nose twitching and inhaling the blood draining from my foot. 

25 seconds.

The edge of the boat was two metres away, “I can make it!” I thought, if not for the bloodthirsty shark on my tail. I swam harder and faster than I ever had before, pushing through the agonising pain that was now spreading through my entire body. 

10 seconds. I was 30 centimetres away from the surface. 

9 seconds, 8. My hands broke the surface and my head was next, bursting out, feeling the fresh, salty air against my cheeks. 

I swam to the boat and shrieked for help numerous times, but no one answered. With all my strength, I managed to lift myself to safety onto the boat’s deck and lay myself flat on my stomach, the boat’s floor burning my face. Hearing the noise, the captain turned and saw my bloody body, speeding down toward where I lay. He hauled me further up onto the burning deck and flipped me over and I couldn’t believe it, I’d made it! The last thing I saw were my parents’ concerned faces, my mum bawling and my dad, trapping me in his hug. 

I wanted to tell him to let go because I was just trapped in the cage, but I didn’t have the energy and I passed out from exhaustion.

By Audrey Leatherby-Tipene

Friday, 25th of October, was four days until we got ready to head down to Tamaki Makaurau (Auckland) to catch the plane straight down to Otautahi (Christchurch). The next day was when everything went wrong, my little sister Maggie got gastro, and had started spewing. Then on Sunday my other sister got sick as well. Maggie had gotten better by then, but Moana still felt crook. Then on the last day Moana felt better and things were actually starting get better. (We thought)

On the day that we were supposed to be driving down, my mum got sick so we didn’t think we were going to make it. Originally, the time that we planned to wake up at was 5:00am, but we ended up waiting for a whole five hours. My mum was a soldier though, so she had a shower, got dressed and was ready to go. We made it down to the motel next to the airport, and that’s when I started to feel queasy. I usually get carsick, so I thought it was just that. Unfortunately, it wasn’t. I didn’t even make it halfway to our room when I started throwing up. The worst part was that I did it in the restaurant, while everyone was eating.  I ran to the bathroom as quick as I could, but I didn’t exactly make it.

I spent the whole night spewing, so I didn’t get any sleep. The next day came and I was feeling worse than ever. I decided to had a shower, but when I turned it on it was either scalding hot or freezing cold. So that didn’t help at all. I got out of the shower, shivering and all of my mucsles were aching. I could barely walk, but I pushed on, got in the car and we drove off. We got to the airport, and I felt a little bit better, the weird thing was I wasn’t hungry at all. When I don’t have a appetite, that’s when you know somehting is wrong with me. My sister had Dunk’n Donuts for breakfast, and I had the rest of my sister’s blackcurrent juice. we checked in and they checked our bags, jumpers and shoes. They had us walk through a decector and when I went through it flashed red because it thought I had something in my left foot. I didn’t though fortunatley. We got onto the plane, flew for about an hour and then we landed.

If you want to see photos, then click on this link.

My Christchurch trip photos

My Aunty Ange had gotten home the day before we left and she was so tired. We told her all about our last days there and how much fun it was. We went to the mall and got our ears pierced, my mum and went to the Warehouse to buy little things for my sisters and I, visited long lost family members, ate the best food, shopped at the markets, and more. We even thought about moving there for high school after my dad finishes his teaching studies, but that wouldn’t be for a while. She told us all about the job opportunities for my mum and dad and maybe one day for me. On the last day we all got up at 5:00, booked an Uber and said our goodbyes. We arrived at the airport, flew on the plane, got our car and drove all the way up back to our house.

Thursday 24th October, my class and I went on bus to Kaitaia to learn skills in the circus.

We got on the bus at approximatley 9:00 and sang the whole way. When we got there we had to wait for the other schools before we could start. I thought that there were only going to be a few schools coming, but there were way more than I thought there going to be.

I remember there being Taipa, KC, homeschoolers and a couple other that I didn’t know about. We spent the whole day learning things that people did at the circus. For example, there was diablo, which I didn’t have a go on, but it looked fun. Another one was silks, and I did have a go on this one. The instructor’s name was Sophie and she’d come from Wellington to teach us. When it was my turn to go on the silks, she told me to put it on like I would put on a backpack and then flip backwards, so then I’d be upside down. She took my legs and spun me around fast, so when my teacher (Whaea Sarah) took a photo of me I looked extremely unflattering.

The rest of the day was spent having fun with my friends and trying different things. After we ate, all of the schools were told to come together to play a game, then we had a skipping competition, but we weren’t told who won. (I believe that my school, Oruaiti, won. We had trained for it, so that may be why) At the end of it all, I almost missed the bus to go back to school, because I kind of forgot my shoes. I had to ask my teacher if I could go back to find it and thankfully, I did. We rode back and sung our hearts out and then went home.

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The Island

I had a longing to go to the sea today, I always had, but today was different.

8:22am 

It was a Saturday morning and I felt like I had only gotten 4 hours of sleep due to late night soccer practice. Unfortunately I was the only girl, so naturally I got treated like an outcast.

Beep Beep, Beep Beep! My alarm went off blaring in my ear, as I was just about to get up. As I was peeling my blanket off myself I felt a tingle on my foot, wait not a tingle, something was crawling on my foot. I lived in the South of Australia so the worst things came to mind, snakes, scorpions, spiders. 

A random thought came into my head and I had wondered why all the dangerous animals start with the letter ‘S’. I struggled to make out what it was because it felt wet but dry, soft but rugged, and I had been professionally trained by animal experts to know what to do when you’re in trouble with murderous critters, like the ones I kept thinking of. My hand was trembling and I broke a cold sweat.

 Suddenly, a rush of adrenaline went through me and I couldn’t take the suspense anymore, so I ripped off my blanket and…

Nothing. Nothing was on my foot, I hesitated, I was still in shock from what I’d thought would’ve just been a near death experience, but after a couple of seconds trying to reflect on what happened, I felt a wave of relief come over me and the colour returned to my blood drained face. I felt the urge to eat all of a sudden, so I crawled out of bed landing on the cold, hard floor. I trudged to the kitchen and I perched myself on the dining table like a sack of potatoes. 

“Morning, sunshine,” My dad beamed as he flipped our breakfast.“How’d you sleep last night, honey?” 

“Like a nanna” I lied, struggling not to mention what had just happened. 

A whiff of my dad’s famous blueberry pancakes entered my nose. After inhaling the world’s best pancakes, I struggled to say anything, but then I managed to spit out, “ Dad, c-can I go to mum’s grave?” I immediately regretted saying it, you see, my dad has trouble dealing with his emotions, so I never really mentioned anything about her. But to my surprise his answer was, “Ok, but you have to be back by 9:00, I have a work interview. ” 

“O-ok dad, will do” 

I got changed, still shocked by my dad’s reaction. Mum’s grave was on an island that she grew up on and ever since I could walk, I’ve been going with my mum and dad on the family kayak that was passed down from my 5th great grandma.  I strolled down to the jetty, set up the kayak and paddled off.