Wow That’s Big

By Richard Pederson


As they hopped off the bus you could tell they were thinking WOW, that’s big because they were all looking at the huge Waka from Orakei Marae. They were students from Ponsonby Intermediate.

They were Room seventeen and one.They were all happy to finally get to Orakei Marae. Ms Lawson told the students to sit down and eat. Soon Mr Wilson told them that it was time to get up.

A woman came and welcomed them. Soon another lady was doing a Maori welcome. They were soon in a big Marae. The Elder told stories to the students.

Then they got up once again and walked outside. They were told about the Waka (boat). One hundred and twenty people were needed to row, sixty on each side and an extra sixty in the middle. The students were shown the tree from One Tree Hill that was going to be carved and given to another Iwi.

The students headed back to school on the bus.