Clearing and planting at Mt Pirongia

On the 18th October 2013, room7 hadaclass trip to the Pirongia Forest Park Lodge. We all met at the school at 9:00 sharp and waited for Mr Marquand to put us into car groups. When we got to the lodge we unpacked the car and placed the plants beside the lodge and waited. While we waited we talked to Kate and put on sunblock. When Pirongia School turned up we had a talk with Kate and disccussed our plan. We planned on clearingand planting over 100 trees around the outdoor classroom so it will be surrounded by native plants so kids can learn about nature and the wildlife of Mt Pirongia. We all walked down the grassy slopes, carrying plants untill we finally reached the classroom. We placed our plants down and admired the wooden benches, bridge, stage and gravel floor and of corse it had no roof. Us boys then sprinted back up to the lodge and got more plants. we repeated that proccess untill there were no more plants left. Finally we sat down on the grass slope by the entry of the classroom to watch Kate plant a plant so we all no how to. It looked pretty simple but it was quite challenging. The hardest part was digging the hole. I worked with Charlie for a start chopping up sticks and then I worked with James and Lars. Then we helped out some Pirongia girls with clearing branches and there I planted more flax. Finally It was morning tea time. We all ran up the steep slopes to the lodge to find what food was waiting for us. SURPRISE SURPRISE!!! cordial, sausage rolls and bickies. After that feast us boys hung out on the trampoline and on the hills. Our combined classes then began the walk down to the classroom to continue the clearing and planting. Then us bros found a knew tactic to roam free continuously stopping at each station in a working cycle. We ended up changing quite a bit of countryside by the classroom and planting lots of teatrees. It was hard work and the sun was beating down on us but our trusty Te Pahu School hats sheilded the sun lol. finally there were no more plants to be planted and our watches said around 12:00 so we called it quits. again we headed back up to the lodge all stinky and sweaty. We then ate our lunch and bounced on the tramp. After the long day we said goodbye to Kate and the Pirongia kids and wizzed back down to Te Pahu School to carry on with our school work.