Day #4: Swimming with the Sharks

Day #4: Swimming with the Sharks

By the end of Day #3, you have seen a lot of the north island of New Zealand.  Hopefully you have enjoyed it and you’re excited for the next phase of your journey – the ferry trip across the Cook Strait from the bottom of the north island to the top of the south island. You will spend the next two days exploring the south island before you head back up to Auckland, via Wellington (the capital city of New Zealand).

http://www.fourcorners.co.nz/new-zealand/interisland-ferry/

Activity 1: When you arrive in the south island, Curious Kiwi rents a shuttle van and drives your group from Picton (the town where the ferry dropped you off) to a beautiful beach on the opposite side of the island. The beach area is called Golden Bay and, at one end of the bay, is a stunning area called Farewell Spit.

http://www.kiwidaydreaming.com/p/new-zealand-maps.html

Farewell Spit has been in the news recently as a number of whales accidentally swam into the spit and became stuck on the beach. They were unable to swim back to the ocean because the water was too shallow. Many local people tried to save the ‘beached’ whales. Please follow this Farewell Spit link to learn more about what happened. On your blog, describe what the local people did to try and save the beached whales.

The Local people try to save the whales by keeping them wet by throwing buckets of water, tipping water bottles ,filling little containers with water and using wet towels to keep them nice and wet.

Activity 2: After a morning of learning about beached whales in Golden Bay, you and your group are driven to a nearby town, Nelson, to watch a special movie called ‘Whale rider.’ It is a famous movie about a young girl who was born and raised in New Zealand. Watch the following movie trailers for Whale Rider: Whale Rider trailer #1 and Whale Rider Trailer #2 and then write a summary of the movie on your blog. What is it about? Be sure to also give the movie a rating out of 5 based on the trailer [1 = bad movie, 2 = okay movie, 3 = pretty good, 4 = good movie, 5 = excellent movie].

This short video I’ve watched is about a little girl challenging herself so she can become a Whale Rider. She wanted to be like the other chief back in the days, she wanted to become like the boys because she knows that the boy’s Maori tradition things is a bit harder than the Girls powhiri, so she ask her dad to train her to become a whale rider and her dad said yes

Few days later, she went to the beach and she found a whale stranded upon the shore just laying there, her and the family was so worried about the whale just lying there on the shore. She started to pray and sang, she was praying for the whale to be still alive. She ended up climbing on top of the whale and started to rub the whale, she waited and hoping the whale is still ok, after 12 seconds the whale was moving. It took her along the ocean and under the water.

http://www.incrementa.ca/leadership-succession-whale-rider/

When ‘Whale Rider’ finishes, you and your tour group enjoy a delicious meal in downtown Nelson before heading back to your hotel. You need to go to bed early because you have to get up at 4:30 a.m. the next morning to travel back to Farewell Spit to see a group (pod) of Hector’s Dolphins. It is going to be an early morning!

Bonus Activity: Hector’s dolphins are a very special native animal found only in New Zealand. They are the smallest dolphin in the world measuring 1.5 metres long and they are quite rare. Sadly, many Hector’s dolphins are killed every year when they get caught in large fishing nets and can’t escape. Some people have argued that fishermen shouldn’t be allowed to fish in Farewell Spit in order to protect the dolphins living there. What do you think? On your blog, tell us whether you think that fishing in Farewell Spit should be banned (stopped).

I think we should stop killing our beautiful sea creatures because they have lives to live to. If we kill them now there wouldn't be any left of their kind. I know fising brings us food but did you know you are eating living animals that can live a life too.

https://www.worldwildlife.org/species/hector-s-dolphin

Bonus Activity: 10 points