What our school was learning was history, and bonding through walking a gruelling walk through our dormant volcano, Tauwanui.
First of all, we hopped off the bus and started walking to the base. On the way to the base of the maunga, I was chatting away with my friend, Desmond. We talked about games, shows, and songs. It was a great experience.
Secondly, we got to the base of the maunga and had a snack and toilet break. Desmond and I departed for a while, so I met with my other friend, Tekaihapai. We chatted about the same topics as I did with Desmond, but what he liked about them instead.
Thirdly, we got to the higher point, which was excruciatingly tiring, yet the journey wasn’t done. I departed from Tekahapai and started making my way up. I hopped from side to side when crowds of people came up and plopped back onto the original path when they cleared. It was very tiring.
After that, we made it to the second-highest point, we had a break and ate a snack, and I had a small talk with my friends again, Tekaihapai and Desmond. We chatted about shows and games. It was fun to have a simple talk with two people who understand.
Finally, we made it to the summit, it was gruelling and an excruciatingly tiring walk, yet we had our snack, we watched the view and looked into the crater of the dormant volcano. It was kind of scary; the higher seniors performed a haka near the edge, which was very scary and impressive. We took our photos and then walked back down.
This trip helped us learn about our ancestors’ problems, like their journeys and hikois due to them having to walk the entire time and endure everything without devices and vehicles and what they had experienced during their time; it also helped us experience history and our historical places where ancestors had stood before.