Wow! Today was the day I visited Christchurch's most popular zoo, Orana Park!
I had made sure that I had everything in my bag and had already topped up with sunscreen. I even brought my little notebook so I could take notes on the way. 8.00 am. Mum and I made sure that we had every thing. After we checked we had everything, we set off for school. 8.10 am. We arrived at school and had plenty of time to rest and check our bags. 8.20 am. Mrs Duke-Norris started talking about our trips and what groups we would be in. In my group there was:Blake, Caleb S, Mackenzie, Brieannah, Nahlia, Mum and I. So we had 7 in our group total ( including Mum ). 8.35 am. Our classroom head off towards the bus and got settled in. It was quite nice going first into the bus. Many minutes later we had lot's of children packed for the trip. Finally we all head off for the long journey from school to Orana Park. Zoo entrance. We arrived at the zoo quite eager to come out of the packed bus and onto concrete. It took a moment for the third bus to arrive. So it left the rest of the classroom to wait. It also had plenty of time to do other things like looking around etc. Finally the third bus came and we started to split up. Then we listened to the educator and we started to head off through a bumpy track. It took for ages to reach the zoo school and have our morning tea. After that was finished then we left to go to the zoo school, where they will spend some brief minutes about enclosures, then splitting up. Sumatran Tiger. Our educator took us to the Sumatran tiger. The Sumatran tiger is the smallest type of tiger in the world! She told us about more facts like they are endangered and how zookeepers feed it. Little hut. After the we saw the Sumatran tiger, we went to a little hut, where she promised to show us a tigers skull. It was a little bit creepy. But also interesting at the same time. Who knew you would ever see a tigers skull in their whole life? Next she showed us a tortoise, named Splotchy. It was very cute, and it was slowly going towards people, then hid. It was amazing to see one up close. Lions. Next we saw the lion, boy were they were sleepy! Tasmanian Devil. There was really nothing when we reached the Tasmanian Devil's enclosure. It was just an enclosure with no animals inside. Tortoise enclosure. We visited Splotchy's enclosure, and found another tortoise inside it. I forgot it's name, but it looked identical to Splotchy. But it was just siting there, nothing much to be interested in. Bird Enclosure. This was my favorite enclosure! But first we had to pass heavy chains that made us feel uncomfortable. But the educator said that it was protection so that no birds could get out or come in. We then went and saw a chart of which animals we would find. I was looking forward to seeing the wood pigeon. As we stepped in, a little green bird touched my hat then flew a way. What a cheeky bird! But soon I was staring at the wood pigeon. It was so humongous! It had a humongous belly. It was sitting calmly, watching people look at it. Then we saw a Tuatara, it had came out of it's burrow and was looking around slowly, then suddenly it disappeared. I felt disappointed. I have always wanted to see a Tuatara in my whole life. Oh well, at least I got a glimpse of it. Kea Enclosure. Next we went o the Kea enclosure, to meet Cheeky.The educator explained that there is special material so the Kea won't escape, but also the door was electric, so the Kea wouldn't picked the lock. Man, when we entered, we went to the railings, and peeked over, suddenly, a Kea ran to a locked door, with a piece of leaf in his beak. The educator went down and and picked it up and introduced Cheeky. Then Cheeky started to climb up the door and opened the locked door. How smart! Then he received a little treat. We all stared at him in amazement. He sure was the most beautiful bird I have ever seen. Lunch Finally it was lunch time, my tummy rumbled so loud that the people next to me looked at me. Giraffe Enclosure. Finally it was time to move on to some new animals. They were the giraffes! They were really really tall. I gulped. I was a little bit scared that they were big and I was tiny, but they never hurt anybody. So we were given each a branch of leaves that we had to feed the giraffes. When I held the stick in front of me, one came close and yanked the stick out of hands. I didn't know that they were that strong. The funny part was that one of the giraffes stuck his tongue up his nose. Eeew! Cheetah Enclosure. After the giraffes we went to see the cheetahs. I couldn't see any but there were two. And also there were 2 little cubs ( not so little anymore! ) . Just before we were about to leave. They fed the cubs by throwing two chunks of meat over the fence. The 2 cubs squabbled over the pieces of meat. Rhino Enclosure We went to the Rhino enclosure, were we saw big rhinos eating lots of grass. I thought that they will never stop. But they had something different about them. They had different sorts of horns. Like one was straight. One was up. One was down. One was perfect and one had a stumpy one! Then the educator took out a rhino horn and we felt it, then passed it on. It was heavy, and it felt odd. The next one we felt was a baby horn, which felt and looked like horse hair. Very odd. Gibbon Enclosure Next we went to the Gibbon enclosure ( it's a type of ape, it's a primate ) It was gorgeous! It had lots of swing and things to play with. Oh, we even saw a few, all black and human looking. I couldn't take my eyes of them. Meerkat Enclosure. After we went to our last enclosure, the Meerkat enclosure. They were so beautiful, there light skin color fur, cute little faces but sharp claws. They ran over to us as if they were saying hello! There was a guard that was standing on a rock, looking at us in every few seconds. They were pretty curious though. But they did try not to get too close. Home. After Leilani and I said our thank you's to our educators. We rushed back to join our classroom to get in the bus. It was such a fun day I will never forget. Shifa.This was my funnest day ever!
I had made sure that I had everything in my bag and had already topped up with sunscreen. I even brought my little notebook so I could take notes on the way. 8.00 am. Mum and I made sure that we had every thing. After we checked we had everything, we set off for school. 8.10 am. We arrived at school and had plenty of time to rest and check our bags. 8.20 am. Mrs Duke-Norris started talking about our trips and what groups we would be in. In my group there was:Blake, Caleb S, Mackenzie, Brieannah, Nahlia, Mum and I. So we had 7 in our group total ( including Mum ). 8.35 am. Our classroom head off towards the bus and got settled in. It was quite nice going first into the bus. Many minutes later we had lot's of children packed for the trip. Finally we all head off for the long journey from school to Orana Park. Zoo entrance. We arrived at the zoo quite eager to come out of the packed bus and onto concrete. It took a moment for the third bus to arrive. So it left the rest of the classroom to wait. It also had plenty of time to do other things like looking around etc. Finally the third bus came and we started to split up. Then we listened to the educator and we started to head off through a bumpy track. It took for ages to reach the zoo school and have our morning tea. After that was finished then we left to go to the zoo school, where they will spend some brief minutes about enclosures, then splitting up. Sumatran Tiger. Our educator took us to the Sumatran tiger. The Sumatran tiger is the smallest type of tiger in the world! She told us about more facts like they are endangered and how zookeepers feed it. Little hut. After the we saw the Sumatran tiger, we went to a little hut, where she promised to show us a tigers skull. It was a little bit creepy. But also interesting at the same time. Who knew you would ever see a tigers skull in their whole life? Next she showed us a tortoise, named Splotchy. It was very cute, and it was slowly going towards people, then hid. It was amazing to see one up close. Lions. Next we saw the lion, boy were they were sleepy! Tasmanian Devil. There was really nothing when we reached the Tasmanian Devil's enclosure. It was just an enclosure with no animals inside. Tortoise enclosure. We visited Splotchy's enclosure, and found another tortoise inside it. I forgot it's name, but it looked identical to Splotchy. But it was just siting there, nothing much to be interested in. Bird Enclosure. This was my favorite enclosure! But first we had to pass heavy chains that made us feel uncomfortable. But the educator said that it was protection so that no birds could get out or come in. We then went and saw a chart of which animals we would find. I was looking forward to seeing the wood pigeon. As we stepped in, a little green bird touched my hat then flew a way. What a cheeky bird! But soon I was staring at the wood pigeon. It was so humongous! It had a humongous belly. It was sitting calmly, watching people look at it. Then we saw a Tuatara, it had came out of it's burrow and was looking around slowly, then suddenly it disappeared. I felt disappointed. I have always wanted to see a Tuatara in my whole life. Oh well, at least I got a glimpse of it. Kea Enclosure. Next we went o the Kea enclosure, to meet Cheeky.The educator explained that there is special material so the Kea won't escape, but also the door was electric, so the Kea wouldn't picked the lock. Man, when we entered, we went to the railings, and peeked over, suddenly, a Kea ran to a locked door, with a piece of leaf in his beak. The educator went down and and picked it up and introduced Cheeky. Then Cheeky started to climb up the door and opened the locked door. How smart! Then he received a little treat. We all stared at him in amazement. He sure was the most beautiful bird I have ever seen. Lunch Finally it was lunch time, my tummy rumbled so loud that the people next to me looked at me. Giraffe Enclosure. Finally it was time to move on to some new animals. They were the giraffes! They were really really tall. I gulped. I was a little bit scared that they were big and I was tiny, but they never hurt anybody. So we were given each a branch of leaves that we had to feed the giraffes. When I held the stick in front of me, one came close and yanked the stick out of hands. I didn't know that they were that strong. The funny part was that one of the giraffes stuck his tongue up his nose. Eeew! Cheetah Enclosure. After the giraffes we went to see the cheetahs. I couldn't see any but there were two. And also there were 2 little cubs ( not so little anymore! ) . Just before we were about to leave. They fed the cubs by throwing two chunks of meat over the fence. The 2 cubs squabbled over the pieces of meat. Rhino Enclosure We went to the Rhino enclosure, were we saw big rhinos eating lots of grass. I thought that they will never stop. But they had something different about them. They had different sorts of horns. Like one was straight. One was up. One was down. One was perfect and one had a stumpy one! Then the educator took out a rhino horn and we felt it, then passed it on. It was heavy, and it felt odd. The next one we felt was a baby horn, which felt and looked like horse hair. Very odd. Gibbon Enclosure Next we went to the Gibbon enclosure ( it's a type of ape, it's a primate ) It was gorgeous! It had lots of swing and things to play with. Oh, we even saw a few, all black and human looking. I couldn't take my eyes of them. Meerkat Enclosure. After we went to our last enclosure, the Meerkat enclosure. They were so beautiful, there light skin color fur, cute little faces but sharp claws. They ran over to us as if they were saying hello! There was a guard that was standing on a rock, looking at us in every few seconds. They were pretty curious though. But they did try not to get too close. Home. After Leilani and I said our thank you's to our educators. We rushed back to join our classroom to get in the bus. It was such a fun day I will never forget. Shifa.This was my funnest day ever!