Well the trip went well. The weather was (mostly) kind and I'd like to thank Michael Harcourt for his help. The students were great and helped make it the success that it was. My personal highlights were the Gilfillan Farm and the Cave/Bunker which were new. Although the farm, Kohia Pa and Turuturu Mokai left me wondering about how much we really care about the past.So the final itinerary:
Tuesday
Papaitonga
Wednesday
Gilfillan Farm (Who'd have guessed it was there?)
The Cave/Bunker (So very cool)
Memorial Tower (176 steps)
Moutoa Gardens
Kowhai Park & Save Mart (Lunch and shopping)
Ohawe Soldiers Memorial
Te Ngutu O Te Manu (A camping ground? Really?) ... How many people died here?
Thursday
Kohia Pa (or whats left) ... the first shots of the war.....
Waitara Camp (now a Bowling club)
Puketakauere Pa
Te Arei Pa
Pukerangiora Pa and Sap
Puke Ariki (Great Provincial Museum - thanks Amanda!)Friday
Turuturu Mokai (Someone tell Hawera its not a rubbish dump! Also noted here.)
The Cameron Blockhouse
It was a great trip and the students especially made it enjoyable but we have to thank Carol from Wanganui Information, Amanda at Puke Ariki and the gentleman at Brixton who showed us where Te Kohia Pa was (Someone knocked down the Brixton Hall in Belichs video). Sorry I didn't get his name.
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Wow what a very cool trip. It's funny how little we really know about our own history. It's also sad to see how little we treasure some of our historic sites. Thanks for sharing your experience with us.
ReplyDeleteThanks, hopefully more schools will start teaching New Zealand History and take time to go on field-trips like this.
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