Year 6's Cook's Cove: Practice For Camp
"Kate, Klara's Mum, will have Kale'a, Klara, Lola, Alivia, and Tallulah. That will be your car group to Cook's Cove and back." That was my Thursday morning debut from our teachers for walking up Cook's Cove, the place where Captain James Cook "settled" in New Zealand.
As we drove through the bumpy gravel roads, my stomach felt worse and worse. Only nineteen minutes left, I think to myself. Only nineteen. "It'll get better," says Klara sitting with me in the back two seats. It's like she sensed my sickness.
Finally, we can see where we are climbing up. The Beacon of Light stands meters and meters above the hill and also, in front of us. As my car group wrestle each other to the doors, Klara and I lay in the back seat waiting for it to slide forward so we can make our way out. Then, finally it does and we sit down on the damp grass listening for instructions. We get into our camp walking groups. Usually, I would have Joe Palmer, Esther's Dad, but ended up with Lee Jerome, Bramm's Dad.
We went through the gate onto the steep wooden boards that hold the dirt into a rectangle shape, each one taller than the other. The stairs went up and up in spiral fashion, circling the trees. Cornelia and I, spotted a hollow tree and she said she found one of these trees and it had a skull in it. As we continued, we made our way through the open woods and the further we went, the trees closed in more on us. we made it the top where the Beacon of Light was standing in the solid concrete said to be 12 meters deep. The statue itself was rock - hard metal, with many carved Koru (known as the fern) surrounding it.
In a single file line, the Year 6's strolled through what Cornelia and I called the Fuffy (as in Fluffy) Meadow; so many small plants with soft and silky fluff growing out of the plants. We made our way to the cutty grass bushes and sat down to eat. After our little morning tea we jumped over the steps to the arch of where the water flowed in and smashed into the rocks. A little golden frame stood a while away from the arch and all of the groups got a photo in it.
