Shark Rock by Dalton

Shark Rock

As I was swimming in the water along the bay I heard a strange noise coming from shark rock.  It was named that because it had  three rocks which looked like real shark fins. Suddenly there was a huge crack of lightning that struck the rock, even though it was a fine day.

Then the rock began to shake and transform into the grey colour of the amazing great white shark. It wiggled and broke loose of the other two rocks that were left. They too were the colour of a great white shark. 

“Ahhhh! Shark in the water” called Dominic. Everyone then looked at the water and saw the great dorsal fin of the beast. People were out of control, they swooped their children out of the water and like a stampede of elephants ran out of the water. The lone shark was no more because the other two sharks had broke free of the rocks during the stampede of people. The sharks circled the bay, waiting there.

People were scared out of their minds. The fear was unbelievable. No one was brave enough to do anything. Then someone emerged from the crowd. He was the local country boy named Anthony. He called to everyone and suggested that they transport the sharks to the local marine reserve. The crowd whispered among themselves the said, “yeah that's great.” And they all yelled.

So Anthony called for cranes and asked the marine reserve for a huge tank to transport the beasts. The cranes did their job and lifted the sharks into the tank. They were put on a truck and off they went. Everyone waved good bye and had happy, smiley faces. And they ran straight back into the water because it was so hot. The water refreshed everyone as they splashed with joy.

The Taniwha by Taine, Nikita and Jarry

The Taniwha

One day Maui and his brothers went fishing. Him and his brothers went out to the middle of the sea and set out their hooks. Maui used his special hook which he made out of his grandmother's jawbone. He hoisted the hook out to the sea with his biggest throw. They waited for ages and ages, finally a tug.

The brothers heaved and pulled and they had got a big, huge taniwha. Then Maui and his brothers went back to their house, but the taniwha started to swim away. Maui and his brothers didn’t notice that the taniwha was swimming away. When they saw it they all hopped in the water and chased the taniwha. They swam and they swam and they swam. It was a long chase but finally they caught him.

They got home and Maui was starving. He was going to cook the taniwha right away when his grandmother came and said, “stop!!! Taniwha have been loyal to our tribe and we should set the taniwha free.” So even though Maui was starving he let the taniwha go free in the ocean. So Maui went out fishing again but this time by himself. Maui didn’t have that much power in the waka because it was just him. So it might be hard to catch a big fish now. When Maui set the hook into the water he caught another big fish. It was bigger than the taniwha that he just caught. So Maui pulled and pulled but the fish was too strong.

Then Maui almost fell into the water. Maui used all his strength to pull the fish up. Maui pulled and pulled and pulled. He finally got the big fish up. No one else could pull the fish up and he started to swim back to his village and told everyone what happened. They were so angry that they banished him from the village forever. Maui was walking along the river when suddenly a taniwha approached him. But this time he had all of his taniwha family with him and they all looked angry. The taniwha took him away and from that day on Maui was never heard of again.

By Taine, Jarry and Nikita

Tane Mahuta's Forest by Seth and MacKenzie

Long ago there was a kauri forest that covered a secret. A secret that was in the very middle of the forest was a very big green-stone cave that was surrounded by the forest and the forest was surrounded by a lake. In that cave slept the great Tane Mahuta the god of the forest. When he sleeps he chants a karakia which helps the forest to grow and thrive. Tane Mahuta has been asleep for over a million years, all is well for now...

Many people used to fish from the sea, until a man from a iwi close by the sea came to fish in the lake that was near the forest. When he cast his line, he caught a fish immediately. He quickly pulled his line out and saw a massive trout on his line. Then, he quickly rowed ashore and grabbed the fish and ran all the way back to the iwi. The other men in the iwi were astonished by the size of the fish, it was massive.

Soon all the villagers in the iwi moved next to the lake to build their village. They weren’t just fishing but also rowed to the island taking wood that they did not need and using it to build things like extra waka, weapons, walls and oars. Soon they were also hunting on the island and killing all the animals and making cloaks and polluting the water.

The great Tane Mahuta had woken up and noticed that half of his forest had been destroyed by the men. They had demolished so much of the forest. He was devastated by the destruction! He stomped through the forest angrily! When he stomped he made a earthquake, but it did nothing to harm the trees.

So Tane Mahuta commanded a volcano to destroy the village and its occupants, soon the whole village was alight! There was fire everywhere, and the sparks landed all over the lake! Later after the village was just smoking, rua boys came out of the smoke, Years later the boys became the guardians of the forest and lake. Meanwhile, Tane Mahuta slept while chanting a karakia to help the forest grow. After that day nobody interfered with the forest or the lake, but the rua boys still guarded. All was well for now...

Matariki by Kimberly

Matariki

Once upon a time there was seven brothers, they were the most brave and handsome men in the village. All the brothers cared about was their appearance, except one brother, his name was Matai. The brothers wanted to get married but they could not find anyone as beautiful as them.

One day they went hunting and found seven fairy sisters. They were beautiful with fair faces and golden hair, the brothers fell in love at first sight. Matai told them they were fairies but they ignored him. Matai was unsure if this was ok.

The brothers wanted to take the girls home and marry them. The girls only ate fish. They made the brothers get food for them and the brothers forgot about getting food for themselves. They were starving from hunger, just what the fairies wanted. They became skin and bone and were not handsome anymore. The brothers fell deeper and deeper in love and did not realise what was going to hit them next.

Over the days that followed Matai thought and thought, finally he realized “the only way I can convince my brothers to not marry them is to give them proof.” Matai quietly sneaked through the forest and saw the beautiful fairy girls. He listened and listened, then he heard them all talk about the marriage. The fairies said, “we shall starve the brothers and no one can stop us…”

After Matai heard that he ran back home to tell his brothers. When he reached them he told them,  “brothers those girls are the fairies. They are evil. They want to starve you to death.” The brothers did not believe him.  Matai said, “look at yourselves, you are skinny and are not handsome anymore. Look at yourselves. Now do you believe me?” The brothers looked at each other. They realized that they were skinny and that Matai was telling the truth .They yelled, “what are we going to do?”

Then they thought of someone who could help them. It was their uncle. They ran to their uncle. By that time they were puffed and were out of breath. When they caught their breath and drank some water they told their uncle about the fairy girls. He gave them a magic net and said, “use this to capture those birds.” And that was what they did, they used the net to catch the fairies.

They placed the net carefully and waited for the fairy girls. When they came past the girls got stuck in the net. The brother’s uncle turned into a big beautiful albatross, with its beak it snatched the net and flew the girls up in the sky where they became stars. That is the story of MATARIKI.

Matariki by Dominic

Makariki

once many years ago, there was a man called Metai. He had special powers because he spent a lot of time with his uncle. He had six older brothers. They were very handsome and they would not settle for any woman because they only wanted the best they could find.

One day they went hunting and they heard the most beautiful women singing. Metai tried to tell them that they were not what they thought they were but they didn’t listen! They immediately fell in love with these woman and they took them back to the village to get married. Every day the men got their wives food. They would starve themselves by only thinking about getting their wives seafood because that was the only thing they would eat.

One day Metai saw what these women had done to his brothers. He saw that they had lost their handsome look and they had turned into twigs. On the way home he saw that the seven sisters had turned into birds. He quickly turned into a bird and followed them. He heard their plan to make his brothers die from starvation. He quickly told his brothers what he had heard.

The brothers made a plan to capture their wives and send them far enough away that they would be no harm to the brothers.They went to their uncle to get help for their plan to capture the sisters. Their uncle gave them a magical net. On the way back to their homes the seven sisters were caught by the brothers who gave them to the god of the stars. He found them very pretty but sent them far, far away. Since they were so beautiful he lets them shine every year!

A letter from Neko-chan by Jamaica

4 May 2015

Dear Jamaica,

Why did you throw me away? I’m writing this letter because you don’t want to play with me anymore, why don’t you play with me anymore? Is it because you have new gadgets? Am I not fun to play with?

Remember the fun things we did together? We used to have fun together and play with your cousins and friends. But now you spend more time with your new gadgets. You even gave me a beautiful house, you even treated me like a real cat. I didn’t mind being your dog’s toy. I’m your best friend right? I’m still your Neko-chan - you named me that.

You also don’t know that my legs are nearly broken because of you not playing with me anymore. I’m so sad and lonely all I do is stare at the dark under your bed. I’m still cute, fluffy, and still fun to play with. I miss you already. Please play with me I’m so sad and lonely. Did you forget about me now? It’s been five years since you played with me, my mouth is still smiling because I’m a toy but I’m sad inside.

I’m here in the very edge of your bed, spiders crawling around me and dust covering me. Help me! I’m all dirty now, please come and help me. I’ll be waiting for you to come and get me.

From your toy cat,

Neko-chan

Matariki by Reuben

Matariki

In an ancient Kauri forest, as old as time, there lived three brothers. One was in early manhood, one was nearly there, and the other was barely a child. One gloomy day, the eager brothers set off hunting for moa. Just as a moa came into their sight they noticed seven flourishing fantails in front of the moa. The seven birds swished past the moa, causing the leaves to flutter and obscuring the brother’s view of the moa.

Every day the fantails would divert the hunters from completing the hunt of killing the moa.

The moa and the fantails became great friends and were always playing around and fooling the hunters. Back at the village the oldest of the brothers, Tane Mahuta, was getting frustrated and decided to come up with plan. With determination and eagerness he started to construct the equipment needed to carry out the plan.

Back in the tree tops of the kauri tree a mother fantail with feathers like silk was warning her children, “Children, do not go out tonight for the hunters will be back with woven nets of magic and wisdom of the gods, they will be waiting for you.” Six of the children answered straight away apart from the oldest, his name was Matariki, with a beak as long and sharp as a spear tip and feathers the colour of a dying pohutukawa, he answered swiftly after while, staring at something to the left of him like he wasn’t paying attention.

Later when the misty day became a mysterious night the Tane Mahuta set out to hunt the seven graceful fantails. When he found the moa in its pile of leaves Matariki was first to see Tane Mahuta getting ready to spear a moa, but what Tane was really doing was trying to get the fantail down there so he could trap them in the magic woven net that he created. Matariki was luckily very persuasive and got all of his brothers to join him to save the moa but as they swooped down they realized that Tane Mahuta had taken all the leaves away so they couldn’t hide the moa. So the fantail had to get leaves from the tree which Tane knew take some time. Then as soon as the leaves started to fall and the birds couldn’t see Tane he casted the net on the seven foolish birds. Tane then grabbed the net and casted them into the sky and they became one with the stars. He named them Matariki. All seven stars are there today.

By Reuben

A letter from Izzy the iPod by Vanessa

434 Electricity Street

Mt Cracked 4444

7 May 2015

Dear Vanessa 

HEY I’M NOT VERY HAPPY. LISTEN HERE MATE! You have dropped me from the gate! Broken the corner of my screen! Also forgotten me!! I am just writing to tell you that you have stopped using me. I'm very lonely, sad, as well as very very angry.

You can see under my screen and I'm very hurt and disgusted. I’m also very angry, I don't like my battery to be dead for a long time and I am covered in dust.

You used to play on me all the time but now you don’t. You left me to sit in the fruit bowl all cracked and broken with all the fruit flies zipping around me. I’m also covered in dust and it is very annoying.

Why can't you get me fixed? Then we can get a new high score on Jelly Jump, post something on Instagram and look after your virtual family. Come and play on me again and fix my screen…

Have you ever been able to see your flesh and had four cracked bones all the way down your body? Well it really hurts. 

Remember all the fun times we had before? We used to travel to places together and take the best pictures. Come and play with me and we can be best friends again. I am begging you please, please come back and charge me up and fix my screen.

        

From your broken friend, Izzy the ipod.

A letter from Jeff the teddy by Michael

23 Telford Ave

Mt Fluffy
Terryville 111

4 May 2015

Dear Michael

Why did you make me lonely? I’m writing this

letter to you because you hardly ever spend time with me. It seems like you treat me like a random stuffed toy.

What happened to you? We used to talk for hours.

Why didn't you take me to your friends birthday party? That was so sad because you left me alone. Do you remember the time when we used to watch movies?

I thought you said I was so fluffy and so handsome two years ago. Look at me now, I still don't have any fur missing. Do you remember all the fun times we had together, like when we went to the park and swung up high together?

Do you remember the time when you took me to play rugby? When I got tackled you came to rescue me. Even though I got tackled heaps of time I still had lots of fun.

I’m so mad and lonely because you left me under the bed with all the junk. Can you please get me out of here? You haven't even washed me.


From, Jeff the Teddy