Manukau Magic!

JANUARY 15TH 2014

Botany - Manukau

Dear Diary,

(I'm blogging from my notes!) 

After a fascinating tour of Botany Library and surrounds with Priya - I've come to meet Karon Children's and Youth Librarian here at Manukau. Manukau has always been a real 'hub' for the South and an important Auckland destination with the domestic and international airport so close by.

Google maps: Manukau Library - a short journey away from the airport.

Reminders of Auckland's volcanic fields.
A patchwork of plots for growing in the Manukau area. Google maps.

"Hi Karon! I got here in the end!"

I met Fergus and Joanna they are two of Manukau Library's Dare to Explore champions! They've been showing me around, as they are super explorers!

Karon took me out and about. This is the Vodafone Events Centre. The design is very striking - see how it is shaped like a waka! Tumeke!

I'm in the long grass waiting to explore Rainbow's End roller coaster. Everyone reckons I should do the Fear Fall too but I'm a bit worried that I might blow away!

I think I'm tall enough..?
If I go, Karon will have to come too!

Look at how small I am!

This is te Pou Kapua totem pole. It was crafted in 2005 from swamp Kauri to tell a story from Maori mythology.

Um...Speaking of Maori mythology...If you want to read a real hard case version of the classics you can't go past Glenn Colquhoun's - 'Amazing Tales of Aotearoa' 2008. Illustrated by Ali Teo, (no doubt you'll be like me and know the style of the graphics from the school readers!) 'Amazing Tales' takes you on a trip to 'That-place' with a couple of kotiro as your guides - Hareata and Brianne. 

Here's one of Glenn's ideas on the education of Maui: 

'They gave him lessons on fish and chips: which was the best shop to get them at, when to get potato fritters and how many scoops they needed to feed a hui'. 

There's always the Peter Gossage versions if you want something more traditional.

Of course you can get hold of these pukapuka through Auckland Libraries - do you know how to order your books online? Just ask your friendly local librarian if you want to know more! 

If this rakau could talk, imagine the stories of the land it might tell?

Did you know Manukau has taniwha to protect its people and harbour? I can see the fins on some sea creatures here when I look at the detail of the carving.

Awesome! The kids here have built me a waka. What a shame I'm going to Pukekohe first or I could have found some warriors to row with me down to Waiuku! Hoehoe, hoe-a mai!

'Toia mai te waka nei...'
 I can feel a waiata coming on...

Do you know what else makes Manukau Library special? Aside from the rich Maori history of the area? Manukau brings the flavour of Pasifika culture to life too. 

Every year the Auckland Libraries team plan for culture and language events all over Tamaki encouraging communities everywhere to learn about and support Pacific Island education for everyone! These events run throughout the year and explore Samoa, Fiji, Tuvalu, Nuie, Tonga and others. 

Just keep an eye on your local library's social media page to get involved. Here are some cool pics that Karon shared with me, showing that Manukau are truly welcoming leaders in getting Pacific people involved.

Library doors are open to the whole community - come on in!

The guy that can hook you up here at Manukau Library is Pasifika Liaison, Mack. Look for his friendly smile!

Strengthening the home language first - 

check out the titles in your language using the online catalogue

 then have a storytime with your family!

Libraries for Life!

Hey, this is a special friend of Karon's I'd like you to meet. This is Christian he goes to Wiri Central he's been visiting Karon every day to work on his D2E challenges! Not only is he a D2E champion but he is also in the Junior Samoan performance group. When Karon went to the assembly late last year to tell the kids at WC about D2E, Christian and his group did a mean traditional Samoan dance! 

Oh yeah! Got that D2E feeling of achievement!

So did you investigate my last challenge questions?

- HMS 'his or her majesty's ship' serving in the Royal Navy.

- If you were born in 2005 your animal sign would be the Rooster.

- The Otago goldfields brought prospectors far and wide to search for those now elusive nuggets!

- Qui Gui Su writes on About.com Mandarin Language: 

'What is the Chinese Language?

The Chinese language known as Mandarin is the most common language in the world. But there are many other languages spoken in China, including Wu, Hunanese, Jiangxinese, Hakka, Yue (including Cantonese-Taishanese), Ping, Shaojiang and Min.'

- Howick has a cool historic village with a very old church.

Thanks Karon I loved my time here at Manukau!
This sculpture is inspired by a korowai, or cloak.

Challenge questions:

- Who is the Pasifika Liaison at Manukau Library?

- What horticultural activity happens in Pukekohe?

- Who is Greg Murphy? What's his sport and what's he done that's special?

- Can you find out three Pacific Island greetings?

- What does Manukau mean?

Thanks and a BIG hug to Karon, Mack and the Manukau team! You make learning fun!

Fa, ka kite, LDA.

(Debra I'm on my way down SH1, turning right at Bombay).

Ticking off my school holiday wish list!

JANUARY 29TH

Days at sea

Dear Diary,
do you remember me asking you what you really wanted to do before the end of the school holidays?

Well, I have a confession to make...I've been a bit slow on my entries because I took some time out with my family and went to sea for a handful of days.

School's just about to start and I have three more cool libraries that I want to tell you about still. But don't worry I have all of my diary notes.

Look out for Marvellous Manukau coming soon!

Man, I need three highlighters and I can only find one...and my socks are too small...must have done some growing over the break...Year 8...Awesome! Can't wait to see everybody!

BFN, Tyler -  aka Little Dude Adventurer.

Auckland to Mahurangi by wind power!
I waved to Helen at ECB on the way!

Future Auckland - Botany Downs Bound!

JANUARY 14th 2014

Otahuhu - Botany

Dear Diary,

It was 'haere ra' to Hannah and Irene at Otahuhu, thank-you both for my awesome tour and especially my new shoes! 

My supervisor assured me that we were heading to somewhere a little different to our other destinations so far. We were going to Botany Library to meet up with Priya. 

We were heading to one of Auckland's newer, very modern suburbs. Just take a look at the aerial map below - if I were a seagull flying in from the coast I'd look down on this modern masterpiece of carefully placed houses in awe!

East Auckland - Botany Downs Google Maps

Here I am finding Botany Library!

It was easy to find a space to park the car. Then we raced off to check out the mall and locate the library.

Botany Library is located in Botany Town Centre - a shopping mall with 200 stores and restaurants. Aha! Found it! Wow, just like a store!

"Hey, there's Priya and the team!" 

The Super Cool Botany Team!

I felt a little under-dressed like I needed my national costume on too! I don't know if they'd appreciate my gumboots in the library though? If I borrowed a sheep from Wellsford or Helensville as an accessory it might make a bit too much mess? 

It is great to see that everyone at Botany takes dress up day really seriously! Don't they look fabulous?

It was time to explore the library! Priya showed me around. It is so cool! It's not one of those fusty places where they tell the kids to BE QUIET! In fact there's always music playing in this library. We headed off upstairs to the children's hangout. That's where I met some Botany stars! I met fellow explorers Kerry-Anne, Brad-Lee and Dean-James. 

Priya gets very excited when she see us kids 'lost' in a book in the library! 

KA, BL & DJ reading from the booklists in front of the
'Seven Wonders of the World' display!

Just because I was there, and it was kind of special to see, Priya presented Brad-Lee with his certificate of completion. He had been so busy he'd completed all six sets of challenges! I know Lani, Tama and the rest of the crew will be excited about that also!

Priya says, 'Ka pai! Brad Lee!'

Need something off the booklists?

I met Ethan and Atoy at the photo booth,
 Ethan has been busy collecting lots of new stamps on his passport too!

Another part of the rich fabric of Auckland society is the Asian community. Botany has a large population of people of Asian ethnicity, that is one of it's special features!

You may have thought that the Asian community is new to New Zealand but you'd be wrong! Chinese first came to New Zealand in the 1800s. Many of them coming to live and work during the South Island gold rush. So there are some Chinese families around that are 7th or 8th generation New Zealander's like me.

I remember reading about this in a School Journal (published by Learning Media, NZ). I learnt that the Chinese miners were extremely hard workers, they endured the harsh climate and dislike of the immigrants of other ethnicities who regarded them as a threat, they were always very family orientated sending their earnings home to China. The workers remained true to their own culture positioning their roughly made stone huts in a particular layout to favour good feng shui and prosperity. This also kept bad demons away! Those who passed away here in New Zealand were sent home for burial in China. 

You could try searching yourself? Maybe with the keywords, 'Chinese immigrants to New Zealand' or you could visit your local children's librarian if you would like some help? It is very interesting learning about new cultures!

Below is a photograph of some early miners, typical of the ones I've just been talking about.

Manying Ip. 'Chinese - The first immigrants', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, updated 15-Nov-12
URL: http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/photograph/504/two-chinese-gold-miners-otago-about-1900

At Botany, the library is fortunate to have people in the community who are willing to come and share their talents with everyone. Check out these beautiful images!

Learning an ancient art-form at Botany
with members of the Chinese community.

Wow! These ladies are amazing artists don't you think?

I got to see some amazing Chinese calligraphy. I even had a chance to try some...It must take years of practice to become as talented as this! The ladies tried to teach me how to write my name in Mandarin. My work was a bit wobbly, but I still gave it a try. Do you have an adventurous spirit too? I think that 'doing' stuff is a great way to learn about it! 

This image belongs to www.aucklandlibraries.govt.nz

Something I have learnt about China is that it is a very large country because of this traditions and languages vary across the land. Some Chinese follow a form of Chinese belief  relating to twelve animals coming before Buddah each with it's own qualities and characteristics. Following this twelve year cycle it is believed that these tendencies are carried through into the New Year of the attributed animal servant. 2014 is the year of the Horse. If you were born in 2002 you were born under the horse year - so this will be your year, as you will turn twelve this year. Your next special year will come when you are twenty-four, 36, 48 and so forth in a twelve year cycle. It is fun to see what sort of predictions are made based on your birth year!

You might want to check if your local library have any events related to Chinese New Year so you can try something new?

In the showcase room I found lots of kids helping to build the HMS Botany! Cool! I don't know if she'll make it down the Tamaki River to the Waitemata just yet but that doesn't matter just look at how much fun we're all having using our imaginations! What a team effort this was!

The crew hard at work - we'll get her seaworthy yet mate!

Fantasy at the helm!

Man the cannons, pirates are attacking!

Priya had more fun in store for me! She was taking me to the movies next door. We went to see 'Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2'. What a crazy theme! There was a machine that transformed water into cheeseburger rain and spaghetti tornadoes!

Fun! A photo booth!

I got soooo hungry watching it that I begged Priya to take me to the food court straightaway afterwards!

Off to the cinema and foodcourt with Priya.

Following this we wandered along through the pavillion, I discovered a secret shire hidden in the garden. While I didn't see any hobbits, I did get a chance to take a picture outside the house of Bilbo Baggins. A very famous hobbit!

Hobbit hidey!

Giant Snakes and Ladders.

Priya asked me if I wanted to go to Xtreme entertainment to try bowling, laser tag and arcade games after the movie...graciously declining, I said, 'I think I'd just like to go and read a good book in the kids area!' Hopefully we will have time to investigate this tomorrow before I head off to meet Karon at Manukau Library.

My challenge questions:

I guess you've all found out about when school starts back, thought about what else you really wanted to do these holidays and organised your stationary list?

- What does HMS stand for? Can any vessel use this acronym?

- If you were born in 2005 what would your animal in the Chinese Hororscope be?

- Which part of the South Island was mined during the 1800s for gold?

- What languages are spoken in China?

- Which neighbouring suburb (with an historic village) boasts the oldest church in New Zealand?

Get your thinking cap on! 

Catch you soon, Tyler ;)

Oat-a-who? No...O Tahuhu...

JANUARY 13th 2014

East Coast Bays - Otahuhu

Here I am in Otahuhu!
(You can click on my pics to make them larger)

Google Map showing my route from ECB to Otahuhu

Dear Diary,

I've said goodbye to Helen and my new friends at East Coast Bays. I want to go back there to explore all of those other little bays too! Helen tells me that Takapuna Library is a 'happening' place to visit also, with a kids section on the top floor and a window seat view of the Beach to glance at (when taking a break from a good read!)

You guessed it, in my last post I was thinking about the NZ classic kids sci-fi 'Under the Mountain' by celebrated author Maurice Gee. The peculiar Wilberforces had some weird habits! 

You could even read the book then watch the remake movie with props from Weta Studios Wellington. I like doing that sort of thing - where you can play book reviewer/movie critic and discuss what you liked, or didn't like about the way the director brought the storyline to the big screen. And it's even better doing this with your mates!

So I didn't find a troll under the bridge, (maybe if I was in Norway?) but I did hear rumours about a taniwha...I might have to pop into a library and check out the Waitangi Day Storytime event to learn more about this?

Auckland Harbour Bridge

I've been doing some checking and asking around - Back in the seventies they had real, live, face to face, human contact at the toll booths on the Shore side of the Harbour Bridge. You had to queue to pay your fee for crossing the bridge. Originally you had to pay on both sides of the bridge, the North Shore people weren't too happy about that. Finally in 1984 the  toll was stopped, having finished paying for the bridge.  

No, you couldn't pay with a goat, only with New Zealand currency. At it's highest the fee was 25c. 

Hey what? How did you pay the five cents? Oh right, my supervisor tells me we used to have 1c, 2c and 5c coins in NZ.

Auckland Harbour Bridge Under Construction
National Library of New Zealand (Alexander Turnbull Library)

Check this memorabilia out, this is the interior of a toll booth from the Bridge in 1971, no sign of digital technologies here...

http://www.aucklandcity.govt.nz
Libraries Heritage Collection

For now though, it's time to go South to meet Hannah, the awesome children's librarian at Otahuhu.

Whoo hoo! Chilling in Otahuhu!

It would have seemed fitting for me to be riding a horse into Otahuhu pretending I was a traveller from yesteryear...

Me being me, I wanted to know about why Otahuhu was special? Hannah took me on a bit of a tour and as she did I started imagining the past...

Otahuhu's famous WWI monument

I might've just popped out to the shipping port at Onehunga on the Mighty Manukau to pick up some relatives off the boat...I could be taking them to the parcel of land they'd just purchased at Takanini or thereabouts...But either way I'd have to meet up with the 'Great South Road'. 

Although it sounds like a good title for a Western, it was an integral link in times past connecting voyagers heading South to Bombay. (No, not the Bombay in India!) The Bombays are the last set of hills before you dip South into Franklin and the Wonderful Waikato. (Moo Loo country). 

It was a road that was well travelled prior to the Southern Motorway. (Kind of like the Cars theme when Route 66 was bypassed to save time, but when the population grew the people needed a motorway!)

Great South Road Otahuhu W.Price 1928

Passenger Transport Company bus and driver.
Price, William Archer, 1866 - 1948: Collection of post card negatives.
Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand
natlib.govt.nz

Tumeke! Look at these awesome murals you can find them around town! 
This is the historic Star Hotel. There is still a Star Hotel in Otahuhu 
but it doesn't look like it does in the mural. 

You know in the past I could have also been travelling from the Waitemata to the Manukau Harbours via the Tamaki River on my waka. Just like in my Blockhouse Bay post when I was hanging out with Rhiann - Otahuhu is on the 'waka crossing network' too! Otahuhu has a Portage Road as well!

Te Ara - The Encyclopedia of New Zealand

As I travelled around with Hannah I quickly learnt that Otahuhu is a really early suburb of Tamaki Makaurau with an interesting and rich history. Iron works, breweries, railway workshop apprentices... But I also learnt that Otahuhu is full of many ethnicities now, not just Pakeha and Maori - but all sorts of people! 

Kind of like a great big fruit salad. You add all of the flavours and come up with something wonderful!

Did you see me with the statue above? The Governor-General Sir Charles Fergusson unveiled the Otahuhu First World War Memorial on the 25th April 1928. The bronze figure of a New Zealand Mounted Rifleman had been donated to the borough by a local businessman, Alfred Trenwith. It stood on a plinth near the Nixon Memorial at the intersection of Great South Road with Massey Road. That horse was just the right size for me!! Cool!! No doubt its story will be shared even further as we begin to commemorate the Centennial of WWI, 1914 - 2014. Do you think the horse has a name?

The local playground is heaps of fun!

We went to get active at the playground in Murphy Park. I climbed right to the top of 

the net behind me. It's a great place to get a view of Otahuhu. Awesome!

Lange tried to bring everyone together
he was a role model for cultural diversity.

While I was here I also looked at the David Lange Memorial. David Lange was the Prime Minister of New Zealand from 1984 - 1989. He grew up in Otahuhu. Hannah and Irene reckon great people (and great leaders) come out of Otahuhu!

Otahuhu Library's awesome pyramid structure!

The Otahuhu kids have been busy exploring the world too! Hannah says that if you'd like to go in and visit, you could add to the structure from an ancient civilisation too! I bet there have been a lot of books on Egypt being checked out from here! 

Do you remember me telling you my feet were sore? Well Hannah had just the shop to fix that! She remembered that there was a shoe shop in Otahuhu for people with really big feet like mine!

Hooray just the place for me!

Hannah shared an amazing story with me too! I think the story could go into one of those 'Believe or Not' type, fact books! The story is about a guy like me with super-sized feet.

Here's an excerpt from the story that Hannah shared with me from Amelia Wade's NZ Herald article:

'Shaquille Ioane has a bit of a problem - he has size 18 feet and can't find rugby boots to fit him.

"It's a bit hard playing in sneakers," he says.

Shaq, who has just turned 18, plays for Kawerau College's 1st XV. But he is hampered by his inability to find boots in his size.

He has to play in sneakers, which he gets from a specialist shop in Otahuhu.'

The shop was a great find! They had so many different styles of shoes and the staff were really helpful. That's something different about Otahuhu, it has mainstreet shopping it's different to being in a mall.

We went to look at the site of the new Otahuhu Recreation Precinct. The new Otahuhu Library and Leisure Centre will be here in 2015! Can't wait to come and swim then go and choose my books from here!

Hey thanks Irene and Hannah for showing me all about Otahuhu and especially for taking me to get those new shoes! Back to school soon...

Here's the kids in Otahuhu about 1880...Check out those aprons girls! 

So my challenge questions this time:

When does your school start back?

Where can you find your stationary list?

Time is running out! What else did you really want to do these holidays?

Have you got your Dare to Explore Party invitation yet? Don't forget to check with your library and let them know you are coming!

That's me! Little Dude, out.

Stephen Levine. 'Political values - Enduring political values',
Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand.
TeAra.govt.nz