Madeline Thompson RANZE Report

I have had an awesome first few weeks here in New Zealand.My host family is really nice, and Jessie and I have been getting on really well. My flight over was good, I was seated with a lovely couple from Christchurch and didn’t set off any alarms, which I’m glad about. School has been really good, it’s lots bigger than school back home, but I’m pretty proud I haven’t gotten lost yet and I’m getting used to it. All the students and teachers are really cool. On my first day here, Sunday the 3rd, Jessie took me in to Christchurch on the bus, and we looked at all the shops, which was really cool. On the afternoon of Friday 8th April, we moved houses, and got settled in quickly. The new house is really awesome. That evening, a family friend took us to her daughters’ basketball game, then we went to the pool after, which was really awesome. Our team didn’t win the game, but it didn’t dampen their mood. On Sunday 10th April it was my brother in Australia’s birthday, so Jessie and I went in to Christchurch to buy him a present, then we went to Hoyts cinema to watch Zootopia, which wasn’t too bad, despite being a child’s movie. On Saturday, the 16th April, my host family took me to a part of Christchurch called Container City, which was really cute. We saw wreckage from the earthquakes, and construction areas where they were rebuilding. We looked at all the markets all around the area, but I didn’t buy anything. We also went to a museum like place which was dedicated to the earthquakes in Christchurch. They had videos, wreckage, diagrams and mini replicas of the building destroyed during the 2010 earthquakes, which was really interesting. The next day, Sunday the 17th April, we went to the Riccarton markets with the grandparents but I didn’t end up buying anything.

On the 20th April, we went to Hanmer Springs where Jessie and I climbed to the top of Conical Hill, which was a really pretty view. We went around to all the shops, but I didn’t buy anything except a gelato, which tasted really good. We didn’t go to the hot springs because we didn’t get time, but we will go again one day I hope, it was really beautiful there. On the 21st, Jessie and I went down the street to buy some groceries so we could cook muffins, then we went to a cute café where I got a bagel for lunch which tasted really good.

On the 22nd, Jessie and I went to Christchurch again, where we saw ‘Allegiant’ at the movies, which I really enjoyed. After that we went shopping where brought some cute jumpers. On Sunday the 24th, we drove to Akaroa with the grandparents, and it was really pretty there. We looked at the stores around the river, then went to the beach, which was really pretty. Jessie and I wrote all over it, and pretty much claimed it as ours. On the way home we dropped in to a Maori museum, which had memorabilia and tributes to the Maori culture, which I found really interesting. They had some of the buildings they used such as houses and sheds, which were quite different to things I have seen in the past. They also had a range of the different canoes and their uses on display, which was awesome; I never knew that there were so many types of canoe. There was also a model map of the Canterbury region, which showed where the European settlers arrived to the area. It was good because it was 3- dimensional, so you could see all the mountain ranges, which helped me understand where we were. On Monday April 25th, ANZAC Day, we went to the Dawn Service in Kaiapoi, which was a really good experience; the ceremony wasn’t that different to back home, it was just a bit cooler.