Papanui Bush Trip

By Jacinta Clark | Posted: Thursday November 21, 2019

On Tuesday 12th of November some of the Eco Warriors and some of the Edible Gardens group had the privilege to walk down to the Papanui Bush. We went to learn about what is happening in our environment.

It all started when we met Denis McMurtrie and John Stringer from the Rotary. Denis McMurtrie gave us some information about what Papanui Bush used to look like before it was cut down by the Europeans who wanted the wood to build buildings and houses. Papanui Bush was named after a Māori platform from which Māori hunted for their food. Some of us were very surprised to see how small it is at the moment.

We all helped out with cutting weeds and things out from native plants that the Rotary had planted to rebuild the Papanui Bush. We had to pull all the weeds out from around the plant and flatten them to the ground. Then we used shears to cut the weeds that were killing the plants. Chloe and Mia also detangled about 15 plants. We removed the vines from the trees and helped save their lives. Denis McMurtrie said we did a very good job at helping save the plants lives.

We interviewed Jess from Room 7, who came on the trip with us, to see what she thought about it. She told us she thought it was a lot of fun. She thought the most interesting thing to her was how Papanui Bush got its name. She also told us that she learned a lot from the trip and she would love to go again.

After we had a lot of learning and fun it was time to go back to school. But Denis McMurtrie gave us a single branch with small but sharp leaves. When we got back to school everyone got given one of the small leaves to tape into their book to remember the Papanui Bush trip. Overall the trip was amazing and we’d love to go back again sometime.

By Chloe, Mia and Megan (from Room 13)

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