In Southland there has been a lot of flooding leaving residents to evacuate. People near Gore and Mataura have been told to pack their bags in case they need to evacuate.
Some people that live there said that they lived their for a very long time but they can't describe the rain they've had these last few days. Simple things like heavy rain causes flooding!
Wild weather including high winds have soaked large parts of the Southern New Zealand. A lot of people are trapped in this horrible weather! Hopefully this weather doesn't carry on but for now everyone must take shelter and have alot of food and water. In Timaru district, the council says it'll probably take weeks to recover from flood damage.
On Wednesday it was our last tech for the year. My group was in graphics with our tutor Mrs Ferguson. We spent the whole term designing and doing research for our juice cartons.
My fake juice carton was called Blueberry Pop. It had a straw on one side, a ingredients tab on the other and a fun maze to do at the back. Unfortunately I couldn't get the back to stick so I taped it on. For me the hot glueing bit was very hard as you had to stick on the sides while it was still hot.
Drawing the barcode was also very difficult as you have to draw and colour in a lot of lines, but it was fun. I had fun making this juice carton and hopefully we get to make more things like this.
There was a special ceremony for the families of victims killed in the Mt Erebus disaster. The apology mark 40 years since the crash of Air New Zealand Flight TE901 on Mt Erebus in Antarctica in 1979, with the loss of 257 lives. Some people say that this disaster will change New Zealand for ever and probably the airline itself. Hopefully in the future we have no more disasters like this!
Air New Zealand has announced that they have cancelled some of the Christmas flights. They say that the problem is due to maintenance issues with it's Rolls-Royce issues. The recent total of people who will be affected by this is 14,000 New Zealand.
The airline (Air NZ) has been forced to shut down their usual flights from Christchurch to Perth and other international flights in December and January. The airline announced that the airline might be cleared by Christmas but it is still in the que at the Rolls-Royce repair shop.
Hopefully the airline will be able to fix this so people could enjoy their Christmas holiday!!
Prince Charles and the duchess have now made their arrival in New Zealand for their 7 day tour. Prince Charlesand the Duchess of Cornwall have arrived in New Zealand on a 7 day tour.
Their tour of New Zealand will take them to Northland, Christchurch and Kaikōura.
During their Auckland stay, Prince Charles and Camilla will receive an official welcome at Government House and meet with Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.
Yesterday the 12th Annual Film Festival took place at Sylvia Park Hoyts Cinema. Our school (Ruapotaka) and a few other schools watched multiple films. As we arrived at the cinema there were only a few people so we took seat and waited for the other schools to arrive. There was a lot of laughter and excitement coming from the schools. The films that we watched were quite funny and had a really good message. I enjoyed the Manaiakalani Film Festival 2019! Click Here To Watch Our Film!
In totally around 600 rats have been recovered with experts concerned that more may follow.
Some of the rats have been sent for testing as the Department of Conservation to find out why it happened.
Some people believe the rats could have washed out of the hills by heavy rain after a 1080 poison operation 140km away. However, most experts are ruling this out.
Locals are being warned to keep their dogs off the beaches.
On Friday it was the first Kiwi Can Jam that Ruapotaka School attended. The arena was fulled with schools. There were many great performances but unfortunately Ruapotaka did not win a prize but we performed on that stage proud to represent our school.
Our performance began with a dance, later a skit and our final dance. When we finished we went back to school on a bus with Glen Brae.
Our teachers and principal said that we did a great job, but I was so nervous I didn't even know I did a great job!
Learners make smart relationships by knowing who they are talking to online. A learner having a smart relationship online is easy to control, you know what to do when something goes wrong and you know what to do when something doesn't seem right.
Smart relationships can happen with students connecting and sharing by commenting and interacting on each others blogs. They can make smart decisions in very hard choices.
On Saturday the Springboks *aka South Africa* won the Rugby World Cup over England. The full-time score was 32 - 12. A lot of people went to the game while some stayed home and watched from the television. Flanker Pieter-Steph du Toit was named World Player of the Year, Rassie Erasmus was named as Coach of the Year and the Springboks were named Team of the Year.
Fumes from a generator in an Auckland mall prompted evacuations and an emergency service callout on Friday morning.
Authorities headed to the Westfield Mall in Auckland's Newmarket on Friday after reports of a fire, police told Newshub. Photos and videos posted to Snapchat showed people evacuating and standing on surrounding streets staring in.
Luckily it wasn't an actually fire otherwise people would be in sreiouse danger!
A Dunedin company has announced that they are developing facial recognition for sheep. This kind of equipment is out of this world, its way in the future. The piece of technology will help farmers remember their sheeps.
The project has now received $40,000 grand from Callaghan Innovation and the company is aiming to prototype the software this year. I think that is project may have some issues but might also be fun!
A major fire has hit Auckland's Sky City Convention Centre. The large flames and chemical spills began on Tuesday mid-afternoon and might still be carrying on right this moment. St Johns have spoken saying that one person has been admitted to Auckland City Hospital in a critical condition. Skycity has evacuated people in the Sky tower, casino and all Skycity hotels, restaurant and corporate offices.
Hopefully the firefighters do stop this tragic mess!
Regions in New Zealand have completed their Local Body Elections for 2019. During these elections, regions in New Zealand vote for who they want as their mayor, city councillors, and district health boards. Wellingtons mayoral race was good with Andy Forster beating incumbent Justin Lester. While Phil Goff remained mayor of Auckland beating John Tamihere. As a surprise 19 year old Fisher Wang was elected into the Rotorua Lakes Council making him the youngest ever voted into local government in NZ
A realistic replica of Captain Cooks ship the endeavour has continued it's journey around New Zealand. The replica of the ship is part of a flotilla known as Tuia 250 that has been sailing around New Zealand in memory of Captain Cooks arrival in New Zealand. Over in the holidays the replica ship docked in Gisborne where Captain Cook saw this part and named the cove Poverty Bay. Although some people were excited for the ship to dock in their bay the local Maori community were not happy with this. Some cities didn't allow the ship to dock there because their local Maori community says that its Maori area. I think they should let the replica ship dock because Captain Cook named most the land in New Zealand.
Swedish teenager Greta Thunberg has made a inspirational speech to the world leaders at UN saying that they failed to act on climate change. "You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words" she spoke in front of the crowd. I think that the words she spoke were inspirational to younger and older people around the world. Not only are the words coming from her mouth its coming from her heart. I'm fairly certain that more younger people are going to stand up for climate change and actually care more than the UN climate summit in New York!
A fiorland penguin was found tired and struggling to walk amongst the rocks on Kennett River in west Melbourne on July 10. It was taken to the zoo to get some test results by marine experts. It'll be fed and taken care of until it is able to go back home to NZ. The penguin travelled 2,500km in total from NZ to Australia! It's surprising because penguins can't fly but their actually one of the fastest swimmers on the planet!
In New Zealand Jacinda Ardern has made the choice for all New Zealand schools to be taught about the history of our country by 2020. Some schools have the choice which parts they want to be taught. There will be changes to many schools. I think its a good idea that Jacinda Ardern has chosen to do this because not only will it help New Zealand kids right now it'll also help them in the future. Jacinda had thought of the idea while unveiling a plaque commemorating the New Zealand Wars.
Yesterday was the day when we switched technicraft groups. I thought graphics was fun and turns out it was! The first thing we created was a me which is a poster about yourself. Here is my poster about myself.
Wild weather including high winds have soaked large parts of the Southern New Zealand. A lot of people are trapped in this horrible weather!
The apology mark 40 years since the crash of Air New Zealand Flight TE901 on Mt Erebus in Antarctica in 1979, with the loss of 257 lives. Some people say that this disaster will change New Zealand for ever and probably the airline itself.
The apology mark 40 years since the crash of Air New Zealand Flight TE901 on Mt Erebus in Antarctica in 1979, with the loss of 257 lives. Some people say that this disaster will change New Zealand for ever and probably the airline itself.
The airline (Air NZ) has been forced to shut down their usual flights from Christchurch to Perth and other international flights in December and January. The airline announced that the airline might be cleared by Christmas but it is still in the que at the Rolls-Royce repair shop.
The airline (Air NZ) has been forced to shut down their usual flights from Christchurch to Perth and other international flights in December and January. The airline announced that the airline might be cleared by Christmas but it is still in the que at the Rolls-Royce repair shop.
During their Auckland stay, Prince Charles and Camilla will receive an official welcome at Government House and meet with Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.
During their Auckland stay, Prince Charles and Camilla will receive an official welcome at Government House and meet with Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.
As we arrived at the cinema there were only a few people so we took seat and waited for the other schools to arrive. There was a lot of laughter and excitement coming from the schools. The films that we watched were quite funny and had a really good message.
As we arrived at the cinema there were only a few people so we took seat and waited for the other schools to arrive. There was a lot of laughter and excitement coming from the schools. The films that we watched were quite funny and had a really good message.
Our performance began with a dance, later a skit and our final dance. When we finished we went back to school on a bus with Glen Brae.
Our performance began with a dance, later a skit and our final dance. When we finished we went back to school on a bus with Glen Brae.
On Saturday the Springboks *aka South Africa* won the Rugby World Cup over England. The full-time score was 32 - 12. A lot of people went to the game while some stayed home and watched from the television. 
St Johns have spoken saying that one person has been admitted to Auckland City Hospital in a critical condition. Skycity has evacuated people in the Sky tower, casino and all Skycity hotels, restaurant and corporate offices.
St Johns have spoken saying that one person has been admitted to Auckland City Hospital in a critical condition. Skycity has evacuated people in the Sky tower, casino and all Skycity hotels, restaurant and corporate offices.
Some cities didn't allow the ship to dock there because their local Maori community says that its Maori area. I think they should let the replica ship dock because Captain Cook named most the land in New Zealand.
Some cities didn't allow the ship to dock there because their local Maori community says that its Maori area. I think they should let the replica ship dock because Captain Cook named most the land in New Zealand.
I think that the words she spoke were inspirational to younger and older people around the world. Not only are the words coming from her mouth its coming from her heart. 
I think that the words she spoke were inspirational to younger and older people around the world. Not only are the words coming from her mouth its coming from her heart. 
I think its a good idea that Jacinda Ardern has chosen to do this because not only will it help New Zealand kids right now it'll also help them in the future. Jacinda had thought of the idea while unveiling a plaque commemorating the New Zealand Wars.
I think its a good idea that Jacinda Ardern has chosen to do this because not only will it help New Zealand kids right now it'll also help them in the future. Jacinda had thought of the idea while unveiling a plaque commemorating the New Zealand Wars.
Yesterday was the day when we switched technicraft groups. I thought graphics was fun and turns out it was! The first thing we created was a me which is a poster about yourself. Here is my poster about myself.