Magenta - Taupo: août 2015

Rats in the trenches

When he died, a young man was eaten by rats in the trenches. Four hours after, only a few parts of his body remained.
This fact showed the horror in the trenches, with the lack of hygiene, the fright of the fights, the lack of sleep, and... rats.
Rats ate everything: food, corpses... They invaded the trenches !

Our day at Taupo-Nui-A-Tia College !

Weahh your school is very very different from ours in New Caledonia !
In your school, we are free: we can eat, drink, play with your phone, listen to music... It's very funny !
But in Noumea, it's contrary. It's very strict. Your classes are different too. Your timetable is very complicated, and very short for us, because in New Caledonia we start at 7.20am and we finish sometimes at 4.30pm, and it's boring ! In Taupo, pupils start at 8.30am and always finish at 3.20pm, and after they are free to do activities (dance, basketball, rugby...).
And you don't eat at the school canteen, you have a lunch box.
Your school is so cool !!

Poppie's wall

The Poppies wall was the most interesting thing in the museum for me, because it was really impressive and there Thousands of Poppies symbolizing all the deads during the war : red for soldiers, white for horses and green for the dogs. It was really affecting because it was so beautiful... Its really sad. 🌸

When we went to the Waiouru museum, I liked the poppy wall because there was a lot of flowers and each of them represents a dead. When I saw that I thought about all the families who lost a husband, a father or a son...

Item of museum

The item that moved me was the "box of smells". This box contains the smells one could smell during the first world war. I ,then realized that the soldiers lived in terrible conditions. The smells were horrible and the soldiers couldn't avoid it.

Wai-O-Tapu

Wai o tapu is a thermal wonderland. This site is 30 minutes away from Taupo.We can assist to a presentation of the geyser Lady Knox. The geyser can reach twenty meters high. The guide put some soap in the crater. We made a long walk in the big park where lots of geyser are in activity. The water can reach hundred degrees Celcius. It smells like rotten eggs because the water contains differents gas. It is these gas that give the blue colour or green colour to the water.

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Life in class

On friday, we shadowed our billet during the class. Life in Taupo Nui-A-Tia college (TNT) is different from our college. The pupils wear a uniform. The school subjects and the class atmospher surprised us . The students have cooking, toursim, architecture, sewing, interior design and so many more options. It's awesome! The pupils are more free because they can use their phone, eat and drink in class! It's funny! 😃

National Army Museum

Wednesday 29 July, we went to the National Army Museum.
The travel was boring because it was very long. We saw every type of weather: snow,rain,sun,cloudy sky and hail.
When we arrived it was very cold and in the museum we saw a café: SWEET! But we had to visit the museum... too bad! 😔😔 so the guide Mark was waiting for us,he explained us the visit of the museum. Then we started. He explained us the life of soldiers in the trenches, and many aspects of the war.

After the visit we went to a hangar.We were divided in 5 groups and a member of the staff gave us soldiers' rations. We had to cook it and share it.
On the menu, we had beef and chicken stew with noodles. It was fun to live like a soldier but just for an hour...