Charles Darwin

The Perfect Sunset

(My character is a photographer and she's 23)

My Story

As the sun rose in Bora Bora, all was quiet. The fish were swimming around under my cabin,and the birds chirped a wakeup call- wait.
Scratch that. Everything was quiet except for my cabin. Usually, I wake up then
I stare at the floor for a solid ten minutes before I actually decide to stand, but this
morning, NOTHING WAS HOLDING ME BACK.

I hurled myself out of bed, just snagging my camera on the way out the bedroom.
I glance towards the bathroom. Meh, no time for showering. I whip up my hair into a
messy bun, ignoring the alarming noises my stomach is making, and hoist up my jeans.
Belt? NOPE! I leap into my scuffs and stumble out the door, fumbling with the buttons onmy camera.

I shove my glasses up my nose and half run half shuffle along the decks (I’m wearing scuffsand it’s like, 6 in the morning, give me a break). The sun is coming up fast.
Really, how could it take 24 hours to have a day?! With how fast the sun is going it
should only take like, three! While glancing at the sun, I trip on a loose floorboard.
The SD card in my camera slips out of the slot it goes into.

It bounces along the floorboards like it’s making a grand getaway. I scramble to my feet.
“Not today world!” I think to myself. Those are all the photos from this vacation, and
no way it’s getting eaten by one of those vicious needlefish now. My scuffs flew off and
are somewhere behind me. Whatever, I don’t need shoes to get a photo of this sunrise.
I dive for my SD card and slam my hands down onto it right before it goes over the
edge of the deck. Then I get an electric shock.

“OUCH!” I yelp.
I  jam my SD card into the camera and carry on sprinting down the decks. My finger is
stinging and swollen from my electric shock and my feet are killing me. My glasses
have a crack in them as well, so I don’t really know where I’m going. So yeah.
Here I am, half blind, half asleep, splinter-ridden, and possibly radioactive.

I see a grassy patch and a sign saying “Lookout Point” (That was a lie, It actually said
“Look-k-k ou-ou-out Point”, because my glasses were cracked) I run onto the grass and
immediately jump about 2 feet into the air. Prickles. My sworn enemy (Well, now they
are, anyway). “Ow ow ow ow ow!” I yelp. My face is pinched with hard determination.
The sun rises in Bora Bora are a photographer’s jackpot, and I’m not going to let the
odds stop me today.

Well, if I don’t want to walk, I’ll crawl. I inch closer and closer to the edge of the
lookout and point my camera over the bushes. Then, the worst thing that could possibly
happen - well, happens. The red battery sign of death shows up. Darn! I frantically
switch my camera to burst and press the photo button. It clicks and whirrs like a
well-oiled machine. Finally. I exhale slowly and click playback. What I see before me
is multiple photos of the perfect sunrise. Finally.
Now all I need to do is get the perfect sunset...

How To Make A Paper Plane

Best viewed in full screen.

Creation Myth

How the rivers were Created

One day, long, long ago, before humans came to earth,
before time itself was invented, The ancient gods of the sea,
The water horses decided they needed some sort of source of water for the seas, which were drying up. So the water horses held a meeting. They would ask the ancient earth gods, the magical
horses with flowing manes and tails, to help them make channels through the earth to control water flow and fuel the sea.

The earth horses and the water horses met on the coasts of the islands, planning where to make their
channels. Once everyone was in place, the earth horses reared up a stamped their hooves into the ground,
creating huge cracks in the ground from the mountains to the coastlines, then, more earth horses galloped
down the trail of the cracks, creating big winding chasms through the land. Once that was done,
the water horses galloped through the chasms, creating an endless stream of water behind them.
Then they called on the air horses to direct the water flow in a certain direction, and the flame horses to
connect the rivers to the volcanic cycle.

So, rivers aren’t as straightforward as you think...

Website Design

HI!

Today in our computer class we had to design a website from the options on the game for a Co-Co Crunch cereal, ( It's made up ) and use the five gimmicks, Aka marketing tactics, to create a website that people would want to visit. We couldn't customize much more than the options on each page. 

I wouldn't use this as a website layout, as this has everything down the side and nothing in the middle. If we got to customize further, I would've put the Tiki in the middle, giving more of the impression that he is the mascot, and he would be holding the cereal, to put what you're actually selling, which is the cereal, in center stage. Then I would have the features like games and clubs down the left-hand side. Also, all three background options were completely irrelevant to the topic, which is the Co-Co crunch, speaking of that, the titles on the page say magic land or castle adventure when it should probably be the title of the cereal.

I think it would be much better if there were more customization features it would be easier to edit and make your website more promotable.

Heres the link, try and have fun. (Good luck) Click me

Inquiry - Trimester 2

My Tanzania Inquiry

Book review

BOOK REVIEW - THIS SHATTERED WORLD

(Disclaimer, this is REALLY long)

Super short recap! GO!

Capt. Lee Chase and Flynn Cormac have to save Avon, A war-ridden planet, from La roux industries - led by Roderick Laroux, who’s A teeny bit insane - who are going to corrupt the soldier's minds with something called the fury. (There’s a bit- okay, a lot of romance*, just saying…)

Set In -

The whole Starbound trilogy is set a long, long, LONG way into the future, a place where holograms and hover cars are replacements of digital items and sports cars. Roderick Laroux is the richest man in the galaxy and rules over the different planets with an iron fist. Avon is a planet created by La Roux industries and is in the stages of terraforming so it cannot support life fully. It is a land of swamps and deserts, and one small town sits on its face, surrounded by military barracks, and placed right next to a military base. Out in the swamps, a rebel base underground houses a group called the Fianna, rebelling against their bad holo-signal, and how the military gets better resources and a better holo-signal.

*By romance I mean Lots of kissing, but it isn’t as bad as the first book in the trilogy. On that note, it’s time for a...

Age recommendation- young adult, 15 & up.

My response…

I liked this book. Like, I really, really liked this book. The reason I’m writing about the second book is that it was my favorite one. Amy Kaufman also wrote Ice wolves, which is also a young adult’s book, so that led me to search up her name in my dad’s kindle on a ski trip. I really actually do judge a book by its cover, and the cover of the first book in the trilogy, “These broken stars” was absolutely phenomenal. I would describe the genre as something in between action and romance. Or both. The third book in the trilogy is called “Their fractured light and all three book have a connection. In the first, Lilac Laroux and Tarver Merendsen  discover the whispers, and defeat them, In the second, Jubilee Chase and Flynn Cormac call Tarver, who was Lee’s old captain, to come to Avon, then Tarver Holo-calls Lilac Laroux, his fiance, to get advice on how to defeat the whispers on Avon, and they find out the whispers were taken to three different planets, Verona, Avon, and Corinth. In the third, Sophia Quinn, and Gideon (?) meet with Lilac, Tarver, Lee, and Fynn, Sophia's old village friend, and take down Roderick Laroux in one epic finale.

Characters

Jubilee chase

Captain Jubilee chase. Grew up on Verona, around the time the rebel attacks were at their worst, her parents were killed by husks, people whose minds had been taken over by whispers, then she dedicated her life to defeating the rebels.

Flynn Cormac

Flynn Cormac, younger brother of Orla Cormac, who was the first leader of the Fianna rebellion, Flynn is now the leader, it’s in his blood, yet he is a pacifist. He kidnaps Jubilee Chase, then he helps her find out how to defeat the whispers who are corrupting the minds of soldiers and giving them the fury.

My Response… Continued!

I would totally recommend this book. The storyline and connections will make you gasp over and over again at every twist and turn in the plot.

Rating- 10/10

Cooking class for... Last week of term!

On Tuesday in cooking, we made a rice salad. First, we made the rice, then we cut up carrot, ham, broccoli, spring onion, and onion, then we fried the veggies with ginger and garlic to add flavor. Today, I learned how to fry the veggies and how to know when they are ready, and how to make rice without spilling water all over the place. I like the dish because it had good flavor but I feel like we need to add more ham next time or use bacon bits. I would rate it 9 out of 10.

Well, now I know what to make for dinner... YUMMY!

Cooking Lesson 26th June Trimester 2

Today in cooking class we made pinwheel scones, AKA cinnamon rolls, AKA DELICIOUS! at first, our mixture looked crusty, flaky and dry but then as we rolled it out it started to look better.

I learned that the pictures in our recipe book don't match exactly what we were making, for instance, the picture in the booklet was a normal scone, and we made cinnamon scones! 

Rating: 9/10      Why?   Needs more cinnamon

Before

After

DNCE Biography by Georgia

Rollercoaster

Rollercoaster

AH! I yelped. We spun round in a full loop. As the roller coaster sped up, I felt like all of myinsides were being pressed into the back of my body. Then I felt it.
The motherload. In the middle of a 50-meter downward spiral at 100kms an hour,
I lost my stomach. Well, I felt like I'd lost everything that was my insides.
I felt light-headed light-footed and it was like the ice cream and various foods
I had eaten that day had been flung into the air on the 20-meter drop. I then realized
what would happen when the track went flat again. The drop was coming to an end.
Just at the part where you feel like you're flying, whump! Annnnd hello, my insides are
back.

I felt a jump in my stomach sort of area and then I felt like my insides were trying to escape through my
mouth. I grimaced and gulped down air like I'd been underwater for a little too long. I prayed and hoped
that the incline would start. And whoop de dang doo. It was still what seemed like miles away. I tasted dry in my mouth and my head started to hurt, and I realized I no longer wanted the incline on the track

to come, remembering my fear of heights, and I was slightly relieved. That was pretty short-lived though

because as soon as the incline came my inside were gone again. We shot up that tunnel so fast the seats on

the car tilted back, and I heard someone behind me scream:  "NO! MY PHONE!". We sped out of the tunnel, and I saw the end of the track, I sighed/screamed in relief, only to be cut off when we abruptly whizzed past the stop. That's when I completely lost my mind. someone screamed, "I'm too young to die!" Then I realized that person was me. SKWEEEEEEECHHHHHHHH! the rollercoaster shuddered to a stop. I looked towards the other people on the ride, I think some were laughing, and some crying. I couldn't tell though, because The screeching noise was so deafening I couldn't hear anything. just as well because there was some spoiled rotten 10-year-old who was having a tantrum and waving an expensive-looking phone that was cracked in her poor mother's face. 

     

I could barely stand and my head was spinning, but I got off the ride in one piece. The ride engineers had
come to get us after the teenage clerk who was meant to stop and start the ride walked off to buy a
milkshake. I had thoughts of walking right up to that stupid clerk and slapping him square in the face,
but my common sense got the better of me. At the end of the day, I was just glad I was still alive.

Ratio

This week in maths we are revisiting ratio.
A ratio is like quantity VS quantity.
An easy question would be:
There are 12 boys in a class of 26. what is the ratio of boys to girls?
In this question you basically need to think: How many boys compared to girls?
Let me break it down-
12 + X = 26
X = 14
Boys - 12      Girls - 14
Ratio = 12:14
Can we simplify that answer? Yes!
Both 12 and 14 are even numbers. we can simplify our answer by splitting both numbers into twos.
Then our answer would be: 6:7
Sometimes we can simplify answers more than once but in the case you can't, because these two result numbers can't be multiplied by the same number, so we'll have to stay with 6:7
The reason people simplify is that sometimes you may be asked to state your answer in the lowest terms. so remember to check and double- check you can't simplify your answer even more.
Tip- when you read or are asked your question, look at the way it says to put your ratio. Here is an example:
Jo has 6 pencils and 12 sparkly gel pens.
What is the ratio of gel pens to pencils?
now, look how it says pencils first and gel pens second, but it asks for gel pens first? if it asked for pencils to gel pens, the ratio would be 6:12, and simplified, 2,4 and then 1:2, but because it asks for gel pens first, the answer is 12:6, then 4:2 and then 2:1
Thanks for reading, bye!

Trimester 2, week one - Cooking lessons

Today we made mousetraps during food technology. a mousetrap is a cheese toastie except with ham egg and parsley too. First, we made the mix, and then we spread on the half - grilled bread, the toasted in until it was cooked, and our teacher made banana smoothies to go with them.
It was tasty. 😊😊😊

Deforestation Inquiry

This term we worked on our inquiries related to environmental issues. Mine was about deforestation, and how it affects the world, and the animals living in it. Achieved at: Excellence! YAY! 😊😊😊

Mt Brown Trip

3/4/18

Top- Dad, Abby, Me   Middle Right - Mt brown summit selfie
Bottom right- view of Lake Kaniere

We’re going to mount brown today. Dad says it’ll take six hours, so we pack lots of chocolate.
It’s a twenty-minute drive to Lake Kaniere and then to geologist creek. There is also another route along and through the Styx river, but geologist creek is closer, so that's the way we go. We leave at 2:15 PM
and start walking in really dense forest choc-full of supplejack, and punga.
We find a really cool stump that left a cool pattern in the bark after it was cut down ( bottom left photo).
 then we started to walk through more gravel and silt. Which was a relief, because it was so muddy you’d think 50 people walked up that track every day. At 8:00, we finally reached the hut. At that point, I’d had a too-close run-in with being absolutely covered in mud, and Abby nearly got lost about a
kilometer ahead of dad and I. But the hut was warm, and the two mountain bikers/hikers/lawyers that
were already in the hut had great hut edicate. The next day, at about ten o'clock, we walked up a
quarter of the way up the ridge to the top to have morning tea. After we walked down, we spent the
rest of the day relaxing. That evening, we decided we would walk the whole way up mt brown, to the
summit. Abby ended up with three long cuts across her leg from walking through the sharp alpine plants
. I fallen into various spiky bushes multiple times and ended up with scratched up hands. The view was
amazing though. Here are some photos:

TOP OF MT BROWN!

Abby's leg ( cut and splinters )

The next day at nine o’clock sharp, we started the five-hour walk back down the mountain.

In conclusion, Mt brown is an amazing walk, but not for beginners. You climb a kilometer vertically,
and the track itself is about 6 km long. The hut is clean and warm, and the view is amazing!
It’s a six-hour walk for normal people, but a four-hour walk for experienced and extremely advanced people.

My favorite part about Mt Brown was getting to the top and when a fantail landed on Abby's Mountain stick!

Look closely at the end of the stick