Primary Students Connecting and Sharing
Our Local Environment: Reefton, NZ
We also live in an area of temperate rainforest. Reefton is in a valley surrounded by hills and mountains. Our winters can be frosty or foggy or rainy and the summers can be hot.
Reefton is inland and it takes an hour to drive to the closest ocean (and to the nearest big towns).
Our town has a mining history. Nowadays there are fewer mines and more dairy farms.
Visitors come here for the tramping, biking, rafting, fishing, the mine tours and the history.
Why do people visit your town?
| Print article | This entry was posted by Mrs Judy Mckenzie on November 15, 2011 at 6:02 pm, and is filed under Local Environment. Follow any responses to this post through RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site. |
about 1 year ago
Hello Reefton,
Having been through Reefton a few times over the years, I can vouch for them. Reefton is in a beautiful part of a beautiful country.
Compared to how spread out Australia is, New Zealand is a small nation. This makes it easier to get from place to place from far north’s Cape Reinga, through the forests and the beautiful Bay of Islands,past the volcanoes and thermal areas of Rotorua, into Wellington, across the ferry, down the east coast, across the mountains to Reefton and Greymouth, along the west coast, through Haast Pass and Queenstown, to Invercargill, across by ferry and finally to Stewart Island in the far south, I never get tired of being there and wish I had more time to again return.
Reefton, the whole country is worth seeing and travelling through Reefton is worth the experience.
Ross Mannell (teacher)
NSW, Australia
about 1 year ago
Dear B4,
We loved the pictures of Reefton. They were beautiful!
We noticed a few similarities:
-We go to the pool in the next town and it is only open part of the year too (May-August)
-We have Bed and Breakfasts here in Sointula. Trista’s grandma used to work at one.
-We both have murals. We have one on the side of our grocery store and another old one on a retaining all.
-Brooklynn’s grandfather was a coal miner in another part of Canada when he was younger.
We have some questions for you:
Sophie-Is the skate park really popular?
Kennedy-Do you have to be a certain age to use the skate park?
Brooklynn-How many restaurants do you have?
Trista-How deep and big is the pool?
Lily-Does the swinging bridge actually swing?
Karin-Do people jump off the swinging bridge?
Gwen-Do you have to be a certain age to go swimming in the pool?
Ana-Do you have swimming lessons in the pool?
Your friends,
Mrs. W and the 2/3s
about 1 year ago
Dear Mrs W and 2/3s
We have some answers for you:
Sophie-Is the skate park really popular? -Yes, lots of people go there.
Kennedy-Do you have to be a certain age to use the skate park? -No you can be any age, but it’s better and safer if younger children are with an adult.
Brooklynn-How many restaurants do you have? – Counting cafes and hotels there are about 10 places where you can buy a meal.
Trista-How deep and big is the pool? -We think the pool is 25 metres long and it has a deep end and a shallow end.
Lily-Does the swinging bridge actually swing? – yes, it moves when you walk on it.
Karin-Do people jump off the swinging bridge? – yes, but you have to be brave to do it. Jack says that he has done it!
Gwen-Do you have to be a certain age to go swimming in the pool? – No, but if you are under 8 you have to have an adult watching you. Once you are 8 you can go by yourself. You can only go in the deep end if you can swim a length.
Ana-Do you have swimming lessons in the pool? – yes, people can pay for swimming lessons. Our juniors used to go to the town pool for swimming lessons but now we will use our school pool.
Thanks for your questions
your friends
B4
about 1 year ago
Dear B4,
You have to be 8 to go in alone we have to be 7 and up to go in alone. We have to be able to swim the length without touching the pool floor 
I loved your post thank-you for answering my question
I think it would be really fun jumping of the swinging bridge and scary at the same time
Thanks again
Sophie (one of Mrs.W’s 3′s)
about 1 year ago
Dear B4,
Hi there, it’s Kayla and Will from 2KJ here!
Kayla and WIll: This is a AWESOME blog post.
Will: My favorite thing to ride is a scooter.
Kayla: My favorite thing to ride is a bike.
Your slide show is great. The pictures are great too.
Leopold is close to Ocean Grove and people like to go to the Ocen Grove Beach.
Do you like going to the beach
We do!
From ,
Kayla and Will 2KJ
about 1 year ago
Dear B4,
I love your post! Your town and the surrounding area are beautiful!
I noticed that your local environment is very different than ours. Here are some examples of how they are different:
• We don’t have a gold mine.
• We don’t have dairy farms.
• We don’t have a miner hut.
• There has never been a coal mine where I live.
• I live in a large suburb of Los Angeles. We have a lot more roads and buildings than you do.
I have a question for you:
What is tramping?
Sincerely,
Leila♥
about 1 year ago
Dear B4,
Great video!
My favourite thing out of blades, bike or skateboard would be blades. I just got in to blades.
We have a skatepark in Leopold. My brother goes to the skatepark.
From Ella:lol:
about 1 year ago
Dear B4,
We loved looking at your slide show of Reefton, New Zealand. It is a beautiful town!
Sasha: I noticed that you have a mural like we have at our school. Ours has whales and sea life as well.
Leila: You have a public swimming pool. We have one too, but you have to be a member to join. There is a fee to enter.
Ellie: I notice you have an outside skate park, and we have one too. However, ours is an indoor rink, and you cannot bring a skateboard or a bike into the rink.
Logan: We get rain just like you in the winter, but we do not get snow.
We have some questions:
Jordyn: Does anyone have a pool at their house?
Alyssa: How long did the snow last? Did anyone do a snow angel?
Royce: Did you get the picture of the cows from the Internet or are those real Reefton cows?
Alexandra: How many inches or centimeters of snow did you get?
Ellie: Is there skiing near Reefton?
Sammy: Mr. Mannell mentioned volcanoes in New Zealand. Is that true and if so, are any active?
Jake: Does anyone live on a dairy farm? If so, how do you tend them?
Matthew: What kind of souvenirs can a tourist buy at the Miners’ Museum?
Mrs. Yollis: Does anyone have a family member who works in the gold mine? If so, what is that like?
Sincerely,
Mrs. Y♥llis’ class
(California)
about 1 year ago
Dera Grade 3
Wow, thanks for all of your great questions and comments.
Here are some answers for you:
Leila – we have to pay to go to our town pool too. You can pay by the swim or get a season pass.
Alyssa – the snow lasted for 2-3 days and Ganda made a snow angel!
Alexandra – there was about 2-3 inches of snow. It lasted well in the shady areas.
Ellie – to go skiing we would have to travel 2-3 hours. Jack went snow-boarding several times this winter. Do you ski?
Sammy – we have had volcanic eruptions in recent years, in the North Island. Here is some more information for you about volcanoes here.
Jake – about 5 children live on dairy farms. The cows get milked every day from spring to autumn. They get dried off in the winter waiting for the calves to be born.
Matthew – Tourists like to have a cup of tea and a scone at the miners hut. I don’t think they sell souvenirs there, but some are available at the information centre down the road, such as postcards, clothing, books etc.
Mrs Yollis- about 4 children have parents working at the gold mine. Hopefully they will tell you about it next week!
Sincerely
Mrs McKenzie and B4
about 1 year ago
Dear B4,
I really liked your amazing post.
In my opinion, Reefton is a really beautiful town. Compared to my home town, I think it is a tie between how nice our towns look.
My favorite picture in the slide show was the picture of all the cows. I think they are really cute.
We do not get wild cows where I live. Where do you guys see them?
Sincerely,
♕♔◱R♒yce♛♕♔&(Mrs. Yollis’ class)
about 1 year ago
Dear Royce
We’re glad that you like our town.
The cow photo was taken by one of our families, and the young cows were on their farm.
We don’t just get wild cows wandering around the place!
You can see Liam with his calf at last year’s pets day here.
Thanks for your great comment!
from Mrs McKenzie and B4
about 1 year ago
Dear B4
We have some questions for you about your cows:
¶ Brenden: How many calves do you get per year?
¶ Royce: Do you get any black and white cows? I only saw tan and white cows.
¶ Brenden: Do you have any goats? If so, do the cows bother the goats?
¶ Royce: Do the cows ever go near your school?
¶ Brenden: If you have goats, do they have horns?
¶ Royce: Where do the cows live?
¶ Brenden: If you have goats do they come near the school?
¶ Royce: Do the cows ever go out of town?
Sincerely,
♛◱R♔yce and Br♕nden◱♛(Mrs. Yollis class)
about 1 year ago
@ B4
Hi my name is Liam and I am in 2KM.
Wow what a great post!
I loved the photopech.
My local environment has lots of cars going down my road. I don’t spend a lot of time aronud my house because I go dirt bike riding.
What do you do in your local environment?
I have my own blog. check it out
http://liamsblog.global2.vic.edu.au/
From your blogging buddy,
Liam
about 1 year ago
Dear Reefton,
I loved your slide show.
I thought that the swing Bridge looked very peaceful.
I would love to sit there and watch the clouds go by.
Your friend,
Sophia from Mr. Salsich’s class
about 1 year ago
Dear B4,
I loved your post!
It is cool that you used to have a coal mine and now you have a gold mine.
Do you swim in the rivers a lot?
Love,
Shea in Mr. Salsich’s class
about 1 year ago
Dear B4,
I thought your video was cool!
I like to skate with my brother. I roller blade and he skateboards.
From
Sophia in Mr. Salsich’s class
about 1 year ago
Dear B4,
What do the miners do with all the gold they get? Do you know how many dairy farms you have.
Sincerely
Joseph
about 1 year ago
Dear Reefton, New Zealand,
We really like your slide show!
Here at our school we have a mural too. It has sea creatures and children playing. On another mural there is a forest scene with deer, raccoons, birds, foxes, and a coyote.
Do you have any other kinds of murals?
Sincerely,
Alexandra and Atrina
about 1 year ago
Dear B4
I like your slide show. I wish we had a gold mine, you are lucky to have one. It would be cool to dig for gold.
your friend
Chase
about 1 year ago
Dear B4,
I loved what you said about the gold mine. Is there really gold in a gold mine?
Your friend,
Creighton
about 1 year ago
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Dear B4,
I love your post! I think your local environment is beautiful!
The bridge over the river was lovely. We are wondering, can you jump off it? Is the river deep or shallow?
•Do some of your parents work at the gold mine?
Sincerely,
Leila and Kelly
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about 1 year ago
Dear B4,
We don’t have a skate park. Our preference is blades.
We have some questions.
What is a miners’ hut?
What is your climate?
How many people mine gold in a year?
Your buddies,
Trey and Alyssa (Yollis students)
about 1 year ago
Dear B4,
I liked your video of your local environment. The coal mine sounded dangerous. I would not want to go under ground in a small cave to get coal, I’d rather dig for gold.
from,
Dylan in Mr. Salsich’s class
about 1 year ago
Dear Refton,
We really enjoyed your video of your local environment and our favorite photo was the mural.
We have some questions for you:
•How many years have you been called the town of light?
•Has anyone been to the skate park? Is it fun? Which do you like to do, roller skates, skate boards, or bicycles?
•Have you ever been to been to the Miners’ hut?
Sincerely,
Sarah and Aidan
about 1 year ago
Dear B4,
We both like your local environment! It looks like a fantastic town to live in. Matthew likes the deer the best out of all the other pictures. Parsa likes the Skate Park the best , and out of all of the other stuff you can use in the Skate Park I would chose the skate board.
I saw your local environment, and we enjoyed watching it . It looks so fun.
Does Mrs. McKenzie ever got the skatepark?
Sincerely,
Matthew and Parsa
about 1 year ago
Dear B4,
You have a beautiful area you live in. My preference is blades. I have some questions. Can you jump off of the swing bridge? How many dairy farms are there?
about 1 year ago
Dear b4
My Dad works at oceana gold mine, think it’s beautiful.. New Zealand is my Favorite country and Phillipines is too.
your
Ganda