The final day!

Today was the last day of the term and year. This is my 300th blog post over the three years 😃! Let's recap the awesome year what has happened over the year (till Term 4). It's because I hadn't posted a recap each holiday.

Term 1

In Science: Psychology - I had finished my badge.

In Cybersmart - Smart Learner

Reading

We hadn't done that much things in the first term. Below are some things that I've posted.

Me on the Scenic Railway
Not a good image because
I had taken it on one hand
while it going on

1. Blue Mountains

The post was about the trip to the Blue Mountains, Katoomba, Sydney. Here's the link to the post. I had been seen the Three Sisters (an unusual rock formation), been on the 'Scenic Railway' (a 52° railway that goes down, it is the steepest railway in the world) and went on the 'Cableway' and 'Skyway'. It was really fun.

2. The Olympics

2018 Commonwealth Games

I had posted two posts about the '2018 Commonwealth Games'. Here is the link to the post. The first post was about information about the 2018 Commonwealth Games. It included why it is held in the Gold Coast and other recommended cities. 

In my second post, it included the medal standing scoreboard. Well, Australia was first, with a lead of 72 medals. New Zealand was 6th place, with 32 medals. 

After the Commonwealth Games ended, I had made a post about the medal standings scoreboard (again) and I added in the best moments in the Commonwealth Games.

Term 2

In term 2, I had posted a lot. Most of them are from my Astronomy science badge. On the 23rd of May, I had been to the EPro 8 Challenge at Cobham Intermediate. In my team, there was Axle, Zayd, Lars and I. It was really fun, we were 6th place. We were just a few points away from 3rd place. Here is the link to the post.

For Philosophy, I had made a Powtoon about 'Why Don't we feel Earth Orbiting?'. Here is the link to the post if you want to see the video.

My most favourite moment of term 2 was making the Solar System. On the right, is an image of how it looked like. It looked really realistic and I'm really proud of it. Here is the link to the post if you want to know some facts/information.



Holidays after Term 2

I had gone on a trip to Rotorua, it was awesome and it was really fun. Here is the link to the posts. My most favourite moment was going to Wai-O-Tapu. So we went to Wellington by plane, then drove to Palmerston North and stayed there for a night. The next day, we drove to Taupo and had lunch there. After an hour later we reached Rotorua. By then, it was night time. We had reached the lodge. The third day was long, we had heaps of fun. So first we drove south (between Rotorua and Taupo) to Wai-O-Tapu (a geothermal area). First, we had been to the 10:15 AM, Lady Knox Geyser. It was really cool and we could feel the water (because of the wind blowing in our direction), by then the water had turned cold when it came to us. After the show, we went to Geothermal Park via the Visitor Centre. It was a 2.5km walk. One of the coolest parts was the Champagne Pool (not really champagne [just the name]). We had to cross a wooden boardwalk. As you can see the second image, you have to cross over a boardwalk. That time it was the winter season so the Champagne Pool was steamy and we couldn't even see anything.

Walk 2 was quite boring because there were only bushes and trees that we could see. As we go down the stairs, there were two directions to go. We had gone on the right side (starting from No.13) and we went till No.15. When we reached at the end of the Frying Pan Flat, it started drizzling. It was a good thing that we didn't go in the other direction. So we ran back, we went past the Champagne Pool, saw the Sulphur Cave and the Devil's Cave.

Below is the map of Wai-O-Tapu.

After Wai-O-Tapu, we drove past Rotorua, Tirau, Piarere, Cambridge, Kihikihi, Otorohanga, Hangatiki and arrived at Waitomo. I can remember some cool facts that the guide told us.

1. "Every time the water drops from the rock it creates the rock. Every thousand drop makes about the size of one cubic centimetre."
2. The host showed other rocks and said that that looks like a family with a mother, two kids, a dog and a tiny father. There was a big rock that looked like an elephant. The host also talking about the rock shaped Kiwi.
3. "Glowworms' food can be their family members."

We went to Hamilton for a short while and went to Rotorua. 

It was an amazing trip at Rotorua. Now, I'll talk to you about Term 3. 

Term 3

In Term 3 we had done Business and Enterprise. For cybersmart, we had done Smart Relationship.

Here's a small preview of our Business and Enterprise.

In my first post, I had included who was in my group, what we were deciding to make, writing the financial letter, making our logo/slogan, marketing plan, making our banners, listing our tasks and what we need to do on time. 

On the 22nd of August, we had gone to Cantamath 2018 competition at Horncastle Arena, after school. In the group, there were Axle, Zayd, Jeff and I. There were many schools competing in different years. Our school had about 3 teams competing, year 7s, 8s, 9s.

Also, there was another competition, it was the 'Great Christchurch Technology Challenge'. We took part in the Construction Challenge. We had to make a walking frame out of newspaper and sellotape. In the group, there were Axle, Lyan and I. After the walking frame was built in 1:30 hours, the judges had to put a wooden beam on top of the walking frame. Our walking frame could hold only one wooden beam. We got points by getting the perfect measurements right. We had come 3rd place. In the prizes, there were a VR and Bluetooth speakers. We could choose one, so I chose the Bluetooth speakers. It was really fun and I wish that I could do it again.

Holidays after Term 3

I had done my Geology badge, to finish it. Here's the link to the posts. I just had my science badge over the holidays.

Term 4

It was the final term of the year and I was so excited. I had started my Environmental Science Badge and finished it. In cybersmart, we had done Smart User. We had answered some questions from A Google A Day (Explorers, Amphibious vehicle), written a biography about Sir Peter Blake who was a famous sailor and done some Summer Learning Journey Preps (Activity 1, Activity 3).

We had passion projects and I chose Discovery. In Discovery, we had chosen to do food, trying to discover something and change it. If you want to see the posts, click here. It was really fun and we discovered cool things. I was in a group with Axle, Vann and Ranit. We had lots of fun trying and making new products/dishes. My favourite product was the Panna Cotta. It looked so good.

On the 27th November 2018, I had watched the landing of NASA's InSight Lander. Here is the link to see the posts. I had posted about the lander on that day. It included goals in the mission, an overview, images, a video of the landing, more other videos and why is InSight going to Mars. After a few posts later, I had posted another post about NASA's InSight Lander. It was mostly about the instruments that NASA's InSight lander has. A day later, I looked at the articles of InSight and I found out that InSight had recorded a clip of Mars' wind.

I hope you like my post about the review of this year. Be tuned to view my posts about NASA InSight, the Summer Learning Journey and I will be starting a new series, starting from today December, so be tuned. Have a cool day!! Bye!!

A Mountain named Blue Mountains?

For recount I had wrote a time when I had been to Blue Mountains in Sydney (Not on my blog). My Dad and I went to Sydney at 1st of March and we went to Blue Mountains at 4th of March. I had a great day at Blue Mountains read below of my journey with my Dad at Blue Mountains. I hope you like my recount. Have a cool day!! Bye!!

Blue Mountains

It was a Sunday morning in Sydney when we decided to go and look at Blue Mountains, to see the scenic view. We got ready and went in the car. I really like traveling and looking at scenic views. My dad’s friend went with us. He drove the car and he said to go to Oporto. We got a burger each and peri peri sauce chips. I checked on Google Maps where is Blue Mountains and is was 1 hour and 5 minutes to reach Blue Mountains. I am really excited!

This was my fourth and second last day at Sydney. On the way we saw Wet n’ Wild, remember when I went to Wet n’ Wild in Gold Coast. But the trees where covering the site and we were on the motorway. There wasn’t much things to look around but there was more cars than we see in our motorways.

My dad’s friend said that we are going to look at Three Sisters. I was thinking, “Three Sisters?” He said that Three Sisters is a tourist attraction. I was really excited to see the Three Sisters.

After 45 minutes…

“We are nearly there,” my Dad’s friends said. We were going on top of the hills, and there was a sign called ‘Scenic World’. We arrived at Katoomba. Katoomba is a small town outside of Sydney. There was an underground parking for the scenic view. We walked over to the entrance, we went inside and there was the view of the mountains. At the reception they gave a band (with a barcode), a map and said to go on the railway and then go for a walk, there was one way for 30 minutes and 10 minutes. My Dad said to go on the 10 minute walk and go on the railway back.

We scanned the barcode and took a photo of the view with my dad, on the way it said that the Scenic Railway is the steepest railway in the world. We had to wait in a long line. We waited for 5 to 10 minutes when it was our turn to go on the Scenic Railway. When we were waiting we heard people screaming when the Scenic Railway went down. My Dad said that they were being too scared of the ride. We were sitting in the middle of the railway. There wasn’t any seatbelts to wear. The doors of the side automatically closed. The railway slowly went forward, when the railway went steeper it got a bit faster. People screamed when the railway went steeper. The railway goes steep to 52°. We had to hold the bars that were on top. We wanted to take some photos when we go but it was really hard. My Dad took this photo when this railway was about to go down. People screamed and for me it was fun to ride this railway. When we arrived at the bottom we could see the Three Sisters. We took some photos together with the mountains. I went up and looked at the view and there were heaps of mountains in front and around me.

My Dad and I went on the 10 minute walk to the Cableway. We walked and saw the trees. When we were walking there was a old mine that had been closed. “Where here” I said, it didn’t seem like it was a 10 minute walk.

We had arrived at the Scenic Cableway. It wasn’t a long line like the Scenic Railway. When the Cableway came there were more people than we waited in the line. My Dad and I stayed in the front to see the view. There was the three sisters in the view. When we turned around we could see the trees and the nature. The Cableway was slow because people can see the view of the mountains and hills. When the cableway stopped it gave us a tiny swing of the cableway. We went out of the cableway and walked to the Skyway.

The line of the Skyway was similar to the Railway but the Skyway comes every 2 minutes (there is a screen to count how long does it take). After 2 Skyways came and went it was out turn to go on the Skyway. My Dad’s friend said to go in the middle of the Skyway because you can see under the Skyway (the electro-glass cabin floor). When we went in the Skyway we went in the middle of the Skyway. There was a introduction of the Skyway, facts and its view. They also said that you can see the Three Sisters from the view. When the Skyway started we could see under the Skyway. It was amazing. We could see Katoomba Falls, Jamison Valley in the distance and plants and trees under us. There was an announcement that we have reached to the destination, we didn’t got off because we didn’t had time looking on the other side. So we stayed and waited for the people to come, we were still standing in the middle of the Skyway. When we reached back we went in the car and my Dad’s friend said to go to Echo Lookout. There is a great view there.

We reached there in a few minutes. We had a good parking near the lookout. There were dark green mountains. There were tourists looking at the view. It was awesome. We could see the three sisters really closely. I took some pictures of the Three Sisters and the view of the mountains in a pano. It was a great view. This was the best trip so far. In the distance we could see the Skyway. I was thinking “Why is the Skyway far when we could see the Three Sisters closely?” It was quite weird. We went downstairs. There was the Prince Henry Cliff Walk but we didn’t want to do it. We stayed for 10 minutes then we went back in the car to go home.

It was an awesome day at Blue Mountains and Echo Point. My favorite time was when we had to go on the Scenic Railway, done the 10 minute walk, the Skyway and Echo Point, there was a great view.