Gladstone Primary Invades Auckland Botanic Gardens. November 2009

It was a beautiful sunny spring day in Auckland.
Year 3 at Gladstone School were off on a trip to the Auckland Botanic Gardens.
My Granddaughter Mia, invited me to join them.
All the children assembled outside of their classrooms, while we waited for the buses to arrive. There are so many children, they needed 3 buses.
One of them was a double-decker bus.
Great excitement about that.
Mia belongs to Room 33. Mr Lee is her teacher.
I was allocated 3 boys and 3 girls to be in my team.
They were given work sheets, to guide them in their pursuit of knowledge.
They are learning about plants and bees.
A living classroom.

My Motley Crew - Pictured below
From left to right: Freddie, Michalea, Malachy, Mia, D'Angelo and Germain
We all loaded onto the bus. The children were very excited.
Lucky me, I was allowed to sit next to Mia
Across the aisle from us were Freddie and Michaela
D'Angelo popped his head up for me
Germain and Malachy patiently waiting
Hurry up we are ready to go!
We had a lady driver. We were intrigued by the clock at the front, it was stuck on 12.30...good thing we were not relying on it to tell us the correct time
After a long trip on the motorway we arrived at The Gardens.
My little crew regrouped and we set off to get our instructions for the day.
The rest of the children followed us.
Time for a brain snack.


We looked at our Map.
Germain took charge.
First stop The Rock Garden.
Full of succulents. My crew loved the Cacti.
First lesson, don't touch them they Bite!
Such a beautiful plant.
So many Cacti.
They look like the Three Billy Goats Gruff, trudging over the bridge.
Where's the troll?
Off for a wander around the Camellia trees.
An Asian theme
A serene retreat... for contemplation perhaps?
More walking along the Loop road, to the Spring Blossoms area
Very green and leafy.
Unfortunately all of the Spring Blossoms have already flowered.
Pity it must be beautiful in the Spring.
Always fun to walk the plank.
Next, we went to the Potter Children's Garden
The shady walled garden is full of interactive activities and tells the story of the kereru and the püriri tree.
My crew loved the maze and climbing through the tunnel


Time for a break and a drink of water. Looking a little tired.
Look at these lovely painted tiles around the rest area.
Nice big pottery eggs, for kids to play in.
The gardens have several sculptures dotted around the park.
The crew loved this one.
Midday arrived
Time for lunch.
Someone discovered these tiny baby birds just outside of the toilets...
Seems like they could have used a toilet of their own!
While looking around The Edible Garden,
my crew also caught a glimpse of a bridal party.

If there's water,children must walk on it.
The boys having a break in the endangered species garden.
We were luck enough to see this family of ducks...so cute
Just by the duck pond is this wonderful sculpture. Just mirrors our little family of ducks
When you see a grassy slope what do you do?
Roll down it.

Time to get back to the meeting place.
Mr Lee looking very pensive. Hoping all the kids have returned perhaps?
Right Year 3. It's time to load up the bus. Home time.
This time, our crew got to ride on the double decker bus...
Top deck for the kids...
The lucky adults had the lower layer to themselves.

Mia disembarking, Thank you driver.
The long walk back to the classroom.
Time to reflect on the day...All looking a little tired.
Thank you Mia and Mr Lee for inviting me.
Thank you also to Freddie, Michaela, Germain, D'Angelo and Malachy
It was fun.