Maungakiekie

4 May 2016

By Arnav Kumar

Pre-trip Activity

Interesting facts from my research about Maungakiekie

1. How tall is One Tree Hill?
Maungakiekie / One Tree Hill is 182-metres tall (597 ft)
2. Who was responsible for the chainsaw attacks?
A maori activist Mike Smith attacked the tree with a chainsaw in 1999, badly
damaging the tree which then was removed in 2000.
3. When was the tree removed?
The tree was removed on October 26 2000 because of all the chainsaw attacks
making it unsafe for the tree.

Post Trip Activities

Brief summary of what we did on our trip

When we arrived at Maungakiekie by bus, we had been organised into groups with
teachers and parents. I was with Mrs Parekh, with me was Ryan, Adam, Nimit, Sam,
Alyshia, Jordan & Elysha. We went with a tour guide up the mountain while she was
explaining how the land was formed and all the craters. When we reached the top by
the obelisk, all of us sat down and we sketched the landforms that we could see. I
sketched Rangitoto but I couldnt finish it in time. Then after a while we all went back
down to Stardome and had lunch outside. After that we were handed over to some
other helpers who demonstrated how our seasons and orbits works. Then we did a
quiz where we had to find the answers on the exhibitions. Next we went into the
planetarium where there is a big screen that stretches round the room. We watched a
short documentary about the weather on other planets in our solar system. After it was
finished we headed back onto the bus and back to school.

3 new things I learned about Maungakiekie

1

It was used by the

Maori

It was once populated by over

5000 people, they used it as a fort
to protect themselves. Everyone
was strategically placed in order
from the most capable to the
least. In 1845 the Ngati Whatua,
with the representatives of the
Waiohua people, sold a block of
land which included
Maungakiekie / One Tree Hill to
a merchant, Thomas Henry.

Not allowed in the

craters

Our tour guide showed us the

craters, she also said that
people weren't allowed in there
because it damages the land
and causes erosion.
While we were walking past
another crater we saw a lot of
pictures, names, words, faces
made with rocks at the bottom
of the crater.

Obelisk

The obelisk that is on top of

Maungakiekie was built in
memory of Sir John Logan
Campbell. It was designed by
Richard Atkinson Abbot. It
was completed in 1940, but
the unveiling was delayed till
1948 until after World War II

3 new things I learned at Stardome

1

Weather On
Different Planets

All the planets have unique

weather systems. Like Jupiter
with the Great Red Spot,
Neptune with its frozen surface
And Saturns moon Titan,
where humans could possibly
live in the future.

The Days, Nights

& Seasons Of Earth

They did a demonstration on

why we have the different
seasons and how they occur.
They also showed us how the
Earth moves which cause tides
when the moon and sun align
with each other. There was a
High Tide, Low Tide & Neap
Tide.

Fast Facts

We did a quiz where all the

groups would race to go to the
right exhibition to find the
answers to the questions.
While we were doing that we
read a lot of things and some
things were actually really
interesting.

My favourite part of our trip

The part of our trip I enjoyed the most was sitting underneath the gigantic screen
in the planetarium where they played a documentary about the different weather
on the planets of our solar system. It was really cool how they used animation and
at times there would be stuff flying down from the sky and it would feel like it was
actually going to hit you. All the types of weather on the different planets were so
fascinating and it was just amazing!

Maungakiekie
One Tree Hill