Crossing the Tasmen

In 1928, a crew of four men flew, for the first time, across the Tasmen from Australia to New Zealand. One of the men on board the Southern Cross airplane was a New Zealander named T.H. McWilliams. His job was to operate the radio in the airplane. Unfortunately, the radio stopped working shortly after take-off and the rain and ice were so heavy that the pilot, Kingford Smith, couldn't see out of his front windscreen! For this task we had to imagine if we were part of the crew, and to write a poem about how we would have felt when they landed safely in Christchurch after the long trip. I chose to write a Limerick, here it is.

Oh sunshine, oh beautiful sunshine.

Finally outside, trees twine.

Flowers everywhere are blooming.

Bees are always zooming.

Oh sunshine, oh beautiful sunshine.

Art Deco

In the 1920's a new artistic movement emerged in New Zealand (and around the world). It was called the 'Art Deco'. For this activity we have to rate a painting in this style out of five. (1 star= terrible painting 2 stars= pretty bad painting 3 stars= okay painting 4 stars= good painting 5 stars= amazing painting). I personally give it five out of five I love this painting, it is very detailed and look very realistic. The shading is awesome too. Here is a photo of the painting, this is Self Portrait by Tamara de Lempicka.

The Silent Movie

The 1920's saw a massive surge in the number of people going to movies. Huge new cinemas were built in both Auckland (The Civic Theatre) and Dunedin (Empire De Luxe). The most popular type of movies showing at New Zealand cinemas were 'silent' films. For this task we have to try and figure out what the movie is about and do you think you would enjoy watching a silent film. For this I am doing it on the Lion Cage, this clip I got to watch was hilarious. It is about a man who is being chased by a donkey into a lion's cage, and accidentally locks himself into the cage with the lion. Lucky the lion is asleep on the floor. Here is the clip if you want to watch it.