River Walk

Last Thursday the Totara Team went for a river walk to check out the bridges and some of the landmarks that make our river the special part of Hamilton that it is.

Before we left, we looked at a painting that showed all the bridges of Hamilton.

The bus dropped us off at Fairfield Bridge and we walked back up the west bank of the river.
It was a beautiful wintry day. The river was magnificent.



We really enjoyed our walk. Here are some photos from the trip:

Here we are, setting out after the bus dropped us.

We waved to the second bus-load of kids we could see across the river.

Some people thought that it was a very long way.

Whitiora Bridge

There were some stunning views of the river.

We walked under the Whitiora Bridge. Some people wondered why it has big cracks in it. We learned that it needs to be able to move a bit as the heavy cars and trucks drive over it, so the cracks allow it to flex.

We stopped at the site of the Kirikiriroa Pa. It was the first place that Maori settled when they came to settle the area.

The Railway Bridge and Claudelands Bridge.

When we reached the Claudelands Bridge we found the river path was closed so we had to go up through town and walk along Victoria Street.

It turned out to be a good thing, because we saw some of Hamilton's great icons.

Here is a cool Kaka someone stencilled on a wall.

We stopped at the statue of Riff Raff.

And we saw the statue of Sapper Moore Jones. He was a Hamilton artist during the Second World War and he lost his life saving people from the Hamilton Hotel fire that happened close to where his statue is.

Here is the newest art installation in Hamilton.
The Tongue of the Dog. We all thought it was a wonderful piece of work.

See the beautiful shadows and reflected colours that dance on the water of the pool under the artwork.

We passed the Band Rotunda by the
Ferrybank Landing.

And walked under the Victoria Bridge.

Past the waka ama at the Boat Club.

And back over the Victoria Bridge.

We saw the Museum from Memorial Park.

There were poppies flowering in the Anzac Memorial Garden

Wow! The Kowhai trees must be pretty huge in Parana Park!

We passed the Rangiriri down below Memorial Park.

This is the Putikitiki Stream that runs under our school and comes out at the river near to Parana Park.

Relaxing at Parana Park.

We admired the beautiful mosaic at Parana Park.

We had a lovely day out. But it was nice to get back to school to relax after such a long walk.