Wrecked on Rangitoto

Rangitoto Island’s Wreck Bay was the destination for the final activity of Voyager’s April school holiday programme. Approximately 100 children, teenagers, supervisors and museum staff boarded a 360 Discovery ferry on Friday to take the short trip to Islington Bay, located between Rangitoto and Motutapu Islands.

Landing at Islington Bay Wharf, we set off briefly on the easy-going unsealed road that runs through the middle of the island, before turning off onto the Wreck Bay ‘track’ that passes over kilometre upon kilometre of rugged lava terrain. It’s a unique experience that requires sturdy shoes. At least two of the teenagers chose to ignore that memo and toughed it out in their jandals – a mistake they’ll be unlikely to repeat any time soon.

Popping out of one of the small forests that break up the lava fields, our arrival at Wreck Bay was almost by surprise. The shoreline is, of course, bereft of any sign of life, and there’s almost a sense of abandonment when you catch a glimpse of one of the wrecks that litter the coast. Scrambling over a hill to the neighbouring Boulder Bay found a more open beach with approachable shoreline, along with several more wrecks.

Pausing for lunch and the mandatory stone throwing, we embarked on the return walk more mentally prepared for the trek ahead of us. There were some slightly sore ankles from the uneven terrain, and just one minor ankle sprain, but also plenty of smiles for having completed the experience without being late for the ferry. You’d suspect many of the younger kids will have had a good night’s sleep, while one or two of the party even managed a wee kip on the brief ferry ride back to Auckland.

Read more about Wreck Bay here

Creating world-beaters with the Voyager Kids Council

At Voyager, we think it's important that young New Zealanders learn about the explorative spirit of a seafaring nation, so they can chase their dreams and become the next generation of Kiwi adventurers. The perfect way to do that is to inspire them with the stories of those who have gone before them – let them see it's possible to become a world-beater from a small country at the bottom of the world.

But kids don’t necessarily want to learn about the stories of discovery, dreams and adventure in the same way that adults do. That’s why we’re on the lookout for up to three enthusiastic 5-11year olds to help us make the museum sweet for kids. We’re calling it the Voyager Kids Council, and applications are open now.

We want kids who possess a great imagination, have a sense of adventure, and know how to have fun. Most importantly, we want them to be able to tell us how we can make our galleries a place where kids can have fun, be inspired, and learn a thing or two.

Once we’ve got our team together, we’ll bring them into the museum and show them what we’ve got to offer for kids, then get them to tell us how we could do it better from their perspective. It won’t be too onerous from a time perspective, but we’re hoping to get loads of ideas for how we could shake things up a little.

And to say thanks to the kids who are selected to be a part of the Voyager Kids Council, we give them a bunch of free stuff including some Voyager gear, a lunch or two, and a Voyager Crew membership for their family.

For more information, and an application form, check out the Voyager Kids Council webpage.