Outside Te Papa

 Outside Te Papa is a bush walk complete with a cave including glow-worms and stalagmites and stalegtites.

 we wandered over a swing bridge,

 investigated some rock and fossil formations,

 explored a cave or two! We walked amongst preschoolers from a Te Kōhanga Reo. It was wonderful to hear the little ones chatting(and even giving cheek to their supervisors!) in their own language.

 Te Kōhanga Reo is a total immersion Māori language family programme for young children from birth to six years of age.It was begun in 1981 by the Department of Māori Affairs in response to Māori concern to ensure the continuing survival of the Mäori language.At Kohanga Reo all education and instruction is delivered in te reo maori.
 

 Later in our New Zealand visit we were privileged to stay with a couple whose grandson is attending one of these maori language nests."More than half of the world's 7,000 languages are expected to die out by the end of the century, often taking with them irreplaceable knowledge about the natural world, Harrison said."Harrison and Gregory Anderson""Most of what we know about species and ecosystems is not written down anywhere, it's only in people's heads"Harrison and Gregory Anderson.When a language is lost, centuries of human thinking about animals, plants, mathematics, and time may be lost with it.(ref:http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/09/070918-languages-extinct_2.html)