Week 8: Blake VR Expedition

Yesterday we got to use VR headsets for the Blake expedition. When I got to school a bunch of people were excited. And that’s when I remembered that we were going to get to use headsets. Then I checked my wātaka and figured out that I was in the first group!

When I went down to the hall we saw a screen that had a bunch of information on it. In front of us were heaps of VR headsets that we were going to use later. When the person told us to put the headsets on. The first thing we saw were a bunch of fishes. It wasn’t moving, it was just a picture but we could still look around. Wearing a VR headset is like having goggles that can take you to a different place and still be able to look around. And then I looked down. It was so weird not being able to see my body. It was so cool.  

After that they told us that they controlled what they were seeing from their phones. The first clip was at a really cool place but I forgot what it was but it was cool. The next place they showed us was goat island. They told us that we should think about whether we thought it was a healthy or unhealthy ocean. So far all the places they showed all looked healthy. But then they showed us an area where people overfished. There were no lobsters to eat kina, so the kina ate all the seaweed and the fishies moved out. And when you opened the kina, they starved and had no meat in them.

I learnt that if you over fish and harvest too much lobster the kina take over and eat all the seaweed and all the fishies move out and the kina starve. Also, stingrays can bump into cameras. 

I really enjoyed the experience, I also was inspired to become a marine biologist.