For a school student on Aotea Great Barrier Island, it was a time to explore and be curious.
For Police, it meant a search and rescue operation involving the Eagle helicopter.
The school principal had raised the alarm as soon as the student was found to be missing and concerns for her safety were growing.
Senior Constable Andrew Osborne was alerted and began to co-ordinate the search, alongside his colleague in the island's two-person station, Constable Ding Capunitan (Andy and Ding are pictured right).
While assistance was requested and sent from the mainland, numerous members of the community and a group of local conservationists stepped up in support.
“The team at Tū Mai Taonga is working to make the island predator-free, so they know the tracks and the land really well,” says Andy.
“Police were fortunate to have them alongside us during the search and it was one of their workers who discovered the student, half a kilometre from the child was last seen. They did an amazing job.”
Tū Mai Taonga Project Lead Makere Jenner says their field crews jumped at the opportunity to assist with the search as the drama unfolded in November.
“Their knowledge of the bush area and surrounding tracks, their experience in looking for elusive things and their training in emergency response meant they were well skilled to assist in the search and rescue operation," she says.
“We are so proud of our field crew team member Ellyse Randrup who found the missing child — but it was a team effort, not just from the Tū Mai Taonga crew, but a collaboration with local Police, the Department of Conservation, Land Search and Rescue and community volunteers.”
Andy adds: “It was a tense time for the child and her family back on that Tuesday afternoon at the beginning of November, and with the help of the Aotea Great Barrier Island community we got an awesome result.”