A bunch of soft furry animals from the Bay of Islands have hitchhiked a ride aboard a luxury ocean liner and are emailing pictures of their world adventures back to their friends at Russell Primary School.
The pupils of Room 6 have been following the travels of their animal friends through
the emails and postcards they have received in the past few weeks.
Stripey the Zebra, Happy the Hippo and Fishy Fishy the Bear were all found and adopted by passengers of the Queen Elizabeth cruise ship during its stop in the Bay of Islands in February.
The soft toys were strategically placed around Russell by Room 6's enterprising pupils with notes attached encouraging those who found the animals to take them with them around the world.
Russell Primary School principal William Fuller said each of the 17 pupils in Room 6 wrote a card to go with soft toy they were given.
The 17 toys were then "released" at specific locations around Russell.
Thirteen of the toys new owners have since made contact with the Room 6 pupils from around the world, he said.
"Four haven't turned up. They're still missing in action."
Mr Fuller said pupils had learned map-reading skills from the exercise and were more aware of where other countries were located in relation to New Zealand.
Emails received at the school show Stripey and Fishy Fishy are still onboard the Queen Elizabeth, en route to Singapore.
Stripey the Zebra has been travelling with a Northern Irish couple who found him on a pathway in Russell. They have been sending postcards to the pupils and plan to continue doing so as they travel around the world.
Fishy Fishy the Bear's note says he has sharp claws for climbing trees and sharp claws for catching rabbits, but what he really wants to do is go fly fishing in Scotland.
Fishy Fishy is now travelling with a couple from Edinburgh who have promised to take him home.
Happy the Hippo disembarked the Queen Elizabeth in Sydney and is planning to fly to Colorado with some friends he met.
Mr Fuller said Perky the Pig had ended up at a special needs school in England and Chrissy the Xmas Pup was on her way to Hollywood.
