Chocolate eggs galore at Upokongaro school

From left: Zareah Marshall (front) showing off her prize with Erica Ward, 12, Keisha Craven, 12, and Jasmine Goodwin, 5. Photo/Stuart Munro

Easter was slightly delayed at Upokongaro School on Friday - but excitement was still plentiful.

Beside the monkey bars, on top of the slide, and beneath the bark - shiny Easter eggs glistened in a bid that each one would be collected by the 125 pupils of Upokongaro School.

The rural school, located on SH4 about 10km north of Whanganui, was the lucky winner of a competition put on by Bailey's real estate and More FM.

School principal Warren Brown said it was the first time the school had had an Easter egg hunt and the kids were not left disappointed.

"They have been celebrating Easter for the last couple of weeks, they did a lot of background work to what Easter was about, and this was a great finale to a week or two of work."

Five-year-olds Zareah Marshall and Jasmine Goodwin claimed to be Easter-egg-hunter- pros.

"We've done Easter egg hunts at home before. We found them everywhere," Zareah said.

Everyone was a winner at Upokongaro School. Photo/Stuart Munro

Because competition was fierce, seniors and juniors had to be divided so it was fair.

Twelve-year-olds Erica Ward, Keisha Craven and Cory Goff had to hunt quickly and cleverly to beat the boys.

"It was pretty competitive to get in before the boys - but it only took me five seconds in the end," Erica said.

"The boys kept running over and grabbing them before the competition had started," Cory said.

In the end each pupil was limited to one egg and everyone was a winner.