An unexpected visitor

By Maggie (aged 8)

Late one afternoon, me and my sister and brother were exploring the garden as it was getting dark. My sister and I heard our little brother yelp. We ran back to him and then I saw what he had seen! I yelped too and jumped back. A wētā! Wow! We have never seen an insect so big. We showed Mum and then we discovered that it was actually dead. We did some research and we think it is a female because it has a long tail that it would have used to push her eggs down into the soil. Wētā species normally live in forests, the bush, and caves. What was it doing on our garden path in suburban Auckland?! And why did it die on our path? This was a bit of a mystery. 

Me and my grandad decided that we would build a wētā hotel in case another other wētā come to visit us as well!