On Friday the 3rd of March the year 12 and 13 tourism classes got to go on a Akaroa trip.

We left Burnside High School at roughly 8am on a beautiful big bus seeing some amazing views and arriving at Akaroa at around 10am. The first thing we visited in Akaroa was the museum, where we walked around looking at the history of Akaroa. There was also a cottage outside of the museum called Langlois-Eteveneaux cottage. It showed the history of the cottage and what the wallpaper looked like back in the 1800s. After the museum, we went back on the bus and the bus driver took us to the wharf. From there we boarded an amazing boat called the Black Cat for a harbour cruise. We cruised for two hours and got to learn more about the history of Akaroa by seeing it in front of us. Later on the boat cruise we saw the smallest and rarest dolphins in the world, the Hector dolphins. They came right up to the boat and we took some awesome photos. We also saw penguins, some seals and astonishing views of the volcanic layers. We were blessed with amazing weather too.

We asked the staff on the boat some good questions on the sustainability of tourism in Akaroa and how Covid had affected their business. We learnt a lot about the potential of tourism in this quaint town.We went along the outside of the Akaroa harbor and then had to start making our way back to the wharf. After the Black Cat Cruise we had some lunch and chilled in town for 15 minutes before getting back onto the bus. When we got onto the bus, we made ourselves comfortable for another 2 hour bus trip back and arrived back at Burnside High School at exactly 3:10pm. The year 12 and 13 tourism students had so much fun. The Akaroa trip was definitely worth it. 

by Ella Spyve