The annual Temple Basin Biology Field Trip took place from 5-9 March. Marina Goodrich recounts her experience.

My alarm rang in time for me to collect almost all the equipment on the gear list, stuff it into plastic bags (in case it rained) and then into a pack and finally into the bus and then I could relax. First stop was Springfield for a hot drink and comfort food and then a toilet stop in Arthur’s Pass. Our bags were dropped at the ski field gear lift for the chairlift ride to the mountain top while we got to walk up the winding goat track. An hour I wouldn’t want to repeat but the view from the top was stunning.

Then two days of activity that included catching grasshoppers in rubbish bags on the mountainside, sampling alpine plants in a gully as the sun came up, drawing graphs and climbing up a slope that was so steep we had to use a rope and then swimming in a freezing lake at the summit and looking at the haunted shelter where headless climbers walk about in the dark!

Along the way we did most of the writing for the internal assessment and we were so exhausted that we got lots of sleep and stuffed ourselves with the food supply that poured out of the kitchen. I learned heaps about alpine plants, mountains and ghosts.

Thanks to Mr Thew and the rest of the staff who gave it heaps and gave us useful ‘briefings’ throughout the trip.