Last week the Year 13 Geography class took a trip to Franz Josef because we are currently studying the Alpine fault and Waiho river, along with the possible earthquake and flooding risks because of the effect it will have on the town and community.

Day 1 - Monday 27th June

Today we all got to school at 8:15am to get on the bus and on the road to Franz Josef. We met our bus driver and his name is Gus and he was lovely! We stopped off at Arthurs Pass for a toilet stop and a chance to get out of the bus to stretch our legs after a few hours on the road. After this, we continued on to Hokitika to have a lunch break. Once we were finished with lunch, we went to the Westland District Council to hear a West Coast Regional Council planner, Edith Bretherton speak to us about the council’s plans about what their course of action is and what they plan to do to the township of Franz Josef. It was very interesting to hear her viewpoint. After we spoke with Edith, we continued on to Franz Josef. Once we arrived at our accommodation, we got to our rooms and set up our things for the next couple days. We stayed at the Chateau Franz Backpackers. After setting up, Mrs Leech took us for a walk to the Waiho River, in the rain, to see what it looked like after hearing so much about it in class. For dinner, we had nachos and for dessert we had ice cream with various toppings. We headed to bed around 10pm and had the lights out by 10:30pm to ensure we were well  rested for our long and busy day, the following day.

Day 2 - Tuesday 28th June

Today we woke up at around 7:15am to get to breakfast at 7:30am. We were lucky enough to have breakfast provided for us by the accommodation. Options included pancakes, waffles, fruit salad, cereal and toast. After breakfast, we got dressed and walked to the helicopter place. We were pleasantly surprised to have beautiful weather today! Most of us were lucky enough to get to go up in a helicopter and get out to walk on the glacier! We also got a really good view of where the Alpine Fault is, which is the main focus of our study. After the helicopter rides, we met back at the accommodation then headed down the Waiho River to study the stopbanks, rock walls, river and more on the South side of Franz Josef. We did a precis sketch of the river with all the natural and cultural aspects to it. Mrs Leech even drew us a beautiful picture in the sand! We had a competition to see who could build the highest cairn out of rocks on the river bed. The winning group was Liv, Julia, Holly and Georgia, with their cairn being the highest. After lunch, we were lucky enough to be able to go to the local cinema and watch a 40 minute film about the West Coast for free! There was heaps of cool scenery to see in the film and we all really enjoyed being able to see it. Next we got on the bus and drove across the Waiho bridge to check out the south side and the road up to the glacier carpark. We then headed north to check some possible locations to move the town of Franz Josef to if it were to relocate. We got to see places such as Stoney Creek and Lake Mapourika. Of course we had to take a photo on the jetty at Lake Mapourika.

After this, we headed back to the accommodation to get ready for the guest speakers we had coming who are all local members of the Franz Josef community. We got to hear what each of them had to say about what is going on in Franz Josef, in reference to earthquake/fault line risks, flood risks, the township possibly relocating etc. Thank you to Gavin, Lisa, Sam, Graham, Sabine and Adam for sharing your perspective and personal course of action. We really enjoyed hearing your opinions on these issues. After hearing from our guest speakers, we had some downtime to chill after our very long day. For dinner we had chicken wraps and for dessert we had salted caramel brownies with ice cream. Before we had dessert, we were lucky enough to partake in the annual teddy bear competition! There were 4 different categories that you could enter your beloved childhood buddy in. These included most well loved, best non bear, size doesn’t matter and the bear that best represents its owner. 

The winners of these categories were Emma for her nana being so determined to find Rufus, Harper for finally being honest about her non bear, Molly for her tiny bear Christmas and Sophie for fully committing to the category and wearing bunny ears to match her toy, Bunny. Mrs Leech had a few words to say after announcing the winners which included a special message from the one and only Mr Meredith and a huge thank you to Emma and Lin and even presented them with their very own geographer badges which are very well earned. After we wiped away our tears from that emotional but beautiful moment, we got our dessert and headed to the bonfire! We sat around it, chatting, laughing, telling stories and trying not to catch on fire. At 10pm, we wrapped up our lovely evening and headed to bed.

Day 3 - Wednesday 29th June

Today we woke up a bit later than yesterday and got to breakfast around 7:45am. Once we’d had our breakfast, we headed to our rooms to pack up all our gear to prepare for our departure. Before leaving Franz, of course we needed to go get a photo on the fault line and jump from the Indo-Australian Plate to the Pacific Plate. After this, we got on the road to start our trip back home to Christchurch. We stopped in Arthurs Pass for a pie and a coffee from the local cafe for lunch and we were lucky enough to get to play in the snow! We had a snowball fight and some people made a snowman. Estella came up with the idea that if we hit Mrs Leech with a snowball, we’d all get an Excellence on our last internal. Mrs Leech wasn’t so keen on this idea haha! 

When we got back on the bus after lunch, we surprised Mrs Leech with a block of chocolate to say thank you, although she thought it was going to be another snowball and got a bit of a fright! We sang songs, shared laughs and had so much fun. We arrived back at school at 3:30pm and Mrs Leech was trying to get us all to take food because there were still heaps of leftovers. Even now, a week later, she still brings the box of apples and peanut brownie cookies to class everyday with her in hopes that we’ll eventually finish them lol!

We all had such a fabulous time on our 3rd and final Geo camp! A huge thank you to Emma and Lin, our incredible parent helpers who have come on not one, not two but all three of our Geography camps (Queenstown - Year 11, Cass - Year 12 and Franz Josef - Year 13). Thank you to our lovely driver, Gus, for taking us to Franz Josef and all around to our different activities around Franz. Last but certainly not least, a very special shoutout and thank you to the amazing Mrs Leech. 

None of this would have been possible without you. Thank you for making, not only our final Geography camp, but our last ever school camp so special and enjoyable. We’re so lucky to have you as our teacher!