Our annual Year 13 Geography field trip to Queenstown in March was postponed to the end of June as a result of Covid. We were all very excited to be able to eventually get this in during Week 8 of term.

Our class studies the cultural process of Tourism Development. This follows our study of Glaciation which makes Queenstown the perfect location to cement our knowledge in a practical way.

During our trip, we were fortunate to have Amanda Viarni address the group about the changes Queenstown has experienced spatially as a result of tourism development. QLDC Senior Economic Development Advisor also addressed the class on the impacts of Covid on Queenstown as a destination and as a population. We were very grateful for the shared insight and knowledge of both of these people. We have also recently had the opportunity to have Mayor Jim Boult talk to the class about his perspective on the proposed Tarras Airport.

The class gained some first-hand tourism experiences. We all went on the gondola to the elevated point to view the main glaciated and tourism features as well as having several luge rides each. Many students also went on Paraflights to add a little adventure to their experience.

Thanks goes to Mr Joe Lines and Mrs Wafer who both joined us on the trip. We appreciate their time and efforts immensely.