The Year 13 Geography class travelled to the Queenstown district to investigate both glaciation and tourism processes.

The Year 13 class have been investigating glacial processes in the Queenstown district during Term One.  Last week they had the opportunity to travel to the area to see first-hand what they had been learning about.

Students travelled through Southland, Athol, Garston and Kingston to see the furthermost advances of each glacial period.  Seeing the truncated spurs, u-shaped valleys and hanging valleys really allowed students to make sense of how a one kilometre deep,160km long glacier can shape the landscape.

Tourists were also surveyed, which was a very different experience to previous years, due to the impact of Covid-19.  Students focused on these local tourists to find out what type of tourists are found in different areas around Queenstown.

We were lucky to be spoken to by Mr Peter Harris, the Economic Development Officer for Queenstown Lakes District Council.  Some of his facts and figures on the impact of Covid-19 on the tourism industry were staggering, but the class could see for themselves the empty streets and lack of crowds throughout the region.

There was a chance to experience some of the local tourist attractions with the entire class enjoying a Paraflight on Lake Wakatipu!  Four students then bravely threw themselves off the Kawarau bridge (bungy cord attached) for a thrilling end to the fieldtrip.

A very big thank you to Ms Karyn Molloy for accompanying the class on the trip - your help was greatly appreciated by all.