One very early morning in May...

...the year 13 history class met, half asleep, at the Christchurch airport. We flew to Auckland, collected the rental cars and made out way north to Waitangi. The next day started with a short walk to the Waitangi treaty grounds where we were fortunate enough to watch a cultural performance and then explore the original treaty house. This is where we learn how many copies of the treaty there really were…

This time at Waitangi was also helpful for those of us who were not studying the Treaty as we were able to learn about some of the lesser known facts of the early history of New Zealand.

Following this was a short ferry ride over to Russell, which did not live up to the name “Hell Hole of the South Pacific”. We were lucky enough to visit the oldest church in New Zealand Christ Church and to see the bullet holes in the building from the siege of Russell. One highlight from the Russell Museum was the model of Captain Cooks ship, the Endeavour, something that it took a few members of our class a while to work out was not the real ship. A short walk up the hill later and we got to see the gorgeous views from the site of the infamous flagstaff.

The next day we visited mission stations and Oihi Bay, the site of the first sermon preached on New Zealand soil. As we drove from one site to another it was enough to appreciate the distance covered by the missionaries on foot as we wondered how much longer it would take to drive there.

Overall, our trip was incredibly useful for not only the internals we are working on, but also to gain more knowledge and insight into the birthplace of our nation and the mission stations where Christianity was first introduced into New Zealand.