Last week, the Year 11 Geography class went on a three-day camp to Aoraki Mount Cook, for our external assessment about glacial and mountain processes. On the first day, we stopped at the Benmore Dam, which is the largest land dam in New Zealand, and went to the lookout. We looked at the dam and the surrounding land. Once we got to the campground we put on our thermals and woollen jumpers and we went to do the first part of the Hooker Valley track, as the track is closed down at the first swing bridge. We looked out at the shrinking Mueller Glacier and lake. On the second day, we went to the DoC centre, where Matt talked to us about Mount Cook, the glaciers, and the tectonic plates. We learnt about different types of glaciers, and we looked at the regression of glaciers and how the space would have looked in the ice age. Then we walked round the DoC centre and looked at the exhibitions they had, while filling in an information sheet about the area. After we left the DoC centre, we went to the Hermitage Hotel and looked around the largest hotel in Aoraki. We then travelled to the Tasman lookout, where we were supposed to go on the boat ride, but the weather ended up interrupting our plans, so we walked to the lookout and looked over the icy water and at the Tasman Glacier from the Tasman lookout. After we walked down from the lookout, we went to the Tekapo Hot Pools and had some time relaxing there and thinking about tourism and the impacts it has on the environment.