Year 13 Queenstown Geography Trip

The annual Year 13 Geography trip to Queenstown was held during the last week of Term 3. The girls enjoyed an action-packed few days of learning and experiencing parts of the tourism industry within the Wakatipu area.

There was a lot of Geography learning from start to finish on this trip. Starting with the requirement of taking ‘clean water’ with us due to the boil-all water notices issued by the QLDC, a great geographic issue to discuss on our journey. But our focus for this trip was tourism and its development so our first stop had to be at the famous A J Hackett Bungy. No one was keen to jump off a bridge that day, but a few murmured they would in the future. Then we traveled to our accommodation in Kelvin Heights. After unpacking, we enjoyed a leisurely walk around the Frankton Arm of Lake Wakatipu to the Kelvin Heights Golf Course. Dinner was at the local pizzeria in Frankton, always a great dine-in experience.

Our second day was all about experiencing life as a tourist. It began with a trip to the Queenstown Airport where Vanessa explained the form and function of the airport. It was a real eye-opener for the girls to learn about how many locals are employed there and how many tourists go through the airport on a daily basis. Then into town, where the biggest obstacle of the day was finding an all-day carpark in the resort. Once found we headed for the upgraded Queenstown Gondola and Luge. We found ourselves amongst the tourists and there were some lengthy queues to navigate but the girls had a great time. Lunch was a very quick trip to Ferg Bakery as we were to board Earnslaw by 2:30 pm. The TSS Earnslaw was one to remember as there were gale-force winds in the area making the crossing over to Walter Peak station a rather exciting one. Once on shore, the girls were treated to a farm tour and show, meeting the farm animals including the very cheeky alpacas. We finished off our visit with the special treat of high tea. That evening we were treated to some spectacular thunder and lightning show.

On day three of our stay the skies had opened up and it was pouring with rain, and the thunder and lightning was still hanging around. Luckily we were heading out to Arrowtown and were able to take cover at our first stop Millbrook. We had a lovely guided tour with Rebecca. Then into Arrowtown where we had our very important talk at the Arrowtown Museum. The girls learned about the importance of the tourism industry to the Queenstown area as well as how it has changed over time. We had a little bit of time up our sleeve so we travelled back into Queenstown to do a bit of shopping.

Friday we woke to a civil defence alert telling us that Queenstown was in a state of emergency due to the heavy rain and that some areas were experiencing flooding. We were happy to be packing up and coming home! Despite the intense weather conditions, the girls were fabulous and it was a very successful trip. It has set the girls up well for their end-of-year examination. I would like to thank Ms. Joyce for taking the time to come on the trip.