It was fabulous to finally head away on the year 13 History trip to Banks Peninsula last Friday.

The girls had established their area of focus prior to the trip, so were all well aware of what they needed to focus upon. The majority were looking at the impact the Europeans had on the Maori community during the early contact period and beyond. By early afternoon, we arrived at Akaroa Museum, and settled in for an extended period of study, concentrating on the large collection of primary sources which had been made available to the girls. Then we went out to the Church of England cemetery, so we could identify the grave stones of some of the prominent individuals and families from the Banks Peninsula community. We stayed the night at the very comfortable Wainui YMCA, even though this was not the first visit for some of the girls, and a bit of reminiscing from Year 8 camp occurred.

Saturday morning we were off early to walk part of Onewa Peninsula, with a bit of story telling, to inform the girls on the reasons why this is such a poignant site for the local iwi. Then it was over to Onuku Marae and church, which is such a stunning part of Banks Peninsula. On the way back into Akaroa, we stopped at the Roman Catholic and Dissenters cemetery and then proceeded to get a bit lost on our way into the Garden of Tane. Then some re-visited the museum, while others took photos of significant local buildings. Then it was into the beautifully restored St. Patrick church, and our final destination was to go up the very treacherous road to L’Aube Hill which was the site of the original French cemetery. And with that our brief, but very successful Year 13 History trip came to an end. A huge thank you to Mrs. Wright who accompanied us on this trip.