New Zealand Geography Trip

Before the start of this trip, if you had asked us what our highlights were, we would’ve never imagined that a hike would’ve made it to the top of our list. Mt Tarawera was the second volcano we climbed during our trip. This was definitely a once in a lifetime and thrilling experience. It’s definitely something we would’ve never expected to be doing, let alone enjoying! Walking up was very scary as we had no ropes or steps to hold onto, and crumbling rocks under your feet definitely isn’t the best support when you’re on an incline, but the view at the top with the beautiful mountains and lake was definitely worth it, and the journey with our friends made the whole thing special.

Another main highlight of this trip were the many cultural traditions and activities we were able to experience. Over the course of the trip, we learned a lot about the Maori people, and the history behind many of their traditions and cultural practices. We even got to experience the Hongi, which is the style Maori people use in greeting others, and witness the Haka, a ceremonial war dance. It was all together an amazing experience and we learnt a lot.

On our second-last day in New Zealand, when we were able to do so many fun activities including going to the mud pools, an adventure park, zorbing and luge. Luge was definitely one of the best parts of the whole trip because we got to race our friends down the mountain and have so much fun overall, as well as enjoying the scenery around us. Thank you so much to the teachers, especially Mr Jones for planning such an amazing trip.

Flora N, Mia P & Baani G

The 2024 New Zealand trip will go down as one of my favourite experiences, if not my favourite experience at Huntingtower. I really enjoyed all the activities provided, such as hiking up (and slipping down) Mount Tarawera, riding the jet boat at Huka Falls and racing down the winding tracks at Luge. 

Dylan Sopian

I really enjoyed the night time cultural experience we had, with an amazing buffet. It was so cool to discover our host's tribe's history through their song and dance. But seeing Mr Jones get up on stage and be involved with spears was definitely exciting. We learnt about the story of Hinemoa, who swam to the other island where her lover, Tūtānekai was. Afterwards, we savoured some hot chocolate on even hotter rocks. It was really nice to just watch the steam from the geysers. I truly enjoyed New Zealand!

Matilda Z