|
Geography is taught from year 11-13 at Ellesmere College. A highlight of the year is the year 12 Geography Camp. The following is a students report on the camp:
On the morning of Thursday March the 5th , the year 12 geography class along with Mr Sim, Miss Bennett and our able driver Jonesy left from the college for the South Island High County. This is where we would be undertaking our research assessment on the evolution of the South Island High Country. After a long bus ride with a few stops on the way, including one where “nobody” was allowed to venture into the dairy. And a stop at castle hill where many of the students decided it would be a good idea to run full tilt at the trampoline in the play ground and jump onto the middle of it, causing us to get covered in bark and minor scrapes and scratches as we were catapulted into the ground on the other side of the trampoline. Eventually though we arrived at our destination and got off the bus. We then ventured down the hill to the Cave Stream we would be analyzing for our research; we split into our teams and staked out our spot along the banks of the river.
After a short break to have something to eat we started collecting our data, this included how fast the river was flowing using the very scientific method of repeatedly timing a lemon as it floated down the river. We also had to determine how deep and wide the rivers was, this in many cases led to people falling over or in some cases being soaked by people throwing rocks at them (mainly Mr Sim). It wasn’t all scientific research though, with Becky providing the comic relief by sliding down the hill on the clinometer we were supposed to be using to determine how steep the valley was, and Shani slipping over as she tried to cross the river providing a good laugh to those who witnessed it. After the research some of us were feeling brave and we decided that we would accept the teachers challenge and venture into the cave itself, this caused much screaming from the girls but all in all went quite well. When we had finished being brave and started getting cold we made our way back up the hill to where the bus was parked, Jonesy fired the old bus up and we made a very slow journey up to where we were staying, the bus struggling to get up some of the steep hills.
After unpacking the bus at mid afternoon it was down to business, we now had oodles of work to do, processing and graphing our data along with writing reports and evaluations, something that took some of us until nearly midnight to finish. We were however treated to the delight of Miss Bennett’s top class burgers, and some pretty average jelly, of which I ate the whole lot after Mr Sim saw me eating it from the bowl. Finally at about 1pm everyone was asleep after people shouting to each other in the dorms and those inside helping themselves to midnight snacks from the kitchen, mainly Shani’s birthday cake which she foolishly brought on camp with her.
The next day it was an early morning for all, with the exception of Hannah and Sarah who took it upon themselves to refuse to come out of the bunk room. Not even Mr Sims painful pot bashing routine would get them out of bed. After a long and drawn out breakfast the teachers decided it was time for us to do some work and we were summoned to the main hall, we were then set to work doing things that none of us really understood and many of us resorted to going into the kitchen were we had yet more food, this time the left over burgers from the previous night. (Which might I add taste very good with cheese and bread). Eventually though we managed to get our stuff together and make it back to the bus, we then made our way to Camp stream which was really the same river as Cave stream, but we changed it so we didn’t get confused. At Camp stream we carried out our research the same as we had the previous day, although this time people decided to go all out and actually swim in the FREEZING cold river, and cake their faces in the mud that was found on the banks.
After packing everything up and trooping back up the hill to the bus Jonesy had to step on it to get us back to school in time, which by now was going to be an achievement as we were running rather behind schedule. Eventually though we all gave up on the idea of making it back on time and decided that, “yes” we did want the ice cream from Springfield that Miss Bennet so kindly offered to buy us. After what seemed like a million photos in front of the giant pink Donut from the Simpson’s movie we made our way back home to the College, tired from working and full on ice cream. When we made it back to school we were happy to be going home, but glad that the camp was actually fun and not just ALL work, like we had expected it to be.
By Max Simmon (Year 12)
Some Useful Geography links include:
Geography on line [U.K. resource]
Careers in geography
Various map resources from the National Geographic Society
|
