1981 School Magazine

1981New ZetlandRePort AsmallnumberofBGSstaffandparents.,alongwithforty- f;;;;;y; ;"d ten girls' sight-seeing. and establishing new lriendships in a country witf, incredibly changing 1a1-d1c-a-les ""J .""1!".ting cultuies - that was the BGS 1981 New leahnd tour (June 20th - July 6rhllth)' South Island: Christchurch, city of arrival, was planned around a a;;h;;""i unO *outO blend in beautilullv with an E'nglish tonAr.up.. [t is a gateway to the Canterbury Plains' lmagine " nui-"ipu".e, bicked by ,no*-tupped peaks' a mosaic of lields with green pastures, cereal crops and endless sheep' and ;;;hr; tlie Canterbury Plains. They are crossed by streams ;;;;;t;;;;s ol *ater and grauel inierlock like hair braids' Snow, great stretches of it, dominated our early days on tour' It is im"possible to translate the experience of its different tex- tures. Our photographs could not capture the magic of nowder fine drifts - the movement was lost' Mt' Hutt snow ["r,n *u, the scene ol chaotic fitting-out with ski-equipment, .fr"ii fii t, ski-ing (right and *rong side up), snowflights.and i"lr of lu"gftt. Ch-ains"were litted to the coach wheels to give a better grii on icy stretches of winding road' The quaint little stone Church ol The Good Shepherd sym- bolized the beauty ol the mountain and lake scenery' It ouerlooked Lake Tekapo en route to Mt' Cook' New Zealand's highest peak and the clear glass window over the utiu, i.u."d"u piciure post-card view of the lake and snow- capped mountains beYond. Glaciation, past and present, has shaped spe-ctacular scenery - t-ut " Wakatipu (cruise to Waltei Peak Homestead with It, tGp musterings'by dogs, then boy.s - quite amusingl!)' C"i"".t Peak (chiirlittt;,'Lut" Te Anau, Millord Sound 6i"ta .t"it.j unO ttt" Fox and Franz Josef Glaciers' The iforrr", Tunnel lies between Lake Te Anau and Millord S"""4. Cut through sheer rock walls, it was unlined and unlit - O".ia.aty eeriil we were exposed to the dealening ex- p"r[n.. of a great ice mass cave-in at the snout of the Fox bla.ie.. Highlghts of the western coast were Shanty Town (a superb replica Jf a West Coast gold mining village at the turn oiit," turi."ntury) and Punakaiki beach with its unusual rock lormations, the Pancake Rocks' The in-rushing sea sent spray spouting upwards through blow holes'

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