Wellington Northern Tour

After hours of waiting on the bus we arrived in Picton and were faced with... more waiting. There had been an issue with our boat and the voyage across to Wellington had been delayed for nearly four hours. When we finally got onto the ferry it was another three hours of sitting. Our school Debating Team and coach, Year Eight teacher, Mrs Horwood spent over an hour practising for the debate that was to be held in Wellington. We landed in Wellington to be greeted with rain. We were paired with our billets and left for their houses.

We returned to St Mark's the next day, we had a scheduled church service but due to the fact that I was in the Debating Team I missed it as I had been preparing for the debate with my classmate Courtney. The debate was immediatly after the service. Courtney, Blake and I were led to their school hall and told to sit at the front. We were curious about why the rest of the St Michael's Senior Syndicate came in mid-debate while the St Mark's students were there from the start. The moot for the Debate was "The Cost of the Olympic Games is justifiable." We were on the negative side. We were all extremely nervous about giving persuasive speeches in front of people we didn't know but the outcome was positive for us. We won the debate!!! That meant St Michael's could keep the tropy for another year. Later on in the day we went to Parliament where we viewed Question Time. We then visited the Wellington Cathedral and went up the various flights of steps to see the many bells. That afternoon we returned to our billets' houses for our final night in Wellington.

Friday morning came incredibly quickly, we grouped outside the St Mark's Chapel after saying good-bye to our billets. When everyone has arrived we got onto our bus and drove to the "Weta Workshop." That is where the animation and special effects for many movies are created. We watched a short documantary and had a browse at the many animated creations "Weta Workshop" had produced. After that we departed to the airport where we would catch the plane back to Christchurch.

To conclude, the Northern Tour was a thoroughly enjoyable experience that gave us the wonderful opportunity to visit other cities in New Zealand and view many wonderful sights there.

Florence Fournier, 2008