Traveling ‘Down Under’

RCHS Group Visits Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii

Editor’s note: For the third straight year, a group of Rockbridge County High School students had the opportunity to enjoy a summer trip overseas. The following story about this year’s experience was written by two of the participants, Noah Alexander and Ethan Erskine.

On Saturday, May 23, a group of 37 Rockbridge County High School students, parents, and chaperones adventured across the Pacific to explore New Zealand, Australia and Hawaii.

We started our trip with a five-hour flight from Dulles to Houston, and then a 15-hour flight from Houston to Auckland, New Zealand. The trip transported us through the seasons, as crossing the equator into the southern hemisphere brought us into winter in New Zealand, and it also took us across the International Date Line, meaning no one in our group got to live May 24.

Upon arriving in Auckland on the 25th, our tour director, Sladj, who would be with us for our time in both New Zealand and Australia, met us at the airport and prepared us for our first day.

She took us to the dormant volcano Mount Eden, where we had a stunning view of the entire city of Auckland. Following this, we learned about the history of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) and their role during World War I. We ended the day learning about the rich culture and pride of the New Zealand All Blacks, their men’s national rugby team, and the Silver Ferns, their women’s national rugby team. After learning about the All Blacks, some people ventured into Weta’s Workshop, where they were taken on a tour showcasing the practical and digital effects of movie-making.

The following day, May 26, we traveled through the beautiful rolling hills of New Zealand to visit Hobbiton. Hobbiton is the movie set used in Peter Jackson’s “The Lord of the Rings” and “The Hobbit” movies. This stunning movie set was filled with lush grass, vivid scenery, and tons of sheep. In Hobbiton, many people experienced their first meat pie, which is a common dish in both New Zealand and Australia.

After our time in Hobbiton, we journeyed to Rotorua, a town situated in the caldera of a dormant volcano. There, we learned about how the Maori people utilized the geothermal area in their daily lives. They used geothermal vents, which keep a steady temperature of 200 degrees Fahrenheit, to cook their food and water from geothermal springs for healing and hygiene.

That night, we had our first immersive cultural experience at a hāngī feast, where we got to taste food prepared by the Maori people using steam vents, as well as watching them perform traditional Maori dances such as the haka.

The next day, we continued to explore Rotorua, beginning with an informational duck boat tour on Lake Tikitapu and Lake Okareka. Then we went to take a gondola to see a view of all of Rotorua, including Lake Rotorua. Afterwards, some of us went zip-lining in the rainforest while Sladj guided the rest of us on a stroll through a redwood forest. That night, most of our group went to Hell’s Gate and took part in a mud bath with water and silty mud from the surrounding geothermal area.

May 28 was mostly a travel day, but before the trip started, we were able to experience a New Zealand supermarket, which doesn’t sound that interesting, but in reality, it’s very different from what we have in America because of stricter food and advertising laws. Then we continued our travels as we flew across the Tasman Sea from Auckland and landed in Sydney.

Our next two days were spent in Sydney, where we took in the beautiful sights of the Sydney Harbour. Although it was rainy on our first day, we got to see noteworthy places like Bondi Beach and the breathtaking Gap Park view. We learned the history of Sydney from touring the Hyde Park barracks, the Sydney Opera House, and a sightseeing tour. Many people in our group were excited to see the national opal collection, where they would be able to purchase opals for themselves but also learn about the Australian opal business.

One of the best parts about the timing of our trip was that it was during an event called Vivid Sydney. This is an event in which Sydney, including the Opera House, was illuminated by beautiful lights, and the area is filled with local food trucks and vendors. This was an unexpected perk to our trip since we weren’t aware of it till a week before, and it turned out to be one of the best parts.

On May 31, we made our way to Cairns, where we experienced the night markets, where there were a bunch of small stores, each one specializing in selling something different.

On our first full day in Cairns, we voyaged out to the most anticipated part of the trip, the Great Barrier Reef. From a pontoon boat on the Moore Reef, we had the opportunity to snorkel around with a marine biologist who taught our groups about how the reef works and what animals live on the reef. The reef itself was beautiful to swim around, and the marine life just added to how unreal the experience felt. That night, many people tried kangaroo meat for the first time. Many of us were surprised that it was legal to eat, but later learned it was the same as people eating venison.

The second full day in Cairns, we ventured to Kuranda village via train and saw the striking views that the rainforest of Kuranda had to offer. While in the village, we were able to visit local artisans and enjoy authentic Australian cuisine for the last time. Many people also got the opportunity to feed and even touch some of Australia’s native animals, such as koalas, wallabies, and a smaller species of kangaroo.

One of the most impactful events of the trip was going to the Aboriginal village and learning about the mistreatment of the Aboriginal eople when British settlers arrived. We got to hear from William, the grandson of an Aboriginal individual who was affected by these British colonizers. He told us how his grandfather eventually returned to his tribe after being abducted and how they were able to keep their culture alive.

Then the next day, June 4, we made our way from Cairns to Brisbane, Brisbane to Auckland, and finally Auckland to Honolulu, Hawaii. This trip took us back into summer, and since we crossed the date line, we had to live June 4 twice; we lifted off from Cairns at 6 a.m. on the fourth, and we landed in Hawaii at 8 a.m. the same day.. Although the clock only moved two hours, the trip itself was about 21 hours of in-air travel and six more in the airports on layovers.

The two days we spent in Hawaii were clear skies and a pleasant, warm temperature each day. We learned how the Hawaiian people lived and what their cultural norms were. During this, we also saw the beautiful native plants of the island.

A fun, optional activity that some of us took up was doing a small hike up Diamond Head State Monument to see the island from a high vantage point. Lots of time in Hawaii was free time, so people were able to shop and sit on the beaches in order to relax from the past days of constantly moving.

One of the interesting things we did was a lūʻau where anyone was welcome to try and learn how to do dances with the performers there. Thankfully, we did have talented people among us, and a few students were selected to go up to the stage and dance with the performers.

Another incredibly memorable moment was going to visit the USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor. The history behind it and seeing the walls of the names of the men and women who lost their lives aboard the Arizona on December 7, 1941, the day of the attack on Pearl Harbor, was very emotionally gripping to many of us.

These 15 days, 23,051 miles of travel and learning have encouraged much of our group to continue to take advantage of various educational opportunities inside and outside of Rockbridge County.