MAC Mag 06

On 21st September this year,
a small but excited group
of students and one brave staff
member left on the trip of a lifetime
to see the world and meet a lot
of people. Spirits were high as we
headed for Sydney and we began
our set challenges:- making as many
new friends as we could, finding a
celebrity and finding someone called
either Doug or Malcolm.
Dubai was our first stopover and
lasting impressions are of the heat,
the architecture and crazy four wheel
drivers in the Arabian desert.
Our itinerary took us on to Rome
where we spent four nights and tried
to look at as many of the historical
and cultural icons as we could fit
in around some shopping. These
included Pompeii, the Vatican and
Sistine Chapel, St Peters’ Basilica and
a climb to the top of the dome, the
Colosseum, Spanish Steps and Trevi
Fountain. All these were great but the
Italian Pizza and Gelato (icecream)
were right up there too. Two of the
students even managed to spend a
few Euro on new hair colours.
We drove through Tuscany to Florence
and then Venice. This would have to
be one of the highlights. The weather
was warm, the city so different, the
glassware and jewellery amazing
and the pigeons incredibly friendly.
We even thought briefly of Othello,
Desdemona and Iago and then we
focused on more pizza and gelato.
Vienna, the capital of Austria was
next, where our trips to the summer
cottage (1400 rooms ) of the
Hapsburg family, (Austria’s former
rulers), showed us how much wealth
they had in life and death. Austria,
especially Salzburg and Innsbruck,
were like living in a cross between a
postcard and The Sound of Music
and yes, our favourite thing was
again the icecream.
Switzerland and the village we stayed
in outside Lake Lucerne were a chance
to walk in the countryside and listen
to the cowbells. Best of all though was
the trip up Mount Pilatus (2200m) by
funicular railway with a gradient steeper
than Baldwin St in Dunedin.
Paris was next and what can we say.
Everything about Paris was amazing.
The Eiffel Tower at night, the Louvre
and the Mona Lisa were highlights
but two things will never be forgotten
- our dinner and cabaret show at
the Moulin Rouge and a random,
right place at the right time kind of
chance to see Victoria Beckham
coming out of the Gucci shop. Yes,
she is small.
And so, through the World War 1
battlefields to Calais, across the
English Channel to Dover and through
southern England to London. London
kind of felt like home. The value of the
pound didn’t. We still went shopping
and can all recommend the British
Airways London Eye and Madame
Tussauds great attractions. Yes, there
will be another trip in a couple of
years, so to all of you students in Years
10 and 11 now, get saving and take
the opportunity when it comes – even
if it is just for the pizza, gelato and
chocolate.
Charlotte Gardiner, Gemma
Templeton, Yuichiro Okubo, Pam
Ward and Joss Walker.
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