MAC Mag 06
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On 21st September this year,<br />
a small but excited group<br />
of students and one brave staff<br />
member left on the trip of a lifetime<br />
to see the world and meet a lot<br />
of people. Spirits were high as we<br />
headed for Sydney and we began<br />
our set challenges:- making as many<br />
new friends as we could, finding a<br />
celebrity and finding someone called<br />
either Doug or Malcolm.<br />
Dubai was our first stopover and<br />
lasting impressions are of the heat,<br />
the architecture and crazy four wheel<br />
drivers in the Arabian desert.<br />
Our itinerary took us on to Rome<br />
where we spent four nights and tried<br />
to look at as many of the historical<br />
and cultural icons as we could fit<br />
in around some shopping. These<br />
included Pompeii, the Vatican and<br />
Sistine Chapel, St Peters’ Basilica and<br />
a climb to the top of the dome, the<br />
Colosseum, Spanish Steps and Trevi<br />
Fountain. All these were great but the<br />
Italian Pizza and Gelato (icecream)<br />
were right up there too. Two of the<br />
students even managed to spend a<br />
few Euro on new hair colours.<br />
We drove through Tuscany to Florence<br />
and then Venice. This would have to<br />
be one of the highlights. The weather<br />
was warm, the city so different, the<br />
glassware and jewellery amazing<br />
and the pigeons incredibly friendly.<br />
We even thought briefly of Othello,<br />
Desdemona and Iago and then we<br />
focused on more pizza and gelato.<br />
Vienna, the capital of Austria was<br />
next, where our trips to the summer<br />
cottage (1400 rooms ) of the<br />
Hapsburg family, (Austria’s former<br />
rulers), showed us how much wealth<br />
they had in life and death. Austria,<br />
especially Salzburg and Innsbruck,<br />
were like living in a cross between a<br />
postcard and The Sound of Music<br />
and yes, our favourite thing was<br />
again the icecream.<br />
Switzerland and the village we stayed<br />
in outside Lake Lucerne were a chance<br />
to walk in the countryside and listen<br />
to the cowbells. Best of all though was<br />
the trip up Mount Pilatus (2200m) by<br />
funicular railway with a gradient steeper<br />
than Baldwin St in Dunedin.<br />
Paris was next and what can we say.<br />
Everything about Paris was amazing.<br />
The Eiffel Tower at night, the Louvre<br />
and the Mona Lisa were highlights<br />
but two things will never be forgotten<br />
- our dinner and cabaret show at<br />
the Moulin Rouge and a random,<br />
right place at the right time kind of<br />
chance to see Victoria Beckham<br />
coming out of the Gucci shop. Yes,<br />
she is small.<br />
And so, through the World War 1<br />
battlefields to Calais, across the<br />
English Channel to Dover and through<br />
southern England to London. London<br />
kind of felt like home. The value of the<br />
pound didn’t. We still went shopping<br />
and can all recommend the British<br />
Airways London Eye and Madame<br />
Tussauds great attractions. Yes, there<br />
will be another trip in a couple of<br />
years, so to all of you students in Years<br />
10 and 11 now, get saving and take<br />
the opportunity when it comes – even<br />
if it is just for the pizza, gelato and<br />
chocolate.<br />
Charlotte Gardiner, Gemma<br />
Templeton, Yuichiro Okubo, Pam<br />
Ward and Joss Walker.<br />
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