A large group of Geographers from Kings High School included a visit to the Lakes District Museum during their Geography field trip.

Their visit included a university style lecture which looked at tourism as a cultural process in Queenstown. During the presentation, we examined the development of adventure tourism as well as winter tourism which has brought increasing numbers of tourists to Queenstown each year.

This talk is incredibly appropriate considering Queenstown has again been named New Zealand’s number one destination in the 2014 Travellers’ Choice Destinations by TripAdvisor, the world’s largest online travel community. As well as taking out the top spot in New Zealand, the four season lake and alpine resort was also rated the second best destination in the South Pacific, after Sydney. The Travellers’ Choice Destinations awards honour top travel spots worldwide based on millions of reviews and opinions from TripAdvisor travellers.  Award winners were determined based on the popularity of destinations, taking into account travellers’ favourites and most highly rated places.

Why do you think Queenstown was named New Zealand’s number one destination in the 2014 Travellers’ Choice Destinations by TripAdvisor?

Before winter and adventure tourism, what other activities attracted tourists to this area who began visiting in the late 1800's?

What other activities are on offer today besides winter and adventure tourism?

What are some negative impacts of tourism on Queenstown?

Answer my questions and comment about your visit to the Museum and Queenstown below!

Thank you for the wonderful thank you messages you keep sending us!

We absolutely love having you all come visit us, and we always have a great time!

• Some of the students who send in cards can remember the poem they learnt with Miss Gray ... Can you remember the poem? It starts like this: Now children mind that you're in school ...
• Other students enjoyed the gold panning, especially if they were lucky enough to find gold! Did you find any gold when you visited us?
• These thank you letters and cards always mention how the students LEARNED during their visit and about how much FUN they had as well. Do you think we make learning fun at the museum?
• What are some new things you have learned with us during your visits?
• Did you send us any of these cards? Let us know!
• What is your favourite part about visiting the Lakes District Museum & Gallery?
• Click through the gallery of images and let me know which is your favourite thank you card, message, letter, or drawing!

Answer my questions and comment below!

Keep sending through the kind messages everybody... WE LOVE RECEIVING YOUR MAIL!

Winter arrived a little early this year when we saw some pretty impressive snow on Monday morning.

These pictures on the blog show what Arrowtown and Queenstown looked like before the snow was cleared off the roads, and before it began melting! Arrowtown got close to 30cm of snow, whilst Frankton and Queenstown got between 10cm - 15cm of the cold, white stuff. Many of the local schools had to close on Monday because of the snow, which must have been a lot of fun for our lakes district kids! It looks like this might be a great start to the ski season...

Did you get the day off school on Monday?

What fun stuff did you do in the snow?

What causes snow?

Answer my questions and comment about your snow day experience below!

The Department of Conservation set up camp in the Arrowtown Athenaeum Hall today with some very cute baby Kakapo chicks!

This was a very special event which was open to the public, and you only needed a gold coin donation for admission. Inside the hall DOC employees and volunteers educated the public about conservation for these creatures, and how they were hatched and fed in captivity. DOC has a focus on increasing Kakapo numbers, as these birds are an endangered species, so they hope to release these Kakapo chicks into the wild when they are older. The highlight of the visit was being able to view three Kakapo chicks inside the hall!

The chicks were kept in a large glass box, and their feathers helped them camouflage into the bush and plants which were inside the box. When I viewed the chicks, they were just snuggling in for a sleep. They lay flat on their tummies, and nice and close to each other to keep warm. Apparently this is very unusual for other bird species, but very typical for baby Kakapo! When they get older, they will sleep upright like most other birds.

If you are interested in learning more about these beautiful birds please visit the Kakapo Recovery website!

Did you visit the Kakapo chicks?

Do you think the Kakapo chicks look cute in my pictures?

What other interesting native animals from New Zealand do you know about?

Answer my questions and comment about the Kakapo's on this blog!

Mossburn School sent their year 1 - 6 students to the Lakes District Museum for a day trip. There were 58 students in total, so it was a very BUSY day!

This is what we got up to:

• A museum visit which included handling artefacts and exploring the museum. Students got to handle a Moa bone and they also got to check out our infamous long drop display!
• A terrifying lesson in an 1800's school house taught by Miss Gray!
• A quick visit to the Old Gaol with our year 4 - 6 students.
• A tour of the Chinese settlement, where students went inside Ah Lums store and learned about how the European settlers treated the Chinese settlers.

What was something really exciting you learned during your visit?

Do you think learning is easier today? Why?

Do you think it would have been hard for the Chinese settlers to live in the settlement near the river? Why?

What cool artefacts did you get to handle in the museum?

Answer my questions and comment about your visit on this blog!

Thanks for visiting Mossburn kids, it was fantastic to have a group visit that had so much energy and who were really keen on learning (with some fantastic questions)!

Mountainview school had an interesting approach to their reach when they came to visit today.

The large group of students were split into three groups and rotated between different stations for research. The stations included researching at the local library, researching in our archives, and gathering information from our exhibition panels in the museum.

In the archives the students had full access to a variety of resources which included both primary and secondary material. One of the students was also a descendant of Rev. Don, who was a reverend that travelled around central otago to visit the different Chinese settlements to spread the Christian Faith during the 1800's. We had plenty of primary resources of Rev. Don to share with this student!

Did you learn anything new or interesting during your visit?

Do you think the access to our archives will be useful in completing your assignments?

What was your favourite part about visiting the Lakes District Museum?

Answer my questions and comment about your visit below!

I hope you get excellent marks for your NCEA assignments - thanks for visiting Mountainview!

Craighead senior history students spent a day researching in our Archives for their NCEA history projects.

The students had full access to a variety of resources which included both primary and secondary material. These students were extra lucky, as we got David our Museum Director to pop in and help with their research. This meant the students got to view old newspapers from the Wakatipu region which had been published during the 1800's. This is something that isn't typically available for the public, as the newspapers are extremely old and delicate, so we were very fortunate that David was available to provide this once in a life time opportunity!

Did you learn anything new or interesting during your visit?

Do you think the access to our archives will be useful in completing your assignments?

What was your favourite part about visiting the Lakes District Museum?

Answer my questions and comment about your visit below!

I hope you get excellent marks for your NCEA assignments - thanks for visiting Craighead!

Riversdale School sent their year 1 - 3 students to learn about the past today! It was a very busy day, but it was lots of fun!

The students had a scary experience first thing in the morning with an 1800's school lesson taught by Miss Gray. This followed by a visit in the museum which included handling artefacts and exploring our exciting displays.

In the afternoon, students had a historic walk of Arrowtown where they got to visit the old Gaol... The afternoon also included students having a hands on experience of what it was like to be a child during the 1800's. Students had to wash clothes by the Arrow river, make butter, and play old fashioned school games.

What was your favourite part about your visit?

Can you remember the skipping rhyme you learned when you played old fashioned school games?

Was washing laundry at the Arrow river hard?

Do you think Miss Gray was scary? Why?

What was something new you learned during your visit?

Thank for coming to visit Riversdale - comment on this blog and answer my questions below!

Today 32 year 13 students from Marian College visited the Museum. The visit was pretty unique as we had students visiting to learn about the Geography of the region as well as to research in our archives for their history assignments! So we had a double up of what students were focusing on!

Denise our Educator ran the geography session first thing in the morning. She discussed the effects of tourism, the developments of tourism, and tourism as a cultural process in Queenstown. Students were then invited to explore the museum and check out our old display panels from an exhibition we ran on tourism. Denise finished the visit with tour of the Chinese settlement which is an important tourist site here in Arrowtown.

Whilst Denise was with the geography students, I worked with the History students! I also gave the students a tour of the Chinese settlement, with a focus on the history of the Chinese as well as the push and pull factors which brought the Chinese to New Zealand. The remainder of the day was spent researching in our archives, with some of the geography students (who were studying both subjects) joining us. The research topics for many of the students were on the Chinese and on Women of the goldfields - which we had ample amounts of information on!

I visited the year 6 students at Arrowtown School today to create some fabulous camouflage art! The theme of camouflage for our art was really appropriate considering the WWI centenary which starts this year.

During my visit we discussed how animals use camouflage in the wild (to hunt, or to hide). We also thought of how humans use camouflage... we came up with four ideas: for hunting, for the army (like the soldiers used during WWI), for fashion, and for ART!

Our inspiration for artworks came from three VERY different artists:

• Desiree Palmen is a Dutch artist who paints peoples clothes to help them blend into the city, which she then takes photos of.
• Andy Warhol liked the idea of how camouflage hides things, but when he created his camouflage prints he painted them in bright colours so that two opposite ideas of hiding and being easily seen were combined.
• Reuben Paterson is a kiwi artist who likes to incorporate glitter into his artworks of kowhaiwhai patterns.

The techniques we used today included:

• Using different media (paint, crayons, photography, and glitter)
• Mixing and blending colours to create our animal and camouflage prints and to disguise our hands
• Practicing our sketching skills by copying images of animal and camouflage prints onto sheets of paper.

The works these students created were AMAZING! I was so impressed by the high quality of the pieces of art - I can't wait to run another workshop!

What did you enjoy about the Art workshop?

What was something new you learned at the workshop?

How are you going to display your pieces of art in the classroom?

Who is your favourite artist?

Answer my questions and comment about your visit below!

Woodlands School visited the Museum today as part of their school camp. It was a chilly start to the morning, but this did not put off the students who were keen to discover the museum and local Arrowtown history!

A terrifying session with Miss Gray started off the morning. The students had to memorize a poem as well as practice their cursive handwriting. Everyone had to sit with their backs straight and their hands in their laps - and no talking or laughing was allowed!

The students then had a tour of the Chinese settlement. During the tour we looked at the quirky design elements of the Chinese settlers houses and the long drop! We also discussed the push factors for bringing the Chinese to New Zealand.

A session of rag mat making was next on the agenda. This workshop really helped students understand all of the chores children had to complete during the 1800's. It was hard work being a kid 150 years ago!

The visit ended with gold panning at the Arrow river. The water was icy cold, but that didn't stop a few lucky students from striking it rich! With winter well and truly on it's way, that will probably be our last gold panning session until term 4, so it was fantastic that the last gold panning session was so successful.

How was Miss Gray's classroom different from your own classroom?

Can you remember what other chores children had to do during the 1800's?

Do you believe in the story of Ah Lum's ghost?

Why did the Chinese settlers come to New Zealand for the gold rush?

Do you think gold panning is easy or hard? Why?

Answer my questions and comment about your visit on this blog!

Queenstown school will be sending their students to visit us throughout this week to learn about local War Heroes.

During their visits, students will critically think about what the word "hero" means, who are heroes in our own community and families, and what are some big (and small) acts of bravery people can do to become heroes. We also examine the contributions of several soldiers and nurses from the Wakatipu region during WWI - we learn about the acts of bravery they performed during their service, and how they were honored for their service.

The visits are completed with a trip up to Arrowtowns War Memorial which is up on Soldiers Hill. At the memorial, students get to spot a few of the soldiers discussed at the museum whose names feature on the memorial. Soldiers Hill has panorama views of Arrowtown, and is a wonderful place to acknowledge and honor some of these heroes from our community.

Can you think of some other ways we can remember and honor these heroes?

Why is it important to have war memorials?

What was something new or interesting you learned during your visit?

Answer my questions and share some of your own stories about war heroes in your family or community by commenting on this blog post!

Lawrence Area School was our first booking for Term 2, with 27 year 7 and 8 students visiting the Lakes District Museum & Gallery.

It was a rainy, dark, day. BUT the Lawrence Area School students were bright and eager to learn! Wendy our Educator helped out in the morning with the group, as the students experienced an 1800's style classroom with the terrifying Miss Gray. This was followed by a session in the museum where students got to handle artefacts from the past.

After lunch, I took over, and we had a session of making butter and creating rag mats. This helped the students to understand what living conditions were like for children during the late 1800's. It was a lot of hard work for those kids where they didn't have technology or modern day conveniences to help them with their chores! The visit ended with a tour of the Chinese settlement. The Lawrence Area students had a fantastic background knowledge about New Zealand's Chinese settler history, as the township of Lawrence also had Chinese settlement during the gold rush. Lawrence, like many other parts of New Zealand, segregated the Chinese from the rest of the community due to the racist attitudes the European settlers had towards different cultures. In Arrowtown this meant the Chinese settlers built their own village away from the European part of Arrowtown. In Lawrence, the cemetery was divided into sections so all Chinese who died in the Lawrence area got buried separately from the other European settlers.  The students really enjoyed hearing about the ghost stories of Ah Lum and Ah Sip too!

Is learning at school easier today than it was in the 1800's? Why?

What were some of your favourite artefacts that you got to handle?

Did you think the butter you made tasted like the butter you buy from the store?

Do you think it was harder to be a kid during the 1800's?

Can you remember any of the facts we learned at the Chinese settlement?

Answer my questions and comment about your visit below!

94 year 7 and 8 students from Arrowtown visited the Lakes District Museum & Gallery in term 1 to learn about the design and concept processes for setting up museum exhibitions.

We covered a lot of information - as I outlined to the students professional expectations for museum displays that would be applied to their own research projects based on Peace and Conflict.

Here are some of the key ideas I shared with students about creating effective museum exhibition displays:

• Make your displays image rich - use lots of pictures
• Use headings, bylines, and make your first and most important paragraph a larger size than the rest of your text
• Think of what colours, fonts, and other styles can contribute to the theme of the information you are displaying (e.g. red for poppies, white for the white crosses, or dark grey and blue colours to help create a sombre effect)
• Your information must be written in your own words and be simple, respectful, and informative
• Make the size of your text a large size, as most of your audience will be standing when they read it

Now it is term 2  - and the year 7 and 8 Arrowtown students have finished their research projects, and have put them on display in their school hall. The quality of the research and the presentation of the information was astounding. David the Museum Director, and I visited the exhibition to check out all of the fantastic work.

Well done Arrowtown School - we were both very impressed by the work you have put into these projects which have made them very worthy of exhibiting to your parents and the rest of the school!

What did you most enjoy about these projects? Researching? or Presenting the information?

Are you proud of the work you have achieved?

What are some interesting facts about WWI that you have learned during this process?

Answer my questions and comment about your research projects below.

In the first week of the school holidays, New Zealand celebrated ANZAC day.

ANZAC day happens every year on the 25th of April to commemorate all of the New Zealanders killed in war and to also honor returned servicemen and women. The 25th of April is important because it marks the anniversary of the landing of New Zealand and Australian soldiers – the ANZACs – on the Gallipoli Peninsula in 1915 during WWI.

This year - 2014 - is an important year as it marks the beginning of a centenary for WWI that will span four years. Several schools have already visited and are planning to visit the Lakes District Museum to help with their WWI centenary commemorations. Some of our programmes include looking at Wakatipu WWI hero's, different methods of researching and presenting information to do with WWI, and our WWI exhibition The War To End All Wars which will run from the 18th October 2014 through to the 15th February 2015.

HOW WILL YOU REMEMBER?