Year 13 Geography Field Trip

By Sue Roberts-Blyth | Posted: Sunday April 10, 2022

Year 13 Geography students spent the day on the south coast recently, gathering data for their research internal ‘Coastal Processes’.

We started at Tunnel Beach, navigating the tunnel and the rocky beach, to get to the seashore. We measured and drew some beach profiles, counted waves, and threw oranges in the water to watch the movement of longshore drift. We established that the Caversham sandstone headlands protected the beach from sand deposition, but increased the intensity of the waves.

After climbing back up the hill, we made a stop at St Clair to view the seawall and grab a snack, before boarding the bus again for Tomahawk Beach. Tomahawk presented a very different layout to Tunnel Beach, with wide sandy areas and big dunes. We established that the waves were not as strong, and the basalt headland a hard rocktype, so therefore there was less erosion occurring.

Paulene made a spectacular entrance onto Tomahawk Beach, blitzing down the dunes, Colin chose to taste the oranges that had been in the sea (great expression Colin) and Paris managed to get herself well soaked while measuring the beach profile.

All in all, it was a highly successful trip. The students were committed to gathering reliable and valid data, and we were thankful to Mr Sutherland for coming on the trip with us. Anya remains the undisputed champion of ‘Silent Orange.’ 

Image Gallery