You can contact LEARNZ, part of CORE Education, at:
Postal Address:
PO Box 13 678,
Christchurch 8141,
New Zealand
Ambassador Walt
<- Homepage: The Alpine Fault: when AF8 goes big!
Kia ora,
I'm WALT and I've had so many cool times on LEARNZ field trips! I can't wait to head off to Franz Josef, Waiau to do some cool exploring with Shelley. I'm hoping to meet a few feathered friends on this trip too.
See you there,
WALT.
Monday 2 November
Kia ora koutou,
We had a great day travelling to the West Coast today. It took all day but there was so much to look at a long the way. We met friendly kea at Arthur’s Pass and enjoyed a great view over Otira viaduct before heading down to the coast. The mountains were hiding beneath a thick layer of cloud but at least it wasn’t raining.
Tomorrow we’re heading up the valley to get up close to the Alpine Fault.
See you then,
WALT.
Tuesday 3 November
Kia ora,
We managed to explore lots of areas around Waiau/Franz Josef today. We even got up close to the Alpine Fault. It was incredible to be able to sit on the Pacific Plate and wave at Māia who was sitting across from me on the Australian Plate. The rock here has been changed by earthquakes and is so crumbly, it’s also a weird green colour.
Luckily there were no big earthquakes today so tomorrow we’ll look at how we can prepare for these.
Ka kite,
WALT.
Wednesday 4 November
Kia ora,
Today we looked at what will happen when the Alpine Fault ruptures. Because the Alpine Fault is so long it will cause a lot of shaking and damage. Services like power, water and roads will be damaged and some communities will be cut off. After visiting Ōkārito I thought it would be quite nice to be stranded here. There’s a beach, estuary and forest to explore and even a chance of meeting a local kiwi. A highlight of today was catching up with my classmates and hearing their brilliant questions during today's web conference - you are such a clever bunch!
Tomorrow we are going back to school to look at how students are getting quake ready.
See you then,
WALT.
Thursday 5 November
Kia ora,
It rained heavily today, so we were glad to be able to head indoors at South Westland Area School. Here we joined the AF8 Roadshow and took part in a competition to build towers that can withstand earthquake shaking. Some towers worked better than others and we found that triangles and arches are strong. These shapes are used a lot in buildings. We also looked at ways to make our homes safer during earthquakes and reduce damage.
It has been such a fantastic trip and I have learned heaps but I’m looking forward to getting home.
See you all soon,
WALT.
WALT has been on lots of LEARNZ field trips and is looking forward to another adventure to explore the Alpine Fault. Image: LEARNZ.
WALT enjoys the view of the Otira viaduct near Arthur's Pass on the way to Franz Josef. Image: LEARNZ.
WALT sits on the Pacific Plate above the Alpine Fault at Gaunt Creek. Image: LEARNZ.
WALT discovers a landslide and learns about why there will be more landslides during and after a large earthquake. Image: LEARNZ.
WALT looks at a model on a shake-table to see how to reduce earthquake damage by fixing and fastening large household items.