When Katrina Gardiner, 74, got the call from her mate Ali Russell asking to go on the ski trip she immediately put her hand up.
When the two were boarding their flight from Auckland to Ushuaia, Argentina — where their ship to Antarctica would set sail from — they bumped into Jane Morris, one of Ms Gardiner’s former pupils from Wakatipu High School.
"I said ‘Jane, where are you going?’
"She said Ushuaia and I said ‘so are we’ and so I knew we would be in really good hands."
"I keep coming across former students and they are just the most wonderful people.
"When you have your own children you realise they grow up to become adults and they have got all these skills."
Relationships between teachers and their pupils matured with time and so she had no problem trusting one of her former pupils, she said.
Ms Morris said she was a fairly cantankerous teenager and it was not until after she left school she realised her teachers were pretty good people.
"I was apologising profusely for my antics and ... she said ‘ah it wasn’t that bad’."
Ms Russell said one night their ship had been pounded by waves, people were falling out of their chairs and the pair had to be moved from their cabin because it was not safe.
It was quite a ride "for people who hadn’t been at sea" as it was "out-there conditions", Ms Russell said.
"We weren’t used to being in a washing machine."
The scenery was amazing and they would absolutely go on the adventure all over again.
