Thanks PN,
Seem to recall the reason for the descent like that was to go over an airway that routed off the NEW VOR.
I can only guess that perhaps the studes still needed the height for a final astro fix somewhere near the airway so they did the descent after clearing the southern boundary and saved a lot of fafing about that a normal approach would need.
Trouble is my memory failes me and I didnt put the reason into my pax log book.
Did enjoy it though and certainly made the ears pop. Now I mention that I now recall we all had an ear inspection to make sure they did clear so it was planned. One guy failed that and didnt fly. He was a little miffed to say the least.