#outwardbound

So I’ve been applying for this camp, through work for the last four years or so, and this year, after almost deciding that I didn’t need it anymore, I got picked to go. It is based in the Berwick Forest, 40km out of Dunedin in May which usually would sound like a whole lot of miserable to me (as I am a sad sack throughout most of Winter) but for some reason I was keen to go. 

Arriving at an empty airport in Dunedin and realising I had been left behind was a shit start that really made me question if I had made the right choice. But that was the last time I had that thought. I got picked up by one of the Lions Club members eventually and dropped at the camp where everyone was already sitting in their ‘watches’ with their GP lines and beanies. I was in Green watch which suited me fab, my fav colour. I immediately was thrown into the team building exercise where we were writing a story about a hole in a balloon. It’s interesting thinking back now to those people I met, and how those relationships changed and grew over the 8 days I was there. 

My watch was made up of Moe (said Moy) (60s), Mark (60s), Julie (50s), Myself (26), Max (24), Erin (21), Kohan (19), William (18), Mikayla (18) & Harry (18). Such a range of people from all walks of life. 

I’d miss the orientation session, along with Charlie and Morgan from Trustpower so we briefly sat down and went through this before heading to our bunks. Being last meant I got a top bunk - which I was fine with as it meant I was closer to the warmth (and farts I guess). 

We woke EARLY the next morning, about 5.40am to bagpipes blasting outside our room. I freaking love bagpipes so this actually put me in such a good mood. We got dressed and headed to our first activity which was like a brain teaser type activity in the common room. It was far too early for me to be able to contribute anything useful  and I’m pretty shit at these types of things anyway so was happy to let the team lead us to success! Finally at 7 we got breakfast, typical camp style lining up for cereals, toasts, porridge the works. I went hard out of fear of not eating again for a long time and a huge day ahead. Before I knew it we were kitted up in our wetsuits heading to our first big activity - Kayaking. Now I’m not really for or against Kayaking. Can be fun, sometimes it’s just boring so I was keen to see what they had planned. We started in a pool, the tiny, local community pool that used to be used by a school that was now shut down. The water was ice. I wore my socks in. They made us do flips in the kayaks and taught us how to safely exit if we did flip on the river. 

Then we were in the river. I had chosen my paddle and kayak that I felt would suit me best, plus they were perfectly colour coordinated so thought I was away for the win. We had barely disembarked before one of our watch Will, had fallen out of his kayak. He was complaining it was too small and hard to maneuver. Me being the good Samaritan *coughs* offered him mine. This was my first mistake and lesson learnt. Never be nice. His kayak was tiny, it took me 3 goes to get in the damn thing without falling out. I was wearing my sneakers (as the river was colder than the pool) and I was incredibly cramped and uncomfortable the whole river journey. To my dismay when I fell out on a turn, I was trapped by my sneaker and spent a good 3 minutes flailing about until Will caught up and was able to help me out. Overall it was still fun though. When I had to get out of the kayak at one point to - kiss the front (the things these instructors made you do) I bruised both legs and by the end of the float (due to falling out so much) I was a freezing, shivering mess. But I DID IT. I think they were worried about hypothermia though as they sent me straight to the van where the heater was blasting. 

We headed back to lunch which was sandwiches and hot pies. God I love a good pie. So delightful. Then we had tea prep so I spent the next hour peeling & chopping carrots with Mikayla. 

Straight into Knots & the Confidence course after lunch. I gotta say, I am possibly the worst knot tier in the history of the planet. I had to be shown about 300 times before it stuck and then the next day I still couldn’t tell you what the damn knots were called. Lucky I had a watch full of able humans who had done guides and were just onto it to help me through the rest of the week where knots were ESSENTIAL to survival! The confidence course was fun. The very first part was a tyre wall which I felt very prepared for after spending Intermediate sitting on the tyre wall at lunch times. I must admit, once I was at the top I was still abit shaky/nervous going over the top. Even more so when we had to carry a bucket full of water over too! Erin struggled with this one, she just would not budge at one point, saying her arms/legs were giving up, bawling her eyes out and Leanne (one of our instructors) would not let her give up. She made it over and I’m glad, but I definitely had a moment of - this feels like bullying. It just shows you though, some people need it. The rest of the course was pretty tame, tarzan ropes onto walls, that sort of jam. It wasn’t until the last bit - a firemans pole that I got a bit nervous again. I don’t know what it is about them but they freak me out. This one was exceptionally high too! Leanne was there giving me technique and before I knew it I was at the bottom. Embarrassed at how easy it was! Unfortunately Moe, was close on my tail and did it straight after me without any technique and sped to the bottom where she snapped her ankle in three places. I got to do First Aid, but poor Moe was gutted. Her ankle did the floppy thing like Harry’s arm in Harry Potter. It was pretty gross but intriguing. She was in no pain! Just shock I guess. Ironically that night after dinner, we had our First Aid training. I was in bed by 9 and asleep by 9.01 for sure. Absolutely shattered.

Day two! We had games first thing from 6am-7am. Again, puzzles in the morning, not my forte. Esp not before kai. After breakfast we had toilet duties which is always a barrel of laughs right? Then on to abseiling. This was based at camp. The hill to the top was a bit of a bitch to get to but abseiling was fun! We did it three times, the third time blind folded. Beef was our instructor. He was a spunk. After lunch we were back on to knots and bush craft which I don’t overly remember doing but again I think this is because I was hopeless at it and all the knots seemed the same to me. Looking at the schedule it’s hard to believe that this took up most of the afternoon. I remember we had to pull a pole somewhere and tow a truck though. Then Dinner, then night exercise. This one was us carrying a massive heavy pole from one side of the camp to the other as a team. It wasn’t awesome. The walk back under the stars was lovely though.

Monday was our first sports session - Netball. I loved it. It made me think how some days I would just play netball and that’s all the exercise I would do.... this was just the first thing for the day! Our team lost, JUST. But our commitment and passion was 10/10! Next was mountain biking which I was super excited for but MAN it was hard. We got kitted up with bikes/helmets and then did some practice stuff on the icy grass/mud. We then headed up the hill. I could bike up all of 2 minutes as it was steep AF. Everyone had to get off and walk most of it. We learnt how to jump logs and break/maneuver down steep hills. I came off the bike twice, one time landing on another stationary bike but it was so awesome! Then we got to boost down the hill. It was SO fast. I felt alive. I loved it. 100% Mountain biker for life.

After lunch we were back into it with a ‘Bridge Exercise’ - they gave us tiny hints to what we were doing throughout the course - but they never really helped. This was intense. When we realized what we had to do, get from one side of the bridge, underneath it and come up on the other side - there was a lot of planning involved. And actually doing it, (and trusting your teams knots) was pretty crazy! We aren’t allowed to share photos of this and I didn’t get any, any way but this was such a cool challenge. After dinner our night exercise this night was hilarious. We were all blindfolded and either had to lead or direct our watch around camp. It was pretty freaky putting your trust in strangers this way, especially at night. I DID end up in a swamp. But it was so fun. Making the most of our other senses and what not. Pretty cool. And just when we thought we were finally done for the night, blindfolds off. I hear this blood-curdling scream and Leanne comes racing up to us in full diva/drunk actor mode yelling about how she pushed her brother ‘Eric’ off a cliff and he’s dying at the bottom. So off we trot following her to save Eric. I got the fun task of taking care of drunk Leanne who was going on about popping cherries, working her ‘night job’ and the likes. Much to Harry’s disgust as Leanne is his mums best friend. So entertaining. Finally with Eric stretchered back to camp and bandaged we were allowed to go to bed. 

Tuesday Tramp Day! This was what I was most nervous about, a 15km tramp through the wilderness. Seemed like not far but boy was it ever. It took us 12 hours. We went the wrong way twice and not just a few steps like probably 2-3kms each time. No instructors, reception, just a map (that wasn’t the best if I may add!) The majority of the tramp was up hill and it was hard. Erin couldn’t hack it. She got blisters day one and the whole tramp (before she got taken out) she was moaning about them and stopping every 20 steps. It meant we moved incredibly slow - I didn’t really get a chance to get tired. She was though. I felt sad for her because everyone was tired/sore in some way and she couldn’t just push herself. Anyway, she got taken out with Max, who was borderline collapsing at every turn and then we could pick up the pace. By 7.30pm it was dark, cold and we were so over it. By 8.30 we were finally at The Hilton, exhausted and starving. I ate mince boiled with instant mash potato and peas. It looked like spew but I devoured it. Then I went to bed, it’s possibly one of the worst huts I’ve stayed in. Made New Beers look like a resort. But I slept solidly. 

Wednesday we were up early to make our way to the Mahinerangi Dam. Damn son. It was huge. We had lunch first - chicken AND ham luncheon sandwiches - just bread and butter no shit, dried apricots and a cup-a-soup. Gourmet I tell you. We set up our tents, wet and dirty from the previous 2 watches and then got set up for our dam abseil. First one, no biggy, no dramas for me. Second one... I’m not quite sure what happened but I was afraid. I didn’t realise I wasn’t going to be able to use my feet and would just have to lower myself down. I think the shock of that suddenly happening just set me off and I burst into tears. Sobbed the whole dam way down. Need any more damn puns? Damn. Others didn’t do the second one, but Harry and Max went all profesh on us, bouncing off the walls like Spiderman. Show offs.

After the dam activities, we were off for another wetties exercise. Raft building. Each team member had to sail out to the island and back without getting our lines wet or drownies. It was actually a really easy task and we finished it so early we had heaps of free time. FREE TIME!? At Berwick? NEVER. I went and set up my tent, I got nominated to tent with the boys as we only had 3 person tents plus we wanted to avoid the snorers (Mark, Will, Max, Erin...) Kohan, in my tent didn’t bring a bed roll, so Harry and I ended up putting our two together and sharing. We played some president which I was excellent at for once. We had some snacks, then went and made dinner. Pasta packets - Mac & Cheese. This was actually pretty tasty. I ate heaps! After dinner we had another activity. Learning to use a GPS. They are super legit - who knew!? And Geo-caching is a thing. I’m 26 and I’d never heard of this, but people leave notes for other people around the world to find. It’s like a world-wide treasure hunt! So cool! Thankfully we got to have an early night and headed back to the tent. I slept in full gear - beanie, puffer jacket, merinos, socks - the works and was still shivering. I’m actually so glad there was no way of knowing how cold it was that night but there was ice on our tent in the morning. 

Thursday was another 4 hour tramp back to camp. We got lost... again and were late getting back. We went straight into lunch then an Initiative course. This was probably the best ever. Or maybe it was just I remember it so well as it was near the end of the week. It was loads of team-based activities that weren’t physically demanding but just hilarious and you had to use your brain and trust your homies to succeed. I got heaved over walls, thrown through ‘spider webs’, held my fingers against holes in a giant drum while the team filled it with water #frozenfingers. I had to sit on Harrys shoudlers  so we could all fit onto this platform after swinging across a mudpit. We then had to dive into another mudpit/lake, do a massive flying fox, ropes again and more. Dinner, then more sport afterwards. Cricket, which would have been amazing except it was inside and you couldn’t smash it so I got out pretty quickly. Had a few successful bowls however. 

Friday morning we had more sport - football (lame but fun for others) then breakfast and cleaning. Everyone was back from the tramps Friday and we were on dinner so had to prepare a shit tonne for the ‘’roast meal’ (8 Roast Beefs!). It was a huge job. Then we were off for our ‘river exercise’ which we were told - all being well you shouldn’t get wet. I have to admit by this point, I had very little clothing left and reaaaallly didn’t want to get wet if I could avoid it. So when our first team mate came across the river and dropped to the side, a sodden mess- I was hugely disappointed. I think this was the only task we actually had to ask an instructor for help. We had to be split into two groups on each side of the river and using our ropes (not getting them wet) we had to get each team member to the other side of the river and back. Thankfully, by the time I had to go across, not only was I being pulled back and forth #noeffortrequired but I did not touch the river with any part of my body! Great success! Harry got dunked which was sad for him but hilarious for everyone else. Back to camp for a quick lunch then we had another group activity (bridge building) and then orienteering. Both were fun, but orienteering took us ages! Makayla, Harry and I were in a team and these two just spent the time waffling. I had to be mother hen quite frequently to keep them on the job at hand! We played some truth or dare which was great on my part because I am an excellent question master and kept orienteering fun, but it was cool because you got to explore the whole camp. I saw a baby wild pig! And there was probably 3 times total I said over the course - surely they wouldn’t make us go up/down/through there.... alas, it was the right way. When we finally got back, Kev the instructor was on his way out to us to check we weren’t dead. Dinner was a bit emotional as it was our last night... then we had to go do our performance ‘Welcome to Berwick’. It was in the tune to ‘My House’ by Flo Rida and our watches show was definitely the best. We even had backing music... just saying. After that we all headed back to the rooms to spend time together before lights off as I knew I had an earlier flight Sat morning and wouldn’t get to do the last relay or wind down drinks/BBQ. Harry was quite distraught. He was crying and saying he didn’t want to leave and that Makayla and I were his best friends and I was just amazing. It was all quite overwhelming for me. I loved these two, so easily and quickly in this weird environment we’d been thrust in - but I guess for me I had a lot of friends, Chris and life to go back to and neither of them didn’t have quite that. So I will try be good friends to them both, because I think they need that. I know they’re gonna do great things. It’s exciting to watch.

Saturday morning was spent cleaning, trying to find all my shit and then a few tears saying goodbyes (even from me! Shock Horror!) Kev drove me away in the van and it was hard leaving. I really could have stayed there another week or more I think. I just loved it.The truth is I really didn’t miss home that much, I was too tired or busy... I didn’t think I had missed Chris even until I saw him and burst into tears. Now being back, it’s hard to explain how life-changing and inspirational it was. I feel like a dick talking to people about it and saying that that’s exactly what it was for me but people don’t really get it unless they’ve been. I LOVED not using my phone or having it anywhere near me, I LOVED the people I met and stories we shared, I LOVED being outside, being dirty and being completely me without anyone's expectations. I loved learning all these new skills and really pushing myself and then finding out how awesome I could be!

Edward Poynter (1836 - 1919) Outward Bound (1886)