Outdoor Education Week

This was Outdoor Education Week at Queenstown Primary School and the theme for the week was challenge. Liam and Colin have both been discussing challenges in their classrooms and setting goals for personal challenges. The entire school spends the week on outdoor adventures, experiencing many personal and group challenges first hand. Both boys had incredible, adventure-packed weeks. Doug and I tagged along on several of the days, too. The whole community seems to get involved. Parents join outings as helpers. All tour operators in town give huge discounts for the students and parents. Parents shuttle supplies in their cars, boats and helicopters. All week long, the first question when greeting someone around town is "What trip is your kid on today? "

From the outside the week looks like a logistical nightmare. Students in the school are divided into groups A, B, C, and D. Siblings are placed in the same groups and each group includes students from the Junior, Middle and Senior Schools. Some days of the week all of Group A went on outings together and older and younger students were placed in buddy pairs. On other days, the groups subdivided by age for separate outings. The same teachers stayed with the same students all week. As a Group A Middle School Student, Colin was with one set of teachers and as a Group A Senior School Student, Liam had another set. Colin and Liam both went on overnights on the same night to different locations. While my explanation of the logistics may seem convoluted, Liam and Colin each came home Friday prior to the trips with individual programmes for the week. The programs outlined their daily itineraries and equipment lists. Colin and Liam knew exactly what to bring, where to go and who they were with every day of the week.

Not knowing exactly what to expect, we arrived early Monday morning for the first day of Outdoor Education Week. The air was cool, one of the chilliest mornings yet and the campus was teeming with activity. Every classroom, empty room, playground and meeting area seem to have a group of students, teachers and parents preparing for the day. The campus is tucked right against the mountainside, so the sun arrives at school late and the groups meeting outside clustered around the few sunny spots trying to absorb to heat. Teachers conducted roll calls and gear checks. Parents were briefed on their duties. Students organized their gear, donned sun hats and slathered sunblock. Buses and cars were loaded with supplies and students. Other groups headed up the gondola and still others headed off campus on foot.

Both boys went on overnight camping trips on Monday. Colin went to Bannockburn and visited the Kawarau Mining Village. He even did a little gold panning. Colin slept in a tent with two buddies, but said that he was up most of the night with snoring and loud breathing all around him. Liam camped on Pigeon Island in Lake Wakatipu. Liam and schoolmates took jet boats out to the island and their tent, or the marquee as Liam calls it, was delivered by helicopter to the island. Liam, forty-seven schoolmates, his teachers and the parent helpers all slept under the marquee. Both boys returned Tuesday afternoon exhausted but thrilled with their trips. They were talking at the same time all the way home as they tried to recount all the details of their overnights.

Wednesday, Doug joined Liam, Colin and the rest of Group A on the hike to Lake Alta. It was a cloudy, drizzly day. Group A felt lucky to have finished their overnights between rainstorms. Liam and Colin were two of eight kids out of Group A that made it to the summit of the hike and Colin was proud to be the only Middle School student who reached the summit.

I joined the boys for Hikoi Day on Thursday. Hikoi is a Maori word meaning a journey or march. In the morning we had a Maori welcoming ceremony, a powhiri, in the school hall. Then we rode the Skyline gondola to visit Kiwi Haka, where we watched and participated in traditional Maori songs and dance and traditions. We returned to school for a talk on Maori history of Queenstown and surrounding areas. Liam and Colin were fascinated by the stories we heard. After a picnic lunch we head for Queenstown Gardens for a lesson on flax weaving. Liam made a headband and Colin and I made flowers. For the Kirkpatricks, the whole day was a learning experience because we know so little about the Maori culture.

Friday, Colin took the Earnslaw Steamboat across Lake Wakatipu to Walter Peak Station and then hiked to Table Bay. Colin’s favorite part of the day was singing songs on the Earnslaw on the way home. They sang songs like, “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad” and “Oh My Darlin’ Clementine.”

Liam spent Friday climbing Ben Lomond. He rode the gondola up to Skyline and then the hike began. Liam was a bit nervous about whether he would be able to reach the summit on the Ben Lomond hike. He carefully packed his bag with all the required gear as soon as he was home from school the day before the hike. We made a high-energy lunch and put snacks in pockets he could easily reach during the hike. The moment I saw him at the end of the day, knew he had made it. He looked exhausted, but was all smiles.

Friday night we toasted all the adventures and challenges of the week as we chowed on burritos and ice cream.