My Outward Bound course, like most, was packed with intense adventure, challenge, and commitment. I was part of Batten-Watch 715, a mixed gender ‘Watch’ which I attended with Ella Davis. Walking into our watch was nervous but for the next seven days I made relationships with strangers that were so close it made leaving tough.
The first day on the sea was beautiful with light winds, just strong enough to have the sails up. We set across the Queen Charlotte Sounds to our mourning at Torea Bay. Before we set up our fly over, the cutter, we decided it was time for some well-earned burgers. We tucked into our sleeping bags and gazed at the clear nights sky, no wind, no clouds. Even a few blue jelly fish paid us a visit as they lit up the sea below us.
‘Splash the oars’ our instructor Billy would say. Another still morning in Queen Charlotte but that didn’t matter to our team as we were ready to go! We passed the grounded Aratere Interislander to which we then rowed around Allport’s Island as I stood at the helm steering the cutter, ‘Set the Sails’ Billy yelled as we had a hope of wind which was just enough to get us drifting to Dartmoor Bay to complete our PT for the day.
After 40 minutes of rowing, we then docked up at Mistletoe Bay, this is where we would wave off our cutter goodbye and ensure that we had all our food and essential items that would last us for the next two days. We set camp for the night ready for our tramp on the Queen Charlotte Track.
The next morning, we sprung up nice and early at 6.00am ready for the mission ahead. Kent, our instructor said he was ‘frothing’ to get to the bush as he enjoyed nature and navigating using maps and a compass. We hiked up to an elevation of 550metres above sea level to where we would camp for our final night on a ‘Saddle’, fly’s set up with a hot chocolate to warm us up. My favorite part of the course was waking up 550metres above the clouds watching the sunrise over the Tasman Sea and coming down the steep elevation tackling punga trees with my mate Jake.
Outward Bound has become one of those events in my life that I am truly going to remember for a lifetime. It made me become a better, more confident person mentally and physically especially when we had to wake up 6.00am to go for a 2.8km run and a swim to wake us up. I am so grateful that I did my Outward-Bound course because it opened doors and allows me to make friends that I will have for life.
A quote to remember from Outward Bound.
“If you were given a $500,000 Ferrari for a week, what would you do with it? Would you let it sit in the driveway or go out and drive it? You’d drive it right? So, the same should go for rowing that $500,000 cutter?
This stuck with me because we can use this simple yet effective principle to our own daily lives when given opportunities to which we should embrace it with 100% effort. So, encourage yourself to push that Ferrari every day, remember even if you can’t drive it, push it but just keep it moving!
Nicolas Nielsen
While contemplating taking on this adventure at the beginning I am happy to say that I left Outward Bound with lifelong memories and skills. I left for Picton on the 4th of July and arrived back on the 10th, missing the first day of the course due to ferry cancellations. This left me a bit worried as everyone else in the watch group had already met one another but missing one day did not stop me making lifelong friendships and bonds with the 13 other students in my watch group. During the course, my watch group and I completed a 4-day 3-night journey which included, rowing through the Marlborough Sounds, sleeping in the rowboat, camping in the bush, and tramping to an elevation of 550 meters above sea level and waking up above the clouds. This part of the OB course was my favourite because everyone in the watch group got so close and the experiences on sea and above the clouds were incomparable to everyday life. Once we got back to the main campus, we were back to waking up at 6am, running 2.8km with incredible views of the sunrise followed by a 2-minute sea plunge to wake us fully up every morning. On the Tuesday we went rock climbing which was a challenge for me as I am not the biggest fan of heights, but I put my fears aside and completed the task which was very rewarding at the end because I got to see the view of Outward Bound from the top. I was lucky enough to be put in a group with Nic Nielsen, who I go to school with, and the 12 others were all incredible people who I will definitely be staying in touch with years to come.
If you ever get the opportunity to go on this adventure, I could not recommend it enough, it was one of the best experiences of my life. I will never forget my time at Outward Bound.
Ella Davis
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