On September 24th I had to take two flights and a shuttle to Picton marina, where over one hundred Outward Bound students met for course 718. 

From here we all got onto a boat that took us to the Outward-Bound base in Anakiwa. We were placed into watch groups with 12-14 people from all over New Zealand ages 16-18. I was in Sheppard Watch named after Kate Sheppard, with twelve other students. 

The first two days of the course were about getting to know each other and Outward Bound’ expectations of us. Every morning we got up at 6am and had to clean our watch house, ready for a watch house check later in the day. At 6:40am we meet in the PT circle and complete a PT session and 2.8km run, before going for a swim to refresh for the day ahead. Everyday consisted of new activities and challenges for us to push ourselves to.

Over the 21 days we completed an overnight tramp, overnight kayaking trip, overnight sailing trip, completed our solo in the bush, rock climbing, high ropes, went on a five-day tramp and sailed up the Queen Charlotte and ran a half marathon on day 20. 

Over this time I learnt a lot about myself and my values as a person and how I can implement them in my everyday life back in Te Atatu Peninsula. I was also able to show myself that I can do more than I thought I was capable of doing and proved to myself that I can continue to grow as a person.

Thank you so much to Mrs Cumming for giving me the scholarship and enabling me to have the opportunity to go on Outward Bound, I am so grateful for the overall experience.

Sophie Wallace 12FG