It’s about the journey, not the destination.

Our journey started on the 8th of June. Not knowing where our destination was going, we all crowded in Picton, grouping with other lost looking people, all of us questioning what we had signed up for in the next 21 days. Hazel, Ruby and I had the once in a lifetime opportunity of attending an Outward Bound course in the Marlborough Sounds. We had heard stories and experiences from previous students of Outward Bound, but nothing fully prepared us. We knew we were standing in front of challenge that would push us beyond our physical and mental limits, but we never expected what would happen.

I still remember the first night in our watchhouse. We had only just met our fellow 9 watchmates, so sleeping in a room full of strangers was a bit weird. However, throughout the night, a thunderstorm rolled in over the sounds. The wind shook our watchhouse and lightning lit up the room. The next morning, we were awakened at 6am and led outside where we were expected to do our first session of PT. PT can be known as physical training, personal time or party time the instructors like to say. We did a warmup with other watches, then were led to the start of our first 3km morning run. We knew this was going to occur when we applied to go on this course, but not like how it happened. Our first PT run was in a hailstorm. Hail pounded down on us as we ran, it was so strong you couldn’t even look up. Lightening was striking the morning darkness, and puddles were being splashed as we made our way through the streets of Anakiwa. The first day was a true insight into what was awaiting us at Outward Bound.

From the first day of meeting our watchmates and instructors at Picton, to the 28th of June waving them goodbye, we all left as different people. From activities like coasteering, sailing, rock-climbing, high ropes, tramping, we all pushed ourselves in ways we didn’t know were possible. One of the biggest challenges we faced was our final expedition at the end of our course. We were informed we would have to tramp for three days, then sail for three more, navigating our way around the sounds by ourselves. We planned our journey, ready to wake up bright and early to begin. However, our plan had a flaw. We had to meet our instructors at Ships Cove by lunchtime on the 3rd day, or we would have to walk back. Nobody wanted that. This meant we had to walk up to 35km each day. We trudged up hills, and complained through the beating sun's rays, but on the 3rd day at around 11am, we had finished our 74km tramp on the Queen Charlotte Track. We were all knackered but couldn’t be more grateful when our instructors pulled up to the wharf with our sailboat. The next 3 days on the boat were interesting to say the least. That day at ships cove was a stunner, with the water being glasslike and the sun warming us you wouldn't have believed it was almost winter. After some awkward sleeping positions that night on the boat, we woke up excited to explore each bay and island of the sounds, but I think mother nature had other ideas. The wind was thrashing, and the sea was swelling. We were all struggling, but luckily that afternoon the wind died down and we got to show the Interislander Ferry how good sailors we all were. The final day of this expedition was cold, misty and slightly miserable. The wind was non existent, resulting in us rowing all the way back to the Anakiwa dock. We felt so much pressure when docking the boat as almost every instructors and Anakiwa residents were on the wharf, judging our every move. When we got back to our watch house, we all were so grateful for our luke warm showers and scratchy pillows. Our last expedition really showed us how we had grown as a group, and how we could prove to ourselves that we have more in us than we think.

Looking back now, it’s crazy to see how much we grew from the first day to our last scheme. We grew for ourselves, realizing the potential we never knew we had. We grew in our determination to try new things and push ourselves past what we already thought. We built friendships and found gratitude in simple things like a warm shower or a dry pair of socks. Our journey led us to a destination and realization we would never have reached on our own. Outward bound is the most eye opening, unique and incredible thing we have ever done. Even though we complained through most of it, we would do it again in a heartbeat.