The adventure began at the ungodly hour of 3.30 in the morning!

 16 students plus Mr Boje, Ms Mentink and Andy Thompson met at Christchurch International Airport,  any fatigue was quickly lost when we checked in and prepared to fly halfway across the world to Cochin, Kerala, in India. This air travel was punctuated by several incredibly long stopovers - 8 hours in Melbourne Airport, and about 2 hours in Abu Dhabi; however, all of us made it safely to Cochin, and we arrived on December 7th feeling incredibly tired but absolutely stoked to finally be in-country after over a year of preparation and saving.

It’s incredibly difficult to describe what Fort Kochi is like in just a few words, much less Kerala or even India itself, but Fort Kochi and Cochin are forever bustling with people on motorbikes and in tuk-tuks, trucks and buses; markets burst with colourful powders and fabrics; there is the constant sound of car horns everywhere there is a road; open sewers result in the putrid smell of human waste in certain spots; lizards were the unexpected inhabitants of our hotel rooms and poor Sophie was traumatised when she accidently stood on one and had to call in Fraser to put the poor thing out of its misery. Our first two days consisted of exploring this beautiful jumble of sights, sounds and smells, and we managed to show on just the second day how awful we were at navigating by getting lost on the way to our orientation, somehow managing to turn a ten minute walk into an hour and a half. We discovered how stressful it was to cross incredibly busy roads where people didn’t seem to acknowledge a speed limit; had the ride of our lives on a bus that was, in essence, "like the Orbiter on steroids"; and began to adjust to being in charge of everything, from accommodation to transport to food - and this was all even before the project phase began!!

Our project involved converting an old classroom into an office for Zion Lower Primary School further south in the small town of Haripad, and this was our main job for the week that we were there, but it was just as important to us to be able to interact with the children of this community as well. Our work began on a Saturday, but despite there being no school, kids turned up to watch us anyway, and in between stripping down the classroom’s old walls and building them back up again with a new door and windows, scrubbing the fence with wire brushes and painting it with white cement, and, later in the week, painting a mural on the nursery, we played various games like ‘tag’, ‘hide and seek', and football with the kids that hung around. Luke especially was really popular with them - so much so that they wanted to show him their houses, and he ended up wandering off with them for a while, but I think that those of us who ventured out to find him would agree that seeing their houses was an absolute treat, as their families were generously feeding us snacks and asking for photos constantly. One family even invited us back for dinner one night, which was amazing especially because the night we did so they were celebrating a Hindu holiday that night, with candles and firecrackers to ward off evil spirits. However, I think the girls on our expedition would agree that our bae and in-country agent, Shinas, who was, in the words of Jess, "a very beautiful man", was also one of the main highlights of this part of the trip. But in truth, the best part about project was the kids, and on our last day at the school we were fortunate enough to be able to spend the entire day playing and interacting with them. Many of them, especially the younger ones, understood very little English, but nevertheless it was an incredibly rewarding experience for all of us, despite the language barrier.

Project was followed up by a few days relaxing on the beach in Alleppey slightly further north of Haripad, including experiencing a houseboat for a day, before we headed into Fort Kochi for one last night (which we spent shopping for, I believe, mostly elephant pants - everyone on the expedition ended up going home with at least one pair, even our expedition leader Andy, who received a drop-crotch pair from his Secret Santa), before we headed out to the Western Ghats to begin our six day trek.

We were thankful to find that higher up in the Ghats, it was far cooler than the heat of Kochi and the like. Heck, it got so cool that it distinctly reminded us of the weather in New Zealand, even more so when we walked through the rain all morning on the second day. Trek was also one of the few times that the group was completely silent at times, due to the fact that our guide, Jeffi, was listening out for wild elephants (maybe a bit of noise would’ve proved useful, because we didn’t see a single elephant the entire time). Sitting around a fire at night also became common, especially while we were eating dinner - and it proved entertaining too, especially when Mr Boje leaned back too far on his chair and flipped over backwards, taking poor Billy down with him in an attempt to save himself. However, our trek was a great chance to experience the Indian wildlife, and Jeffi’s spiels on different plants and animals kept us all entertained. Since we never saw any wild elephants, though, many of us decided that clearly there weren’t any elephants in India and it was all just a hoax (our theory was disproven when we saw an elephant on the streets of Udaipur later on). While on trek we also celebrated Jess and Emma C’s birthdays, and, of course, Christmas. Though it was hard being away from our families at this time of the year, our spirits were very high as Andy woke us up with his terrible carol singing and those of us in the ‘party bus’ travelling back to Kochi after trek blasted the only Christmas carols on Sam’s phone - All I Want For Christmas Is You and Snoopy’s Christmas - as well as many other ‘bangers’ to entertain us on the five-hour drive back. This was, unfortunately, punctuated by a huge Christmas day drama - a car on the other side of the road had pulled out and our driver had to swerve violently left, hitting a motorcyclist but thankfully avoiding what could have been a nasty head-on collision.

On Boxing Day we awoke at the ungodly hour of 4.30 am in order to catch a flight to Delhi in Rajasthan for the last leg of our Indian adventure. This region proved to be even more hectic than Kerala!! Shortly after arriving in Delhi we continued on to Udaipur, catching a 12-hour overnight train which turned out to stink of pee, and in the middle of the night was incredibly cold, a huge change from the hot, humid climate of Kerala. However, the stunning Udaipur was absolutely worth it - all of us shopped until we dropped, plus seeing City Palace and the sunset over the lake with another palace situated in the middle of it was absolutely incredible.

Our adventures in Udaipur were tainted considerably after dining out at the highest rooftop restaurant in the city resulted in many of us getting really sick. Following this was potentially the worst train ride of our lives - five hours stuck in a train with vomit making its unwelcome appearance very often. The situation did not improve upon arriving in Pushkar, and several of the group didn’t get to leave our accommodation at all during those few days we had there.

But Agra was what we were all waiting for - the chance to see the Taj Mahal in all of its glory. And it didn’t disappoint in the slightest. Despite the struggle with getting all of the girls a saree in time and with sickness, all of us managed to make it to see the Taj in the evening. This experience was absolutely magical - it’s difficult to describe in words what it was like to see it. It was here in Agra, however, that our journey came to an end, as the next day we took a train back to Delhi and began our long journey home to New Zealand.

World Challenge was an absolutely incredible experience and one which all of us, I’m sure, are keen to repeat. There’s no doubt that it will be remembered for a lifetime by all involved.

Kaila Robertson