One of the key components of the Hilary Award is the Adventurous Journey section. This is an opportunity for participants to learn more about the wider environment, as well as learning teamwork skills.

On the Saturday morning of the first weekend of the Term 1 holidays, a group of seven Award participants met at the carpark of the Leith Saddle.  Accompanied by Mr Williams, Mr Duckett and Ms Hayden, they navigated a route up and over the top of Swampy Summit and down into the Wairoa Scout Camp. On the way the participants demonstrated their navigation skills as well as a remarkable ability to communicate using the two-way radios.

On arrival at the campsite the girls quickly put up their tents before eating dinner and lighting the campfire. The next morning the participants quickly ate breakfast and packed away their sleeping bags, mats and tents and were ready to go almost before the adults. The focus for the second day was to try and find the path up to Ben Rudd's Hut and some superb navigation by the team enabled them to show their position precisely on the map, identifying the correct path. 

The team kept walking up the hill, showing fortitude and determination. One of the reasons why the Award includes an Adventurous Journey is to help develop resilience - there is no easy way to quit when you are carrying a heavy pack out of cell phone coverage of a taxi!

The group did exceptionally well and can have this section signed off in their record book. Although the tramp is local to the city, it still includes some challenging terrain. Their task now is to complete the training for the next tramp - to be undertaken when the weather improves.