In between Ziplining, Tramping, Caving, Rafting and Volleyball we built a Whānau. On 17 July 2022, David Searle, Anateiha Dalton and I had an opportunity of a lifetime to embark on a leadership adventure at the Tongariro Hillary Outdoors Centre. We connected with 3 students from Te WhareKura o Mauao and 4 students from Tarawera College. This formed our full group. We had an amazing instructor named Olly who gave us the best opportunities to push ourselves and broaden our horizons. Olly taught us to think for ourselves and if we asked for help on an activity he would counter with a question to get us to work our own problems out. 

We spent the week completing team challenges and adventuring into the unknown. We paddled 5km on a raft we built, walked along planks we laid down above a swamp, went deep underground in the Okupata Caves and tramped into a blizzard for an overnight expedition to Whakapapaiti hut (6 hours of hard work). My personal favourite was the planks across the swamp challenge, despite it taking us two hours to complete. The most memorable moment for me was the river crossing on our expedition. We had to cross a waist-deep river whilst it was snowing and all of us got drenched. We were very cold when we finally got to the hut. After the first activity, which was us making up nicknames for everyone (all of which were foods), we were already feeling like a family (Da Whumaly is what we called ourselves). 

We had amazing experiences during evening times because we had hardcore ping pong competitions with other groups and had sing-a-longs some nights. Sasha and Julian (Camp Mum and Dad) made our nights just as memorable as our days. The overall experience gave us the skills to lead others and embrace new people. We all made friends for life. Being able to complete tasks and push ourselves made all of us better people and boosted our self confidence. 

On behalf of the three of us we would like to thank Lisa and Mrs Flanagan for providing us with this opportunity and Olly, Sasha, Julian and Chef for giving us the amazing experience.