The darkness of the cave is complete. Darker than dark. But then, slowly, the glow worms come into view, shyly displaying their blue light to lure in the prey. But we are not afraid, because we are all together. We are a group of twelve students with an experienced instructor and confident teachers. It is not a silent cave either, for laughter and footsteps, and words of encouragement are always in our ears. And in what is for one afternoon only, The Chambered Nautilus is sung in a cabin in the depth of the Clifden Caves. With the verses still bouncing off the limestone stalactites, we turned on our torches and strode through the rest of the cave system.

This was the experience of one of ten groups that went through the cave as part of Borland Camp, located south of Te Anau. But this was not the only activity. We also did a stream study, collected data on the forest, and went rock climbing, kayaking, tramping and mountain biking. At night time we sang songs around the campfire, completed our Biology internal assessment on beech forest stratification, did yoga with the teachers or simply hung out with our friends. We ate wholesome food (but not as much ice cream as we would’ve liked) and enjoyed spending time in Fiordland’s pristine natural environment and ancient beech forest. Thank you to all the students and staff that made Borland Camp a week to remember!