Kia ora whānau,

It’s a Costa family tradition that when we turn 13 years old we go for a father-daughter walk. For my walk my dad chose the infamous, four day, Kanangra to Katoomba walk, known to Ozzies as the K to K. This trek took us through 64 kms of the rugged and isolated Blue Mountains in Australia. At times, there were no tracks, steep mountain ridges and deep valleys. Not to mention the usual dangers that you face in the outback like the casual snake or dingo. I didn't know what to expect but I was ready to get some abs, see some views and tell my friends about it afterwards...

We got off to a terrible start. At 4am in full frost  it’s very hard to notice a particular group of animals jumping along the sides of the road. Before every car ride dad would say, “If I see one jump out, I can’t stop the car. It’s too dangerous so if I hit one, don’t freak out…” Well, we did freak out! I’m not talking about a cute little wallaby that we hit, I’m talking about a 6 foot giant red kangaroo that absolutely dismantled our bullbar.

After a three hour drive we prepared to set off on foot. I often reflect on that walk, being 13 out in the wilderness with my dad, carrying big packs, I look back and often relate it to situations that I face now.

It was actually a major challenge, but I learnt some valuable lessons on the way.

Lesson one. Push forward. The only way out of that walk was to keep walking. Sometimes it feels like there are only mountains around you and that you’re just not getting anywhere. For example finding subjects difficult, failing your drivers test, having trouble with friends.

Lesson two is to be positive. At the top of the mountain after a harsh day of walking, we would see amazing views all across the Blue Mountains. We would look back on where we had walked and it made that view even better. We can get overwhelmed or anxious about exams, study or just life, but keep positive, and keep think about the view at the end.

The last lesson I learnt was perseverance. You have to remember, this was an Australian bushwalk, there wasn’t always a path or a clear way out and every time we went into a valley, we would get lost.

You will have hardships. These are much like the valleys that my dad and I went down. We were bush bashing, we had no water, no service and we were lost.

I’m horrible with directions even when I have Siri on my phone, so there was just no way out of this one.  We face valleys and challenges in life and one way to overcome these is to persevere.

With senior exams, and internals to finish, stress starts to build up, and my 3 main messages for you during this time is to push forward, stay positive and persevere!