In 2019 the Year 12 Journey was held at Canaan Downs on the top of the Takaka Hill because in 2018 as year 11 students we
were unable to complete this section of the journey programme due to the major slips that wiped out the road to Golden Bay.
It was an exciting trip filled with a lot of fun activities and even a rare treat that we don’t see a lot in Nelson- snow! Over the
duration of camp each group did one or two activities each day. These activities included rock climbing, caving, mountain
biking, and navigation.
On the first day we arrived at camp and were bustling with a sense of joy, excitement and anticipation as well as trepidation. We got off the bus to sort our tenting arrangements and complete some group team building activities then after lunch we headed out on our first activity. There were four activities and my group did navigation first. We climbed up a hill and got so lost that it felt like even the instructor barely knew where we were. Once we found our way we went to “Harwoods Hole” which was a pretty cool sight and a mecca for spelunkers everywhere. We then returned to camp for a well earned meal of burgers and chips.
On the second day of camp we woke up to the sound of snow sliding on our tents. As we got up and out of our tents the sun
was shining and the campsite was covered in snow. The sunrise was amazing and the snow was beautiful. The vans couldn’t get out of the campsite due to the snow. We spent the morning having snow fights, making big snowmen and snowballs, and sitting round the large fire. We then packed up the campsite whilst we waited for the snow to melt in the afternoon sun, and then got shuttled out to Marahau. In the evenings we reflected on each day and our call to servant leadership.
On the last day of camp we went caving. The van dropped us off at the site. We got our helmets with headlights and a briefing,
then used ropes to make our way down the muddy slide into the cave entrance. The cave was damp, muddy and dark. Once in the cave we walked carefully and crawled our way through very small openings which at times made it very claustrophobic and muddied our clothes, the views were great though. We eventually got out of the cave and drove back to the campsite to have lunch before writing our final reflection and taking the bus back to school. By Yang Hong Liu