OPC MONDAY

Today was my first official day at the Sir Edmund Hillary Outdoor Pursuits Centre of NZ. This is a very popular outdoor school for schools in the north island to attend. I had been corresponding with the program director about my visit and was thrilled they allowed me to tag along for the week to see what they do around here.

I am shadowing the instructors at OPC and stay in the chalets with the students at night (this brings me back to my outdoor school days at Hashawa!). The school attending this week is an all girls high school from the North Shore which is just north of Auckland. There are 80 girls here in Year 12 (11th grade) who are attending as a part of their outdoor education grade for PE class.

It's been tons of fun getting to know the girls and learning about their school up north. I've also learned a ton of fun games and activities that I can bring back to Calvert. This outdoor school was based on the idea of team building and overcoming challenging situations. I always enjoy seeing students work out problems in their group in this type of setting.

I also appreciate the camps philosophy that all campers take part in the maintenance of camp. For example, campers have duties everyday to help clean the cabins and areas around the center. Also, campers help prepare all meals, wash dishes etc. Everyone really seems to pitch in in order to make the day run smoothly.

Our last activity was on the high ropes course which I was familiar with after my go on the high ropes course in Taupo. We did a team building challenge called the ladder where three campers attempt to climb as high as possible on a giant hanging ladder. The catch is, the rungs are further and further apart as you go up and you actually have to help push and pull teammates up to advance. I was lucky enough to go with the last group and am proud to say we made it to the top! It was exhausting!

Tomorrow we're heading to the slopes. The very exciting part is that this mountain is located on an active volcano that last erupted in 2007- tonight we had to watch a safety video demonstrating the precautions to take if the volcano were to erupt.