Australian Alps Family Course September 2016 | Unique Shared Experience
Welcome to the blog for our Australian Alps Family Course. Here you will find updates from the program including a written account of each day’s events as well as photos. You can expect the written portion to be quite up-to-date, photos may take a day or two as they are a little harder to get out of the bush! Please join in and leave your comments – we’d love to hear from you! Stay tuned as your loved ones undertake this positive and transformative experience together.
Day 1
Day 1 of the Outward Bound Family Course got underway with a beautiful Spring day. The sun was shining as members from six families met one another and got into their first major activity, the Giant Ladder. The Giant Ladder is a roping activity that requires teamwork and co-operation for both members, in this case the father/mother & son pairs, to progress up the ladder. There are a few different techniques for climbing the ladder, most of which require either lifting or pulling each other from rung to rung, eventually reaching up to 10m in height above the ground. As the height increases, family members need to support one another not just physically but also emotionally, as fears of height come in to play. What a way to begin this five-day shared experience!
After completing their Giant Ladder activity, the families, with their instructors Alice and Kelly, had a more relaxing night, getting acquainted with the Australian bush in the Namadgi National Park and sitting around the fire over dinner. Stay tuned for more updates and photographs. Photos may take a little longer to post due to the challenges of getting the digital files out of the national park, we should be able to post them every second day or so.
Thanks for tuning in, and feel free to leave any comments below!
Days 2, 3 & 4
After their first night out in the bush, six families began their first hike, taking in some beautiful sub-alpine terrain on their journey up to the Orroral Ridge campsite. The journey provided an opportunity for everyone to learn some new skills as they navigated off-track, working together to reach their destination. Once in camp, the “young adults” as opposed to the “big kids” have been taking on more and more responsibility, with tasks like setting up the shelters and cooking dinner all a part of a night in camp.
On day 3, the families had the opportunity to explore some magnificent granite formations along the ridge, as well as taking part in the abseil activity. The abseil is a tremendous individual challenge that pushes people out of their comfort zone and is also a great opportunity for family members to provide moral support for one another.
As the course has progressed, there has been more and more of a focus on sharing unique experiences together. None more so than today (Tuesday) which has seen the families embark on a paired hike before taking on their “duo” time. The Duo activity will mean each family pair spends the night together in their own location, separated from the rest of the group. In this setting, each family pairing will be responsible for taking care of the essentials such as setting up shelters and cooking dinner, and will also have time to reflect on questions posed to them by their instructors. This will be the last full night that the families spend together in the bush and is generally a fantastic way to finish the program and to re-connect.
Stay tuned for a final update tomorrow, we will also be able to post more photos once the course has finished tomorrow afternoon. Thanks for tuning in!
Day 5
Well, the Outward Bound September Family program finished as it started under beautiful blue skies. The family pairings came off their overnight duo experience this morning with all of them reporting that it was a great way to get to know one another better. They followed this with celebratory barbeque before returning to base camp to enjoy a few luxuries such as a shower and a cup of tea!
The families are on their way homes now after spending the last five days in the bush and making some new friends, I’m sure there will be plenty of stories to share upon their return! I have included a selection of photos in a gallery below. For the purposes of uploading them quickly, these are of a fairly low quality – the full complement of higher quality images will be sent in the mail to each family in the next day or so.
Thanks again for joining us!
