Enhance Term Week 4 2019

Our Mount Buller camp is here! This camp was an amazing opportunity for each young person to step up and show off all they have learnt this term. It was wonderful to see everybody employ character strengths and the four styles of leadership throughout the three days. We had early mornings, tiring days and a lot of learning happening throughout the camp. Each young person stepped up and did an incredible job. They should all be extremely proud of their efforts and achievements on this camp.

Day one by Jassy S.

Waking up at 5:45 was one of the hardest parts of the day! I never have and never will be a morning person, but at least waking up in the bush was nice. Yota and I met everyone at the Yarra Glen petrol station and from there we began the road trip. We stopped in Yea and then continued on to Mansfield. Once we actually began to ascend the mountain, I finally was able to appreciate the view, which was breathtaking. We got off the bus at the top and had a five minute walk to our lodge. Once we got inside we got changed into our thermals and wet weather gear, and then headed down to George’s to collect our skis, boots and polls. The snowboarders and skiers then separated and we headed off to our lesson. Our instructer was really helpful and we went through some basic things like snow-plows and how to turn. We then headed up to the magic-carpet and went down that small hill a few times. By this time our lesson was over and I was very satisfied with my efforts and ability considering everyone else had done this before, I was at a pretty similar level to them. We header back to the lodge and we started on dinner. I put my hand up to set up for dinner, so I took the time to make my bed (I knew I would be tired later, and I was VERY right). I then set the table and put out some bowls of cheese with Hamish. We tucked into a spaghetti dinner and afterwards I went outside quickly for a view of the sky, which was so clear and crystalline. We then had a 45 minute planning session for our documentary, and then headed up to bed. I slept like a log.

Day two day Ali.

Waking up my body didn't feel sore... yet I was really excited to get back on the slope and learn new things. Today was so much colder than the other days and you couldn't see more than ten metres in front of you. When we started the lesson I was confident with snowboarding, but as we continued through the lesson I lost my confidence and wasn't able to do as many of the things that I could do the previous day. A lot of the other snowboarders where racing ahead of me on this day as I didn't like going too fast, as earlier in the day I had slipped on the snowboard fell over and hit my tailbone on the hard packed ice. I didn’t want this to happen again, so I slowed right down. By this day, I was able to ride the chair lifts easier and less scared of the heights now that I was getting used to it. In the last hour and a half of the day I was starting to feel really fatigued and started having headaches so I went inside the place where we had lunch (The ABOM) and relaxed. I tried getting out on the slopes again, but I was just too tired. Today was a really different experience than the first day as today it was really foggy and much colder.

Day three by Louis.

Unfortunately, Thursday was the last day on Mt Buller but it was also definitely my favourite day on the snow, it was very powdery and perfect amazing conditions. Again we had an early morning start and I was extremely sore after the icy trial and error day before but I was also ready and willing to get back onto the board as it felt natural to me now and I was having much more fun boarding. Once we’d wrapped up the lesson we met the mountain coordinator and a weather report women who both helped make this trip possible for us and gave them a little thank you. Brendan and Shane also took some of us to a different run called Shaky Knees which was the highlight of my trip because once I had nailed the S and C turns it was the most fun and fast paced run I had done so far. After a much too short day of amazing fun we started to return our gear and pack and clean until we were ready to start the long drive home, it felt wrong driving away from one of the most fun times had in my life but all good things must come to an end. Finally after a long entertaining ride in the van we arrived back in Collingwood where my dad picked me up, I then had to go straight to the doctor that night because I got an ear infection somewhere along the way but all in all it was the most amazing experience I have had in a long time and I wish for more opportunities to go boarding in the future.

Friday was an extra day on the program which was used to plan and start our documentary. It was a tough day as we were coming off of camp and were all feeling tired both mentally and physically. With this being said everyone showed up and did well to work on our documentary. We were able to plan out what needs to be done, hold an interview, find relevant material we needed and start on the skeleton of our doco. It was a big day and big week overall and everyone did great to power through and give 100%.