Mt Stirling Snow Camp

Year 9 Advance – Strathbogie - Mt Stirling Snow Camp

Congratulations to all of the Year 9 Advance students for their determination and resilience on the Mt Stirling Nordic skiing challenge. A sincere thank you to Mr Mark Micallef for his support and expert driving skills and to Ms Marion Mortimer for organising the Strathbogie snow camp.

Dea Vidović (9I) reflects: “For our third camp, the Year 9 Advance class went to Mt Stirling for a long day of Nordic skiing. It was beautiful, in my opinion. To me, it was more intriguing than Mt Buller or any other snow resorts. After finally learning the Nordic basics, we headed up the 'road'. It was very strenuous going uphill, but it was very exciting at the same time. After finally reaching the 'top', we all had a rest, threw a few snowballs, made a snowman and took some photos. Then, as there was a higher elevated and smooth area, the instructors taught us how to ski downhill, they also attempted to teach us how to ski without falling. However, most of us fell quite a few times, but hey, we were beginners! After having way too much fun, we started skiing downhill. It was so exhilarating and so relaxing, as you could go a lot faster downhill than uphill and it took a lot less energy, and we all needed that.

The most interesting part of the camp were the Estonian instructors; they were only in Australia for the snow season! We talked to them quite a bit during our 4km skiing trip, they were both so fluent, incredibly nice and their language was so amazing to listen to! I think that this camp was fantastic and it, honestly, couldn't have been any better, I already miss Mt Stirling.

Kathryn Chenh (9I) reflects: “Since this was my first time at the snow, I was bursting with excitement. The snow was as white as toothpaste and the feel of the snow was quite different than what I expected. Instead of softness, it was replaced with a harder feeling. With two instructors, in no time, the entire class was able to ski. Surprisingly, I thought I would be extremely cold at the snow but I found myself taking off my beanie and scarf because skiing made me quite hot. In addition to the skiing, we were also blessed with a beautiful, sunny day where there was no wind or rain. It gave us a chance to ski without any trouble with the weather. How lucky were we?!

Finally, with everyone sore from the previous day's adventure, we headed home. Stopping at Roz’s farm we said our last goodbyes to her animals as we won’t be able to go to her farm next year or the year after. Kindly enough, Roz invited us into her house with warm greetings and made delicious scones and cupcakes. I feel that after every camp, the class becomes more and more comfortable with each other and we are no longer a shy group of people but like another family to each other.”