Y10 Wollangarra Week

 

 

 

 

 

 

Meeting the mountains

On Monday 27 November students will head to the remote Wollangarra Outdoor Education Centre in Glenfalloch for the chance to discover the heart of Victoria’s high country in a small, well-organised and supervised hiking group.

The major aim of these five-day expeditions is to encourage an awareness of the environment. During this challenging week our young people will discover how they respond to difficult situations, physically uncomfortable conditions and teamwork through shared experiences, in a supported educational environment.

Based at a homestead in a wilderness setting, students are asked to spend the week without their mobile phones, watches or money. Wollangarra provides one of the few educational opportunities to demonstrate to young people that they can be without these comforts and still be safe, have fun, develop meaningful friendships with their peers and engage in positive activities, including caring for the animals, baking bread in a wood-fired oven, planting in the veggie patch or fixing up fences and timber work using pioneer skills.

The program is designed to provide more than basic outdoor education, it also educates young people about practical conservation and environmental sustainability. Wollangarra’s Stage One course is an introduction for young people to the natural environment, in particular the mountain environment, and includes a two-night, three-day hike in either the Alpine National Park or locally in the mountains surrounding Wollangarra. Hikers return on the Thursday evening to a hot shower and a hearty meal, after which stories of the week are shared around the open living room fire.

On conclusion of the course, students are invited to participate in follow-up courses (Stages Two and Three) if they are interested in conservation projects both in the mountains and at home; even if students do not return on a follow-up course, they may be interested in investigating how they can reduce their ecological footprint through changes to their lifestyle.

We wish them a truly wonderful and possibly life-changing experience.