On September 20th, myself and eight other Bronze Duke of Edinburgh participants, travelled to Te Anau to walk the Kepler track. After departing school at 1:15, we soon arrived in Fiordland to start our journey. With our packs full, spirits high, and enough warm clothes to supply a small army, we started our walk.
After a minor hiccup and a small time delay of about 20 minutes, we started our walk on the Kepler Track from the gates (this time on the correct side of the river). We then all made our way along the track towards the Shallow Bay hut (where we would be pitching our tents) with no problem, but as we had lost about 20 minutes, we would be walking in the dark. Fortunately, we were prepared for this and had headtorches so we could see. Unfortunately, we were not prepared for the path to Shallow Bay hut to be completely flooded. As we waded through the cold Fiordland waters in the dark, we discovered that it would be too deep for us to continue towards the hut, so we would have to turn back. With no other options, Mr Ryan and Mrs Thompson (also known as J-Dog and Jackie Chan on the radios) made the decision to stay in the nearby Moturau hut.
After a long day of walking, we arrived at the busy Moturau hut where other Duke of Ed students from Wakatipu High school and Southland Girl’s High school were also staying. The atmosphere in the hut was one of exhaustion, excitement and relief to finally be out of the cold. Together we as a group cooked and ate our well-deserved pasta and got some rest, ready for the walk to Rainbow Reach the next day.
After a well-deserved sleep, everyone woke up pumped for the day ahead. A large part of the Duke of Edinburgh program is community service, so together we all spent an hour refilling the woodshed with driftwood and cleaning the hut for the next walkers. We then got back onto the track for a shorter walk to Rainbow Reach.
Finally, after approximately 22km of walking in total, we crossed the Rainbow Reach swing bridge and got back into the vans for the drive back to St Peter's College.
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed my experience of walking part of the Kepler. We learnt heaps: how to persevere through challenging and unexpected twists, how much a 3kg tent on your pack feels like after a day of walking, and most importantly, how to work as a team.
I would absolutely recommend participating in Duke of Edinburgh. It is an amazing experience that teaches you vital life skills and is a way for you to give back to your community.
Thank you to Mr Ryan and Mrs Thompson for organising the trip, we wouldn’t have been able to do it without you!
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