Zach Heenan at Outward Bound

When I was offered the Outward Bound scholarship, I accepted immediately, not knowing 100% what I was getting myself into. But even with minimal knowledge of what I'd be doing, I was not going to pull out. In the blink of an eye, my ferry ticket and course were booked, there was no turning back now. I began to pack my bags, realising how much I had to take and how heavy my bags were getting. It felt like two days had passed, and I was already driving myself down to the ferry terminal with heavy bags packed and my mind completely oblivious to what I would be doing. When I arrived in Picton, I met up with Rose, another Otaki College student who was the only person I knew who would be in my group for Outward Bound. We walked along the Picton seafront together on our way to the pick-up spot. After 5 minutes of walking, we see a group of people awkwardly standing together, hoping it's where we're meant to be. Rose and I join the awkwardness and introduce ourselves with quiet voices. 10 minutes go by as we wait for the last person in our group. We're told we can talk amongst ourselves, but not much is said. 

The last person arrives, and we all hop into a random van driven by Ben (He was awesome).  During the van ride, not many words were exchanged between us boys, but the girls happily chatted to each other. As we near the Outward Bound school, we are all told that we have to sing a waiata at the welcome, so we do one practice of tu tera mina iwi and leave it at that. We get to the school, awkwardly grab our bags, and dump them on the ground before walking over to a welcome circle. We have a song sung to us, then reply with our quiet and nervously performed waiata, and now we're welcome.

We get settled in a little, but then we are told to put on P.T. (Physical Training) gear, so we do. Then, as a group, we jog around the compound, getting a tour of what's where. Then they take us to the wharf, which at the end is surrounded by the freezing cold water of the Marlborough Sounds. Caleb, one of our instructors, then says that as a group we need to do a swim test, with our shoes on. So the first day wasn't the best, we got cold, we didn't know each other, and we were told what tomorrow morning was going to be like. Our instructors explain that every morning, we have to wake up a 6:00 am, clean up our watch house, and then go for a 2.8 km run, and that was just the start. After our run, keeping our shoes on, we jump into the ice-cold water, following it up with a cold shower. It wasn't what I expected, but it was better than it sounds.

During the following days, as a watch (group), we hike up the side of a mountain completely off track. After two days of that leg-aching adventure, we hop straight onto a sailboat that we don't leave for the next 2 days. While up in the mountains and on the sailing boat we're constantly learning new skills to help us on our adventure. 

Outward Bound is a course that I've wanted to go on for a couple of years, and after being able to experience it, I am so glad I took the opportunity. Even though during my time at Outward Bound was hard, I'm glad I was able to push myself as the instructors said I would. Having to experience all of it with a group of random people also, couldn't have been more fun. I got to meet new people, experience things I never have before and I got to push myself like I never have. For anyone undecided of whether of not to take the course, do it, you only live once and Outward Bound is an experience I'll never forget.