The word 'odyssey' refers to a long and eventful or adventurous journey or experience, and represents our annual senior camping trip. The purpose of each odyssey is to enhance our real-world skills, independence and interdependance and challenge our comfort zones. In my final two years at the AP, it was up to the students to plan and organise every aspect. I took on the role of one of two coordinators both times, resulting in two successful trips; Margaret River in June 2023 and the Great Southern in February 2024!

The Great Southern Odyssey Video Montage February 2024

Great Southern Road Trip, 14th - 22nd February 2024, Albany Rose Gardens & Fonty's Pool. 

Role: co-coordinator with Elora Hannay ( in charge of bookings, budgeting, food prep, communications, transport plans, activities, school record documents, risk assessments).

Time period: Organised over six months

Locations: Albany & Manjimup with stops in Denmark, Pemberton, Katanning, Williams, and Walpole.

No. of attendees: 23 students, 3 advisors

Another six months of hard work, perseverence, research, teamwork and communication and finally we were off on our Great Southern Road Trip! This time, we were planning for more people and a longer trip so naturally it took longer than the previous year, and inevitably there were setbacks. We encountered changes in budget because of changes in attendees, missing permission forms, people away when jobs needed to be done, venues not responding and the like. It was helpful to have previous documents as a reference, though frustrating when a key document layout was changed by the school a few weeks before we left. However, despite the endless paperwork, the trip ended up being completely and utterly worth it. 

We explored the Granite Skywalk, Whaling Museum, ANZAC Museum and Emu Point Beach whilst staying at Albany Rose Gardens, then the Electricity museum, Timber museum, town of Pemberton, and town of Manjimup while we were at Fonty's Pool. All meals were once again cooked by us, and we did grocery shops every couple of days to restock, which ended up working better than just one big food order. Lifelong memories were made, connections reforged and everyone learned a little more about themselves in the process. Myself included.

Reflecting on all the effort, dedication and hard work required to organise a group trip like odyssey, I am met with nothing but pride for how much we were able to achieve.

Planning Documents

Margaret River Odyssey, 12th - 16th June 2023, Prevelly Caravan Park. 

Role: co-coordinator with Elora Hannay (Bookings, budgeting, food prep, communications, transport plans, activities, school record documents, risk assessments).

Time period: Organised over four months

No. of attendees: 19 students, 3 advisors

Margaret River was the first osyssey that was student-organised. Elora and I created itineraries, spreadsheets, proposals, excursion forms, arranged meetings, rewrote forms and various documents a dozen times and worked hard on the trip for a solid four months to follow the plan right from idea to execution, and I'm proud to report it was a success! The group consisted of 19 students and 3 advisors. We hired a second bus, booked accommodation in five cabins and secured school bookings at two cultural caves, a mindful yoga session, and the Yallingup maze. All our meals were cooked and catered by student groups in the little camp kitchen and any free time was spent making memories at the campsite or nearby beach. We learned a great deal from the planning process and were able to transfer those skills to create a less stressful planning environment for a bigger trip the following year.

Email Communication with Venues

Margaret River Odyssey Video Montage June 2023