A group of Boonah high school students and teachers will take on the challenge of snow, sleet and hail on one of Australia’s iconic hikes later this year.
It is hoped the “trip of a lifetime” will broaden the horizons of students who might otherwise never get the opportunity, and offer a ray of hope after nearly two years rocked by drought, fire, flood and pandemic.
The eight Boonah State High School students and two teachers are the only school group in Queensland to have that trip fully paid after they were selected by the Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award.
Their flights, two nights hotel accommodation either side of the hike, food and hiking gear will all be fully subsidised under the program.
Not that it will all be cushy going. The students will start their hike in late November at Cradle Mountain and, if all goes according to plan, emerge seven days later at Lake St Clair.
They will have to carry all their own food, tents, stoves, sleeping bags and clothes on their back. And they will have to take on the Alpine conditions as they go.
Teacher Christine White made the submission which led to the award and will accompany her students. She also did the track five years ago at the same time of year and knows what it can entail.
“We had the whole gamut,” she said.
“Snow, rain, wind, hail.”
It won’t be easy. But that’s precisely the point. The students will have to show navigation skills, plan meals, pack up and pack down tents.
Their teachers hope they will rise to the occasion and come back with a whole new set of skills and life experience.
“This is the trip of a lifetime,” Mrs White said.
“An opportunity that can be life changing and give such a sense of achievement.”
“They’ll have to carry everything they need on their own back, that’s the challenge and that simplicity is the beauty of it.”
The teacher said that students were chosen on the grounds of hardship and leadership potential, had been long time participants in the Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award and might not otherwise get the chance for such an impactful, but expensive trip.
While the school was successful as she had successfully argued the region had been rocked by bushfires, drought, flood and then Covid, which all had a big impact on a town reliant on agriculture and tourism.
“This hike will give these students an opportunity to expand their horizons and put themselves in a situation where they have to show leadership skills and depend on each other,” she said.
“It will also get them out of Boonah and let them see a wider world.”
Jacinta Ashton, Jade Burns, Bodhi Mears, Daniel Brannelly, Tim Freeman, Lachlan Murray, Nicholas Miller and Kane Tronc were the students selected, while John Brannelly will accompany them with Mrs White.