Aranui High Outdoor Education

Winter training and Inspiration

2011-05-07T23:36:00.000+12:00

Winter is well and truely here, so it's a matter of looking for ways to blow your hair back that don't involve good weather in our stunning coastal city. In the next week I hope to start posting some training program links that may balance out the drop in temperature. The key is to get OUT there, find yourself a training buddy and just DO it.
In the meantime be motivated by this link to the Tempest Freerunning Academy Gym video - it is AWESOME!!!! http://youtu.be/1fouvwilGWc
Happy trails!

It's always good biking weather !

2011-04-19T13:11:00.001+12:00

Ok, so recently geological events may have temporarily put pay to some of our finer trails, but there are still enough options to blow your hair back. Kennedy's Bush Track to Worsleys is open, for example, as are the Bottle Lake Forest and Mc Leans Island's tracks. One of my favourites at this time of year is one that we did with the class a few years ago - the Little River Rail trail. It is a ride of ~21kms of lake and coastal delight with gorgeous mountain views. http://www.littleriverrailtrail.co.nz/fastpage/fpengine.php/templateid/1. For the full Christchurch city council reports on track status, wheel your browser to http://ccc.govt.nz/cityleisure/gettingaround/cycling/trackstatus.aspx%20Please. Please remember that riding in the wet can really damage the trails, so rather than carve your big bad damaging signature, kick back with another NZ Mountainbiker magazine and a short black or follow this link to http://www.nzmtbr.co.nz/ while some sun and wind dry off the trails. Happy riding! Kg

April 2010 - We are still very much here!

2011-04-13T16:17:00.000+12:00

Check out this stop motion animation video aptly titled "Joy of Destruction". It is a good talking point or lesson starter for any sustainability related discussion.

Kayaking Cass Bay November 5th 2010

2010-11-17T12:18:00.000+13:00

We woke to a calm spring morning, a high tide at 3:15pm and peaking to get out into our boats. The crew was slick leaving school for the drive through to Cass Bay and the afternoon's lessons and assessment. After squeezing ourselves into our wetsuits, we stretched and warmed up with some of Danny's Touch Rugby Drills in preparation for learning how to "Throw Bag" the 15m safety ropes for rescues.

While half of us were doing that, the balance were on the water one by one under the Eagle Eye of Karen who was assessing their paddling strokes - forward, reverse and sweep strokes, the stern rudder, controlled turns, effective stopping, and avoiding the yachts and the other group of paddlers on the water and so course! A few students felt the pressure of assessment and some were frustrated by their struggle to handle their boat as well as they had been able to in the pool. Others experienced the different challenge of the slight chop of the sea; however, in the main, most were relaxed in the knowledge of the level of their confidence and competence after the time they have put into their skills mastery and were happy to enjoy the views and be "in the flow" surrounded by their friends.

Being out there as an educator I was drawn to thinking of Tony Ryan's Thinkers Keys and the questions he poses. I have used his Keys to write these activities.

ACTIVITIES:

Draw a mind map of all of the things you would have to consider if it were you planning to complete this as a multi day Harbour trip. (Mind maps are awesome tools for studying, especially if you are a visual/spatial learner – one who learns “in pictures”).
List 8 different uses for a fishing net
Write a paragraph (6 lines at least) on the topic of “what if all fish disappeared.”

Aron Ralston Interview & 127 Hours Movie Trailer

2010-11-03T21:56:00.000+13:00

Just in case you rupture your Archillies and can't get outdoors... drop by on these two links: Aron Ralston Interview and 127 Hours Trailer 2010 HD. (Thank you to my friend Mr Rooney at LHS for the links - you are an AWESOME educator and your FB page rocks)

MT OXFORD CLASS CAMP REFLECTIONS

2010-10-01T15:42:00.001+13:00

2010 Mt Oxford: Some class Camp reflections:
Here are a selection of comments I have compiled from the review activity following camp. I think is gives a really good view of the learning and vibe of the camp. It sounded wicked! Thanks so much for sharing these reflections.

• The strongest feeling I had was motivation and excitement.(SP)
• With regards to being a part of a group, I appreciate the fact that I was involved in decisions.(SP)
• The strongest feeling I had was the feeling, after the trip in the cars that we had achieved. Every group member did a really exciting and hard trip. We slept in a shelter and walked at 7 am throw three rivers and got wet shoes, but we hiked until 3 pm and nobody gave up. I felt very strong.(JvV)
• I was pleased to note that I am a very nice group were everybody helps each other and everybody was happy with this trip (MM)
• Even if it was very hard, I had great experiences, because I learned very much and felt very good after that, about what I have done (MM)
• I really liked (because…) The hiking and the cooking, because it was a great opportunity to get to know the people in your group and you can relax at the cooking in the evening a bit after a hard hiking day (MM)
• I really liked (because…) The group because we always had a lot of fun and we respect each other [E (L) B]
• My favourite moment was My favourite moment was on the Black Hill, because I reached a very big goal for me and it was great so see what I can do (MM)
• My favourite moment was standing on the top of black hill watching the view and feeling freedom, infinity and not feeling time pressure.(SP)
• I was surprised to find that the whole camp area was full of 15cm snow in the next morning. (KL)
• The most valuable experience was to learn not to care about no shower, feeling cold and sore legs, but think positively and have fun with the group (KL)
• The most valuable experience was to keep doing something although I had no power left and no motivation. (KH)
• The most valuable experience was that I can reach some things which I couldn’t believe before the trip, that I can do it. (JvV)
• The funniest moment was a) Making videos in our shelter while we couldn’t move, because there was no space and b) Singing the Barnie song with or in front of the group (KL)
• The funniest moment was when Laura fell in the river (sorry Laura!)
• Regarding the group’s organisation -if anything changed, what impact did it have? The first day we walked as one group and the faster people had to wait a lot for the slower ones, the slower ones had problems with the fitness and no breaks, so we decided to make two groups on the second day; it was a good decision, because everyone had fun and reached his/her own goals. (KH)
• In terms of the group’s organisation, my group, and I think all groups, were so united and did the work correctly and because of that, we could do everything we needed to do in few minutes, because we worked together. (FdPR)
• My roll/objective in the group is usually that trying to have fun with the others so that they stay happy and see if they were feeling good in the trip. Katrin and I were singing songs and having fun with others so they felt better. (FdPR)
• I really liked (because…) The teachers. Trent is a good instructor and so funny, every one was so happy for we have a good person helping us like him. I hope we meet again in this kind of trip. And Danny was very good instructor and always helping me with the maps and also saying “good work” or “well done”, and this helped us very much. (FdPR)
• The group was so united, so you can forget everything bad and have fun (FdPR)
• After being on this camp I am now going to Respect the environment more and I realize that I can live without television and a cell phone [E (L) B]
• I felt frustrated when …. (because) I saw the whole way up to the black mountain but it was a motivation and a challenge for me to reach the top. [E(L)B]
• What does sustainability mean to you? And has this changed since you have completed the hike? It changed completely; because I saw an awesome environment and I don’t want that it gets destroyed due to our behaviour [E(L)B]
• The activity I would most like to repeat, learn or practice more is the cooking and sitting around the fire and playing “werewolf” or singing “Barny songs” :D (JvV)

[4 more students work to follow...]

CAMP @ Mt Oxford/ Wharfdale Track Sept 20-23rd

2010-09-23T22:41:00.016+12:00

I get to "heal" my heel while they get to play...where's the fun in that?? I'll add some text when I get the "skinny" for real tomorrow. (One needs to remember to never let the truth get in the way of a good story of course!) It sure looked awesome fun - if the pictures are anything to go by.

Big up's to everyone for sharing their photos with me (thanks for the arm chair adventure) so that we can slip some into the yearbook, paste some here and copy them all for ourselves to have a record of our aventures.

Orienteering, Geocaching, Avalanche Awareness

2010-08-29T21:31:00.007+12:00

Hot on the tongue of the recent avalanche up at Mt Hutt it seemed timely to have an avalanche awareness lesson followed by a practical session on avalanche transceiver use. A quick game of "tag" down at the beach at New Brighton suitably churned up the sand to create a mock avalanche debris zone in which to hide and seek out pieps that we'd secretly buried in the sand. We could do with a little more practice, as our speed of making it to our victim needs some work, but otherwise most of us were great at finding our buried "friends".

We've also been continuing to work on our "cunning running" (orienteering)/navigation skills at Victoria and Spencer Parks - some of us with impressive success and times. Isaac and Jamie have also taken part in the Plains and Peninsula local club events on two Sundays for their assessment. Just for a change of pace and adventure last Friday four of us mountain biked round a multi cache out at Spencer Park http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=ede70618 -f6d1-4d66-ad6f-25149e6e4f72 while the rest of the crew tackled either the orange or, in Isaac's case, the red orienteering course on foot.

The competition for shaving precious minutes and seconds off the Porritt Park times is also exciting to follow - week 6 saw new PB's and times as low as Sebastian's 17:19 and Laura's 19:07.

The shelter building exercise in the forest looked fun - my vote was definitely with the "Home Sweet Home" groups bivvy! The following day, back at school we then used the tarps to build our own one. I really didn't think the class though I was serious that would be their shelter on camp - I jest not!!

Porritt Park Run

2010-08-16T22:29:00.007+12:00

Working on our fitness, be it training, in the pool at QEII, the weights room at school and/or team sports on a Thursday or our regular Porritt Park dash on a Monday are all part of the program in the Academy. Scroll to the bottom of the blog to view the satellite image of our road/park/river run which most of us managed to shave precious minutes and seconds off today under the concrete coloured sky and on the wintry green damp of the grass.
Most of the class are off on the ski trip tomorrow to Mt Hutt. With strong (like 69km/hr strong) NW winds forecast for the upper mountain and wind chill predicted to be -5*C I'm sure our Brazilian crew are in for a HUGE ride - LOL! Who said life is a daring adventure or nothing at all???

Orton Bradley Camp June 2010

2010-06-29T17:20:00.007+12:00

Camp day dawned with a rotten forecast, but one that promised to clear. We were fairly slick in our organisation and left school ~ 10am in the rain and under gray skies for the 45 min drive over to Orton Bradley Park. It wasn't long before we were treated to a gorgeous winters day with stunning blue skies and views over the park and Te Wharau/ Charteris Bay and Wakaraupo ( Harbour of the raupo reed)/ Lyttelton Harbour. Mother nature did indeed deliver!
After a quick unpack we settled into some more First Aid Lessons, mostly revising work we'd learned in class. Most of us had it fairly good understanding and knowledge of the theory, and a few asked great questions. Brains faded around noon so we took a break for lunch. It ended abruptly with Trent screaming in pain from outside - a burn scenario no less! We sprung into action, but it was a bit chaotic! The rest of the afternoon was spent walking up to big rock and working through a few other scenarios and a frustrating time at the ropes course where the crew got "blocked" on an activity and couldn't see the way forward. hungry cool and tired we bailed back to the fire and warmth of the Pony club and dinner and Birthday celebrations for Jamie. Tents up in the dark followed a dead cold 2 oC night and early start for our 6 hour walk...

How stuff works website

2010-03-11T20:24:00.000+13:00

Here is the skinny according to the "How stuff works crew" on "geocaching" and "are humans wired to survive?".
Follow this link: http://www.howstuffworks.com/stuff-you-should-know-podcast.htm, scoop out the electronics tab, then personal audio and then podcasts and then it's there for your listening pleasure! Scroll down past the "can you remember being born?" and "how do dogs perceive time?" to the "what is geocaching?" podcast. It's a cool site, if not a great time waster; but isn't that what www stands for? (world wide waste of time?) Enjoy!

Mountain biking along the Crater Rim

2009-06-12T17:21:00.000+12:00

Ok so the day was overcast, but it was perfect for a ride. We had a small but committed crew today and rode from Sugarloaf to Rapaki Rock ( in Witch Hill reserve to the base of the crag where we were climbing a couple of weeks ago) and back along some sweet singletrack. It was just technical enough and hilly enough to be a challenge without being too frustrating (with the exception of a short uphill grunt where we had to carry our wheels when I took us along a wrong turn - oops!). Then after our 1.5 hour ride we were rewarded by a 7km downhill via rode to the bottom of the hill SWEEEET!

Winters day Climbing... bliss

2009-06-08T19:15:00.000+12:00

It would be lying to say that all of our winters days have been bliss as we suffered through the highest rainfall last month that our city has had in May since 1983! We have, however, since been rewarded by freezing cold (like -3 degrees celcius) mornings that have then given us windless clear blue skies and stunning views of the alps from our classroom at Aranui and the Port hills where we have been climbing. After 5 sessions indoors mainly at the Roxx http://www.theroxx.co.nz/ but also in at the YMCA http://www.ymcachch.org.nz/climbing/climbing/ we ventured outdoors to try our new skills on natural rock; what a head shift! We started our first session at Albert Terrace then moved to the grade 12-16 climbs named Bosins Chair, Ratlines, Scurvy, Monkey Poop at Rapaki and ended with our final assessment at Cattlestop crag - a real favourite of mine.

In class we have been talking a little about the theme of resillience and have also read an excerpt from Joe Simpson's book set in the Peruvain Andes called "Touching the Void". We wrote a perspective piece on using a De Bono "Thinking Hats". Students could choose, for example, to write from factual (white hat) point of view, an emotional (red hat) point of view, a creative (green hat) point of view, optimistic (yellow hat) point of view. We aim to watch the movie in class later in the term, so that we can reflect on it with reference to decision making, values and personality traits. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Touching_the_Void] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9Y6MNyWp6s

I have been really impressed by the progress that the class has made in their climbing and thrilled that some of us have been climbing a lot in their own time (particularly Lars!) and joined the High School Inter-School climbing league at the Roxx.

For some, the climbing is a real challenge in terms of facing fears and going beyond some of their comfort zones and what they initially thought they were capable of. I hope these lessons transfer into their lives beyond their time together and are well used to reach their potential when they face other situations that test them.

Here is a clip of Deep Water Solo Climbing in Bulgaria to wet your apetite! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkzRHocx6s0

Your Proud Teacher will attach photos soon. Feel free to write of your own experience and I will add to and edit mine this week

Rock on,
Lisa

running today

2009-05-11T16:59:00.001+12:00

What a sensational day to run! We left early afternoon and ran through the forest, next to the estuary then along the beach under clear blue blue sky and a cool winters sun .

BANFF MOUNTAIN FILM FESTIVAL

2009-05-09T14:07:00.000+12:00

Here is the link to the trailer on YouTube - it's incredible!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAMbREbCz5E

Climbing at the Roxx: Session 4

2009-05-06T22:47:00.000+12:00

It was really really great to watch the progress the class made at the Roxx today! It was clear that everyone was challenging themselves and climbing more fluidly.

We again started by warming up in the bouldering "cave" before moving through to the main gym. It was packed today which meant sharing the gym with Boys' High, Unlimited- Paenga Tawhiti and Aoraki Polytech, but the gym space is so well designed that it easily accomodated us and there was a really good energy there. I was keen that the class focussed on their feet again and also thought about their orientation to the wall so that they were positioning themselves so as to gain better access to more holds. Most are climbing 14-17's and gaining in confidence and skill. Well done! I'm looking forward to Friday where Johnny will join us to give us an "technique class" so that we have a few more slick moves, and next week when we will go outdoors for our first session on "real rock". Fingers crossed that the SNOW that is forecasted for the hills this weekend has melted. Brrrr.

350.org Because the world needs to know

2009-05-01T22:14:00.000+12:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5kg1oOq9tY

Bouldering

2009-04-12T20:39:00.000+12:00

So I've just come back from holidaying up at Castle Hill. I can see why it was named a "Spiritual Center of the Universe" by the Dalai Lama in 2002! Many would say it's the epitome of New Zealand's South Island climbing scene. Today was a perfect still clear autumn day for the groups of rock climbers bouldering the limestone outcrops and the vast space of the reservesomehow absorbed the huge number of tourists wandering round. Watching the Bouldering today was inspiring! It lead me to search out some videos on the net tonight.
Check this out - it's way beyond what we will do this year together but way cool http://www.bigupproductions.com/#/vidplayer/Tis_The_Season/

End of Term

2009-04-07T21:01:00.000+12:00

Today was a wicked day... In class we toured the port hills having an iwi history lesson and spent some time at Castle Rock and Rapaki where we will climb next term. The light had an amazing warmth to it; many of took photos and Mesi said another goodbye to the city that has been her home since July last year. I've been skimming through more photos and thought I'd add this one I took at the Ropes Course before I go back to more marking. Two days until Easter and the end of term - bring it on!! L

Our place, our say...

2009-04-05T23:59:00.000+12:00

Morena
Hey welcome to our blog page! I started putting this together tonight in the hope that we can all use this to communicate, share and learn. I am keen that we ake this organic and we continue to add to it!

I am away tomorrow (Monday) so I ask that you follow the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Bono_Hats link, read about his work and use it to write a piece of at least 10 lines about one of the TED talks links I have listed. If you would rather find, watch and work on your own TED talks video or write about a favourite one of yours from the same TED site ( http://www.ted.com/ ) then feel free to do so. I will give you an example, but encourage you to choose your own: If you to view the Ben Saunders North Pole video then chose to consider a "red hat" you would be writing about your emotional response as if you were him or maybe someone close to him. If you opted to metaphorically "wear" the white hat, you would be listing the facts he talks about. If you are unclear about what to do, please first ask another student in the class or, if really stuck or if you have any problems completing the work, feel free to text me on either my 027 or 021 number and I'll reply as soon as I can.

The camp review/reflection worksheets need to be handed into me on tomorrow also. Please do so by putting it under the door of my Deans' office opposite Student services.

Ka kite
L