Date: October 2008

Minimbah Montessori Camping Trip

For most of the children in the Minimbah Montessori class a camping trip was a new experience. Ten children and 7 adults (including 5 parents) set out in the old school bus for our first overnight excursion. We camped in two old country train carriages set within a grove of wattles, eucalypts and granite boulders on a farm next to the Oxley Wild Rivers National Park. All the children and parents were taken on a day long walk into the Gara Gorge area along an exceptionally scenic pathway next to the rim of the gorge. Our quest encountered echidna, brown snake, numerous birds and many species of eucalypts (noted for their differing bark textures). We lunched by the river beneath old Casuarina trees, chatted and yarned at night around a fire, greeted the rising sun on a perfect New England spring morning and walked 10 kms in all. All the children completed the quest with energy to spare and with some new stories to tell. We had a close encounter with a brown snake, a scorpion and an echidna. It is the first of (hopefully) many more such trips. Next year we will camp for two nights! By Peter Erskine