A Life Changing Experience
Sponsored by Rangiora Lions
I had the most amazing, horrendous, incredible, scary, rewarding, challenging and ridiculously fun 8 nights.
Hi everyone, I’m Dalice Stewart and I was incredibly lucky to be sponsored by Rangiora Lions to go to Berwick Outdoor Experience.
When I wrote my application, I wrote from the heart. I explained how we went through many years of IVF to get our children and how I was stuck in a rut of “just being a Mum”, losing myself.
I won’t lie – when I found out I was picked, I was incredibly scared, especially after reading the list of gear we needed to take and realising I was going to be away Mother’s Day.
I kept on thinking to myself what on earth have I got myself into this time.
It really is hard to put into words how great it was and in the same breath how horrible it was!
I arrived on the Friday night slightly later and was met by Kevin the Course Founder. Kevin is incredible, 74 year old and still joining many of the activities. He is an inspiration.
Kev showed me my bunk room and then took me to the lounge.
I walked in and the main instructor Scotty was talking away, telling stories and laughing. I thought this guy sounds fun and this is going to be a good week. He then started to say we would be woken at 0540, our first activity would start at 0600 and there would be a room inspection. The schedule continued on to 19 30 for night exercise 1, lights out by 2230. I was trying to work out in my head how on earth a shower and sleep were going to fit into that schedule and I soon realised there wasn’t such a thing as downtime.
I then met my team, the mighty Brown Watch. We were all from completely different walks of life, ranging in age from 18 through to 56 and did the usual team bonding activities telling each other why we were there, what we hoped to get out of camp and who inspired us. I said my daughter Milly inspired me. She is 6 and often very scared and nervous. She would cry, then will take a deep breath and do it and mostly love it! I knew she would struggle a bit at home without me so I told her I was going to camp to be brave like her.
That night I lay in my sleeping bag that night crying, missing home, wondering what on earth we were in for. Everything is top secret and we don’t find out anything until we are at that particular activity. Our group was so different to one another, we had young kids who hadn’t had a full time job, a lady who was freshly out of rehab, grandparents, people whose name I couldn’t pronounce or understand their accent…and then we had me, the one who cried….. a lot!
By the end of the next day none of that mattered at all as we, the mighty brown watch, were family. We were all in this together and we were a team.
We were the first team to head off on our tramp. Having heard that we were on our own certainly made me a little nervous. I am pleased I started at the gym the day after I was picked to go to camp as I certainly needed my fitness for the trek, it was very hard going. We were told it was 15kms, “as the crow flies” which I’ve now worked out meant in a straight line!
As we were walking through the forest all our phones started pinging and we realised we had reception. It was so exciting to quickly get a facetime call in back home.
I was talking to Dean my husband and he said to me oh wow it’s raining hard there – I said no, that’s just my sweat on my face! We knew we couldn’t stop for long as we had to get to the hut before dark so we carried on. Some 10 hours later we realised we were lost! A call for help meant a pick up and we all certainly slept well.
The next day we trekked again and arrived at Lake Mirirangi and the dam where we abseiled. I was the most scared I have ever been in my life and this was easily the most challenging but rewarding part of camp for me. I couldn’t stop the tears as I was hanging onto the rail – in fact I was sobbing, I was so absolutely petrified. Part of the reason I was so scared was I couldn’t reach the shelf when you climbed over the fence – short leg problems.
I was laying there trying to compose myself when one of my team mates said “Milly gets her bravery from you, Dal”. Someone else said “You can do this, do it for Dean. For yourself.” They then told me they were making me a makeshift ledge so I could stand on their hands and then onto the ledge. It was an incredible moment, showing how strong we were as a team, the mighty Brown Watch.
I finally got my way over the ledge , dug deep to really focus on my breathing with the help of the incredible instructor Beef…and I did it! I got to the bottom safely, and there was Jules, another amazing leader who was crying her eyes out too. She gave me the biggest hug and told me how proud of me she was. I was also very proud of myself. I most definitely couldn’t have done it without the support of my team.
That night we had another really special moment in the tent where one of our Brown Watch boys sang “You’ll never walk alone” and “You raise me up”. Both songs are very special to me.
The next day we got up and carried on back to camp and came back different people, stronger and more determined that’s for sure.
We finished the week with all sorts of fun activities ranging from netball, cricket, team exercises, obstacle course, kayaking, confidence course, bridge exercises, river exercises and all sorts of things that are camp secrets…
I honestly cannot speak highly enough of Berwick Outdoor Experience. This exceptional bunch of highly dedicated volunteers give up a week of their holidays from their jobs to be a leader at BOE for a week. All of the leaders have been on the course and know exactly what we went through, they are there to cheer you on, pick you up or tell you off if someone is caught swearing!
Someone asked me if I cried much and the answer is most definitely. I cried when I was homesick. I cried when I was proud of myself. I cried when I was proud of my team mates. I cried when I missed my kids so much. I cried after I had laughed so hard. I cried when Javier sung to us. I cried when I left camp – there were a lot of tears. While there were a lot of tears, there were also a lot of laughs. It really was the best week, one I will forever be grateful for.
I am proud to say, I did well. Battered and bruised, I finished the course with my head held high and received a lovely report from Kevin.
I got the most amazing welcome at the airport from my family with the kids holding a sign saying “welcome home Mum, we have missed you!”. Yes I cried hard!
I did what I set out to achieve – to do something for ME. To learn to overcome things, that it’s ok to put myself first sometimes and that I can do things that my brain tells me I can’t.
I have got a new outlook on life now and I am excited with what my future holds so to the Rangiora Lions thank you, thank you, thank you.
The Rangiora Lions sponsor one person from North Canterbury each year to go on the Berwick Outdoor Experience. For 2022, the camp has been canceled due to COVID19.
Written by
Dalice Stewart
