Look Up
Community and Service Learning Prefect Grace reflects on hiking New Zealand’s Routeburn Track and the lessons the trail offers for school life – to embrace challenges, lean on friends and always remember to look up and enjoy the journey.
Each week, our students share their insights with their peers in Assembly.
By the middle of term one, life can start to feel pretty busy – but one of the best ways I’ve found to slow things down is to imagine yourself somewhere that makes you smile. For me, that place is being out in nature, putting on my boots and going for a hike.
For anyone else also interested in hiking, I can say there are few better places to explore than New Zealand’s national park trails, where I did the Routeburn Track a few weeks ago.
I’d like to share with you a few things it taught me – things that might help anyone keen to try hiking, or those just trying to find their rhythm this term.
The first thing to remember is to embrace the challenge. Some people would argue the Routeburn isn’t a particularly difficult hike. I thought so too. But soon enough, you’ll be six hours in and still hiking on a trail that was meant to only take you four. Your pack will start to feel like a sack of bricks, the next day you’ll be wearing the same dirty clothes from the day before, and soon you’ll have cotton in your boots to stop your blisters from rubbing.
Hiking teaches you quickly that comfort is not the point. Yet, thousands of people hike the Routeburn every year, some who are seventy years old and some as young as ten – what they all share is a motivation to embrace the challenge and be surrounded by the wonder of nature.
Everyone is capable of more than they probably believe – what holds us back most of the time is not the challenge itself, but the fear we have of facing challenges. But by embracing them, we discover that courage is all it takes to take on obstacles and watch ourselves succeed. After all, only after a steep climb does it feel like you’ve really earned the view.
The second thing about hiking is that it’s always better to do with a friend. Last year on the Overland Track I sprained my ankle with over 40km still to go, and it got to the point where I was wondering how bad things needed to be to get a helicopter to come rescue me. It turns out all I needed was my friend, who kept at my pace and made me laugh when she pointed out a tree that looked like the shape of my swollen foot.
When things get tough, friends are the ones that carry us through and remind us to keep smiling. You’d be surprised at how much lighter your pack can feel when you share a laugh or a great experience, so make sure to bring someone just as cool as you are along on your adventures.
Most importantly, hiking has taught me to enjoy the journey. Term one can feel long and get pretty busy, which makes it easy to look down and focus on all the stones in your path that can trip you up. But no matter your direction, no trail you find is going to be perfectly smooth. The best thing you can choose to do is to look up.
Maybe you’ll find yourself somewhere in nature, surrounded by waterfalls, stars or all kinds of wildlife. But what you’ll probably see are people all around you, travelling along the same path and willing to give you a hand when you need it.
It’s my goal this term to remind myself to look up more often, and I encourage anyone who’s willing to do the same. To find ways to notice and be grateful all the good things headed our way. In the spirit of Random Acts of Kindness Day, never underestimate the love that spreads when you choose to plant wildflowers on someone else’s trail. As they say, to give more is to grow more, and before long you may find yourself climbing higher than the summits themselves.
You can travel over hills and pass through many valleys, but there will always be things to stop for and appreciate. And, if you happen to see someone caught staring at their boots, remind them to do the same. Then together, you can stand on top of the mountain and look at how far you’ve come.