Ben has many years' experience in rock climbing, paddling and hiking instruction and leadership. He has even worked as a mountain guide in Himalayan expeditions in Nepal!
Ben says "the Outdoor Program at Howqua is designed to give the girls a range of outdoor experiences that will provide them with challenges in a safe and educational environment."
Ben brings great knowledge and enthusiasm to the Howqua Outdoor Education Program.
"I like the way that the outdoor, academic and pastoral programs are all linked", Ben says.
The Outdoor Program for Term 3 2009 came to an end this week with what is best described as a ‘very special adventure’. The Falls Creek cross country ski tour is the finale to the Ski Program and it was certainly a great experience to have a glimpse of the magical high plains in the Victorian Alps during winter.
Heading out from the appropriately named Windy Corner at the top end of Falls Creek Village, the students were laden with packs containing enough food, clothing and equipment to survive in the snow for two nights. I don’t know of any other school program that extends their Year 9 overnight experiences in the snow to more than one night, so for the students to not only survive, but thrive in the conditions, is testament to their preparation, positive attitudes and increased resilience.
Skiing with full packs is quite challenging and is never more than a slow plod rather than a graceful and elegant glide, so the campsites were not too far away. Once at camp, time was spent setting up tents and building snow kitchens. It was incredible the amount of time, hard work and design ingenuity that was dedicated to some of the snow kitchens created. Two metre walls, love-heart shaped tables, arches, tunnels, snow candle lanterns, shelves and multiple entrances were part of many of the creations. It is amazing what can be produced with ample snow, a few snow shovels and plenty of teamwork. The homely snow kitchens not only provided excellent protection from the elements when cooking, but created a very unique setting for meal times as a group.
Apart from the constant upkeep of the various snow kitchens, the students spent the days exploring the area searching for patches of untracked fresh snow to ski on, or venturing amongst the Snow Gums and seeing where various little trails ended up. Self management is the key to being able to live comfortably in the snow environment, so the emphasis was on keeping warm and dry, eating plenty of food and staying hydrated. Rain, snow, strong wind as well as patches of sunshine were all experienced and by looking after themselves and each other, the students were able to savour the unique opportunity presented.
Completing this trip marked another major milestone for the students. It not only reinforced the significant progress that has been made in terms of outdoor and cross country skiing skills, it highlighted a willingness to accept challenges, work as a team and be strong minded. After all, not many people can say that they have completed a self sufficient three day back country cross country ski journey. One student summed her experience up by saying: “I loved this trip! The three days in the snow and the day in the hall made it an amazing experience. Our camp site was almost mystical and the skiing was enjoyable, when we didn’t have our packs on!”

Here at Howqua we don't have TVs, the computer or the phone to entertain ourselves, so we have to find our own entertainment. This is most often done in our spare time. Communicating with friends and family is very important here so a lot of the girls choose to write letters home. Another good way of entertaining ourselves is going for runs; there are now 4 running tracks that are open so that gives us all a chance to go running in our spare time. Not every girl has their best or good friends in their own house so many of the girls love going to visit them in other houses. They do this in the morning, at morno's (morning tea), during lunch, after dinner and after prep ... as long as we're in our own house by 8.30 pm. As a substitute for TV a lot of the girls enjoy reading as there are many nice places to sit and read. We hope this has given you a good idea of what we all get up to in our spare time.

The Howqua food program is very sufficient for everybody's dietary needs. The kitchen staff do a fantastic job. At lunch time we line up in our house group and enter the dining hall to sit in random order at the tables. We eat a wide range of different food such as sandwiches, nachos, soup, wraps and much more. Throughout the day we get provided with food for the house to eat as snacks. Dinner time is a great time for people to get together and socialize and have fun.


Dinner is at 5:50pm which is great, especially after a hard day on the outdoor program or a long day at school. While we start socialising, the "servers" (who rotate each week) bring out our meal. Before we eat somebody reads out a quote from Mr. Nelson's quote book. We then eat dinner which could be shepherds pie, lasagna, fish, chicken, schnitzel, spaghetti bolognese, curry and lots more. It is all delicious. After dinner the person who is on weather duty reads out the weather details which they gathered from the weather station. Then the person on news duty reads out local, national and international news just to keep us up to date with what's going on. For dessert we usually get an ice-cream or an icy pole on the way out. Sometimes we get jelly and chocolate mousse. Sometimes it gets quite noisy in the dining hall and the teachers tell us to be quiet. We just love chatting to each other at meal times.