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Australian International School visits Teluk Batik

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The Australian International School from Kuala Lumpur visited the Marina Cove Hotel at Teluk Batik again. Mr. Goh from Explore the Wilderness, together with Mr. Barry Haynes, the representative of the school, had set up an exciting program for the 44 students. The students this year were all in the age group 12-13 years, an interesting age group as you can do a lot of different things with them.

This years program included:

• Rope course
• Repelling
• Jungle trekking
• Jungle cooking
• Canoeing
• Other beach activities

I was invited by Mr. Goh to help him out with some activities, which I did with pleasure. As the visit of the Australian International School would take from Monday afternoon to Friday morning, the program on Monday afternoon started with a lunch and (for me) with a group for the rope course.

Rope course

One of the students on the high rope

As the path up to the course was partly blocked by some fallen trees, we had to work our way through an improvised path. Additional was that we had to bring a ladder up to the top of the hill. Fortunately the students gave us a great hand. Without them it would be a much harder job.

Walking on the low rope

The rope course, the lower course was finished by all students but as Mr. Goh has finished a high course, some of the students tried this one out too. The high course is much more challenging, about 8 meters above the ground with some serious work to do.

Here, even in the heat of the day, under the trees it was pleasant cool. We gave a few students the possibility to repeat the course as we had time.

After a good meal in the restaurant of the Marina Cove, the evening was filled with games and instructions for the next day.

Repelling

The second day I went with another group to our repelling area. It's a short and partly steep climb up through the jungle to the rocks we use for repelling. Some students had done it before, for others this was the first time.

Under the supervision of Mr. Aruf, a very experienced climber from the Malaysian Navy most of the students made their way up on one side and went down on the other.

In the afternoon I was leading this same group to the rope course.

Obstacle course

Wednesday was my turn to take a group (we had divided the 44 students in 3 groups) to our obstacle course. Here the students faced some more challenges.

Obstacle course

The first one is a huge rack with a net. It has to be climbed to a few meters above the ground. Another game was maybe not as much challenging but required hard thinking and teamwork.

The idea was quite simple. The whole group arrives at a river, there's a rope hanging and they have to reach the other site of the river on an island, representing by some chairs. Another chair represented the food they had to bring. Of course there were more students then chairs.

The group has passed the "river"

The last activity we had to cancel because of some wasps in the area, an unfortunate event. A few days earlier Mr. Goh, Mr. Hong and I had checked the area and had found no trace but I found it due to circumstances saver to cancel this exercise.

The last exercise was canoeing. Unfortunately this year I was not able to join any group in this always entertaining activity. I was told all students enjoyed the canoeing very much.

Beach Games

We finished the day with some beach games. Mr. Hong explained a few games but the best part was, as usual, throwing over raw eggs. The idea is quite simple, two teams, each time throwing an egg to the other. One is out when the egg breaks. The further you move, the more likely it becomes the egg breaks, which can cause hilarity when you catch the egg and it breaks in your hand or splashes on your body.

Of course after this game it was time to enjoy the Teluk Batik beach for swimming and playing.

Cooking in the jungle

Thursday was reserved for jungle trekking. Unfortunately part of the path was blocked recently so we had to improvise (as we didn't know exactly what was going on). Thus we we cut the trek a bit. But luck was again not with us, as on the seaside, we again had an attack to endure from wasps. Fortunately no one got hurt.

It was time for the students to explore to possibilities of cooking in the jungle. Although Mrs. Goh has brought food, it was up to the students to prepare fire and cook. Mr. Hong, an experienced jungle trekker and master chef under these circumstances, supervised the activity.

Mr. Hong instructed the students to find dead wood that could be used for the fire and explained how to cook. Soon the smell of noodle soup, sausages, fried eggs and fish balls filled the air and all were eating a very satisfying meal.

In the evening another quite exciting game was planned. A spidernet was separating the room. Two team had to pass the net without touching it. This was another interesting activity to make the teams work together as each hole of the net could only be used twice.

The week was concluded on Thursday night with a celebration for 3 students who celebrated their birthday this week.

The last day, Friday was only used to clean up the rooms and leave by bus back to Kuala Lumpur. The students of the Australian International School looked tired but satisfied.

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