In order to make up for the several missed trips from DP1 including DP Orientation, Week Without Walls, along with the Science and Geography trips, OSC organized for us to go to Borderlands Kithulgala for 2 nights following our Mock Exams.

The trip started at 6:30 am on Sunday morning at school, where we started the 2.5 hour journey to Borderlands. Upon arrival, we set our bags down and headed straight towards a nearby tributary to do our first activity, canyoning. This involved a set of jump and slides to get to the end. My favourite part was the ‘freestyle jump’ where we were allowed to flip or twist as the water was extremely deep. We also did quite a high jump. My biggest challenge happened to be the water temperature which was extremely cold.

Sliding down into a pool

To get back to Borderlands, we walked for 10 minutes before getting into the Kelani river and floating back to camp. When we got back, after some lunch and rest we tried two activities at Borderlands. These were the crate stack and giant ladder.

On our last trip to Borderlands in grade 9, Lithira and I had ran out of time and failed to complete the ladder, so we were determined to try again and complete it within the 10 minute time limit. We watched 3 groups get up within 8 minutes and set ourselves a target of 6 minutes. We opted for the strategy of me as the ‘runner,’ jumping up to the next ladder, utilising Lithira as the ‘anchor,’ to boost me up. Once I got up, Lithi grabbed my Harness and used it to get up. We made it up in just under 4 minutes which we were very happy with.

Lithira ringing the bell after we reached the top

We also tried the crate stack, where we were harnessed in and stacked as many crates as possible on top of each other while standing on the top. I managed to get 9.

Helping Lithira with the Crate Stack

Day 2 began with a short warm up before embarking upon a (very) long walk to a waterfall. Once we got to the waterfall, we one by one abseiled down it into an infinity pool.

The waterfall

This took the entirety of the day, so after lunch by a stream we headed back for a river bath and an early night.

On day 3 we were due to leave immediately after lunch, so we had time for a morning activity. Unfortunately, the water level was too low for white water rafting so we instead did canoeing. We did multiple activities on the canoe, such as balancing and tag. The most difficult was dipping my head backwards into water at the same time as my partner, and getting back up without the canoe capsizing.

Lithira and Ritheek Capsizing because they crashed after failing to balance on the canoe

Overall, this trip to Borderlands was a very enjoyable experience that I will one day look back on as my last ever school trip.