This week, the Year Eleven PE class went on their final trip of a busy year. This trip had all the elements you would expect on a multi-day tramp. Our objective. To locate the Canyon Creek rock bivouac. Ko te taiao ko au, ko au te taiao - Nature is me and I am natureDay One was a leisurely start, meeting at 10 am on Sunday for our final gear check. Our trip started at the end of the Ahuriri road, where the tramp to Canyon Creek began.The first part of our tramp was short, approximately two hours of walking to a large rock, where we set up camp for the night. Tents set, cooking area established, and it was time for a quick mission to an unnamed waterfall that Sadie spotted. This resulted in all students having a shower to end the day. Night set in, and we got a fire going for marshmallows and Smores. Day Two is where the adventure started. We started walking at 9:30 am in amazing weather. Warm, calm and with loads of sunshine. By 10:45, we were at the foot of the large bluff system with two large waterfalls cascading off them. From afar, it looks impenetrable, but at closer inspection, the track wriggles through the bluffs, where we gain 250m. Once in the hanging valley, we are greeted by the towering mountains of Mt Barth (2456m) and Mt Heim (2205) and the Thurneysen Glacier hanging beneath them. Our objective begins; we all set off on different routes, looking for a large enough rock to house us all. This turned out to be further than anticipated; after forty minutes of searching, we found the Canyon Creek Bivouac and made it home for the night. We spotted a Tahr grazing on the cliffs beneath Mt Barth. We made it to the rock biv early, so we had plenty of time to explore and relax in the sunshine. Not long there, we headed off up to a waterfall to see if there was a pool big enough to fit us all in; unfortunately, there wasn’t one up there for us. We ended up creating a dam in the river only thirty metres away. Dinner, throwing stones, building creative cairns and kõrero, and the night was setting in. All the boys slept in the rock bivouac for the night.The final day was a big one. We walked all the way out to the road end and inflated our packrafts, canoes and unhitched our white water kayaks for a final mission down the Ahuriri River. This was a five kilometre paddle down the Ahuriri. A few spills and splashes later we get to the end where we were greeted by Ashlin and Charles McKenzie and thousands of sandflies.We couldn’t have asked for better weather or a group of people to be in the mountains with. No place we’d rather be in 2023!