THE praises of Hills students are being sung as far away as the Red Centre thanks to Upwey High School’s annual outback adventures.
The Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS) has given the students a report card to be proud of after this year’s camp raised over $3000 for the organisation.
RFDS Alice Springs base manager Darren Schiller said the $3132 raised by the three busloads of children would go towards medical equipment, including the upkeep of helicopters.
“We rely heavily on donations from all over Australia, basically to keep us flying.
“The school has been coming for over 10 years and would have raised a considerable sum over that time,” he said.
Mr Schiller was also on hand as Upwey principal Greg Holman lost his hair and 20-year-old moustache to the cause for the princely sum of $1400.
“The kids are always welcome here because they’re such good supporters of RFDS.
“All the kids were impressive and well-behaved, as well as very enthusiastic in their efforts to raise money while on their holidays,” Mr Schiller said.
Upwey Year 11 coordinator Grant Nichol declared the camp, an annual event since 1993, the best ever.
He said the 14-day road trip in March, which involved 130 students, 12 staff and parents and six drivers and cooks, had upheld and improved the school’s reputation in the Northern Territory.
“We expect to get comments from strangers about our students and we were not disappointed – the compliments kept on coming,” he said.
Mr Nichol said camp highlights included the rare experience of rain at Uluru, Kings Canyon, Alice Springs and Coober Pedy, where the students slept in a dormitory cut into the ground.
The students also spent a night under the stars on a dried up lake in the middle of nowhere on the road to Coober Pedy, and swam in a flowing Finke River, a mostly bone-dry river said to be the oldest in the world.
Even when things went wrong, such as poor weather frustrating wishes to climb Uluru, Mr Nichol said the students took it in the right spirt.
“They didn’t whinge, they just took it as part of the adventure and made the most of it,” he said.
– Ed Merrison
