LightFoot Rainforest Retreats at Wangat Lodge
School Camps in a class of their own

Children respond to challenge. Taken a little beyond their comfort zone they find they are more than they thought they were. Our school camps are just plain fun on the surface. (Even the teachers are allowed to enjoy themselves.) But there's another layer or two underneath, in overcoming fears in the Australian wilderness, and in learning the power we have to live less damagingly on our planet.

LightFoot Rainforest Retreats involve children in activities they probably haven't done before. We don't do archery or ropes courses. But we do have to cross rivers and clamber up or down some steep slopes in the forest where a rope helps us get where we need to go: to a giant strangling fig tree (have you climbed up inside one of those before?); or down to a wild stretch of the Chichester River (how about some face painting with the ochres the Gringai people used?).

LightFoot programs happen mostly out in the bush. It's a fabulously unpredictable classroom. You think you're running a role play about an island and people living on it as Aborigines or peasant farmers or modern society - and a goanna pokes its head around a tree, or an echidna shuffles its way into the scene or a flock of yellow-tailed black cockatoos screeches the show to a halt. We love devising ways to turn the intrusions into part of the game. Wildlife is always around somewhere at Wangat.

LightFoot Retreats have lots of physical stuff. We do a bit of lantana wrestling, some vine climbing, a rain dance or a sun dance depending on the local farmers' needs.... But the brain gets a turn too (you'll be amazed how a bin full of garbage can get you thinking, or a mime session can turn into a development debate). We even have times of complete silence, just wrapped up in nature (teachers always want us to keep it going longer). Most children have never done that before and most are surprised at how good it feels.

At LightFoot Rainforest Retreats we present a framework and the children fill in the detail. That works really well for us because nothing ever comes out the same. There's always freshness, always something some child does or says that amazes us. Sometimes it amazes teachers too.

We like to put all the senses to work in our programs. Feel. Sniff. Listen. Look. A taste of bush tucker here and there. It's all pretty full on. We have a room where teachers can go to recover. We find that the smell of freshly ground coffee beans and the flavour of home-cooked slices and the comfort of an armchair out of earshot of screaming children is strangely soothing for them. We like it too.

There's only two of us here at Wangat: Robert and Ken. We work with just one school at a time, maybe just one class, so we get to know everyone. When you love the bush and you feel a pang of concern for the way the world is going it's natural to want to share the feeling. That's what we do. We don't earn a fortune but it's wonderfully rewarding work!