Grace Lutheran College - Outdoor Education (Googa)

Outdoor Education (Googa)

At Grace Lutheran College, students participate in a Christian Outdoor camp lasting four weeks. At Googa Outdoor Education Centre (Generally shortened to "Googa"), students are to live without electricity (with few exceptions), to make their own night time meals, to clean the cabins and live without technology. To achieve this aim, students are not allowed to have any electronic devices at the camp, such as mobile phones, iPods and other MP3 players, and other such devices, and learn many life survival skills by the experienced leaders.

Due to the camp only being capable of holding 48 students at any one time, students attend the camp in their house groups or join one of two combined groups, one of which attends in the last month of Year 9, and the other during the Easter school holidays. Googa was originally a forestry camp before being purchased by the school. The camp consists of four dormitories capable of holding 12 students each, as well as one other dormitory equipped for disabled students and other scenarios. It also has two composting toilet blocks and housing for staff that live on the camp. Googa has recently purchased an adjacent avocado farm, increasing the total area of the camp to more than 150 acres (0.6 km2). On this new farm it is planned for another campus to be built, almost identical to the current one, allowing for twice as many classes per year.

Cooking and cleaning is done by the students, with cooking done on wood fires. During the camp, students go on hikes and pioneering exercises. During pioneering students must build a shelter, toilet, chapel and other things required to live comfortably in the bush, out of only rope and wooden poles. The pioneering experience lasts for three to four days and the hike is typically three days long. Early in the last week of the camp, the students experience a 24-hour solo, where they spend a day and night on their own, reflecting on their time at the camp.

Various activities are also observed, such as a daily run through one of three running tracks, various team building exercises, orienteering, tree climbing, and a high ropes course.