I am now home from the expedition to Croatia and have so many things I want to be able to write on here and express to whoever reads this that it's almost unbelievable.
For those who don't know what World Challenge is, click here. My school signed up for it about 18 months ago and those who decided to take part had to raise a minimum of £1095 each in order to be able to go. The fundraising was hideously tough and seemed to take years, rather than months. However, finally, on Friday 9th July 2010, 14 CHS pupils, 2 members of staff and our World Challenge leader set off from school at around 4pm and made our way down to Brunel University where we stayed the night before catching our flight from Heathrow the next morning.
Once actually in Croatia, we met our AMAZING tour guide Slaven who stuck with us all week and was definitely responsible for helping to make our experience as incredible as it was. We had a few slight problems once we landed in Split Airport when mine and another girl's camping mats went missing and one boy's bag didn't turn up (he got it back on the Wednesday), but once we were on the coach and headed to our first campsite in Novigrad everybody calmed down and began to take in the beautiful scenery around us.
The Novigrad campsite was the most decent of the two public campsites we stayed in, it had proper toilets, sinks, showers and a communal kitchen to cook in which was a relief to us all. On day 3 we went sea kayaking on the Adriatic Coast (I think) and we also kayaked to the mouth of the Zrmanja river where we spent a few hours swimming and sunbathing in the water. It was freezing cold though it was welcomed eagerly because of how boiling hot we all were. We then moved onto the second public campsite at Starigrad where we stayed for the night and the next morning we began our trek up to the mountain hut in the Paklenica National Park.
I struggled with the two days uphill trekking mostly due to dehydration which meant I had breathing problems. This, combined with the fact that for some reason I frequently had panic attacks, meant that I didn't really enjoy the majority of those two days. On the third day of trekking we came back down the mountain and back to the Starigrad campsite. I was thankful that I enjoyed that day much more than the others and even became involved in what felt like a mountain rescue operation when one girl in our team became faint and I had to walk solidly for 20 minutes in boiling sun with my 65 litre rucksack to get help for her.
We then moved on to the first of two wild campsites. It was surrounded by goats which amused us and we had a proper toilet and tables up at a house that we could use so we actually had seats for the first time since, well, Heathrow really. We then kayaked on the Zrmanja River and to the mouth of the Krupa River and our belongings got transported to the second wild campsite where we joined them at around 3pm. The second wild campsite was everybody's favourite and was one of my highlights of the trip. At night time, Slaven got his guitar out and we sat round the campfire toasting marshmallows while he played and sang for us. I could never put into words how amazing it was, but it was one of those moments where I just thought "there is no where else I would rather be right now than here".
The next day we kayaked to a destination where we got changed then had a bus journey back to Starigrad where we put tents up for the final time then went out for a group meal. We all chipped in to buy Slaven and our team leader Margaret a gift each. We bought Slaven a bandana because he lost his while kayaking with us and we bought Margaret a mug with a map of Croatia on it. Our last meal as a group was a lot of fun and everybody enjoyed it despite the fact that we were all pretty exhausted by that point.
Croatia really was a once in a lifetime experience and I would definitely do something similar again in a few years. I learnt so much about myself over 8 days than I would have done in 8 years and the sense of accomplishment you get once you get up and down the mountain and across the sea and back is immense. I feel like I genuinely have changed and I've come home with this feeling that I can do absolutely anything I set my mind to, no matter how hard or how big the challenge is.
I could never put into words how amazing the time spent in Croatia was. I watched a girl eat a pine cone; sung songs around a campfire; fell out of a kayak twice within five minutes AND won an award for it; laughed like I've never laughed before; spent long periods of time with people I barely knew but have grown to love and miss now I'm not around them; and most importantly, I achieved more than I ever believed I could. There are lots of things I miss already. I miss Slaven and his interesting stories; I miss Jemma and Sam singing every song under the sun 24/7; I miss campfire time at the end of the day and I definitely miss Catherine and her blonde moments. All I can say is that anybody who gets offered the opportunity to do a World Challenge expedition should take it and never look back - because every single bad moment spent fundraising or preparing for it is more than worth the experience you have.
I owe massive thanks to World Challenge, Huck Finn (the tour company), Slaven, Margaret, the two teachers who came with us and kept us entertained when they got slightly drunk during the last meal and of course our amazing team. I really couldn't have done it without their support.
Poljupci ♥
Rachel
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