In this episode, we're talking about how and why we try and do adventure days with our children as part of our unschooling and wild schooling journeys.
SPEAKER_00Welcome to Raising Wildlings, a podcast about parenting, alternative education, stepping into the wilderness, however that looks, with your family.
SPEAKER_02Each week we'll be interviewing experts that truly inspire us to answer your parenting and education questions. We'll also be sharing stories from some incredible families that took the leap and are taking the road less travelled.
SPEAKER_00We're your hosts, Vicki and Nikki from Wildlings Forest School. Pop in your headphones, settle in, and join us on this next adventure. Before we start, we would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land on which this podcast is recorded, and that's the Cubby Cubby and Gubby Gubby people. We honour their song lines and their storylines and pay respects to the elders past, present, and emerging. And I'd like to add that Wildlings Forest School would not exist without the use of the land that we're on and the fact that the Gubby Gubby and Cubby Cubby people have been custodians of that space for thousands of years before us. And as part of our role as mentors for young children, we are committed to making sure that they understand that we are now part of that custodian role and how important it is to be listening and doing deep listening with our local custodians. I'd also like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land on which you are listening to this episode.
SPEAKER_02Hello and welcome to the Raising Wildlings Podcast, where your hosts, Nikki Farrell and Vicky Oliver. Before we start, we want to say a huge thank you for all of you who are posting such amazing feedback on our socials about some of our most recent podcasts. It often feels like we do this in isolation because we're here in my little old Queenslander. You should see us right now, actually. We have spent, it's now two o'clock in the afternoon, and we have spent the last what four hours trying to set up some new technology. We had a really basic setup and now we've upgraded to new bikes and new mixer.
SPEAKER_00And look, I think we sound a lot better, but it has been a lesson in patience, a lesson in research.
SPEAKER_02So we really hope this sounds better for your ears and that it was all worth it.
SPEAKER_00And so, yes, your feedback is very valuable. So thank you for that.
SPEAKER_02Yes.
SPEAKER_00I'd also wanted to touch on the fact that a couple of episodes ago, I was talking to Sandy Schwartz, um, and I told you that I would feed back how it felt to hug a tree. And so um, that was actually quite a few weeks ago. I haven't recorded since then. So I thought you might want to hear about my experience.
SPEAKER_02I do. I it was a great episode, by the way, but yes, I really want to hear how that went for you.
SPEAKER_00So the tree, the trees that were around on the day that I went to hug the tree were big pine trees that we find along our coastline. So it wasn't a necessarily smooth tree.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, that's that made me bristle.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, they're quite um what's another word for not smooth? They're very rough barked. So I did, I thought, you know what, and it was not uh it was a busy afternoon down at the at the ocean, um, but I did it anyway, and the girls were watching me and they're like, what are you doing, mum? And I said, Oh, I'm here, I'm gonna hug a tree, and I'm just you know, be in the moment and just listen to how my body responds and how I feel by hugging a tree. I've never really taken the time to do that before. So I did, and it was one of those moments where I didn't worry about what everyone was thinking around me, and I felt very in the moment. So it was a very zen, you know, and it felt like I was getting a hug from nature. It was like a real like gratitude moment of we're in this together. Um, very grateful to have beautiful trees that I can sit and be with. So I'm really glad I did it, and I encourage you all to go and uh have that experience for yourself to not care what anyone thinks about you doing this in a public place, or perhaps you can do it in the privacy of your own home or somewhere that's off the beaten track and give something very out of the box a go in connecting with nature.
SPEAKER_02I've hugged a few trees in my lifetime, but I've never actually stopped to think about it. Yeah I've hugged them and be like, oh, that was nice, but I've never really analysed it. So yeah, I'm gonna have to do the same. Can I just say this is so nice to be able to talk to you? I know. I don't I don't know if no one probably realizes, but previously when we've recorded our podcast together, we've actually never been together. In the same room. We've either been in each other, like each in our own houses, or if we were at my place, one of us has gone to my bedroom and Vicky's been here, so I can see Vicky's facials and her eyes, and it's I wonder if it will make a difference to the podcast too.
SPEAKER_00Yes, I hope so.
SPEAKER_02Really nice.
SPEAKER_00And we are hoping to do more of these episodes of us together, but also with other people that we would love to speak to in real life and not have to do the separate thing.
SPEAKER_02Look out for us, Kindy, homeschool programme. Yeah, here we come for our parents.
SPEAKER_00Exactly. Take us on the road with us.
SPEAKER_02All right, so today we thought we would talk about our adventure days. We've had a few people ask us what that looks like, what it means, why we do it, how the heck we get the children outdoors and that kind of stuff. And we were going through our list of podcast topics today, and that was the one that we went, yes, let's do it. So let's start with first of all, what would you class as an adventure day, Vicky, and why? Why do we even bother? Why do we bother committing to an adventure day?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so for me, an adventure day is doing something that feels like it's active and it's not something that we do all the time. I mean, some of the adventure days uh have been repetitive, like things that we do, but it feels like something new or unusual about that moment or that day it it creates a memory. And it's in usual for the most part in wild spaces, we have, and I've said this so many times, the most incredible wild spaces. And it came about because we had a group of us who wanted to do things together, and we all like doing uh similar sorts of things. It's an inexpensive way for us to do things as a group. Um, and we just love exploring.
SPEAKER_02I think that y the fact just going back to how cheap it is, homeschooling can sometimes feel expensive when you commit to things for a turn. When you've got multiple children, so this was a way that we could the group size can vary. It doesn't matter if there's two of us or ten families, doesn't matter if you miss a week, doesn't matter if you're sick. I love it because it makes me feel like, and I know with our kids too, it makes us feel like we belong here. Yes. But it's that it's and exploring, it's new and there's wonder and there's awe. And I think for me, a lot of my own personal happiness comes from those new experiences where I discover something new and I feel that wonder. That's that's what fills my cup.
SPEAKER_00Exactly, and you get that from being outdoors, you get that from nature, and there's that accountability.
SPEAKER_02Yes.
SPEAKER_00We turn up.
SPEAKER_02We turn up.
SPEAKER_00Well, we're not caveat that in saying that we have slipped a little bit.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Uh in turning up to Adventure Days consistently, probably in the last little bit.
SPEAKER_02I'm I'm gonna pull us up there and say we haven't slipped because we're humans and life has got in the way, and you've had appointments that have been important.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that's true.
SPEAKER_02And so it's a prioritization of of what our families need in this season, and it's okay. It doesn't have to be all or nothing, and it can we don't have to do it all all the time.
SPEAKER_00No, yeah, it feels good when we're doing it all the time, and that's probably what more what I'm reflecting on is that when we are consistently doing it, it's it's like it's got its own momentum.
SPEAKER_02Yes.
SPEAKER_00And when we slow down, the momentum slows down, and we have to be intentional about getting that momentum going again. And I feel like at the moment we're just on that, yep, we like the momentum's happening, but as you said, just the way that our weeks are structured at the moment, it's probably not as consistent as we'd like it to be.
SPEAKER_02And throwing some floods, throwing COVID going through our community. Yeah, yeah. It's a miracle any of us have left the house. It is. So let's go. We we kind of touched on the benefits. What are our children learning and what are some of the benefits of being and I like you said, I think that going back to we need to commit to them because if we don't commit to them, our days just get full.
SPEAKER_00They do.
SPEAKER_02You know, it's I'm just gonna do an errand's day on Monday. It's like, ah man, it's meant to be adventure day, but I'm going to the post office and the bank and the blah blah blah.
SPEAKER_00Or we need a home day, which we do need, but I actually feel like I need adventure days more than I need home days.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, same.
SPEAKER_00Um, so the fact that this is an actual very specific part of the way that we homeschool our children, um, it's the way that we incorporate our values around unschooling and wild schooling. So there are things that we know that our children are learning when we go on these adventures. So if we backtrack and just sort of maybe also describe what those adventures might look like, like where we go, it will give you some context as to why we know the learning's occurring. So uh over the past five years that we've been doing adventure days, and sometimes those adventure days will change actually who's been going to those as well.
SPEAKER_02Because sometimes the adventure days might be my husband going with the children or yours, and also phases and stages, you know, other families joining us may have just had a new baby, and as we all know, that fourth trimester is it's not about adventure, no, it's about cocooning and rest.
SPEAKER_00So that changes, but um we have some core places that we like to go to that are like Point Cartwright, which is like a rock pooling, rock platform where the kids are finding animals and treasure hunting and swimming and climbing little coastal trees and playing in the sand, and rolling down the grass hills. Yeah, so we've got places like that. We've got many, many beaches, different types of beaches that we go to. We've got sort of coastal lakes. There's like expansive areas of like low tide that we explore, sand dunes, sand dunes or cliffs to jump off. And then we've got like our inland areas where we're hiking. We've got um a lot of mountains. I was actually saying this to my husband the other day when we were driving through Mulaney. I said, you really don't have many places that have that vista of a lot of mountains and a lot of m walking tracks associated with those mountains. So we've done a lot of those sorts of such a variety too.
SPEAKER_02I've I've found that the the variety of mountains that we have here and that it's suited all ages.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so it's complexity and there's simplicity that's right in those hikes. So we do we've done quite a few different hikes, and there's some great hikes that we've got on the Sunshine Coast that are really like flat.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, very accessible, whether that's trams or wheelchairs, yeah, or just toddlers not tripping over everything.
SPEAKER_00And then we've got more complexity within our rock pooling as well. So we've got the easy ones that we can get to, and then we've got ones that there is a little bit of rock scrambling to get to the secret spots or the beautiful fairy pools that we find. My favourite place is there's the walk between Sunshine Beach and Noosa, and there's beautiful small rock pools where there's just fish and coral and Christmas tree worms, and it's magical. And they're not easily accessible. So it is a full-on adventure scrambling up pandemic lined cliffs with rocks everywhere, and there's a little bit of those anxiety moments of like, oh my goodness, is everyone gonna be safe on this journey? Which is what's the that's the fun of it.
SPEAKER_02So we do have such a a real big variety of of places and things that we do because then we've got the creeks and the waterfalls as well, and again we've got such variety in the accessibility of the waterfalls too. The um Baxter Creek waterfall is straight down. So I was like, oh, this is really easy. Yes, you enjoy the swing bridge, and it's really isolated, so there's no one down there, and then you have to turn around and come back up.
SPEAKER_00And we went to Condolilla on the weekend, and that's the same, it's a walk down to the swing hole, and then we walked a little bit for the tracks right down to the bottom of closed because of all the raining and the floods, but there was a lookout, and then by the time we got down from the lookout back to the water hole, the kids wanted to swim again, but I was done. I was like, ready to go. So, yeah, I mean there's there's such a variety and complexity in the spaces that we go to.
SPEAKER_02Then, like you said, our husbands take the kids surfing or mountain bike riding or to the BMX track, there's there's a big variety.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, we really enjoy that difference of experience, and that's what we like, that's what I love about it. Um, I'm gonna talk a little bit about Playgroup and the fact that when we first started Playgroup, the reason why I loved it so much is because we did go to different wild spaces every week and I like that variety could because I think that we need both. We need time in the same space to have a look at how it looks over time and through the seasons, but I also just love going somewhere different, and there's so many places, so just yeah. So and places that we keep talking about we want to go that we haven't actually been to on an adventure day.
SPEAKER_02I still can't believe it. I did Pomona um, I don't know, back in September. I've been here on the Sunshine Coast for over 10 years. It's the first time I've done that. Yeah. So there's still pla still so many places we haven't done it.
SPEAKER_00And we've been talking about doing a trip across the Pumice Stone Passage over to Briarby. We still haven't done that. It's been on the the talking list. So there there's so much. But anyway, circling back to what our children are actually learning when we go in these places, as you can see, there's like so many different things that we're going to. So there is so many opportunities for learning within that. And the first one is the seasons, like they do get to see each specific location in the heat of the summer when it cools right down. And what they do in those spaces changes.
SPEAKER_02So different.
SPEAKER_00Because if we're in swimming season, that's what we do, that's what we focus on, that's what we need to prioritize when it comes to our gear. Like we can forget other things, but we can't forget our swimming gear.
SPEAKER_02Sounds great.
SPEAKER_00Exactly. Um, whereas in the winter we use the spaces differently. They will explore different places. They will, you know, if we go on on a walk and they're potentially in the summer we would swim there. In the winter, they're going to explore the rocks and rock hop and do all that sort of stuff, which is not something they would prioritize when we've got swimming available.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, when it's too hot.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02They connect with nature. That's probably my biggest thing, is why I love it, is and that that time to just be and just sit in nature, you know, down especially down the beach. And we've all seen it as parents when they're just sitting and you know, whether they're dropping, you know, trailing sand through their fingers or laying on the sand and just looking up at the clouds. It's just children often don't get that time to just be in nature and process their thoughts and their emotions and daydreams.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. And then moving like that one step from the nature connection is that nature understanding and the biology. So uh Macy and I were walking along the beach the other day, and it was so nice because it was just the two of us, so there was no hurry, and all the shells have been washed up along the shoreline. So I got to have really in-depth discussions with her about the kinds of shells that we were finding and what animals lived in there, and you know, the the biology and the and and again the seasonality, like you would only find these ones washed up during you know, this type of wind or whatever it is we're talking about, and then we were actually able to go, there is a little rocky um platform right where we were walking. So there were actually live versions of the shells that we were seeing. So I was being able to show her the difference between a live animal and a dead one. So that that sort of learning you get from being in nature that you wouldn't necessarily like you know, you're not gonna you'd have to go to a lot of effort to replicate that in a different way.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and speak you know, you're talking about the rocky platforms, there's geology, there's all those formations, there's you were speaking about the winds like you're talking about weather. Yeah. So much science and STEM and steam. Don't forget the arts in those adventure days. And that's what I love so much about wild schooling is they're asking questions about maths and gosh, some of the pearler of questions my youngest has been asking me this week. Just we've had to go and look them up because I've got no idea. Yeah, no idea.
SPEAKER_00That's right. And I mean, we're lucky if we do have some idea about some things, but then on the other hand, if we don't, we're also co-learning with them.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I also really love on our adventure days that it's a really great test of resilience, you know, especially when they're small and we're starting our hikes and it's I can't go any further. You know, it's we just tell them, Well, we're you know, I'm not gonna carry you. Well, you know, depending on the age, but when they're at that point where you can't I physically can't carry my kids anymore, it's okay. That's we let them know at the start that we're not going to carry you, we'll stop as often as you need for as long as you need, but I'm not carrying you.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and also they learn what to expect and what to do next time. So that we're building upon that that capacity for them to assess the situations for themselves and how to make themselves comfortable.
SPEAKER_02And that they can do hard things, you know. The first couple of hikes we did, because they were toddlers, they tripped and they fell and they grazed their knee. But we had the first aid kit, we had the band-aids, we sat, we let the feelings out, we let the pain out.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Or the other thing too is if they want to have fun, they're gonna have to bring all the gear. Like I'm not a pack horse, so if you want to take that floaty with you down to the or your kayak, I can't take everything the binoculars that we know you're not gonna use. Yeah, but you like the idea of taking it, and that's fine. You're going to have to be part of this process. It's not just about me providing this experience for you and all the fun things because I have been guilty of doing that, of being the pack horse, but you know, it's not sustainable. And if they want to bring all the fun things and they have to be part of that process of okay, you want to bring that, how are we going to walk that out to Point Car Ride? Because you know that that's a good 15-minute walk out to the so are you going to be able to walk with that for 15 minutes? So having those conversations with them about the reality of having these adventure days, because we do all love them, but if you don't want to walk that out for 15 minutes, don't bring it.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and it's setting those expectations before you go. You know, what have you got? What do you want to carry? I'm letting you know that I'm not going to carry it. We'll stop and rest again. I'm not carrying.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. And I love that too, because it is a different level of fitness as well. Yeah. You're moving your bodies in so many different ways because a lot of the time when I exercise my body as an adult, it's very leg heavy. Like I'm just walking.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Whereas when we do adrenal days, a lot of the time we are crouching and we are scrambling up rock faces or we are swimming. We are using different parts of our bodies and our muscles. And sometimes we're in the trees with the kids. I'm not saying that we do that often, but it does sometimes happen that I'm they want to show me something, so we have to get up higher. So we're moving our bodies in different ways. So they're actually getting a very complex, well, the children in particular, not me, are getting a very complex movement with their bodies.
SPEAKER_02You've inspired me to think about the fact that it's stacking for us as adults. So we're getting our our own personal socialization and we're catching up with our friends and we're getting our exercise without it feeling like exercise. That's right. That's a huge thing for me. I hate exercising just to exercise. Whereas if I'm hiking and seeing friends and sticking all those boxes.
SPEAKER_00And that's um the other thing too about the friendships. Like obviously for us, that's a huge part of why we go because absolutely adore hanging out with all of our friends. But our children are also learning about friendships, and it's been very fascinating because we do homeschool and our families are a combination of the social needs of the parents as well as the children. It means that there's a mixture of genders and a mixture of ages. So you've got boys and girls working together to play in a way that suits everyone, and it hasn't been smooth sailing, and we have seasons where it's tricky. Yeah. And then sometimes we turn around and we're like, wow.
SPEAKER_02Out of nowhere too, somewhere. We have those tricky seasons, and all of a sudden we're looking around going, they're all getting along famously.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and the conversations at home, like the even the way that they talk about some of the friends, they're like, I really, really enjoy playing with them today. And they're then excited to continue that play the next time that they see them.
SPEAKER_02That's that relationship building and understanding that things, you know, again, that friendships and relationships change, but it's also up to us how we turn up to that relationship too, and how we voice the things that are troubling us and we work through them rather than just say, You're not my friend anymore. Yeah. It's it's that that's huge.
SPEAKER_00It is very nuanced ways of working with them to maintain friendships.
SPEAKER_02And to be guided by adults, which is again another reason that we do choose to homeschool, is that whole myth of socialization is such BS because the socialise, and like you said, they do from multi-age different genders with adults, is just stunning to see their emotional intelligence just blossom.
SPEAKER_00It's so cute. Even um having a conversation with a friend the other day, and she was saying that her daughter was sort of saying which adults she really likes having fun conversations with, which I thought was the sweetest thing. She's like, Yeah. So it's not just about those friendships between children, it's it is the friendships that are formed with m me and the child and my friend's children.
SPEAKER_02We need other adult our children need other adults in their lives that they can turn. Into when they're having a rough time with mum and dad. Yeah, it's so important. It is. So, other than the fitness, the science, the biology, the communication, the negotiation, the sense of place and belonging, I another huge thing for me is it takes away the fear of nature.
SPEAKER_00Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_02My children don't care if there's long grass, if there's really scrubby scrub, if there's a spider in, you know, on the path. Nothing stops them. Nothing stops them. No. And that's what I want. I don't want them to ever feel like they have to stay indoors because the weather's bad or that looks a bit scary, or there might be snakes. It's Australia. There's might be snakes at the school that you're at.
SPEAKER_00Exactly. And so um we've had conversations about, oh, this person said we shouldn't be swimming because of sharks or something like that. Like, for example, and I say, whilst that's still something we need to think about, if you think about our situation right now, we're not swimming anywhere where there's sharks. Like they can't actually physically get us where we are. So, you know, because the there can be really extreme concerns that people have that don't actually suit the context of what you're doing, but it still bleeds for kids, they don't see they're not, you know, examining some of those assumptions very quickly.
SPEAKER_02I remember hiking cool and I think we were we were all together, I think. And our children ran off ahead because I've done it so many times and and they know the space and they know it well, and they are very capable scramblers.
SPEAKER_00Yes.
SPEAKER_02And the amount of concerned parents that look like, oh your kids are up ahead, we're like, Yeah, that's okay. They know, they know their limits. Oh, your kids are near the edge. Well, they're three metres from the edge.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that is.
SPEAKER_02It is uh um and it's a half a metre fall.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, and there is often an inflated sense of risk from well-meaning very well-meaning. Um, but and yeah, we had my girls come up and say, Oh, that person got us in trouble because they said we were blah blah blah. And that is a great way for us to talk again about other people's expectations and did you feel safe and you know, what did you say? Yeah, here's another way you can say that. Um and and and that's all part of the learning as well.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah. And then of course, don't forget the environmental stewardship. So our children, well, you know, why have they that person's left some well, where does this rubbish come from? Why does why do people let their rubbish go? And particularly after the floods, we've had some really great conversations of actually people haven't littered this. It's you know, when floods come up that high, people's entire backyards are floating downstream or their entire sheds or their whole houses or the content. That's right. So it's it's again it's weather and weather systems and climate change, and the conversations have been deep.
SPEAKER_00They have been really deep. And so I'm so excited to go on our next adventure after talking about all this because there is just so much, and I learned so much from them as well as well. But they'll tell me about the bird, like the birds, and we've talked about how great our kids are at Idean birds before. But there's always something to learn. There's always something that I I think I've realized that I'm such a I love treasure hunting.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, me too. I'm a bow bird.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and so I feel like that really fills that need for me to be out in nature because it there's it's like what are we going to see today? What amazing animal, or even a plant that I've never seen before, or the fungi, like we get super excited about seeing different coloured fungi, you know, popping up. And like at the Botanic Gardens, and like I have photos and photos and photos of stuff that doesn't even look real. And that's what I love about it as well, is that there's always that it it just fulfills my need for uh wandering all.
SPEAKER_02I was just gonna say, the amount of times I look it up and I still can't find it, it's actually sometimes it's just nice to wonder and wonder out loud. I wonder if this is brain coral, or I wonder I wonder what eats this, or I wonder, I think sometimes I can't remember what book it was in, but I um anyway, can't remember, but she was speaking about how the internet has killed wonder because we go, I wonder what that is, I'll look it up now. I know. But it stops that trajectory of critical thinking and critical questioning of oh well it's pink, oh well, it looks like a brain, or well it's in the ocean. Yeah, and so it's nice sometimes to be out of service and just wonder.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, absolutely. And I I was listening to Brene Brown talking about wonder and awe and the difference between the two, and that you know, one is a feeling of like feeling very small in a very big world, and that and you need those moments to just ground you and to be in that moment.
SPEAKER_02It brings that gratitude and the gratefulness and also the realisation that our problems are very small.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that's right, and you can just all of those things that are sitting on your shoulders aren't there in those moments of awe and wonder. So we have to make time to make sure that we are going places that will inspire us to feel that way.
SPEAKER_02I had a headache the other day, it was really flat and didn't want to go to work to Forest Kindy, which is really, really unusual. And I turned up, uh Lindsay took over for me, and obviously does an amazing job, and I just got to be there as a as a backup almost. And I came out of there and my headache was gone, my cup was filled, I hadn't been thinking about anything that was stressing me. Yeah. That's what Adventure Day does. Yeah, it's it's medicine.
SPEAKER_00It is, and even at the moment, like because I'm I'm not on the ground as much, but we went into um Forest Kindy Last uh homeschool last week, and I just I needed it so badly, and it's not and it is that combination of just being in nature and being in a space that I feel like is at home, but also being surrounded by people who fill my cup at the same like it it's just weird. It's like the perfect storm of like exactly what I need. I get I get literally all of my needs met in those moments, and which is why I I'm feeling probably called to do that a little bit more at the moment.
SPEAKER_02And I love that you can get your adventure days with Wildlings at Forest Kindy or the Homeschool Programme, and that's your commitment because that's what that's why we is exactly why we started it. That's exactly what we did it for. It is. Or you can go and do it for free. You can with your own friends. So yeah. We never ever have we ever wanted to stop anybody doing that.
SPEAKER_00What we add is it's an addition to Yeah, or if it is a bit more difficult to daunting to do that with some friends, or you know, sometimes it is hard to get that consistency going with groups, and that's what that's what our programs do. They allow us to know that it's happening. There's some people will turn up.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, that's right. There will be there will be people, there will be friends.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Adventure day is so much easier with friends.
SPEAKER_00With friends, yeah. If you've got people who are willing and to do the things that you want to do as well, because for me, I like to push myself to do stuff in my brain. I do. I'm just thinking, probably in real life, sometimes I do like to just sit and chat, and I don't really want to engage in anything really, really super adventurous. But I also like the fact that the people that do come with us will do that if we're feeling inspired to. But maybe it is your adventure days isn't so much about wanting to scramble up a rock cliff, and maybe it is that your children get to experience that, but you just get to sit in nature and eat cheese.
SPEAKER_02I like the way you think cheese. I really like it that for the fact that my children don't love hiking with just me for on a Monday, it's my day with the kids. I'm like, let's go for a hike. No, but if I say your kids are coming or our other friends are coming, A, they'll go without much whing, and then B, they won't winch on the hike.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, totally. And I had I said that to a passerby on the weekend when we were hiking with friends, and quite literally, if I'd have taken the girls just with me and my husband, it wouldn't have gone, it would have, it would have been a completely different experience. I didn't see them. I they met us down the bottom because they all ran ahead. And every now like they would, you know, I could see them, but and someone said, Oh, I've never seen kids so you know in inspired to walk or walk, you know. And I say, God, that's because their friends are here.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00It wouldn't be like this if they didn't have their friends.
SPEAKER_02It's not.
SPEAKER_00It's not like that at all. It's not my experience anyway.
SPEAKER_02Oh, so good.
SPEAKER_00As much as we wish they were, but the reality is it it just yeah, it became especially if you push your kids too far one time. That can be all days. We've all been there. We're nearly there, we're nearly there. So that's a tip. Don't light them and say how far something is when it actually is far away. Be honest about we've still got a bit to go because it's the promise of something coming and it doesn't, that will ruin it. That's what you've broken. You've broken it. So don't do that. That that would be if I had a key tip for anyone who's trying to inspire a love of hiking and pushing the boundaries of comfort in that way, yeah. Just be honest.
SPEAKER_02So friends is the first tip. Second one is appropriate gear. So first aid kit, always. I don't care if it's just band-aids and a pressure bandage, splinter probes.
SPEAKER_00Splinter probes, maybe some sort of um alcohol swab or something that you can clean the wound with. Um, and maybe like, well, there's obviously those things are essential, but tissues are always a great idea or some sort of wet wipe.
SPEAKER_02Wet wipe. Wet wipes are they're great for everything. Yeah. Yeah. So that that would be the bare minimum, but there's so many small hiking physics now, you know, whether you want to put your essential oils in or your own, you know, homeopathics, whatever it is, whatever your jam is.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, something for bites and stings. Um something multi-purpose even, so you know, tea tree oil um or lavender or a mixture of the two can be really good um in cleaning wounds and also for bites and stings, um, even if it's placebo.
SPEAKER_02I take it, yeah, yes. Same with the band-aid, just magic. Um, I take either itchies or stingos as well, mainly for itchy caterpillars and big big ants. Yeah. Um and bug repellent always, because if I am getting bitten by mosquitoes, I hate my time and I'm out of there. Yeah. And sunscreen just because of where we are.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. So we've actually just found these really good backpacks that are like wet bags, really. They're like um a backpack wet bag that rolls at the top and they're really spacious. You can chuck them on the dirty ground and you're not, you know, collecting, you're not discoloring your good canvas.
SPEAKER_02I love canvas, but here if something gets wet, particularly in the wet months, it gets mody. Whereas these dry packs, dry backpacks, like you said, they just wipe off or dry out.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and you can just chuck wet towels, wet pavers in them, and you're not also creating that damp, mouldy interior of the backpack. So I would I would recommend something like that.
SPEAKER_02They'll be on our shop in the next probably two or three weeks.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, we love them so much we decided to put them on the shop. You can have beautiful baskets and you can have beautiful bags. We've all been there. Um, but at the end of the day, if you are having to hike any distance, you really do need to be mindful of your own capacity to to haul all that stuff comfortably. So backpacks are what we would recommend.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, look, we've been through everything. We've tried the baskets, I've tried a beautiful picnic basket, and they're still really useful for things that don't require walking any space. Uh, my husband's just gone and bought a cross-the-body esky kind of cooler bag. He loves it, that's not my jam. I'd rather stick it in my backpack. But the summer months are hard, but I find we adventure less in the summer months anyway. Hiking's not fun here unless it's super early. So it's more we do more beach and you know, creek and waterfalls in the summer anyway. So we don't actually need the cooler bag so badly.
SPEAKER_00No, and what we I've found too is that we take the snacks with us for the duration, the couple of hours. It depends on, I guess, what your plan is, but if it's a hike, usually you're only there for a couple of hours. So you take what you need in your backpack, but you can have like a cooler bag in your car with your actual lunch stuff and you can picnic somewhere easier.
SPEAKER_02Um, I would say an insulated water bottle, particularly in the in the hot, you know, whether whether it's for hot food, like soups in the winter or a hot chocolate, or whether it's just for icy cold water on the hikes. Gosh, that is that has soothed many a temper on many a hike.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and also so you don't end up with boiling hot water, yeah. Which is you're not gonna drink if it's gonna be like that, or if you've left it in the car, or you've left extra water in the car for the way home because it's nothing better, it's just a really nice treat. And in the winter we do that, we br we often have tea, like take a couple of like everyone brings their keep cup and someone brings a thermos of chai or tea, and it's really nice.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and other than that, some decent uh rain gear, absolutely. Please, for the love of all things, invest in a decent rain jacket at a minimum and just some cheap rain pants for the amount of times you'll use rain pants. Don't you don't need to spend a lot on them, but gosh, they're worth it if you need to sit places.
SPEAKER_00We don't cancel like we might alter our like plans if it's raining, but we don't cancel them unless we're it's torrential and it's dangerous. Um, but if it's if it's just slightly raining, then we instead of maybe going to the beach, we might go to on a hike because it's beautiful hiking in the rains and being near waterfalls.
SPEAKER_02So it's really important again for children to not see that as stopping you from doing something.
SPEAKER_00Exactly.
SPEAKER_02Different when it's been like at the moment for two months, and by the end of it, we're like, alright, alright, we're a bit done. We're a bit done with this.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Yeah. So another thing I always um I'm generally also bring is something to sit on. Um it's not essential, but if you've got something that'll m protect your bum from the wet ground or whatever it is, um, or there's even the sand sometimes, just something.
SPEAKER_02It can just be a towel or you know, a fancy blanket. It doesn't matter.
SPEAKER_00No, but it is definitely something that I I enjoy bringing.
SPEAKER_02Proper shoes, whether that's reef shoes, if you're, you know, somewhere around coral or whether it's hiking shoes, like again, totally guilty of it. Oh, we'll just we'll just go on this waterfall hiking, our thongs are our salt water sandals and it's not ideal.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, or if you just double check with your kids because I know that I forget to remind, and I went on a hike and my youngest forgot her shoes.
SPEAKER_02Your youngest never.
SPEAKER_00But she managed. She did manage, but she did also say she didn't want to keep going because her feet were sore, so that's you know, we we do manage, but it it also means that sometimes we cut our trip short because we don't have exactly what we need.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, so making sure you've got the right gear, but I would also add so gear that you take, and then like you were saying before, gear that you leave in the car. So here's a really hot tip if you're going on a hike and you're not sure they're gonna make it, is leave the chocolate or the really good goodies in the car for on the way back.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, absolutely.
SPEAKER_02Pack your towels, pack your icy cold water, bribe them with a bakery treat, whatever it is, but make it not when they get to the bottom of the hill, make it for when they get to the top on the way back.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02So, yeah, we've talked about how we carry things. Backpacks, we think, are definitely the way to go. I wanted to quickly touch on because our children are really great age now for exploring, you know, they're about eight and ten now, they're really independent, they can carry stuff if they need to. Let's talk about how we did it when we when our children were younger, because it is hard, absolutely it's harder. There's nap times to think of, there's nappies and change mats and things that you need to think of. What did you do? What were some of your tips?
SPEAKER_00Um, my children lived in baby carriers. Yes. I don't think I left home without it. Um it is so much easier to hike and walk and have weight distribution of your children in a carrier around your body, as opposed to having to back big piggyback them or carry them on your hip, which is what will happen with small children.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00So if you don't have a baby carrier or if you thought you've been able to get away with it, but you are keen on getting outside, I cannot recommend them highly enough.
SPEAKER_02I found the longer hikes difficult until I discovered like bum bags and things as well. So um a bum bag's really handy if you've got a carrier because you can just slip a really tiny packet of wipes, just your really, really essential items, whereas you're not having to front and back carry for those longer trips. For a small trip, it's fine.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Um, but yeah, that's that's a good tip as well.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and being very I guess with the little kids is being um prepared. So if you can have some little games in mind that you can keep them occupied with along the way.
SPEAKER_02With toys like a magnifying glass, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, or um have like a goal in mind, like um collecting coloured leaves along the track or something like that, will keep them engaged in the walking and curious and not letting their little minds wander to how heavy their legs are and how sore they their feet are or whatever it is that's they complain about.
SPEAKER_02I spy is great. It's pretty cute with little kids.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02Um, another good tip is obviously to just be really particular about where you go. So for a long time we picked, and most councils will will make sure that they have multiple flat accessible tracks for again, whether that's prams or wheelchairs. So I spent a lot of time when my kids were young up at Mary Cann Cross or on the beach boardwalks. Yeah, because that was what was easy and doable, and I was still able to get outside.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, exactly. There's um really another really good one near us, Kathleen MacArthur Conservation Park on the other side of Karamundi Lake. It's got beautiful wildflowers through there, um, which is another great way to engage young kids, is um to be looking at the different vegetation and flowers along the way.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and those places that have like the environmental education centres because children can wander, sometimes there's a playground, there's always really hands-on, wonderful things to do. The volunteers are incredible.
SPEAKER_00And that's what I like about Mary Mary Cancross too, is that there's the promise of actual really cool animals to see there. So it's always like, you know, are we gonna see a patty melon or a um some sort of python or something? Which is like almost guaranteed in some of these places. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02I thought you were gonna say the allure of coffee.
SPEAKER_00That is a bonus. Again, stacking.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, fill make up, yeah, walk, flat, animals, education centre, coffee coffee. Absolutely. Awesome. The last thing I wanted to just remind us of is that no, we don't always do it consistently. We're in a season right now, it's been really hot, it's been really wet, we've had COVID, we've got appointments, we're going through a really big business time right now as we as we restructure. So it has been harder this term, but I've just felt autumn just click over last weekend, and all of a sudden I've gone, adventure day.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and me too. It's definitely taken a real sting of the heat out of being outside, and we've got more capacity to be out longer.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I think that's it for me. Is it yeah, I'm not a hot weather person. I'd rather it be wet.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I used to be a hot weather person, I used to love it. And now I'm just it's you know, with age, you you get bothered by things.
SPEAKER_02So the beach, I'm happy to go to the beach on those days, but the hikes and things like that, it's it's harder.
SPEAKER_00So with the beach too, like the little those I mean, I we say it all the time, we really should have got shares in um Corker Barnes.
SPEAKER_02We should have.
SPEAKER_00Not sponsored, but um some sort of shade that you can take that's easy to put up, light, will mean that you can stay out in those places and not have to worry about being overheating, being in the sun, burning, all of those things. Picking your spots. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02For little ones, again, for years we spent years at the spit or at the fresh like the the lakes rather than the surf. Yeah. And we picked really shady beaches as well. So it's a bit different now, but it uh for a long time it wasn't.
SPEAKER_00Exactly.
SPEAKER_02We're kind of now at the point where we're just getting into the smaller wave places.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and that will change.
SPEAKER_00It will change. Um, but yes, we're human and there's ages and stages, and there's sickness and seasons and all of those things which mean that sometimes we are not adventuring as much as we'd like to.
SPEAKER_02And there's no guilt around it.
SPEAKER_00There isn't any guilt around it. But we do recognise when we need it more, and um we will update you with some of our adventures that we're going on. We've got a pretty big adventure that we're really excited to share with you um around Easter time. So um we'll check back in about that specific really big adventure, which is really exciting.
SPEAKER_02All right, I thought this week, because we always ask our guests the rapid fire questions, I thought it might be my turn to ask you the rapid fire questions, Vicki.
SPEAKER_00So yeah, but I'm gonna turn them on you too. No, you can do that another episode. Okay.
SPEAKER_02So, first question what is your favourite adventure date location?
SPEAKER_00So, my favourite, my absolute favourite is that sunshine walk with the rock pool. But anywhere with rock pools. So Cool and Rock Pools, Point Cart Right, Shelly Beach. Absolute favourite. Hands down, we'll choose to go there first and foremost every time.
SPEAKER_02Says the mermaid herself. Awesome. What book, number two, what book are you currently reading?
SPEAKER_00I'm reading The Infinite Game by Simon Sinek. I am reading Atlas of the Heart by Brene Brown. I'm reading Sand Talk. I'm reading I'm reading a lot of things. I haven't finished them all. I'm still in the middle of Take Risks by John Marsden. And I'm also reading Know You Why. That's five.
SPEAKER_02I know. That's awesome.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I've just got so many things on the go, like it depends on my mood. One some are audiobook and some are by my bedside, and some of them are I pick up when I'm feeling a little bit more in the zone of wanting to up level what we're doing here at Wildlings. And then there's a book that I read when Ellie wants to read together. So she's created a little reading nook in our house. And since she's like, You want to come read with me? So she's reading Wings. Flyer and I ring read Sand Talk, so that's awesome.
SPEAKER_02We're in a real um leadership book phase at the moment for us and our company, not just for our own well, it is mo most of it is for our own work here at Wildlings, but also for wild business for our online course, getting ready for another module for those people that are are hiring now because we all go into business for our skill set, which was outdoors, you know, being with children outdoors, and then suddenly we've all found ourselves being employers. Yeah, there's a huge leap and a whole different skill set. So can't wait to bring that add that module to the course.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and on that too is like reshaping what that looks like. I feel like that's really big for us, is like reshaping what being an employer or being a leader looks like in business because the traditional models are not great.
SPEAKER_02No, they and they're very masculine and they're very top-down, and that's not how we want to operate.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and we want our values to reflect through all parts of the business. So if we're talking about what values we want children to learn about, we also want our staff to be feeling these exact same things.
SPEAKER_02So yeah, a lot of growth mindset stuff, and it's it's exciting. I love it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Alright, number three, where do you go or what do you do to reset after a tough day?
SPEAKER_00So my go-to is to just walk along our local beach, and I have been shell collecting, so I've got very specific species that I've got my eye out for.
SPEAKER_02You want to share those?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so um cowries are my favourite. Um, so we're always looking for cowries, but also broken, just the um bottom parts of the cowries. I'm specifically after um odd-shaped coral and parts of the exoskeleton of a sea urchin. We call them nipple shells, they look like they do low nipples. Um so I have these like really specific things that I'm always looking for when I'm but that's like is another one of my favourite things to do, but I can do very easily.
SPEAKER_02That's awesome. What is one worry that you have about homeschooling or unschooling? Maybe a recurring one. And how do you reassure yourself or problem solve this?
SPEAKER_00I have a lot of recurring worries, none's coming to mind at the moment, feeling fairly secure. Um, I do worry that I'm not doing enough or that I'm not providing enough experiences, or uh, you know, I the other day I was thinking, gee, I've got all the time in the world and yet still feel like we're not doing like all the things that I thought we'd be doing. And the way that I reshape what I'm thinking is I think about what we actually have been doing. And that usually makes me realize that we are doing all of the amaz like some amazing things. My children are learning all the time. And I remind myself that what I think what I'm what I my conditioning is for what children need to learn is not actually what they need to learn. And I need to remind myself of that consistently that just because children learn X, Y, or Z doesn't mean they actually have to, nor do they have to learn it in that time frame, nor do we stop learning. So if they need it more in that way. In that way, like it's not like if they get to 18 and they have learned nothing, that's not the end of the road. They can still learn those things.
SPEAKER_02You are done. You will not learn any more now that you've left school and you're 18.
SPEAKER_00That's exactly right. So I reassure myself in those ways, and I think that it's important for people to know that even if you are very confident in your choices, that you will always question. And I think that's good.
SPEAKER_02And it makes you a good parent.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and I I don't and I think that it m helps you to re-prioritise and to to make sure that you are staying on the path that feels good for you at that time because that can change as well. Um, and that it's okay to think one way and to change your mind on that. So if you ever hear me in the future say my children are going to school, don't be surprised. I mean, it probably like I'm not so down the rabbit hole that that is off the table completely. Like it probably pretty much is.
SPEAKER_02You know, it's not just us saying you will never go to school.
SPEAKER_00At this point in time, I we're not. That's my choice, and I have a lot to say about the systems. Um you know that I hear talk about it all the time, but at the same time, things change, circumstances. We have no control either. Yeah, and sometimes we just have to make the best of the situations we find ourselves in. Um but that's not to say that I can make a choice and still not be okay with lots of the things that come with that choice. You can still have very strong views about it, but still have to surrender to the moment. So I just want people to know that when we talk about these things and our ideas, it's not they're not fully rigid, they're just it's just that, yeah, at this point in time, this is where we're at. These are the choices that we made because they work for our families.
SPEAKER_02Beautiful. All right. What are you currently working on, Vicki? Me knowing full well, but nobody else does.
SPEAKER_00Do you mean with the business? Yeah, what are we doing in business? What are you doing in business? Um, so at the moment we are still working on um what the while business course and creating, you know, what that looks like for the people that are entering into um the world of owning your business in the natureplay space, which is really exciting. Um we are um also working on the induction process for our staff. Um we want to make sure that we've really got all of the information that we find really important to transferred to our staff. Like we want to make sure that that's airtight, really clear, really easy to access. Beautiful. Yeah, because there's so much stuff that our staff will say, we that would be really great if you could put that into some format so we can understand that concept more because there's so much to what we do and our values. Yeah. Um, so I really wanting to get stuck into creating a platform for our staff to learn more.
SPEAKER_02Um policies.
SPEAKER_00Policies, yeah. So we've been drilling down on our policies. We've been working a lot in the nature place space about how that looks um moving forward because we've hit a few little road bumps with uh insurance and things like that.
SPEAKER_02So that's as an industry, that's an industry. Not us specifically. Yes. Water play is becoming a a problem in our industry.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so um pioneering, I guess, ways forward um policies and and making sure that we communicate how clearly safe what we do is. I think that's the challenge.
SPEAKER_02It is, it's right. It's not nothing that we're doing is changing, it's just making sure that the insurers understand what it is that we do to keep children safe.
SPEAKER_00Yep. Uh and uh yesterday we were at the Sunshine Coast Australia Day Awards, we were nominated in the environmental and community categories for that. So it's always great to be part of a phenomenal community here on the Sunshine Coast. The people are doing such I was so humbled to be standing amongst people who are just the glue that keeps our community together.
SPEAKER_02It was a real slap in the face in the best way of looking around and going. Communities would not survive, particularly our vulnerable people would not survive as a whole without, you know, the hours and hours of free labour.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, the volunteers that work with as a vulnerable people or the environment, like cleaning up our waterways, looking after our turtles.
SPEAKER_02So positive. That's I did love that, looking up all the different categories, and then the environment category came up, and it was the second biggest category. That was so heartwarming to see that there were so many nominees, so many finalists in that category.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Gave me hope of the future. It did, and we then get to talk to people who are also doing amazing things that we can work with. So we form community partnerships with all these fantastic people.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, beautifully um e-collaboration who we had as guest speakers only a couple of weeks ago were in our category and won it in the environment category, and then Turtle Watch, who are coming next week to our homeschool programme. So it's this beautiful, beautiful community of of volunteers and people doing good for the planet.
SPEAKER_00Exactly.
SPEAKER_02Well, that is us. So to summarize, if we're talking about adventure days, our tips to you are to commit to one day every week, to go with friends, keep a kit in your car, be prepared with your gear, and invest in some quality gear as well. They're probably our top four or five tips.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and look, moving on from that too, if you're interested in homeschooling, unschooling, wild schooling, any of those things that we've talked about today and you're not sure where to start, um don't forget we've actually got some online courses for each of these types of um homeschooling things. So we've got an intro to homeschooling, um, an unschooling and a wild schooling little course on the website at wildlingsforestschool.com forward slash online dash courses. And hopefully we can answer all of your burning questions about that. But if you do have a topic in particular that you'd like to hear us talk about on the podcast, please let us know. You can send us a DM on Instagram or you can email us at hello at wildlingsforest school.com. We'd love to get your input on what you'd like to hear us talk about. Yeah, because we just talk about what we like talking about.
SPEAKER_02Which I have. It's been really nice. It's been nice to be back. It has. It's been really nice speaking to you face to face.
SPEAKER_00I think we'll probably do this a little bit more often as well now that we've got better gear.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I'm gonna take a photo of our hilarious setup, but it's not the we're a fire waiting to happen. We are if a sparky came in here they would um eat chuck a fit.
SPEAKER_00But we did it. We did, we're outdoor people trying to create things indoors.
SPEAKER_02Go us. Go us. We'll come a long way. We will get better. Amazing. Thank you so much as always for joining us, and until next week, stay stay wild.