Sally Anderson, 65, says going on an Outward Bound course was a bit of a dream for her. Photo: Supplied
Outward Bound is pushing the age boundary, with a new course aimed at those 60-plus.
The not-for-profit specialises in personal and professional development, and building resilience by challenging people mentally and physically in the great outdoors of the Marlborough Sounds.
It has been going since 1962, but it is the first time it has had an eight-day course for people who are 60 and beyond.
The inaugural Beyond 60 Outward Bound course just wrapped recently.
One of the participants, 65-year-old Sally Anderson told Checkpoint going on an Outward Bound course was a bit of a dream for her.
"My children have done Outward Bound and I have always been incredibly envious, and I thought I was always too old, but then this course popped up and I thought, I'm in.
"It just kept echoing during the day and I thought my pension starts, that's a really good way to pay for it, so I just enrolled straight away."
She said she thrived on the eight-day course alongside nine others.
"It was slightly inclement weather and cold dips in the ocean were very challenging, but we had such a fantastic time, 10 of us, lots of different backgrounds and lots of great challenges, an adventure."
The group were challenged to activities like any other Outward Bound course. Photo: Supplied
Anderson said it was a privilege to be on the course, which taught her a number of lessons about herself.
"I learned that I've got some trust issues and I think also that socially it's quite challenging because as you get older a lot of us are quite independent and we're used to making lots of decisions for ourselves.
"When you are in a group of 10 people, you have to fit in and you have to look after everybody and be part of that group as a team and they're from all walks of life."
The group were challenged to activities like any other Outward Bound course, however those could be adapted to each person's skill level.
"You need to be able to have a certain level of fitness and if you can run 3km that's great, but the course is quite adaptive... you can get stretched to your highest capacity... It can be tweaked and adapted for your needs as well."
Anderson said the group were challenged to a range of activities, from camping in the rain to scaling a rockface.
"We did solo - we camped overnight on a clipper in the rain and didn't get much sleep... we did kayaking and we were tipped upside down in the kayak and then had to trust the person to pull us back up, so that was quite challenging.
"We did high ropes courses, we climbed a rock face... we went on a trek and a hike over a hill and learned how to use compasses, we learned some bushcraft."
Sally Anderson says a highlight for her was one of the nighttime hikes. Photo: Supplied
She said another highlight was a nighttime hike, which led to making a fly to sleep under, before hiking to a lookout point the next morning to see the sunrise.
"I think the fun thing is that you never know what's coming next, there is a certain structure, but we don't get told the day before."
While there is no upper age limit on the course, she said the oldest person in her cohort was 75.
"There were people there that had never had packs on, never been rock climbing, never been on high ropes never been in kayaks and they were 70 and they just gave everything a go, it blew me away."
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