It evokes questions like, “why don’t we have wings to fly?” Or “why do my knees vibrate when I look over that disturbingly long drop?”

Possibly, because we are not birds but human, we will ask ourselves as we find ourselves in the extraordinary circumstance of actually abseiling, “WHY AM I ON THE EDGE OF THIS SEEMINGLY VERTIGINOUS CLIFF AND WHY AM I GOING TO LEAN OUT BACKWARDS AND MAKE MY WAY DOWN IT?”
The answer is another question, “WHY NOT?”

Still, you turn to Lachlan (our new, fearless PDHPE teacher) and you say, “I don’t think I can do it” and he will say, quite matter-of-factly, “yes you can”. So, you lean out and feel that rope between your trembling fingers and you have one last thought, “CAN I TAKE THAT STEP, OVER THE EDGE?”
BREEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAATHE!!!!!!

And you do it…you’re over. Leaning out, looking at the sky, the clouds, the rock, sometimes your dirty shoes. Then you look behind, to see all that space and those trees below, and it’s exhilarating, maybe even calming, and it’s cool because you’re on a safety rope, and you’ve got control of your own pace and path.

Enjoy the ride till your feet touch the earth. Your hands may be shaking, and your heart might be thumping, BOOM, BOOM, BOOM! But you feel ridiculously happy and all you can think is: “GET BACK UP THERE, LET’S DO IT AGAIN!!!”

Libby Gahl High School Literacy Support Coordinator

After graduating from NIDA, Libby worked as a Production/Stage Manager/SD designer in theatres around Sydney and Melbourne. Following that, she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts, Communications (UTS) and a Grad. Dip. Ed in Literacy/Numeracy Education (UTS). Since 2007, she has worked as an English Language Literacy Teacher at Ultimo TAFE in Sydney and has been the Literacy Support Teacher at Kindlehill since 2013.