Residents of Jacks Corner Road will be pleasantly surprised on Wednesday 30 November to hear the dulcet tones of bagpipes carried on the morning breeze. This, coupled with Glengarry boys singing their hearts out to Flower of Scotland’ marks the beginning of the Long Journey Home.
The Long Journey Home has become part of the vernacular for Glengarry boys. This biannual event has fast become the pinnacle of the Glengarry experience, harnessing the outdoor skills acquired throughout their six months away from home. The Long Journey Home also proves a fitting end and a rite of passage to manhood. Indeed, over 2,000 Scots boys have completed this journey on 21 occasions since its inception in 2012.
On 30 November, the second intake of Scots College boys will be embarking on a momentous journey to celebrate their completion of the Glengarry program. The Long Journey Home is an epic six-day voyage by foot and by bike which involves a water crossing and finally a ferry ride all the way to the main school set above Rose Bay, in Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs.
Day one takes the boys through the township of Kangaroo Valley over the infamous Hampden Bridge. Friendly locals, dotted throughout the village, clap and cheer the boys on before they meander along the valley floor via Wattamolla Road to a gruelling ascent of the illustriously named ‘Mars Bar Hill’. Suffice to say, the boys are awarded an actual Mars bar for their amazing feat before descending to Berry and on to Gerroa for a well-earned rest.
Day two takes the entourage through Gerringong and along the scenic coastal path to Kiama via Loves Bay, over Minnamurra River to Killalea State Park.
Back on the bikes for day three, the group make their way north along the coastline past the steel works, skirting the beachside suburbs of Corrimal, Bulli and Thirroul onto Coledale.
Onwards, across the photogenic Sea Cliff Bridge at Stanwell Park. The boys spend the last couple of days hiking the sandy coastal tracks of the Royal National Park, culminating in a final night camping at Bundeena .
The final morning, the boys will board a ferry from Bundeena, making their way through the Heads to disembark at Rose Bay. Then, after a brief walk up the hill to the main oval, they receive a ‘hero’s welcome’– much jubilation and fanfare from joyous parents and the school community. Piped back in by the College’s own student bagpipers, the boys who left school and home life – only six months ago – now return as young men.
Alison Johnson
