The village of Otaki has a unique exchange program under which city kids attend the school for a year. They get to experience life in the countryside and learn to look after themselves. They also enjoy fishing, camping, and skiing and like program so much that some stay for a second or third year.

Otaki Elementary and Middle School

The things we do differently from other schools

School Trip to Australia
So Many Experiences
Kenji Seto

On the two-day sightseeing tour of Kanagaroo Island, I experienced an amazing range of things, including climbing a sand dune to take in the stunning view from the top, seeing many different animals in a national park, going out at night to see some fairy penguins, and visiting a eucalyptus oil factory and a sheep farm.

On the first day we visited the Remarkable Rocks inside Flinders Chase National Park. We had to walk quite a long way from the car park, which tired me out. When I saw the Remarkable Rocks before my eyes I thought, "Those really are some big, funny-shaped rocks!" I'd heard that in the past five people have slipped off the path into the sea and been eaten by sharks, so I took great care walking. I took pictures of everyone climbing on these weird-shaped rocks.



The next experience that left a deep impression on me was a visit on our second day to Clifford's Honey Farm, which is said to make the world's purest honey. The reason why the honey there is the purest in the world is that it is the only place in the world where the species of bee that lives there can be found, and these bees are extremely good at making honey. Here we got to see a bees' nest close up. I was surprised to learn that the honey collected each month varies from one month to the next. That's because the flowers that are in bloom vary during the year, so the type of flowers the bees visit also vary.
We visited so many different places on Kangaroo Island and I have so memories. I feel I learned a lot about the nature and industry of the whole island.