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ESSENTIAL INFO
If you purchase a ticket for this course, all the information on this page will be emailed to you with your ticket.
👥 Suitable for: Ages 9 to 12 years
📍 Venue: Bellingen High School
📈 Level: Suitable for all skill levels
⏰ Schedule: Mon–Fri, 9am – 4pm (5 Full-Days)
⚠️ Extra info:
Our youth courses are busy group environments led by creative tutors, not specialised care staff. To ensure a safe and positive experience for all, students must be able to follow group instructions, work respectfully alongside peers, and participate independently without constant one-on-one supervision. If your child requires extra behavioural or learning support, please contact us before enrolling so we can discuss if the course is a good fit.
The course location won’t be mobility aid accessible as it will be on a grassy area and next to a creek, with uneven ground (tree roots etc.)
Required skills & experience
No experience required
Supplies that you need to bring to class
Seat or sitting mat – e.g. lightweight camp stool, foam pad, or small fold-out chair
Weather-appropriate clothing – eg. sunhat, breathable shirt, and raincoat or poncho (sessions will continue in light rain)
Closed-toe shoes – suitable for walking, running, and outdoor play
Water bottle – 2 Litres recommended
Packed lunch and snacks – no refrigeration available
Notebook and pencil/pen – optional, for drawing or journaling nature observations
Small backpack or day bag – to carry all personal items comfortably
Learning outcomes
Students will learn practical bushcraft and outdoor living skills through games, challenges, storytelling, teamwork, and hands-on experiences in nature.
Students will develop greater confidence, resilience, communication, problem-solving abilities, body awareness, and connection to the natural world.
Students will leave with new skills, meaningful friendships, memorable outdoor experiences, and a deeper sense of belonging in the landscape around them.
COURSE PLAN
Throughout the week, participants will be immersed in outdoor adventures, challenges, games, stories, and hands-on learning experiences.
Activities may include:
Shelter building and campcraft
Nature awareness games
Team challenges and outdoor missions
Water purification and water awareness
Exploration and landscape discovery
Natural navigation using the sun
Tracking-inspired activities
Storytelling and connection to place
Bushcraft and seasonal survival skills
Fox walking and sensory awareness practices
Cooperative games and group adventures
Observation and problem-solving challenges
The exact activities will vary depending on weather, group interests, seasonal conditions, and opportunities that arise throughout the week.
A special highlight of the program will be time spent with guest mentor Gawa Allan Phillips, who will share stories, local knowledge, and connection to Country.
COURSE TUTOR
Michael Connell
Michael Connell is a bushcraft educator, nature connection mentor, and founder of Bellingen Bushcraft, based in Bellingen, NSW.
Through community workshops, immersive programs, and one-on-one mentoring, Michael creates opportunities for children, teens, and adults to reconnect with nature through hands-on learning, adventure, and traditional outdoor skills. His work weaves together bushcraft, nature awareness, storytelling, games, and practical challenges that help people build confidence, resilience, curiosity, and a deeper sense of belonging in the natural world.
Michael's teaching is influenced by the principles of Coyote Mentoring, creating learning environments that are engaging, relationship-based, and driven by curiosity rather than instruction alone. He is passionate about learning through direct experience and believes some of life's most valuable lessons are discovered outdoors through exploration, teamwork, problem-solving, and play.
As the founder of Bellingen Bushcraft, Michael facilitates youth mentoring programs, community workshops, and immersive bushcraft experiences throughout the Bellingen region. At the heart of his work is a deep respect for nature, community, personal responsibility, and the innate capability of young people when given the opportunity to learn, explore, and grow in the outdoors.
Elijah Kindred & Mahli Hawke will be working alongside Michael as an assistants for this course.
“My son did the bushcraft course and had a fantastic time.”
COURSE ASSISTANTS
Elijah Kindred
Elijah Kindred works with young people through nature connection, bush skills, and mentoring programs that bring kids back into relationship with the land and each other.
He has helped facilitate outdoor programs including a fire-making immersion at Camp Creative, where children spent multiple days learning to work with fire through patience, persistence, and teamwork. Elijah also ran a Rite of Passage program with local youth in Bellingen, supporting young people through meaningful experiences in nature that build responsibility, confidence, and a sense of belonging.
Alongside youth mentoring, Elijah works as a facilitator, coach and bodyworker, and is the founder of EarthKeeper — a project focused on culture repair, nature connection, and helping people rediscover practical skills and deeper relationship with the natural world.
His approach draws on mentoring traditions such as Coyote Mentoring and nature-based learning, encouraging curiosity, awareness, and learning through direct experience.
At the heart of his work is a simple idea: that time in nature, shared challenge, and practical skills can help young people grow into capable, grounded humans.
Mahli Hawke
Mahli Hawke is a nature-based educator, mentor, and founder of Grounded by Nature Australia (previously Wild by Nature) based in New South Wales. Drawing on over fifteen years of experience in education, youth mentoring, indoor and outdoor learning, Mahli creates opportunities for children, young people, and families to develop confidence, resilience, belonging, and practical life skills through meaningful experiences in nature.
He is steeped in the art and joy of storytelling, and facilitating spaces for story sharing to emerge - complemented by his training in Holistic Psychotherapy and Mentoring.
Through weekly programs, camps, and immersive learning experiences, he supports young people to cultivate self-awareness, responsibility, leadership, and a deeper relationship with the natural world.
