Rugby team building comes to Patonga

The Rugby World Cup came to the Peninsula on Saturday, October 4, when a group of 33 rugby officials from around the world made their way to Patonga for team building exercises.

Anton Colenbrander of Southern Adventures said that the officials were woken up at the crack of dawn "and set off on an adventure to be remembered".

"This same group will be facilitating the 2003 Rugby World Cup matches around Australia over the next few weeks," he said.

"At 7am, they climbed onto a bus and headed unsuspectingly towards Palm Beach.

"At Palm Beach ferry wharf, they boarded the Palm Beach Hawkesbury Charter ferry and headed towards picturesque Patonga, a name they will all remember.

Arriving at Patonga wharf, the group were met by Mellaney Colenbrander who escorted them across to the Patonga Caravan Park boat ramp.

"Most of these gentlemen are ex-rugby players themselves and built accordingly," Mr Colenbrander said.

"Patonga locals googled in awe as the unlikely guests strutted their IRB gear through the small fishing village.

"Some of the locals were guessing amongst themselves which international rugby side they represented.

"None suspected that they were the World Cup referees and assessors."

"The kayak fleet was lined up ready for them along the beach.

"After a brief introduction and safety overview, the group were taken through a kayak tuition session.

"Some members of the group were new to Australia and were already exclaiming at the beautiful birds found in abundance around Patonga, including rainbow lorikeets, sea eagles and pelicans."

Next the group was broken up into six teams and team leaders and guides were appointed. Team leaders were given a map and compass each and then briefed on the objectives of the game before being given a few minutes to brief their teams.

Groups went off in separate directions, some took to the water and some took to the beach. Activities included kayaking, beach walking, solving cryptic puzzles, identifying landmarks, building constructs and identifying wildlife using charts provided.

"All activities were designed by Southern Adventures to strengthen teams through identifying and exercising team values and principles," Mr Colenbrander said.

"After a few hours the teams met up again for a hearty lunch before setting off again to encounter further challenges.

"Towards the afternoon the activities came to a close, score sheets were collected and the exhausted but exhilarated teams set off to a nice hot shower.

While the delegates showered and changed into their evening ware, the Southern Adventures team tallied the scores and compared notes.

The day ended with a prize-giving where the winning teams and individuals were presented with trophies and teams were given feedback on the results of the day: what worked, what didn't work and how the lessons learned could be extrapolated to the important weeks that lay ahead.

They then headed off on the ferry back to Palm Beach where they were taken to Freshwater Restaurant, Harbord for dinner, before being taken back to their hotel in Brighton Le Sands.

Press release, October 13