The seven pupils returned to Dunedin exhausted yesterday after their month-long excursion.
Along with eight Wellington College pupils, they spent 12 days traversing the gruelling 178km Annapurna Circuit, reaching an elevation of 4000m.
They also spent five days painting classrooms and building a wall at a school inside Chitwan National Park.
Pupil Will Paterson said the building project at the school was a ‘‘rewarding experience’’.
‘‘Everyone was happy with how it turned out. It was good to get a new perspective.’’
They got to know some of the children there who were ‘‘all very friendly’’, he said.
‘‘They’re really talkative and keen to practise their English with you. They were all very obsessed with piggy back rides.’’
The trek took ‘‘a lot of determination’’, especially considering about half the team were vomiting from altitude sickness.
Jack Grey said the trip was ‘‘really cool’’, until most of the boys got food poisoning.
School dean of international studies Richard Mountain said the team came back ‘‘much more independent and confident’’.
‘‘It was a character-building trip which the boys ran themselves. The did all the transport and budgeting.
‘‘It’s probably the biggest change they’ve been through.’’
