The phenomenological study presented in this paper attempts to determine, from outdoor educators, what it meant for them to be teaching outdoor education in Victorian secondary schools during 2004. In 1999, Lugg and Martin surveyed Victorian secondary schools to determine the types of outdoor education programs being run, the objectives of those programs, who was teaching them, the work conditions of the outdoor education staff and issues those staff faced. In this paper connections or disconnections are drawn between the backdrop provided by Lugg and Martin's survey and the lived experience of some outdoor education teachers.