Following the river, or creek in my case, was an extremely good way to get to know the aircraft, I must say it was the 3rd or 4th lesson when we started doing that too. (in the correct area and approval for doing so of course)
Lookout, power management, speed, balance, height, attitude, smooth affective control, wind direction, engine failures into the paddock. Also later on in my low level training we touched on a lot more of this even closer to the ground.