In Lock this semester our class covered many topics such as kayaking, roping and climbing, and bush cooking. Throughout the course I was challenged physically and through having to solve different problems as they arose. Another part of the subject we had to think about was ‘leave no trace’, this is an important aspect of outdoor ed as it keeps the principle of leaving the space as you found it.

Kayaking

Before starting the kayaking course, I had a little experience with being out on the water as I have canoed before. However, many parts were new to me such as wearing a skirt and the c-launch we practiced in Dwellingup. At the beginning of the course, we started with learning the basics and then how to help each other and ourselves with capsizing. I found this particular skill important because it meant that I was able to help myself and others when out on the water and felt more comfortable going out farther and doing things that may cause me to capsize. Throughout the term the weather conditions varied, in the beginning it was quite warm with calm waters but there were a few weeks with colder and windy conditions. The most memorable part of kayaking for me was the c-launch that we did in Dwellingup, this was because I was something that at first scared me and I was hesitant to do however, when I was doing it, it was really fun, and I enjoyed it despite getting soaked and the water being freezing. Throughout the kayaking course 3 capabilities I used the most was being organized by making sure I had all my gear ready each week, self- awareness through being aware of my surroundings when kayaking and not crashing into people and effective communication by being able to help each other out whilst capsizing. In the future I would like to improve on my self-awareness whilst being out on the water, because although I cannot always control the kayak completely, I want to be able to stay on my own course and not get in others way.

Rock Climbing and Knots

I found the roping and climbing course fun and enjoyable, I have always loved rock climbing however I had never done knots/ roping before. Climbing was my favourite part of the course, my goal for this unit was to reach the top, and although I never completed this I found that each week I could get higher. In the beginning of the course, we worked on climbing safety, this included the 7 H’s which made sure every part of our gear was put on and applied properly. We also learnt some common knots in which many were applied throughout climbing on the wall. Learning the knots was interesting and I thought was really useful for our future. As the Dwellingup Day Trip was cut short we were unable to do any rock climbing however, we were able to do the Treetop Adventures courses. This was a combination of fun and fear, some obstacles such as the jump down from the black course challenged me mentally by having to get over the fear of the jump. But in the end, I really enjoyed the experience and was grateful that I attempted everything I could do. Three capabilities I had to use throughout the climbing and roping course were effective communication when I was up on the wall or belaying so I could keep myself and my partner safe, resilience because if I failed or fell down I had to just get back up and try again and collaboration both between me and my partner and helping others when I was on the floor where to place their hands and feet to help them progress further. In the future I want to work and improve on my resilience, because although I still got back up, I found that I was discouraged easily.

Bush Cooking

So far in bush cooking I have found that my fire making skills have improved from just camping with my family. Throughout the course we are completing the Master Chef challenge which requires us to get into groups of 3 and choose our own meals to cook based on a theme. The first time we attempted this it was a complete success, despite our fire almost going out once we were able to recover it and then cooked our pasta perfectly. Before we even got to cooking, we had to practice making our fires, we learnt about making piles of different ‘levels’ of kindling and different ways to structure our fire. We also had to learn how to build and progress our fire to coals so that we could cook on it. On our Dwellingup day trip we practiced making these fires and cooking on them, this day was full of trial and error from finding the hottest part of the pan to keeping our fire going whilst cooking. This day taught me a lot about fire management and cooking on an unevenly heated surface and meant that I was more prepared when completing our first Master Chef challenge. Throughout the bush cooking course 3 capabilities I had to use were organisation by having to keep on top of buying to food I needed for that week, collaboration because I had to be able to talk to my group so we can get everything done in time and a bit of problem solving because if our fire went out or died down to quickly I had to figure out a way to re light it. In the future I think that my collaboration could be improved because my group got distracted quite quickly and went off task a few times.

Leave No Trace

Leave no trace is an important part of the outdoor ed course, and it is spread over all topics. It is a principle that you leave the space as you found it or even cleaner. This is because if you just leave your rubbish there then it means that the environment would just become worse and if you only cleaned up your own rubbish then the environment would only stay the same and not approve. We applied this concept throughout many of the courses we completed.

In kayaking we made sure we planned and prepared our trips beforehand meaning that we could be prepared to leave no trace. We also made sure that when moving the kayaks or ourselves that we stayed on durable surfaces, so we did not disturb or harm any natural wildlife or plants. Finally, when kayaking we made sure leave what we found and not taking anything from the rivers or surrounding bushland.

In climbing there was not much opportunity to put leave no trace into action because most of it was completed indoors however, when doing the Treetop Adventures, we always made sure to dispose of rubbish properly and not damage the trees and stick to the paths.

When doing the bush cooking, both at school and Dwellingup many leave no trace practices were put in place. The first was minimalizing the impact of the fires we lit, we did this by using the pre-existing fire places, only using already fallen leaves and sticks because it didn’t damage the trees. When packing up our campfire we made sure all wood was burnt down to white ashes, which were crushed and thoroughly soaked with water before leaving the site. Finally, we made sure to properly clean up our food scraps and any waste that we used whilst cooking, this meant placing everything in bins properly. At the Dwellingup camp we also did an emu bob as a class where we swept the whole campsite for any rubbish us or others may have left behind.