During Semester 1, I was blessed to have the opportunity to indulge in the experience of Outdoor Education. We were involved in a program called Lock, in where we had many fun activities that we were involved in. Our many activities contained big programs of kayaking, rock-climbing, bush cooking. With small programs and activities such as the Dwellingup trip, knot-tying, team-work games, and the scheduled week-long camp.

Kayaking

A kayak is a small, narrow watercraft which uses a double-sided oar to propel the watercraft in water. This fun activity was one that my Lock class indulged in every Wednesday of term 1. On the Wednesdays, we had a double-period in which we had just under 2 hours to bus down to the river, with our class, and use the kayaks on the river. We had 2 instructors weekly from Paddle WA, and we used their kayaks on the river.

At times, the weather on the river got very unbearable as the already cold river got even more colder with heavy rain. There was multiple sessions where it started raining and this made the river feel more violent. But in my opinion, I enjoyed the kayaking sessions more when it was raining and the river had more movement. During our one-day expedition to Dwellingup, my class and I kayaked in the famous river (See below).

Before this professional kayaking training, I have never kayaked before and I was always very keen to try it out, but I never had the opportunity until Lock. At the start of the term, I was really bad at kayaking and I didn’t know how to control my kayak or paddle properly. However, at the end of the term, I became very experienced and good at kayaking, to say so myself. With this in mind, I used a lot of resilience, to learn kayaking, and organisation, while on the river and off.

Rock Climbing

The All Saints campus contains many incredible facilities such as the massive ISC (Indoor Sports Centre), in which contains a recreational rock climbing wall. During term 1, my Lock class had the opportunity to use the rock climbing role during the single periods. Every week of term 1, we had 4 classes with 1 double period (2 classes/2 hours) and 2 single periods (1 class/1 hour) and during the single periods, we were taught how to use the climbing wall and learn how to climb the wall.

The climbing wall consisted of 4 different climb variations ranging from easier and harder sections. The wall was roughly 7m-10m in height and it split into two sections in each variation. The first half of the section was always straight up, making a flat surface to start the climb, but the second half was inclined so when you reached the second section, the climber will be leaning backwards making it harder to climb. In our group, only 2 students managed to climb to the very top of a variation, out of roughly 25 students.

I personally rarely rock climbed in my life, and this program definitely taught me various rock climbing skills and techniques. I used the techniques of collaboration and teamwork, with my bilayer (Person holding the rope), self-awareness, awareness while on the climbing wall, and effective communication, with my bilayer.

Bush Cooking

Bush cooking is were people cook food and meals in natural areas. As everyone is used to using an electric stove and electrical appliances, we all struggled to cook using more natural resources, like firewood and campfires. In term 2, on the double periods we cooked foods, like pasta and gnocchi, at the firepit area on ASC campus. Everything cooked in a kitchen back at home can be replicated out in the bush.

I enjoyed bush cooking highly because of creativity needed to make proper meals. We were split in groups of 3 at random to cook together. My group and I used a lot of teamwork and creativity as we cooked our foods together.

Knot-tying

During the single periods of Lock, my group and I were taught various knots. Over the term, we learnt roughly 10-12 different knots for all different types of situations. We learnt camping knots to fishing knots to climbing knots. We knotted our own ropes during climbing sessions and used the ropes to rock climb on.

I felt that learning a dozen survival knots is very interesting but also very useful in certain scenarios. Many skills were needed to learn these knots such as resilience, to keep going and learning new knots, and organisation, of the knots and rope.

Team Activities

Team activates can be various types of activities used to enhance social relations and define roles within teams, often involving collaborative tasks. During random times in term 1, my class participated in many different team activities for team building and fun. Games included: group jump ropes, basketball, invasion games and more. These games were meant to bring people together as a group while having a fun time.

I enjoyed doing team activities highly as I am an active person who loves playing games/activities, especially with friends. Through silly games, created strong friendships. Team activities contained a large combination of skills: effective communication, leadership, team-work, creativity, organisation, problem solving and collaboration.

Honeymoon pool camp

At the end of semester 1, before we finish our Lock program, our group was scheduled to have a week-long camp at Honeymoon pool. Unfortunately due to covid, the camp was cancelled and we weren’t going to go camping for Lock. My class and I were very sad to hear the news but we had to push through the struggle. However, the teachers scheduled a one-day expedition down south to Dwellingup to cover for our missed camp. This experience taught myself to be resilient and look on the good side, the one-day camp.

Dwellingup Trip: One-Day

Due to the saddening cancellation of our camp, the teachers scheduled a one-day expedition down south to Dwellingup. Dwellingup is a small town down south in Western Australia with a popular tourist destination. Filled with towering forests, vibrant hiking and mountain-biking trails and incredible camping spots, this local gem in WA is a perfect place to connect with nature.

The 3 main groups of Lock, roughly 25 students, all went down to Dwellingup together. On an early Tuesday morning, wake up 5:30 am, the 3 groups of students, in 3 separate busses, went on a 1-2 hour bus ride down south. With 3 main different activity rotations of: Kayaking in the Dwellingup river, tree zipline and climbing at Treetop Adventures and finally bush cooking at a nearby campsite. With 3 main activities covering the 3 main areas of Lock (kayaking, rock-climbing and bush cooking), the Dwellingup adventure was incredibly fun.

The most memorable moment I had at the trip was when, Katie and I (my cooking group), cooked pikelets for our whole group. The bush cooking was a massive success as all groups cooked a successful meal with our pikelets being incredibly delicious. The kayaking in the river was amazing as we had shuttle drops, kayak dumps in the river, to get into the river. We went down a couple metres of stairs to dive straight into the cold river. The river was fun with multiple games of kayak polo being played but fortunately I didn’t fall into the cold river, unlike some other group members. The treetop adventures was definitely an experience with some moments where I stood up to 25 metres off the ground!! Sadly I don’t have any photos from my personal experience of treetop but I have a couple photos from the trip (See the first photo to see me and friends in the river).

The Dwellingup trip was definitely a must go with it being an incredibly fun experience whilst learning many new things about students and a fun experience. With key skills of effective communication, leadership, team-work, creativity, organisation, problem solving, collaboration, inquisitive, self-aware and ethicalness being used in the trip, the Dwellingup trip was a very good learning experience for all of us.

Summary: Lock

Lock this semester has been one of my favourite things been done with me being excited for every lesson. I gained new knowledge, friends, skills and more through the wonderful experience of Lock. All 10 skills of ‘Making a positive difference’ (See below) have been deeply covered in this semester.

I would love to give a big thanks to Ms Stieber and all the PE staff for creating this wonderful opportunity for my me and my fellow classmates.