Leadership in Kalbarri

In Year 9, our All Saints’ College cohort had the privilege to experience an exotic world of camping in Kalbarri, a beautiful site to view the natural habitat, while flourishing with my friendly team members.

One of the mentally excruciating activities we had to encounter was backpacking through a hiking trail in between the gorges. I was responsible in the leadership team for navigation on that day- our team led our group through the creeks, weaving through the dangerous points to prevent injuries. To ensure motivation contained in the high spirits of the team, we led a ‘choir’. We knew delegating tasks were crucial for efficiency, so we played the cards at our strengths. I suggested singing bright and lively Disney songs such as ‘Let it Go’, successfully distracting our mental sorrows as well as checking up on everybody and allowing frequent breaks to ensure our group members were well-rested. When one of our beloved members were struggling with their great loads along the adventure, our blessed team showed the initiative to kindly help unload the cargo and used our integrity remove the hiking gear into our bags. This could have not been done without clear communication or alerted, engaged members. We all knew that our pace and our speed was only as strong as our weakest one in our team, so we distributed the gear to everybody without any hesitation. We went through struggles along the trail: it rained partially, making the slippery creeks damp but we were motivated to keep our delightful mood up, open to discovering another world of learning.

Our Team resting at Nature’s Window after an eventful hike through the gorges.

At night, our cooperative team split into cooking groups. There were no specific leaders, however, we had to run dinner smoothly for our bodies to be nourished. In my team, I brought the ingredients out as well as preparing the vegetables and meat, while my two other mates cooked with the challenging Trangias, a set of cooking gear, to create a wonderful meal. We overcame our frustration of using the Trangias by remaining to have a positive mindset and continuously being grateful for this once-in-a-lifetime-experience. We all helped with the washing up by carrying pots of water, scrubbing with a whizz and had difficulties drying our bowls without getting the black soot or ashes staining our tea towels.

The most valuable thing on camp I have continued to treasure is my long-lasting friendships built through extreme activities such as abseiling and rock climbing. I had to be trustworthy for my fellow peers to allow themselves to be comfortable to rely on me as we faced the difficulties ahead. When one of my newly-made-friends were trying to overcome their anxiety of abseiling and heights, we all got together, applauding that they had such courage, reassuring them that they were doing absolutely fantastic. As they got lowered down, we embraced them with words of encouragement, helping them to overcome their anxiety and fear of heights.

My time at Kalbarri has furthermore developed my leadership, teamwork, communication skills in challenging but fun times while creating life-lasting friendships that I will forever cherish.