In this camping experience, our LOCK class went to Honey Moon Pool near Collie. The total camp duration was 3 days (Monday -> Wednesday)
In the rock climbing and abseiling part of this camp, we did this on a wall of a quarry, this made the climbing harder and the abseiling easier, because the wall was relatively flat. This was an amazing thing to do, the wall was about 15-20 meters high. Climbing was extremely hard for everyone because the wall was dug into, meaning that there are no ‘natural’ crack, bumps and crevices.
The bush cooking part of LOCK was done at school and at the camp. In school we would use fire pits and need to make the fire to cook our food, we would cook Mexican styled food and Italian, this helped us a lot in the future. On the camp we cooked the food that we have all ready trained to cook, this was burritos and wraps.
Leave No Trace is a fundamental part of camping, this ensures that you leave the camp better than how you found it. This includes, Plan a head and prepare, Know the regulations and special concerns of the area you will visit. Walk and camp on durable surfaces, Durable camping surfaces include established campsites, tent platforms, rock, gravel and sand, basically pre-made camping sites if available. Dispose of waste properly, What you pack in, You take out. Leave what you find, Leave rocks, plants and other natural objects as you find them. Minimise campfire impacts, for example, use a gas stove instead of wood. Respect wildlife, Store food and rubbish securely to prevent wildlife finding it. Be considerate of your hosts and other visitors, Mainly respect Aboriginal culture and the country, also people who are around you.
SELF EVALUATION
This is rated from 5 (excellent) to 1 (poor) characterising my performance on camp.
| SUBJECT | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | Explanation |
| Attitude | X | Overall conditions were not the best but kept looking at the good things that were happening. | ||||
| Camp craft | Was not done in the camp. | |||||
| Ability to work with others | X | Teamwork was a necessity in this camping experience, without it we would have not been able to accomplish parts of the activities | ||||
| Leadership | X | There were times when leadership was needed and I would rise to the plate but not all of the time. | ||||
| Personal Equipment: care and management | X | Due to recent camps earlier in the year I already knew what to do and how to keep my personal items as clean as possible | ||||
| Food: preparation and cleanliness | X | I maintained an exemplary level of cleanliness and completed making our food in excellent time. This was due to the past couple of ‘out of school’ camps that I have attended. | ||||
| Cooking | X | I was able to complete all of the cooking requirements, it is my surname. | ||||
| Personal Hygiene | X | I was able to make sure that I would always wash my hands and changed my clothes every day. | ||||
| Minimal Impact Practices | X | At the end of camp when we did our clean up there were traces of microplastic (small pieces of plastic) | ||||
| Ability to follow instructions | X | I was able to complete and listen to all instructions given by teammates and teachers. | ||||
| Safety & Judgement | X | There were times when I would not fully make a risk judgement check on parts of the camp that may contain risks. | ||||
| Volunteering | X | There were a lot of people who would ‘jump to the gun’ when volunteering requests come up, but I did not do as much as I wanted. | ||||
| Ability to care for and support others. | X | There was a time in the camp on the first night where one of my colleagues did not have a suitable pillow to use, knowing that someone would loose or forget something like this, I packed an extra pillow that I was able to give to him. | ||||
| Ability to act independently | X | This was a team building camp and it would have been impossible to do without the help of other people. |
After the camp, our LOCK group had a ‘Master Chef’ cook off, we made eggs, bacon, and toast. Others made bacon, and wraps. We also cooked a fish in our fire to eat later, this is how it turned out!
