This semester in lock we did Kayaking, bush cooking, rope ties and rock climbing. We also went on a one day camp to Dwellingup, where we practiced these things. I’ve used capabilities such as problem solving, organization, resilience and effective communication to make the experience better.
Kayaking- We kayaked in the Tuesday double periods, for about 6 weeks. To be honest, kayaking wasn’t a strong point for me and took a lot of resilience and patience. I found that I would often be stroking with too much force causing me to spin in circles, I had to be resilient and keep trying so I could improve. Even though I wasn’t the best at kayaking, I did have fun trying something new with my friends. I enjoyed playing the ball game that we had to throw the ball into the ‘goals’ while being on water. I learnt the basic of kayaking, how to use the skirts and what to do when you capsize. We also got pushed down stairs into the water, without falling out which was surprisingly successful.
Bush cooking- We started out bush cooking unit after kayaking and it’s probably been my favorite. We were put into groups, where I got to talk to different people, and we all had to bring some food to make our meal over the bushfire. I had to be organized and collaborative. Each week before the double, we would decide what ingredients each person needed to bring. The first meal my group made was on the day trip, it was breakfast sandwiches. Back at school we made nachos. First we would collect logs and kindling to make our fire, and then put them together and light the fire. We would add whatever the fire needs as we get it started, to make the most heat. Then we would prepare and cook the food. I enjoyed this because we had enough time to enjoy our food with the group and other classmates, this way I got to know new people better. After we ate, we would work as a group to clean everything up. I found organization was very important to make sure everyone brought what the needed to.
Rock climbing- Throughout lock we also got to rock climb on the climbing wall in the isc. We learnt how to set it up, safety around rock climbing, belay our partner and climb up the wall. I found rock climbing quite challenging but I did enjoy it. We had to use effective communication, to keep ourselves and others safe. Before our partner started climbing we would make sure everything was set up properly, and then let them know when we are ready. To belay our partner we had to be responsible and listen to them, so if the fall we have a good hold on the rope. There is more rock climbing planned this term so, I can practice climbing more. I found it quite difficult to know where to step and put out hands, but when I finally got higher up the wall I was pleased with my resilience again. As apart of this unit we learnt how to tie different rope knots and got assessed on it.
One day camp- Our day camp to Dwellingup has been my highlight of lock so far. We used all capabilities but in particular problem solving and organization. We also had to leave no trace, meaning we cleaned and packed everything up effectively, to keep the environment healthy. First thing our class did was bush cooking. As mentioned before my group made breakfast sandwiches, that were supposed to have egg, bacon, salads and sauce in them. A problem we had to solve was that our fire wasn’t hot enough and started to die out, so we had to add more dry leaves and wood, we also ad to light another match and give it oxygen to make the fire better. Once we solved that problem we realized the bacon wasn’t cooking fast enough, but luckily Simba had brought 2 meat options so we used chicken patty’s instead. The food surprisingly ended up tasting good and we had a fun time making it. The next activity was the high roped course. I found this really fun. We learnt how to use the harness system, and then we were free to explore the roped course and do whatever ones we wanted. The next thing we did was kayaking, we had a couple issues with this as the kayaking place was moved and the bus got stuck behind another car in the bush, so we only had a short time to kayak. We had to be organized to remember our extra clothes and shoes for kayaking. The water was freezing and we got pushed down stairs to get in, it ended up being fun but very cold.
My goals for lock were to try and learn new things, I think I achieved this as I now know the basics of kayaking, bush cooking and rock climbing. I noticed that weather can effect this course, but we had to adjust and work with the weather. Luckily the day camp had good weather, but other times we went kayaking or bush cooking it had been windy and sometimes raining, so we had to adjust to it or do other activities. A LNT principle I applied was to dispose of waste properly. We walked in a line up and down the area we bush cooked in making sure to pick up and rubbish we saw even if it wasn’t ours. We also picked up all of our own rubbish, even if there wasn’t a bin close we would put it back into our bag and hold onto it. Overall I have enjoyed this unit and have learnt lots of things and used different capabilities to make the course better.
