In week 1 term 4, my lock class and 2 other outdoor education classes had the privilege to experience a 3-day camp at Honeymoon Pool. This camp, even though only 3 days, was challenging but also extremely awarding especially when my team won the amazing race. This camp pushed me out of my comfort zone not only in the physical aspect such as rock climbing but also socially by working with new people and making new friends. During this camp we were put to the test with many capabilities, some aspects of the capabilities were achieved and others need some work

teamwork: Teamwork can seem like a more boring capability but it’s actually one of the most useful capabilities from this camp as it’s not just about working in a team but also solving problems, communicating and respect. Throughout the camp, I progressed in my teamwork capabilities for example something as simple as working with my cooking group to prepare food before the camp as well as making the dinners during the camp. In my cooking group before the camp, we wrote a fair list of foods and equipment to bring evenly and met up the day before the camp to organize what food would go where when packing and who needed to take which item. This required teamwork with my cooking group to be able to work together and get all the food that was needed as well as splitting responsibility when cooking on the camp. The first night I worked on preparing the food, so I got all the food ready, cut up the vegetables, and got all the equipment out, while Annie collected camp firewood and Lauren made the fire. By splitting up the responsibility for cooking dinners and working as a team, we were able to make our food faster and had all the necessary things. In the amazing race, my team working capabilities were challenged as we had to work as a team to solve the problem of how to get across the water in a group of 4 on a canoe without falling in. This proved to be extremely difficult as each of the members in my group had a different idea of how to get across the water and we all didn’t want to get wet. As a team, we worked to figure out how we should all sit together in the canoe and who should go across first. Originally, I struggled to communicate ideas with the team – but after a few failed attempts, we managed to listen to each other and work as a team to figure out this problem.

There were also some aspects of the team working capabilities that didn’t go aswell. For example during the second challenge of the amazing race when we had to work as a group to solve word puzzles we were unable to communicate and work as a team. Originally we tried to solve these as a group but we were struggling so much as we’re all weren’t the best at word problems. We then started to work on them separately and some of us completely gave up on the challenge and ended up completely ignoring the team working capability. It was clear that when we weren’t working as a team during the amazing race, we fell from first place to last place (as we were trying to work separately). However, when we started working as a team afterward we picked back up and ended up coming first. Camp has helped me to improve my teamworking capability as before camp when working in a team I would often take a backseat and let who ever wants to take charge and just follow them, This camp allowed me to become more part of the team and learning to work together. although there were still some aspect of the teamworking capability that I need to improve on I believe i have taken a huge step in my team working capability. I belive teamworking in a extremely important capability for everyday life, the future and any jobs or activtys as it will always been needed.

organization: Another capability that I improved on during this camp was organisation. This camp allowed me to become more organisation as honestly before this camp I wasn’t very organisated. In the days and weeks leading up to the camp, me and my cooking group had to organise who would buy what food, the cost, and equipment. This allowed me to improve my organisation not only by my self but also in a group. My group ended up being was very organised with the food preparation. When it came to packing for the camp I learnt how to remain orgainsed, as I made a packing list and packed by my self leaving my self fully accountable if I forgot anything. During the holidays leading up to the camp I went out and purchased any equipment and clothes I needed for the camp to remain organised.

Although I was pretty orgainsed through the camp I did forget some things. For example I didn’t pack enough warm clothes as it was extremely cold on the first day and would of preferred to have some more layers. I almost made the mistake of not bring a wet suit for rafting and had to face the consequences but freezing. Its fare to say I will never made that mistake again! On camp I also found the mornings hard as I would wake up early and didn’t know the time. On the next camp I will defiantly bring a watch as I found the mornings morestressful and felt un orgainsed when I didn’t know how long I had to get ready. This camp improved my skills and capabilities of organisation and I am very grateful for it, not only for future camps but also for my daily life expectally for school, as I struggle with organisation in my life and in school.

communication: The last capability I will talking about is communication, and how i improved on it and how i still need to improve. for example on the first day during rafting we had to communicate with each other to get our rafts over rocks and through small spaces. This proved to be hard at first but after a few failed attempts we learnt how to communicate with each other. I also had the chance to talk with new people I didn’t talk to before at school, this allowed me to improve my communication capabiltiyes on a more social level. I appreciate this skill and find it extremely useful and are still used now as i make more friends and become more comfortable in our lock class. This camp allowed me to step out of my comfort zone by using and expanding my capability of communication.

Like every capability there are still thinks i need to improve on, for example on the first day I didn’t use my capabilities of communication, as i only talked to my friends and didn’t communicate very well at all as I was nervous for the camp. There was also an issue with communication within my group on the first next, while making the fire. The fire on the first night was extremely difficult to light due to it being damp, this caused our group to be a bit agitated and struggling to communicate when to get fire wood, and which strategy we wanted to use inorder to make the fire. For me personally I have always struggled with improving my communication capacapabilities as it involves me stepping out of my comfort zone. Throughout the camp I believe I pushed my self to advance in my communication skill and I will comtiue to do so.

leave no trace and sustainability: During this camp we followed and learned about the leave no trace 7 principles. As a whole group we learnt how important it is to leave no trace and leave the camp sight a bit better then we left it. This helped me to learn and remember little things that i didn’t realize would have effected the environment that massively for example, when we left puddles of soapy water or left a lot of food scrap around as that attacks more birds. The 7 leave no trace princles are:
1.Plan ahead and prepare: we didn’t this by organising what food we are bring, cleaning, tents, rubbish bins etc we were doing to bring

2. travel and camp on durable surfaces: we camped on a solid surface camp sight and picked the best places to set up our tents

3.dispose of waste properly: we had bins for each group and then had a dump bin we all put all the bin rubbish when it became full

4. leave what you find: every time we cooked food, or did any activity we made sure to clean up after out selves. On the last day we as a whole group (all classes) did a big sweap of the camp site cleaning it up.

5. minis campfire effects: we collected out camp fire wood for the second night at the rock climbing so we don’t effect the land we were camping on, and we also brought some of our own camp fire wood.

6. respect wildlife: during our activtys and night time we didn’t effect the wildlife, as we tried our best to leave the wildlife be, even though the birds in the morning were very annoying.

7. be considerate of other visitors: at the start of the camp we didn’t have any other campers on the site, but on the second day we had a few more campers join the site, we made sure to not make to much notice and leave them alone.

Sustainability: While on this 3 day, i was able to experience a more relaxed why of living. This made realise a few things, for example its helped me realise that i didn’t need to rely on the time and my phone, allowing me to live in the moment and stop worried about the small things. THis as helped to make a difference in my life after camp as now i spent much less time on my phone and enjoy spending more time with my family or friends. This camp also made me realise how much i didn’t need as many things such as didn’t need many clothes or a long shower, changing my views on things such as now taking much shorter showers. This camp also helped me to learn skills such as being able to prepare food and wash up with only the bare minium. I could of improved my sustaibility by using less water while cleaning up the food and equipment as there was a lot of water that me and my group ended up wasting. I hope to making the next camp i go on even more sustainable. Overall this camp was extrenly useful and helping me gain skills and influence my way of life now and helping me to become more sustainable.