Hello everyone.

In semester 1 of 2022, I have been in the LOCK outdoor education class for one of my electives. We have done several activities, which are:

• Roping and climbing
• Kayaking
• Bush cooking

In the Climbing unit, we learnt how to belay someone on the rock climbing wall in the ISC. Without a belayer, the person climbing can’t climb, because they are attached to them, and if they’re not the climber will fall. The Climber and the Belayer require lots of Effective Communication to climb, as they are working together to get the climber to the top safely. After lots of practice, we eventually started to climb on the wall. There are 4 courses on the wall in the ISC, some more difficult than others. Rock climbing requires lots of upper body strength. We all got better and better as the course went on. While it wasn’t our turn on the wall, we practiced tying knots, like the figure 8, reef knot, figure 8 on the bight, etc. as they can be used in climbing.

After we finished the Roping and Climbing course (for now) we moved on to kayaking. We went kayaking in the Canning River in Shelley. The kayaks are very hard to control, and they don’t go in a straight line, as they spin if you don’t paddle properly. This was frustrating and required Resilience. After learning some basic movements, we practiced flipping/capsizing the boat, then doing a somersault underwater to get out of the boat back up to the surface. After a few weeks, we put on kayaking skirts around the hole where we sit in, so when we capsize, we have to pull the strap on the skirt so it comes off, then somersault out of the boat. We also learnt a technique to get upright without leaving the boat, which is when you grab another persons boat from the side, and use 1 arm to lift yourself upright. After we got good at controlling the kayaks, we got into some games, like kayak water polo, and then we launched from the top of the jetty.

In the bush cooking unit, we learnt how to get all the right wood for the fire, and to organise it and set it up before starting the fire. Once we learnt that, we lit fire and learnt how to get more wood to fuel it, and get it down to hot coals to cook on. After a few practice sessions, we started our first cook-up on the Dwellingup day trip on the 3rd of May. We made a breakfast of pancakes with bacon, maple syrup and fruit. While doing this, we focused on the LNT (Leave no trace) principle. We had to be Ethical and responsible with our rubbish, food scraps, and fires, and made sure that they were completely out.

I had lots of fun during the LOCK course, and I recommend it for anyone who loves being outdoors and active.

Joshua Chin.