Going into Muir I was hoping to explore new activities I had never tried before such as Snorkeling and Archery. As a part of Muir we also learnt Orienteering and went on an overnight camp to Rottnest. Some goals I made at the start of Muir was that I would always participate in all the activities even if I wasn’t interested in them. I think I have achieved this goal as I participated in each activity including orienteering.

Orienteering

The first activity we started in Muir was orienteering where we learnt how to use a compass and a map to navigate ourselves around different parks. We learnt all the features of a map and how to create our own. I liked orienteering because it was challenging at first because there was a lot you had to learn but it got easier once you practiced more. It was also nice to be outside and navigate ourselves around parks and bushland.

Snorkeling

We also learnt snorkeling which was probably my favorite activity as we got to spend time in the water. Snorkeling wasn’t that challenging for me except for when we were at Rottnest and the water was very cold. I had to use resilience and still go for another snorkel even if was cold and tired. I’m glad that I did snorkel a lot on the Rottnest camp because the reefs were very pretty and I saw lots of fish.

Archery

Archery was really fun for me as it is something that you can’t just do by yourself and it was really cool to just spend an hour shooting stuff. Archery was also challenging because you had to be really focused and calm so you could aim properly. My favorite part was when we had a lesson when we just played a bunch of games involving archery. Some of the games included tic tac toe, shooting balloons and my favorite, shooting a photo of our teacher. Archery taught me how to be patient, take my time and to be aware of my surroundings.

Leave No Trace

Leave no trace is made up of 7 principles which purpose are to minimize the impact of our campfires of the environment and wildlife. We mainly used principle 4 (leave what you find) and principle 6 (respect the wildlife). We followed the 4th principle by not taking anything from our camp site or from the waters when snorkeling. Even though some of us found some cool shells and rocks while snorkeling none of us took then home because we wanted to leave the environment in its original state and let others enjoy it just as much as we did. We also followed the 7th principle by as we never touched the reef, sea life or quokkas that we saw on our camp. We did this so we didn’t disturb the wildlife or scare them.