INTRODUCTION

This semester, I decided to choose muir as one of my electives. The course consists of 3 components: snorkelling, archery, and orienteering. My main goal for the subject was to keep an open mind. I knew that some of the activities might be pushing me out of my comfort zone but so far I’ve given everything a go.

ORIENTEERING

Orienteering was one of the first activities we did. Going into this course, I was most worried about orienteering as I didn’t think it would be something I’d really enjoy. However, it was actually quite fun. We started with practicing at school either on the oval or in the form of amazing races around the campus. Then we went on our first excursion as a class to Manning park. Because I was with my friends, this excursion was actually really fun. We were in groups of four so we could easily share responsibilities, making it a chilled excursion. To finish our orienteering course we were able to go on an all-day excursion to Jorgensen park. This was another fun day, spent in groups of four orienteering and exploring around almost all of the park. It was refreshing to be able to spend a whole day outdoors and in nature with friends, instead of being in a classroom.

ARCHERY

During our Friday lessons we did Archery. This was one of my favourite parts of the course as it’s such a fun skill to learn. Over the course of a few weeks we learnt and improved on many skills and had so much fun.

SNORKELLING

The final part of muir, and the part I was most excited about was snorkelling. We started off with snorkelling in the pool to get used to using the equipment. We then went on an excursion to Coogee to snorkel around the omio shipwreck. Because the weather wasn’t the best we didn’t have the best visibility when snorkelling. Despite this, I still managed to see parts of the shipwreck and interesting marine life. Unfortunately, we only got to go on this excursion once. But I’m so grateful I still got the opportunity to do it as it was such a cool experience.

ROTTNEST CAMP

The Rottnest excursion was one of my main motives for choosing muir as an elective. However, when I chose the course, Rottnest was only a one day snorkelling excursion. So I was so excited when we found out the excursion was changed to a 2 day 1 night camp. When we first got there we embarked on the biggest walk of the camp to little Parakeet Bay. We got to snorkel twice here. In between snorkels we had a chance to warm up and relax by either playing beach cricket or trying to soak up the sun laying on the sand. My favourite part was definitely swimming through the tunnel as the views were amazing. After each class snorkelled twice we walked to our camp and set up our tents. Our last activity of the day was an amazing race to incorporate some of our orienteering skills into the camp. After dinner and a bit of down time we then split up into classes again to reflect on our day and the course so far. This was a nice way to end the night as I was able to focus on thinking about the things I’ve learnt and the experiences that I’m grateful for over the years of camps and outdoor ed classes. During our talk I realised how these camps have allowed me to use and strengthen my empathy, teamwork, integrity, flexibility and independent skills.

LEAVE NO TRACE

Leave no trace is a motto that we’ve lived by throughout the entirety of this course. The main way we’re able to act on this belief is by doing an emu bob everywhere we go. At the end of every excursion, camp or activity in a new place we’ve done one of these to, not only pick up all of our own rubbish, but to leave the place cleaner than we found it. We made sure to recycle and dispose all of our rubbish in the correct bins. We also made sure to respect all of the wildlife around us. Especially, the Quakkas in Rottnest by not giving them any of our food.

CONCLUSION

Overall, I’m very happy that I chose this course. I’ve learnt so many important skills and built such good habits that I couldn’t have learnt anywhere else. For example, I never knew what an Emu bob was before our first excursion but its something that I’ll probably start doing after leaving a public place. As well as all of this, I know that choosing MUIR was the right choice as an elective because it brings a balance into my timetable as it’s a class spent mostly outdoors.