This year in semester 2 I chose to do MUIR outdoor Ed as my elective. As I did this course last year, this year I wanted to extend my skills in the areas we cover- holding myself more accountable and to a higher standard. In term 3 we did orienteering, archery and we started to look at snorkelling. In term 4 we focused mainly on snorkelling and we had an overnight camp at Rottnest.
ORIENTEERING
As I did this course last year, this year was just sort of like a refresher for my skills in the 3 areas we covered. in ORIENTEERING we learnt how to use a compass to navigate ourselves around unknown bush areas. We did many excursions to Manning Park, where we were able to exercised our knowledge in navigating ourselves around an unknown area. we learnt things like putting Fred in the shed, always holding the map to have north face forward, lining up the meridian grid lines on the compass with the grid lines on the map. we learnt the importance of being accurate and making sure that our measurements and readings we are close to the actual coordinates as possible, as the smallest error could through you off by a lot. One capability that I think I worked on a lot in orienteering was problem solving. This unit was at the end of winter, which meant that there were times where the weather prevented us from going off campus. So Problem solving became a big concept to us in many areas, not just one. As I said before that being accurate was key to success in orienteering, and when we went to manning park for our excursions, there were times when me and my group struggled to find the control. So, we had to do lots of problem solving and collaboration to figure out where we went wrong. we would go back to the previous control, retake the bearing, and recount our distance. This ensured that we were defiantly heading in the right direction, and that we were on the right track. Without problem solving and collaboration in these circumstances, we wouldn’t have had any success in our orienteering adventures.
ARCHERY
Another unit we completed this semester was archery. In archery, we had a lady called Mary come out to the campus and teach us how to shoot a bow an arrow, how to aim effectively, how important grouping is and how to become a good archer. As this wasn’t my first time doing archery, I found it relatively easy to shoot a bow and arrow. My only problem was being consistent with my shooting. One capability that I used to help me become a better archer was resilience and critical thinking. It was important that I never gave up when it came to being accurate with my shots. The more I practiced, the better I would get. There would be lessons where I would get very frustrated when I wasn’t consistent so it was critical that I was resilient. Then when it came to aiming, there were many different factors effecting my shots. Wind, distance, stance and how close I was to another person. so it was important that I used critical thinking and took into account these things.
SNORKELLING
The final unit that we completed was snorkelling. In this unit we learnt the basics of snorkelling. We first started snorkelling in the pool, then we went on an excursion to Coogee Omeo ship wreck, and finally we stayed overnight at Rottnest, and snorkelled at the basin and little parakeet bay. Some challenges we face completing this unit was to do with the weather conditions. At our excursion to Coogee, it was overcast, had a very strong south westerly wind, and the water was very choppy and visibility below the water was poor. Although it was very tricky to navigate and see anything in the water, it was important that we got experience in all weather condition to prepare us for anything at Rotto.
ROTTNEST EXCURSION
As part of the snorkelling unit, we got an overnight camp at Rottnest. As I previously mentions, we snorkelled at little parakeet bay and the basin. On this camp and leading up to it, it was vital that I was organised and prepared for everything – having a wetsuit, keeping hydrated, having the right equipment. Leading up to the camp, I had no clue what the weather was going to be like, so going into the water for the first time was a bit of a shock with how cold it was. I was definitely grateful that I had a wetsuit, because before the camp I didn’t have one. Some challenges that I faced on this camp were how cold the water was.
Getting in for the first time wasn’t that hard, but on the second snorkel on the first day after being out in the sun and drying off was pretty hard getting back as the water was very cold. However, I am very glad that I did as the snorkelling there was amazing. My favourite snorkelling route of the camp was the one at the basin, but I definitely thought it was the hardest one as well due to the swell that was coming in. There were certain points of that snorkel that scared me because of the big wave coming over us and pushing us against the reef, but it was important that I stayed calm and thought critically about where I was going to go next. Another vital thing about this camp was leaving no trace which I will talk about later on.
LEAVE NO TRACE
Leave no trace was a big rule/ capability for this unit and for me. There are 7 principles of LNT to ensure that all areas are covered and can be applied everywhere to keep our environment safe whenever we are out enjoying it. In all of the units we completed, we were out of the class room and on excursions for majority of the doubles and Friday lessons. The 7 principles are, Plan ahead, travel and camp on durable surfaces, dispose of waste properly, leave what you find, minimize camp fire impacts, respect wildlife and be considerate of others. Being off campus for orienteering and snorkelling, we needed to be extra careful of our surroundings and where we walking/swimming, also picking up any rubbish that we see and putting it in the bin. On the Rottnest camp, whenever we were a beach or campsite we made sure to do an emu bob- lining up in a line and walking across the surrounding picking up any rubbish. This was to ensure that we were leaving the environment the way we found it and disposing of waste properly. A big part of leave no trace is to preserve the environment – leaving things exactly as you found them- so that future generation can come and enjoy these environments for as long as possible, being selfless and considerate of everyone and everything.
CONCLUSION
All in all, I really enjoyed this unit. as this is my second time doing it, I definitely enjoyed it more the second time round. My favourite part was the overnight camp at Rotto, as it was a really fun 2 days and I loved snorkelling there. I would definitely recommend this to younger year groups as this unit teaches you many valuable skills and lessons for many areas of your life, not just outdoor ED.