during the whole semester of Lock at All saints College, my peers and I took on the challenge of the wilderness and did various activities. The activities of Lock included Kayaking, Roping and climbing, and bush cooking. We also went on a 1-day-camp, at Dwellingup. While the activities are very different, they have their similarities including all of the activities needing Collaboration, self-organization, and being resilient.

Roping and climbing- Roping and rock climbing included a variety of things, which we did for the first term along with kayaking. climbing included rock climbing on the rock wall in the ISC, and roping included rope tying and belaying the climbers. For me, my biggest challenge was roping as I was not quite confident with tying knots, I mean I did learn how to tie my shoes in year 6: /. Anyways, Rock-climbing at the rock wall in the ISC was not a 1 person job, the climbing involved a two-person job where one person would be climbing while the other one is belaying the climber, essentially helping them climb and ensuring the climber’s safety. This would mean my peers and I had to communicate and collaborate with each other.

I demonstrated the capability of collaboration to ensure the safety of me and my peers, I did this by letting the others know and asking them when they are limbing, when they have had enough of climbing, and guiding the climber where to go and where to place their hands and feet on each rock part. I believe throughout the unit I progressively got better at rock climbing, and my belaying skills, for the future, I aim to get to the top of the rock wall at the ISC as I only got about halfway this time.

Kayaking- Kayaking was a tough task for me, due to the reason that I am not the best swimmer out there. My whole life I’ve always been afraid of the ocean or specifically what is in the ocean. The unit started in term 1 where we would go kayaking every Wednesday on the double. But, to attend kayaking on Shelley’s foreshore, I would have to pass a swimming test, fortunately, I passed it but it was a struggle. Kayaking at Shelley taught me different strokes and maneuvers through the water, such as switching sides every time you stroke the ore through the water, and stroking closer to the kayak when going forward. I had to show a bit of resilience, as my body thinks it is tired, but it is just my mind telling me I’m tired, this is known as perceived exertion. I believed I have demonstrated my resilience when my body is tired and just mentally pushed through the pain, which I think can be applied in many things outside of kayaking where I want to quit but I push through. In the future, I would like to improve my resilience and my perceived exertion so I can mentally push through things a lot more and feel better about myself when I give it my 100%.

Bush cooking- Bush cooking, which we are doing currently, is going outside, right next to the green courts, and cooking things on a fire-based grill. The process of bush cooking is gathering fuel, such as kindling and firewood (Jarra wood). Then and only then can we start making our meal. We took on a Masterchef challenge where we make a different meal every week, next week we are cooking Mexican. Bush cooking in my opinion takes a lot of organization because you need to think ahead of time and have good communication skills with your partners to decide who brings what, who gathers what, and the roles each member will take on. During the bush cooking unit, I learned that in a group of three/four, you should divide your labor up into three different roles with different responsibilities. The fireman, The Masterchef, and the gatherer of all materials. As the name suggests, the fireman would be in charge of monitoring the fire, this being whether to add more fuel to maintain it. The Masterchef would be in charge of making the food, cutting it and preparing, and, putting it on the fire when necessary, Most of the time I would be the MasterChef as my cooking skills and intuition are quite high as this was my strong suit out of all the units. the gatherer would just gather all the materials. Bush cooking was my favorite unit as I think I had the most fun and you also get to eat and take home the food you so hardly cooked.

DWELLINGUP- one day camp was a great opportunity to put all my skills to the test. We went to a location called Dwellingup and the bus ride was about 2 hours long. At Dwellingup, the activities we did included some of the units we did over the semester such as Kayaking and Bush-Cooking. We did a special activity that I have never done before which was this program called the treetop adventures which was insanely fun. There was an obstacle course around the level of the tall trees, there were different difficulties and I did the hardest one, I was a bit nervous and scared, but I think I remained resilient and pushed through the obstacle course. The scenery of Dwellingup was beautiful and I made sure to not disturb the wildlife there, (we saw ducks on the river, and local birds in the trees) I also made sure to travel on directed paths and surfaces to not wreck any of the wildlife habitats, as stepping unmarked areas could break the environment. The weather the whole day was nice and dry, but it was quite cold but my friends and I warmed each other up by doing one of those penguin huddle things. It was very peaceful throughout the day and it gave me a grasp on how my body can do so much more but my brain, thoughts, and fears are holding me back.

LNT and SUSTAINABILITY

Each of us plays a vital role in protecting our national parks. As we spend time outdoors, in the natural world, and in the wilderness, it’s important to be aware of the effects our actions may have on plants, animals, and other people. LNT, or “Leave No Trace” is a brilliant principle that is made for the reason of protecting our environment, It is divided into 7 sub-principles, and I will explain how I used those principles throughout the lock course. (Plan ahead and prepare, Travel & camp on durable surfaces, dispose of waste properly, leave what you find, minimize campfire impacts, respect wildlife, and be considerate of others.)

Plan ahead & prepare-The whole unit of Lock was planning as not once did I rush in without a plan and freestyle anything, as that does not lead to any good. An example of when I prepared for something is when I made sure my group and I brought the right things to make lunch at dwelling up, otherwise I will be very hungry and angry.

Travel and camp on durable surfaces. During the Dwellingup trip, we made sure to stay on the paths as we did not want to break or damage the environment. So we stayed on the made path for us and followed our instructors.

Dispose of waste properly- At Dwellingup, we used the local big general waste bin and recycling bin of our own to make sure that no waste spills out into the wilderness, the reason we do not want this is because the local wildlife will feed on our waste and they will get used to the foreign food and that food is not part of their balanced diet. which in the future will harm their health.

leave what you find-I made sure to not touch anything or pick up anything due to the reason that it could be someone else or a wildlifes home and I did not want to break into their home as I want to protect the environment.

minimize campfire impacts,- this one we could not really reduce it anymore as there were setup fires but we did make sure not to use so much wood and cause smoke everywhere in the beautiful land of dwellingup

respect wildlife-Especially on the river, I made sure not to harm or interact with the wildlife, this is because it is just cruel to harm them as it is animal cruelty, for example on the river, we saw some sort of duck or whatever it is called and obviously, I did not drive my kayak to them and run them over like a maniac would do, I just let them do them and carried on kayaking.

Be considerate of others- I was considerate of others as I did not want to disturb the localists with my immense talking abilities, I also made sure to check up on others when they were doing the activities, as they might be like me and out of their comfort zone, and they will need that extra motivation. For example, my good buddy Aaron was a bit scared in the treetop adventures but I motivated him by saying he can do it.

So that was Lock Summed in a post, Overall, Lock was a very fun subject that I am greatful for and glad that I chose it, I have learnt so many things about me and my peers and pushed my limits.