Year 9 Outdoor Ed Camp

Rubicon

On Tuesday 21 to Friday  24  May, our Year 9 Outdoor Ed class travelled to Nayook for our adventure camp at Rubicon.

After our near 2 hour drive, the first day consisted of finding our sizes for our wetsuits, thermals and clothing gear that the camp provided us for the week. We had to separate our clothes into hiking packs and hiked a tiring and painful journey to our huts and campsites. We had groups of 2 to 3 in a tent, and we worked together to pitch them  by ourselves. Both groups had their first activity of the day, which was orienteering through the forests with nothing but each other, walkie talkies, a whistle and a map, finding checkpoints around the bush. The best group (Fraser, Flynn and I) won of course. Afterwards we discussed group responsibilities and did some planning for the next few days.

One of the activities we did was river sledding on the Yarra. Not only was this one of the most enjoyable activities, but we also got the opportunity to learn about river health and a variety of elements effecting river life such as eddies, Vs, rapids and the spiritual values of the Yarra. We got our own small rafts to paddle on, and stopped at Warburton to make wraps for lunch.  For someone who doesn’t enjoy being around water - it was an amazing experience and I would highly recommend it to anyone. 

Our next activity was caving but, before that, each group had to practise abseiling on small boulders - using carabiners, ropes, harnesses, helmets and more that we learnt about at school before going to camp. When we got off the bus the scenery was beautiful as we walked down a track to where the entry was. After abseiling into the cave, it was nothing but mud, rocks and a little bit of water. There were so many tight squeezes, climbs and deep crevices we had to get through, however we worked efficiently as a group to help each other and every one of us completed the cave without any injuries. Despite it being muddy and extremely difficult, everyone enjoyed the challenge and it was a great opportunity to focus on developing our personal character strengths. 

There were definitely people who stepped out of their comfort zones, opened up and tried new things they were unsure about which we were all proud to see. Working together with our trangia stoves, our groups made delicious dinners every night: butter chicken and rice, pasta and potato and sausage goulash - they all turned out pretty good. On our last day both groups reunited to cook our own pizzas, clean up all the gear and contribute  to the camp via numerous community activities. We then headed back to school, which was probably the worst part of camp.

We were very lucky to have the best weather and amazing instructors and teachers on this camp. Our Year 9 Outdoor Ed class can all agree on the amazing experience it was and have all got to know each other even better.

Thank you to Mr Wischusen Ms. Davies and Rubicon who helped and dedicated their time for us.

Jeneya Tran

Year 9 Outdoor Ed Student