Bushwhack-a-day!

Melanie Blair

Teacher - Bushwhacked

Year 9 students embarked on a four-day hiking journey at Wilsons Promontory this term, marking the last Bushwhacked program of the year. 

The purpose of the program was for students to work on their leadership skills and their ability to apply a series of decision-making models. 

Leading up to the program, students had to organise their own meals, plan their hiking route, and create leadership roles and responsibilities.  Through this process, students have ably to demonstrated that they have acquired the skills and knowledge required to organise and run their own outdoor trip - beyond the Bushwhacked curriculum. 

I take this opportunity to thank the Bushwhacked class of 2023 for thier efforts.  These students have reached many milestones this year and look forward to celebrating the completion of their Duke of Edinburgh Award. 

 Students were asked to share what they learned from this Bushwhacked Program. Here are some comments:

Coco Balmain

Year 9

 One thing I took from my final Bushwhacked program is that even when you’re tired, you should just go anyway - because going to Little Waterloo Bay was a really good decision! Other takeaways include are to use camps to make new bonds with each other, and to always keep motivating each other to keep pushing on.

Poppy Dohrman

Year 9

 I learned that even though I wasn’t motivated to go on walks, I can do it and I enjoy it - I just need to push myself.   

Millie McMonagle

Year 9

Three take-aways I learned from this camp are that even though a long walk can take a long time, the views and the journey are always worth it, and that the people you have with you are the  thing that makes the camp so good, and that you should always bring enough snacks.

Sylvia Stokes

Year 9

[I learned on] this camp that branching out and talking to people you do not normally talk to can be really refreshing and trips like this are the perfect opportunity for that. I also noticed that I have become much closer with my friends by default, because I spent so much time with them. I learned more about them and it was really nice. The final thing I took from this trip was how relaxing and peaceful it is to go on camps like this. Although sometimes the packing and organising can be stressful, once you are there it is so refreshing to just have your small tasks to do - like setting up your tent and cooking your food... it is so relaxing and easy on the mind.

Imogen Verdnik

Year 9

 [I learned] from this trip to bring more food to make sure we can keep ourselves sustained for long days of exercise and heat. Another thing to remember for next time was the ways I figured out to adapt my sleeping gear so that it was more comfortable and made the night less difficult - such as wrapping my pillow in a jumper so that it was squishier. Finally, on the next camp I would choose to do the harder walk, because although it was more tiring it made the trip more enjoyable overall as we got to spend a lot of time with our friends just talking while we walked.

Amelie Brown

Year 9

I learned that you should always keep pushing yourself to do your best, even when you want to give up. Sometimes you have to compromise with others to help get a good result, and if you plan ahead then you will get better results.

Phoenix Balaamgunderson

Year 9

Some takeaways I took from this Bushwhacked program is to appreciate nature like the beaches and views we saw. Another thing would be the relationships I made with people I didn’t really know before Bushwhacked.  

Santi Carver

Year 9

One takeaway I took from the camp was to pack lightly for the trip next time! A second takeaway I took was to remember to bring nicer foods for lunches and dinners and another thing I took from the camp was some really good memories.

Click on the gallery to enlarge photos