Year 10

Outdoor Education

On Wednesday 18 May, our group packed the trailer with all the camping gear we would need tor a three day canoeing expedition and set off the Loch Luna Game Reserve near Barmera.

We met Kym from Canoe Adventures on the northern side of Lake Bonney, packed our gear into the canoes ensuring it was all waterproofed and well tied down, then paddled down Chambers Creek to our camp site. After setting up our tents and cooking dinner on our trangia, we sat around the campfire talking, gazing up at the stars and planning the next days paddle.

We woke up at 7.30am on a chilly clear morning to the sound of birds and mirror like conditions on the water. A perfect day for a paddle. On our way up Nockburra Creek, we diverted down a tiny creek to see the Murray River. On return we saw evidence of Indigenous canoe trees and large eagles nests, high in the ricer red gums. When we arrived back at camp that afternoon, we had a well deserved rest before organising dinner and firewood. We sat around a fire through the evening debriefing the day, sharing stories and playing camp fire games.

Bright and early the next morning, we packed up our tents and all our gear into the canoes, retraced our first days paddle much quicker now we all could paddle efficiently and met Kym to return our canoes and drive back to school.

It was a great camp, with a good group of people. We learnt a lot about ourselves and developed our personal skills, living cooperatively and supportively with others and also about the environment and the effect of environmental conditions when canoeing and camping.