Outdoor Education

Dolphin Swim 

It has been a busy few weeks for the Year 12 Outdoor Ed class with Swimming with the Dolphins and The Great Ocean Road Cycling Tour.  

Late February the Yeaf 12 Outdoor Ed class got up early and headed on down to Sorrento Pier to swim with the dolphins, an amazing sight to see up close.  A few students brought along Go Pros and captured footage, then collaborated the footage to make a video for fellow peers and teachers to see.  After the swim everyone headed down to the Quarantine station and learnt about some of the history of the Early Settlers, we then went to Sullivan's Bay which was Victoria's first settlement and learnt about William Buckley and some of the escaped convicts.

Great Ocean Road Cycling Tour

Early in March the Year 12 Outdoor Education students undertook one of their greatest challenges for the year as they made their way along the Great Ocean Road on bicycles.  On the first day starting just out of Torquay the group rode 31km to Anglesea and set up camp.  After a hot first day everyone went for a swim down at Anglesea beach.  On the second day everyone got up a bit drowsy and unenergetic, but determined to ride 33km to Lorne.  On the second day we stopped at the Cape Otway Light Station, and it was a pretty drizzly day.  We got back on our bikes and  continued our journey, at this point the rain was getting heavier and Seamus Starss decided to turn a corner a bit too quick and slid out in front of everyone which was a good laugh especially as he got it on his go pro.  We arrived at our camp and were thankful we were staying there 2 nights instead of one.  We set up camp and went for a surf at Lorne Beach.  The third day arrived and everyone was keen as ever to finish off the riding part of the tour, only 44km and one massive hill to Apollo Bay in the way of completing a task which had high physical demand but more mental demand than anything.  On the fourth and final day everyone packed up and worked together to get everything done, we had 2 stops before we could venture home.  First stop Urquarts Bluff for a surf and then the Surf Museum in Torquay.  At the end of each day most longed for the relief of a long hot shower and comfy bed.  In reality however, they had to set up their own tents, cook their own meals and sleep on relatively hard camp mattresses.  When a chance arose we learnt about early settles, aborigine tribes that are local to the area, cooked, showered or even went for a fish.  Thank you to Mr Peter Milner and his wonderful support staff for organising and making these events possible for us students to learn and enjoy.

Jai Armstrong

Year 12