PRESENTATION OUTLINE
DUKE OF ED
qualifying journey trip report
Campsite:
The campsite was much better than I expected,as it had more than the bare minimum. Thankfully, the campsite had a drop toilet(left hand corner), along with a rain water tank(left hand corner) and a few logs. In my opinion, the toilet made it easier to adapt to the new environment we were staying in. Despite, a drop toilet not being the same as the one normal one, it made the stay much more comfortable than without having it.
Campsite:
The water tank was our most valuable facility at the campsite. I personally think all of us were grateful for it as it was our main source of water. It made cleaning our dishes easier. Unfortunately, with the absence of a kitchen sink most of us used it as such, but neglected the fact that this was also our drinking water for the next day. Thus wasting most of the water. Luckily, we had enough water to fill up all of our drink bottles for the next day.
Campsite:
Our group didn’t have many encounters with animals. However, around 2:00 a.m. in the morning there was a loud thud near the edge of our tent, but when it went away me and Suniska dismissed it. Only to then, wake up in the morning for breakfast and see a wallaby sitting a few feet away from everyone else and our campsite.
Campsite:
In contrast to our encounters with animals, we actually came into contact with a lot of plants. We saw quite a few fallen trees but I don’t remember seeing any flowers or plants that stood out amongst the others. The ones in the background of this image are eucalyptus trees, the bushy looking plants on the side of picture are grass trees. The ones where the wallaby squatting were called the bracken.
Group struggles:
When the group leaders were using the map to find out which way we were going, there were some people who walked in front of the leaders. This could have ended with people going missing, thankfully no one got lost. Another issue we should address is our time-management, when we were packing our tents we were ready to leave half an hour we had planned to.
Equipment:
I think that my cooking group and I split the proportions quite well. While one of us carried the trangia, the other carried the dinner and the last one carried the cleaning utensils. For the tent me and Suniska both split it up: with her carrying the heaviest part of the tent and me carrying the pegs and the other pack. So all in all, we packed our equipment sufficiently.
Clothing:
On this journey I think that I picked out too many clothes. Since I brought one pair of tights, two sweatpants, three pairs of socks and four t-shirts. Which now that I look back on it seems like too much for two days and one night. So for the next trip I plan to pack accordingly and it wouldn’t hurt to wear the same clothes for the same night and same day.
Food and menu plan:
Our food and menu plan was actually quite good and it wasn’t drastically different to my meals at home. For our next trip, the things that I would do is to get a healthier breakfast as the one we had on the second day was waffles. This wasn’t a smart choice as it would give us a burst of energy and then we were left with being exhausted. I would also pack snacks(eg. muesli bars) as it would keep me going when we were walking up the stairs.
Overall reflection:
Whenever I try to remember the second day, a montage of beautiful sceneries and my conversations with everyone - that we saw flash through my mind. I guess I just enjoyed the whole experience of bonding with people that I don’t know that well. I think my biggest challenge was getting the motivation to keep going. To be honest, I wouldn’t change anything even if I could.
