Last week, 34 Year 10 students travelled to Dwellingup to experience adventures in the outdoors over 3 days. After arriving at the Dwellingup Visitors Centre, students began their 8 kilometre hike into Nanga Bush Camp. The scenery along the way was stunning, walking through beautiful wildflower patches and past the river. Once at camp, students settled into their dorms and had free time to play sports outside, enjoy card games and relax before a delicious dinner of roast beef and gravy with roast vegetables, followed by jelly and ice-cream for dessert. Before bedtime, students played some outside games such as spotlight, 44 home and sardines to tire them out. It took a while for the students to wind down at night after all the excitement, but finally everyone was quiet and asleep for the night.

On day 2, students were up bright and early for a full day of activities. We split into 2 groups, with half playing sport at the town oval with Miss Stone and Mrs O’Driscoll and half mountain biking with Mr Greenley and Miss Lynch. Students began with the green level Bullish trail which was an easier descent with fun flowy berms, followed by the 210m climb back to the top. They then had the option of attempting the blue level Electric Blue trail which was 630m of downhill track with tight berms, small tabletops, and rock rollovers! Lungs were burning and legs were sore after the climbs back up, but lots of fun was had. We then travelled straight to the Bob’s Crossing entry point of the river, where students were treated to bacon and egg rolls, sausage rolls and meat rolls to replenish their fuels before an afternoon of canoeing. Led by ‘River God’ guide Tom, students paddled down the river from Bob’s Crossing to Baden Powell over 2 hours, with many stops along the way to play games and enjoy the beautiful environment. At the end of the paddle, students had the chance to cool off with a swim in the river and relax before heading back to camp for showers, dinner, reflection activities and getting into teams for Minute to Winit! In four groups, students competed in various challenges such as eating dry weetbix quickly; using straws to suck up M&Ms and fitting as many marshmallows into your mouth and still being able to talk. Many laughs were had, and Miss Lynch’s team were victorious!

On the final day, students were up bright and early to clean camp and pack ready for the Treetop adventures high ropes course. Many conquered fears of heights and challenged themselves with zip lines and various levels of climbing. It was amazing to see some happy faces after showing resilience to keep going through some hard sections. Well done to the Year 10s for their efforts, positive attitude and willingness to help over the 3 days. We are happy to hear that you had a blast on camp, and many will continue on next year to do Year 11 Outdoor Education.