Duke of Edinburgh Hillary Award Silver Adventurous Journey

On 19th, May a group of Year 11 students (Ava Wiegersma, Carlos Shuttleworth Briggs, Luke Gemmill, Isaac Breen and Hannah Hargest) and Samantha Marsh (Year 12), Mr Ryan and Mrs Thompson set off on a three day tramp in the Takitimu Conservation Area for our Silver Duke of Edinburgh Practice Journey and Samantha’s Qualifying Journey. 

Luckily the weather played its part and ensured we had a great time and we were still able to go. Some careful planning was made by Mr Ryan that meant walking a shorter route which skipped the bigger streams and rivers. The walk on Friday was a 5.5 kilometre walk into the Aparima Hut where we stayed the first night and learned more about the area and history of the local huts which were built and used for deer cullers. After cleaning the hut and long drop toilet as part of our Service, and learning from Mrs. Thompson about using a map and compass, we then made a decision on Saturday morning (by looking at the local weather) and decided to keep walking up to Coal Creek where we would set up camp for the second night in tents. 

The walk was just a bit longer than the first day and went through tussock, wetlands, and some of the Conservation Area bush. Our goal for this tramp was to ‘learn how to prepare nutritious meals from basic ingredients in a tramping context’ which we accomplished by using the gas cookers to make our meals to keep us going. It started to spit and slowly start raining so we all made dinner extra early and had our campfire with our roasted marshmallows. 

Mr Ryan had very kindly gathered dry firewood back in January for us which made life so much easier! In our warm dry tents we played cards and Uno. As it was Sunday morning we had a short liturgy of the Word with holy communion before leaving and made our way back to the school van. We all really enjoyed our tramp and some funny memories were made! We are all really grateful for Mr Ryan and Mrs. Thompson who made this tramp possible and helped us along the way. 

We would also like to thank the PTFA for the nice new tents which kept us warm and dry.

By Hannah Hargest.