Duke of Ed trips are always an adventure. From waking up to a field of cows at a campground by the Shoalhaven River to succeeding in our mission to conquer Pigeon House Mountain, we have never had an uneventful time - and that is certainly true for our most recent, and last, Duke of Ed adventure in the Budawang Ranges.
We started hiking early Wednesday morning. It was cold, and drizzling with rain, but we had a beautiful view of the surrounding valleys and rock formations as we walked. We ate lunch under an overhang at Camp Rock before bush-bashing and rock-scrambling to find the Indigenous Bora Grounds that our guide, Dave, showed us.
By this point, we were a little cold and wet, and we were nowhere near our camping spot for the night because the track had become overgrown. We looked for an alternate place to camp and found an overhang by a waterfall to lay our sleeping mats (there wasn’t enough room for tents). We pulled out our gas cookers and had a warm dinner before getting ready to go to sleep, but, just as we were about to put our sleeping gear down, a trickle of water became a small stream.
Within the span of a few minutes, the area where we’d had dinner had become part of the creek. We frantically grabbed all of our gear and moved it to higher ground, and pulled out tarps to huddle on. Over the next few hours, none of us got much sleep; the water was rising and insects were about it.
We grabbed all the gear that we could hold as we hiked, down the track to a cave that had been spotted earlier. We laid down the gear and tarps. Eventually, we were all under the new overhang, and we’d saved all of our gear. It was a cold and seemingly endless night as we waited for the sun to rise.In the morning, we quickly ate breakfast, put on our least-wet clothes and started the hike back to the bus. We were all very keen to get back home to our normal comforts.
On Friday morning, we all met at school for the final day of our Duke of Ed trip. It was a fun-filled day as we ziplined, walked and clambered across the obstacles at Nowra High Ropes. Trouty, Mr Craft and Tom sped on to complete the Black course (the most difficult level) while Isabel, Molly, Sebi and I finished the Red course, which also felt very difficult.
All in all, our Gold Qualifying Duke of Ed trip was both terrifying and fun, and that’s what makes it such an adventure!
Callia Spreitzer
Year 12 Student
