Week two of limitless saw the groups depart on their first expedition. Here is on outline written by the students:
Expedition one:
Day 1: We carried our backpacks that we had prepared with our belonging as we made our way on the bus to our first Limitless expedition. We were split into 3 teams, the cooking team, the hygiene team and the leadership team.
We arrived at a town called Boreen Point by a lake called Coolola. The leadership team planned the path that would take us to our destination, Enlanda point. It was around 3 kilometres away but with the wind blowing in a certain direction a group plan was made to curve slightly in the wind. Estimates were made that it would take around 1 hour 15 minutes, but in reality it took around 1 hour.
During the canoe section of the expedition we learned a lot about the ‘Rudder Paddle’ which enable is to turn the boat in a different direction. When we arrived at Elanda point we were greeted by kangaroos that promptly hopped off into the forest. We soon found a patch of land to set up our tents that was not to close to other campers. It was quite late when we arrived and we had dinner and played games.
Day 2: We made our oatmeal breakfast and prepare our lunch for the day before heading out to the information centre on a place a called Kinaba island. We explored the island and then had a lunch that we had carefully prepared earlier in the morning. We explored some of the creeks around the island learning about the local plants and animals. We headed back to the campsite, prepared and cooked our dinner, which was pasta and bolognese. We finished of the day cleaning our dishes and had some time to watch the stars and tell stories.
Day 3: Our final day saw us hiking to Mill Point. As a group we walked to Mill Point and had a final reflection of our experience whilst looking out onto Lake Cootharaba. We were surrounded by lots of green countryside and some very nice views.
Some thoughts from the students:
The canoeing was very adventurous and something that the majority had never done before and it was a shared group experience. The rough waves and changing weather patterns put us through a truly challenge experience and gave us all a very accomplished feeling. After canoeing we felt like we had learned many more skills, and our knowledge of the lake was broadened due the depth of information from both our facilitators and the information centre staff. – Max
This was new experience for all of us and in a new environment. We all worked together as a team to work through our struggles and use the challenge by choice principle to truly push ourselves to our stretch zone. The environment and views were really something. Our group, Numabulla, visited fig tree point as the facilitators were excited to show us. It was really stunning, the plants and the trees were far beyond we could have imagined. – Noah
Our group really enjoyed the cooking experience, using the stove was fun apart from the fact that we put too much water in the rice which made it a little soggy, so we tried to add other ingredients to make it less soggy. We found using the camp equipment a little challenging to work out as there were many components to the cooking stove. This is something that I would like to master by expedition 3. – Erica
On return from expedition one we move on to phase two of Limitless. Groups continue to develop mountain bike skills as well as learn about the local environment through studying invasive species. The first community service experience saw us head out to Noosa North beach for a beach clean up for the Australian Marine Debris Initiative. We contributed our findings to a large data base to help address the issue of plastics and other debris in the oceans and beaches.
Students busy writing their first letter home on their rest day.
We celebrated 2 birthday’s this week, Andrew and Damian. They got a card and a cake to share with their group.
Preparing for expedition one. Groups will be out for three days so they need to ensure they have everything they need.
Students taking a break during a canoe leg of expedition one.
Students are continuing to practice their mountain bike skills around the homestead. They will use these skills on a day of mountain biking on the Noosa trail network in phase 3 of Limitless.
Students here at Noosa North beach doing a beach clean up for the Australian Marine Debris Initiative. Each group will categorise their findings and add it to the database to help local authorities identify sources of litter in the beaches.
Back at Kenilworth categorising findings.
Card games are popular during down time.
We have a rest day tomorrow where the students will write their second letter home. This will be followed by the preparation and departure of expedition two. This is a five day expedition that will see the students hiking and camping in the Conondale national park.
The next post will follow the return from expedition two in just over a weeks time.