So I’m going to try to keep the text to a minimum and do mostly photos from the past two days!
Wednesday:
Left Blue Gum site up in the Blue Mountains and made the 3.5ish hour drive down to Shoalhaven, I sat in the middle for most of that as there were 5 of us in a ute – fun!
Thursday:
Spent the morning learning about maps, coordinates, and compasses. After lunch we set out on our bushwalk which took us up on to a ridge overlooking the Shoalhaven River, where a navigation / orienteering course is set up. There are posts on trees scattered along the ridge and each post gives you the bearing and amount of meters to the next marker. We each had a compass but we took turns leading to the different markers – it was fun! Ended by coming down the ridge, walking along the trail I had run on last week, through the park wit the jetty down on the river, through the cow fields, and back to waterslea. A good day – I learned a lot about how to use a compass as well as a map!
yay! We made it to our last marker!!
Through the cow pasture, back to Waterslea! The river is just on the other side of the first row of trees to the left.
Friday:
The morning was spent on the Shoalhaven River doing canoe training. I had just done a two-day Red Cross canoe course at the beginning of summer but I wasn’t going to complain about a morning on the river!!! There was quite a current so when we did our capsize drills we would have floated about 400 meters before we got the boat back up and the people back in! The water was chilly but nothing compared to when we were doing our bronze medallion. It has been spring temperatures here so if it were a few degrees warmer the water would have been perfect and refreshing.
After lunch Dan drove us into town to drop off the teen ranch guys while I took my boat license test. Luckily I had studies because the first section is 15 questions you must get correct! The second section is 25 questions but you can get five wrong. I got two wrong on the second section so I passed and now have an Australian boat license!
Dan picked me up and we headed back to Shoalhaven for the official opening of the new abseil tower, which has apparently been “a long time coming.”
I think I explained this before but abseiling is exactly like repelling. Well, I’ve never actually been repelling but I’m pretty sure it’s the same thing. You start at the top of a cliff, wall, or building and clip onto the belay line: a rope attached to a tree or pole or other anchor using a series of knots including the figure eight, fisherman’s, and round turn two half hitches, all of which I recently learned at my abseil training! The person belaying is clipped into the belay line using a carabineer and butterfly knot. You then attach yourself to the abseil line using an eight (a heavy duty piece of metal that looks like an eight!) which is then slipped onto you using a carabineer. You hold the eight behind your back and release yourself down the wall or cliff. All the while, the person belaying has hold of the other rope as a safety if you for some reason loose control. Personally, I find climbing a bit more exciting and a bit more skill and effort involved but it is neat!
They had two lines set up so Julie and I went down at the same time! It was pretty cool to see everyone kind of “in their roles” as they were belaying and abseiling! And it made me excited to finish with training and start getting some experience with running, leading, and facilitating these activities!!
The wall has two levels: a 4 meter and an 8 meter so students can chose their challenge and work their way up. Pretty cool! Julie and I did the 8m!
Not the most flattering picture but the best I have of Julz and I abseiling!!! I'm on the left. So you can see the white abseil lines going down the tower behind us and the yellow belay ropes being held and controlled by Pete and Mel at the top.
That's my crazy / awesome housemate Julie (Julz)!! Don't worry - this doesn't usually happen and it's completely safe!! So the yellow rope is the belay rope which is attached to and being controlled by Mel (my other awesome housemate!) who is clipped in at the top of the tower!!Hugs all around!
Even to Ellen, who doesn't even read this - lol! <3>
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