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On Wednesday 5^th of June, the Year 9 Outdoor Education class participated in an excursion with the Bushrangers Survival company. Our guide, Ky, was engaging, informative and inspirational. The students learnt many valuable skills about survival and were able to put some of them to practice. The aim of Bushrangers Survival is to impart ancestral knowledge that is interesting and invaluable to know, whether out in the bush or in a real-life survival scenario.

Reflection

I really loved the Bushrangers Survival skills excursion because it was not only enjoyable, but it taught us essential lessons for survival. We begun with meeting Ky, the survivalist who hosted and took us through the fun process of learning how to survive in the wild. We had a mini discussion about her amazing experiences, the essentials to survive in wildlife and our first activity.

Our first activity was the ancient skill of hunting. We were aiming and attempting to hit mini animal statues that simulate the real-life survival experience of hunting. None of us actually speared the ‘animals’ but some of us did manage to hit them. Our second activity was the soggy marshmallow activity (simulating a shelter scenario), we had to build a steady and insulated fortress without any gaps that would block any rain coming onto the marshmallow. Josh, Rami and I built a shelter out of sticks, leaves, grass clippings for blocking any holes and insulation, outskirts of trees and the string parts of grass to tie the sticks together.

We passed the activity with a dry marshmallow meaning our shelter was fortified and safe from rain. Moving on, our third activity was arguably the most fun and difficult activity, creating fire. Unlike Ky, who used a bow and arrow with wood technique to create the fire, we had to use a special tool called a Ferro Rod which is a more modern tool that includes a short metal rod and striker which is used to create the sparks out of. We had to repeatedly use the striker to hit across the base of the Ferro Rod onto cat wool and coconut husk which would ignite after a long time from the sparks and create a flame. After a few tries, creating the fire became a lot easier and the experience was overall really enjoyable, and a life lesson learnt in case I’m ever stuck in the wild.

- Jacob Jabbour

- Ms Christine Al-Mourani