Our Duke of Edinburgh trip to the Knuckles
November 21st – 23rd 2019
“Duke is a programme that equips people for life regardless of their background, culture and physical ability. It pushes young people to their personal limits and recognize their achievements” – The Duke of Edinborough International Award
I decided to join the Duke of Edinborough course to help with my skills outside of the classroom and further prepare me for the outside world. This will also help me if I wanted to attend a university in the UK. On the course, I have the ability to collaborate with my group members and learn how to be independent. I also get to recognize all the activities that I do inside and outside of school. The course gives us the ability to experience the outside world, give or take the leech experiences.
November 21st
5:45am – 11:00am
We had to leave school at 5:45am and it was a very long and winding drive to the knuckles. Many vomit bags were disposed of on the way there…The first 2 hours of the drive was in silence and you could feel how sleep-deprived the bus was. We got to have our short eats 3 hours in with a stretch and obviously a bathroom break. After a couple more hours of banter and looking at the scenery outside of our window we finally got to the camp.
The first thing we did was get into our groups and got our roommate or tentmate. I was lucky enough to have Sheruni as my partner and she was also part of my team. As they were leading us to where we were staying Sheruni and I were greeted with a one-person tent, with only 1 pillow and 1 blanket. It was going to be a long 3 days, Sheruni and I would definitely be getting closer. Lucky we managed to snatch a 3 person tent at the last minute so that we could maybe have a little more space.
12:30am – 6:30pm
Skipping to getting ready for our hike we started with map reading, it was a test to see if we remembered what we learnt on our 5-hour course, they weren’t very impressed. The hike was very long, to say the least, our group was stuck at the back and we were focusing on taking pictures of the scenery. The views were gorgeous and I got to capture some amazing images for my focus project. Near the end of the hike, there was no lack of puffing and sweating. As the day went on our group was scattered and the sun was starting to set. Before we knew it we were hiking in the dark and they were asking us to pull out our torches. As I was searching through my bag, of course, I couldn’t find my torch, it was going to be a long dark hike. Sheruni and I were joined at the hip so we could navigate our way around with the one source of light that we had. Our noses touching the ground because we were looking so closely to see what we were stepping on.
Our whole Duke group. Photo: Mr Lockwood.
We got back to camp and raced to the showers, but it was probably not our best idea. The showers we absolutely freezing, you couldn’t submerge your body under it completely so you had to be a contortionist and then you could only splash the water on what was necessary or smelt the worst. We weren’t the greatest smelling bunch by the end let me tell you. I was so exhausted and ready to sleep but of course, my bladder had a mind of its own. The rain was pattering on the roof above our tent and I had to make a run for it to the bathroom.
My group at the beginning of our first hike. Photo: Mr Lockwood.
November 22nd
6:30am – 8:00am
I was woken up with the wind rustling the trees outside and then Mr.Lockwood screaming at the boys in the tent next to us. We went out in our PJ’s and rain jackets to get some milk tea to warm us up. On the benches, we were all huddling together to get some warmth because of the cold misty haze that was left from the rain.
After breakfast, we all brushed our teeth and got ready for our hike.
9:00am – 1:00pm
We each had a job, I started off as map reader and we were off. This time we were the second last group to set off. Today the hike was long and slightly up-hill but it was fun when we got down to where we wanted to be, after a 30-minute break of trying to find out where we were on the map and taking a couple photos we were off again back the way that we came. It was around 11:00am when we started. After some more trekking, we were greeted with a light drizzle which soon turned into heavy rain. All of us were suited up with our rain jackets, umbrellas, and our waterproof covers and bags.
Our group at Corbets Gap. Photo: Seals.
Some could say that our group wasn’t the fasts out of all of them and we had to stay together. The guide asked our group to stay behind Serina who wasn’t the most confident hiker. Somehow it turned out that Sheruni and I got abandoned by our group and it was the 3 of us making it through alone in the cold cold rain. The whole group had gotten far ahead and we were stuck at the back navigating our way with our memory. Sheruni and I would walk a little ahead and then stop so Serina could catch up. The rain was still pouring and I had my rain jacket over my bag and myself and I had a waterproof bag for my camera thank goodness.
Our teeth were chattering as the rain was falling on us. During our walk, I had the pleasure of finding out that my jacket was not very waterproof… I was drenched from head to toe. However, Sheruni and I were making the best of our situation by telling each other positives and negatives and going by the saying that “it could be worse.” Positive: It gave us time to work on poems for Sheruni’s focus project (I think the rain made us a lot more creative). Negative: The Leeches.
1:45pm-9:00pm
We made it back to the camp 45 minutes after the rest of the group, we had 3 hours until we had to log everything into our rout cards. So, Sheruni and I quickly raced to our showers which were also freezing and wasn’t the nicest feeling. We ended up playing cards on the benches where we eat all of our meals and brought 4 blankets to warm ourselves up. We looked like grandmas all cuddled up together playing hearts. Every once in a while we had to sprint to our tents because the wind was threatening to blow all our things we left out to dry away.
We logged everything into our root cards (after great difficulty) and ended the night with a nice warm barbecue.
November 23rd
6:00am – 12:30pm
This was definitely the most difficult hike that we did but it wasn’t as long as it was yesterday. We were going up the mountain so that we could get to the waterfall where we could swim. All of us had to walk up in a single file because the trek wasn’t wide enough. When we got to the top as far as you could see was covered with a blanket of fog. As we got closer to the waterfall the trek got a lot harder and we were all helping each other down so that no one would slip or hurt themselves.
The waterfall was FREEZING, I couldn’t feel my fingers when I got out. We were all under the waterfall showering under the cool water after our hot hike. As we were leaving we all had our jackets to hold our heat because of how cold we were!
All of us at the cold waterfall. Photo: Mr Lockwood
When we got back to camp we had to pack up our tents and our things so and then we got to have our final curry before we left on our buses.
This course allowed us to develop our collaborative skills because we had to work with our groups and each of us had our own job. We all had our own part when it came to contributing to the route card. Initiative & Planning was a large part of the trip because we needed to plan out our route cards and what trail we were going to take.