Despite severe weather warnings, ten brave souls embarked on the journey of a lifetime on the 2nd – 4th of August. The three-day hike started like every other, with excitement and a sense of adventure. Halfway up Mt Remarkable, the rain set in quickly, followed by chilling strong winds snatching the sense of feeling from those who didn’t bring gloves. Shortly after reaching the summit, we continued our gradual descent toward Gray’s Hut. This would be our home for night one and shelter us from the elements. Students and staff endured through 8mls of rain and forecasted 90-100kmph winds. The school’s outdoor equipment certainly got a workout, and nothing blew away due to the student's efforts.
Day two began with a picturesque walk along a luscious green creek, eventually leading us to Goat Rock – a natural waterfall. With the advice of our fantastic bushwalking instructor Fraser Darcy, Mr Rutjens and Mr Darcy drank from the crystal-clear trickle. We are still trying to determine why it was called Goat Rock. Please feel free to contact the school if you have any information! This walk section became the trip’s highlight for many students due to the luscious surroundings, flat terrain and cool walking environment. After the waterfall, we began our first off-track section. This involved contouring and handrailing to re-join the Heysen Trail and continue to Sugar Gum Dam Camp, our intended campsite for night two. After arriving at the campsite in record time (1 pm), the group decided that there was no use in wasting daylight and decided to add on roughly eight kilometres and travel further to another campsite (Hidden Camp). However, these eight kilometres proved to be the most gruelling and testing trip kilometres. This leg included gradients of up to 30%, almost equivalent to the world’s steepest road (found in New Zealand)! After crushing these hills, only one off-track section remained to make it to camp. We were required to take a bearing and walk on this bearing from our last known location to the campsite. After pushing through the dense scrub, the students emerged with some scratches and grazes. This made the previous night in the National Park the most enjoyable. After cooking a delicious dinner on our Trangia, we settled around for a couple of games before bed.
Due to our eagerness on day two, day three was a breeze with a short walk to the Mambray Creek day visitor area. I want to thank Mr Rutjens, the other staff member who attended the camp, Mr Martin, Digger and Leon, who safely transported us to and from our adventure, and Fraser Darcy, our outdoor instructor, for the three days.
Luke Bartlett - Outdoor Ed Teacher