Secondary students successfully complete their adventurous journey as part of the Bronze Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award!

A huge congratulations to all those students who took part in the Adventurous Journey in Lam Dong province. In total 48 students (44 Year 12 & 4 Year 10) completed an incredibly challenging expedition. Below are some highlights shared by Mr. James Webb on this challenging journey.

We arrived at Bidoup Nui Ba National Park on Wednesday evening, having had a long trip via Dalat to purchase ingredients for student’s cooking. The students then had to prepare their equipment for our practice journey, before getting some precious sleep. 

Having had breakfast, we all set off for the start of the trek at the base of Bidoup mountain. The Adventurous Journey requires students to be self-sufficient, meaning that they had to carry everything required for the trip, including their tents, food and sleeping bags. The 7km hike up the mountain proved challenging for many of the students, who were experiencing ‘fully loaded’ hiking for the first time in their lives. Nonetheless, all demonstrated great fortitude and perseverance, overcoming personal barriers to achieve success.

As the night drew in, temperatures dropped to below 10 degrees Celsius and the students, having cooked their own dinners, holed up for the night in their tents and tried in vain to get warm.

We all awoke the following morning to calmer weather, but the temperature remained low. All teachers were greatly impressed with the students’ positive attitudes despite the difficulties they had experienced.

The qualifying journey started on Saturday morning and required students to navigate over 10 km through the national park. The terrain was rough and steep, but all students embraced the challenge. Having again cooked their own meals, the students enjoyed a wonderful campfire complete with marshmallows and ‘smores’ in the evening. 

Students cooked their own breakfast before packing up camp and heading off for the final leg of their qualifying journey. The terrain remained challenging but the students were more than up to the task and their determination was rewarded.

Our final evening was spent enjoying a campfire under a moonlit night sky, reflecting on the challenges which we had all overcome over the course of the expedition.

I’d like to thank Ms. Holmes, Ms. Ngan, Mr. Edmonds and Mr. Streete for the support and guidance they provided the students throughout the trip.

I’d also like to thank all of the students for demonstrating every element of our school’s aide memoir over the course of the days we spent away from school.