Year 12 Roping Expedition

During Week 6 of Term 3, the Year 12 Outdoor Education class along with Mrs Fidge, Ms Fogliani, Mr Carter and Mr Parnell attended their final expedition in the Margaret River region.

The focus of the expedition was roping (abseiling) and caving with students solidifying their skills learnt in class in real world experiences. The students camped at Contos campground for two nights in tents and had to put up a hootchie on the second night when it began to rain (breaking our no-rain streak this year!).

The students visited four abseil/cave sites, each offering a unique experience into the world of the outdoors and caves. The students first visited Giants Cave where they learnt about stalagmites and stalactites and how caves are formed. They explored the cave negotiating vertical ladder climbs, rock scrambles, tight spots and gigantic chambers for over 500m in the 86m deep Giants Cave.

On Tuesday morning they visited WI16, a natural abseil site just off Caves Road. The students were challenged on 3 different abseils ranging between 6 metres and 25 metres in height. On Tuesday afternoon, the group progressed to the most difficult experience of the trip – Brides Cave. Brides Cave is a collapsed doline that can only be accessed by rope.

Each student had to use all their roping knowledge to successfully navigate the almost 40 metre abseil. Once in the pit, the students were taken on a guided tour of the cave, seeing pristine examples of flow stone, straws and stalactites. The group then had to climb back out the cave via climbing the ladder.

Tuesday night was finished with a Mexican fiesta for dinner to celebrate the end of the students Outdoor Education journey. On Wednesday, everyone was packed nice and early, ready to attend the final abseil and caving site – Calgardup Cave.

Calgardup Cave proved to be quite difficult for some, as each person had to abseil through a tight solution pipe into the caves. Even though the bus journey home took a little longer than expected you couldn’t wipe the smile from the students’ faces as they reflected on their achievements whilst on expedition.

Thank you to all the staff for attending and to the students for giving it their all on another fantastic (and final!) expedition!

Ms Fidge
Outdoor Education Coordinator

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