Welcome to my Wambana Blog

Hello Family, Friends & Teachers

Welcome to my Wambana blog. This is my first time I have ever been away from home on camp for 3 weeks. I will talk about my experiences here at Wambana including the cycle tour expedition, surfing, wardli's, etc... I am sharing a wardli with Mitchell Porter, Chris Short, Tyson Bateman, Jack Doney, James Whisson and Patrick Gabb. During the cycle tour I shared a tent with Mitchell Porter, Nick Oag and Fergus Wilsmore.

My Wardli Partners:

Me: Bottom Left

Jack Doney: Bottom Right

Patrick Gabb: Top Left

Mitchell Porter: Middle

Chris Short: Top Right

James Whisson: Far Top On Left In Grey Jumper

Tyson Bateman: Far Top On Right In Blue Jumper

My Wardli features a kitchen, laundry, 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and a dining/lounge room inside and a verandah outside. A wardli is a Aboriginal name for a dwelling.

Cycle Tour

Day 1- Monday 6th June 2011
West Cowie Loop and Warooka Loop (40km)
On the West Cowie Loop we rode to the sacred stone, then up the hill riding on the bitumen road, then on dirt road stopping by a very old school which has a car in their garage which is worth a lot of money. The school was only a 1 teacher school which only had 13 students, had long drop toilets for both boys and girls and the school is the size of a normal house. Afterwards we rode back to the campsite for lunch and wrote letters to our families. Later we got back onto our bikes, departed the campsite and did the Warooka Loop and posted our letters at the Warooka post office. After we posted our letters home we split up into groups on the ride back to Turton. I felt very cold, exhausted and pains around my body from the seat on the bike

Day 2 - Tuesday 7th June 2011 (40km)
Wambana to Minlaton Cemetery
We started our ride from the Wambana campus. We rode our bikes heading to the Minlaton Cemetery on mostly single tracks which were sandy and very hard to ride on. We had lunch at Port Mindlacowie beach, it was rainy, windy and cold there and it was hard to write letters in that type of weather. After lunch we departed Port Mindlacowie  and rode more sandy and gravel roads towards the Minlaton Cemetery. I felt very tired and sore and felt like I could not make it at the end but I did, the gravel roads were really hurting me around my bum areas and the bike was really hurting my hands.

Day 3 - Wednesday 8th June 2011 (45km)
Innes National Park
We had taken the bus to Innes National Park which is around an hour from Wambana. After arrival we got on our bikes and headed for hilly roads. On the way to Dolphin Bay for lunch we had seen a group of emu's in the forest while riding, as soon as we riding past them they had ran straight away. Also on the way to Dolphin Bay, we went up the hills and stopped off at West Cape Lighthouse and went to the top of the mountain and had a look at the beaches and cliffs and then got back on our bike again and rode away again. On the way we were riding on very hard gravel roads with lots of bumps and then arrived at Dolphin Bay for lunch. It was windy, cold and rainy just like yesterday. We got back on our bikes back on the roads, some gravel, mostly bitumen and very hilly. I rode the 2:8 challenge back to Innes national park and up the big hills. I felt very exhausted and felt like I could not make it because it was such a difficult road to cycle on and I had the same pains as I did yesterday.

Day 4 - Thursday 9th June 2011 (45km)
Sunbury to Edithburgh
We had taken the bus from Wambana to Sunbury. After arrival we got on our bikes and it kept raining a lot during the ride to Suicide Point for lunch. The roads were mostly gravel roads which had been all graded, they were muddy, wet, sticky, also mine and the other boys bikes got stuck in the mud and there was mud all over the tyres and the bike too. After riding on the hilly roads we went to Suicide Point for lunch, wasn't as windy and rainy as the past couple of days, but still quite cold. After lunch we got back on our bikes and continuing our ride to Edithburgh, while on the way we went to Troubridge Lighthouse for a couple of minutes and then continued on to Edithburgh. On the way we passed wind farms and the wind turbines were huge and later when riding on to Edithburgh I was blitzing my way to the front of the line, beating the whole class. We had approached Edithburgh and went for a swim after completing the cycle tour for a couple of days. I felt quite good at the end and at the begginning I had felt exhausted, painful and tired.

Introduction to Statistics

Fitness Program

Friday 10th June 2011
3.4km run
We did a warm up for about 10 minutes before running to the sacred stone and back again to camp. My time was 26:55 minutes for this run and back. I had felt happy that I had did it and exhausted running. I will improve my time by 5 minutes next time.

Saturday 11th June 2011
5.5km run
Did a warm up again before running to a jetty which is 5.5 km away from camp and back again. My time was around 32:00 minutes. I had felt very tired after finishing the run, but feeling good after finishing it. I will improve my time by 5-10 minutes next time.

Sunday 12th June 2011
3.4km run
We had ran and touched the sacred stone again and came back. My time was around 28:00 minutes for the run and need to improve more when doing the 3.4km run a couple of more times during this program. I had felt a lot more exhausted and happy to finish it again. I will again improve my time by 5 minutes.

Monday 13th June 2011
Fitness Game
I was a leader that day and did not participate in the game.

Tuesday 14th June 2011
5.5km run
We had again ran to the jetty and come back again, but I had a head start a couple of minutes before everyone else and managed to do better than the last one. My time was around 30:00 minutes and improved by 2 minutes. I felt good running to the jetty and coming back again I was so tired and could have improved more by a couple of more minutes.

Wednesday 15th June 2011
Fitness Power
Today we jogged to the classroom and back as a group and were doing small sprints up and around the oval, as well as stretches and a game of rats and rabbits. We did chin ups on the bars and everyone did it 10x and got help by lifting up the person while doing the chin ups.

Thursday 16th June 2011
7.8km run
We did a warm up for this run on the beach, there were 2 options, one: 9.4km or two: 7.8km, but I chose to do the 7.8km run instead, It was the biggest run I had to do so far on this program, followed by the 11km beach run in 11 days time. I felt very tired, exhausted and my legs and back were in pain. My time was 62:32 minutes (1 hour, 2 minutes and 32 seconds), but could have improved it by 3-5 minutes.

Friday 17th June 2011
Fitness Game/30min beach walk
Today we had 2 options what we wanted to do for fitness, one: fitness game-soccer or two: beack walk for 30mins and back. I chose to do the beach walk, we found a lot of shells around and walked on seaweed for a bit of the time.

Saturday 18th June 2011
3.4km run
We ran up to the sacred stone, touched it and walked back again. I felt tired, my legs were really cramped and felt very painful when running back to camp. My time was 21:35 minutes and could have improved again by 3-5 minutes without walking, not one second.

Sunday 19th June 2011
5.5km run
We ran up to the jetty and back again to camp, a few of us had a head start a couple of minutes before the others. My legs felt like that I had a torn muscle, which I didn't and they were very cramped. Once again I could have improved my time by 5 minutes and not have walked and my time was 32:20 minutes fot this run today.

Monday 20th June 2011
Fitness Power
We jogged to the classroom from the shed and then to the oval. We played a fitness game which involves tackling and a game similar to stuck in the mud. Then afterwards we finished the games and then did some chin ups.

Tuesday 21st June 2011
3.4km run
We did some stretches in the shed and ran to the sacred stone and back to camp again. This was the best I have ran in this program, running up to the stone I felt good and fast and running back to camp I was getting slower. I had improved my time by 3-5 minutes without stopping with a time of 18:55 minutes. I wasn't feeling a lot of pain in my body, but when I was running back I was feeling pain.

Wednesday 22nd June 2011
Fitness Game
Today we played a game where it involved soccer and football. There were 2 halves of  the team on one side, one soccer and one football, but I was playing on the soccer side. The 2 teams were blue and green, but I played on the green team.

Thursday 23rd June 2011
5.5km run
This was our last 5.5km run and back again. We did some stretches in the shed and leaving to run 10 minutes before the others and was in front for most of this run except for around the end. My time was 33:22 minutes and was running the same time as the other days, I was walking for little bits when I was running back to camp. I could have improved the last 5.5km run by 5 minutes but instead I was walking a couple of times. I felt good after the run and sweating a lot when I got back, but my legs were still cramped, but not too bad.

Friday 24th June 2011
Fitness Game
We played the same game as we did on wednesday with half of the two teams on the soccer side playing soccer and the football side playing football. This time I was on the football side, playing football and was doing worse on this side because I don't know much on playing football, but I know how to play soccer.

Saturday 25th June 2011
3.4km run
This was our last 3.4km run and back again. We did some stretches and left 5 minutes before the others, I did not walk as much, but I did it a little bit. I kept on trying to reach the front of the group on runing, but I struggled to do that. My time was around 22:33 minutes and could have improved my time by 3-5 minutes when doing this run for the last time. I felt good on this run, but cramping a little bit around my legs, arms and back.

Sunday 26th June 2011
Fitness Game
We were supposed to do a beach walk, but due to surfing changes we had to do a game instead. We played a mixture of poison ball and dodge ball, where in the first game each wardli had to line up and hold each other till the person at the back is out, then the next one up to the first person. In the second game each wardli spreads out throughout the field and if the person catches the ball when someone from the team is out the person comes back in.

Hardwicke Bay Revegetation Project

Q1: Why are weeds so bad for the environment? Name 3 weeds you have learned about today.

The plants are like the banks and the weeds are like the robbers and they steal nutrients, energy from the sun and water, which is like robbers stealing money from bank. The 3 weeds I have learnt about today was the Gazanea, soursobs, succulents (Cacti)  lincoln weeds.

Q2: What role do humans play in the distribution of weeds?

Bringing plants and flowers from different environments around the world.
       
Q3: What are some of the common ways that weeds spread?

The common ways to spread weeds are ballasts from boats, winds blowing the seedlings and animals brushing the weeds with their bodys and spreading the seedlings.

Q4: Are weeds the same all over Australia?

Weeds are different over Australia because some are adaptable to different environments because they come from different countries from around the world.

Q5: Is climate change likely to add to the weed problem? If so, how?

Climate change will effect weeds because weeds like hot weather.

Q6: Why do people volunteer to weed and plant local plants in public reserves and areas?

People volunteer to weed and plant to save the environment and to restore it to its natural way

Q7: What can you do?
What I can do to help is keep on planting native trees and plants

Instructional Entry

Statistics & Climate Change