Bushwalking
One week ago I went on a three day bushwalking experience, which was the second and last fieldtrip of my subject Education in Natural Landscapes. Several hours away from any form of civilization, armed with a heavy backpack that contained a map, flashlight, a set of spare clothes, sleeping bag, tent, stove, pots & pans and food for three days, we started hiking on early Saturday morning.
To my happy surprise there was plenty of wildlife to be spotted: kangaroos, wallabies, all sorts of beautifully coloured birds… Wilson’s Promontory is a vast nature reserve located on the most southern point of Australia and it is beautiful. Unfortunately, its location makes the Prom very much exposed to the weather. The first day started off very nice, but in the middle of the first night we got awoken by an onset of heavy rainfall, which didn’t stop until 24 hours later.
Needless to say, the second day and the 25 kilometres we had to bridge were not all that great. Water came down in a variety of frozen and liquid forms, and in vast amounts. Add to that leaking rain clothes and strong winds, and you can imagine that at the end of the day we were soaked, covered in mud, and as close to hypothermia as we’d ever been. After arriving at our designated camping area, setting up our soaked tents and cooking up a warm meal, everyone headed towards their tents and into the down-filled sleeping bags (where life was warm and good!).
Despite the weather, it was a great feeling to be away from the city for a while and to live in and with nature. You fill up your water bottle with water from the little creeks that flow everywhere, you get up and go to bed with the sun, time, technology, traffic and money do not exist… It reminded me a bit of my very impressive jungle trek in Guatemala last summer.
About the latter trip I didn’t have to write a 5 page essay though… 
James
