Duke of Ed ‘08!

This is my Duke of Ed Bronze challenge…. WOW! what a weekend! Two weeks ago I had the most physically difficult weekend ever! the thing was that we were tramping 27km in bush and a little beach and road…. but that wasn’t the problem… if that was it, it’d be fine but the problem was our packs!! they felt like rocks… you couldn’t stand up without difficulty and getting your pack on took ages! By the time I got home my back was absolutely killing me! blisters on my feet and mosquito bites all over my legs! After saying that… it was a reaLLY enjoyable weekend and I dont really think I’ll forget any of it!

First day! Everyone is like … OMG after the first ten metres.. we were like “there is NO way we can come out of this weekend alive”! but we did in the end… the group isn’t looking too shabby yet!

Bee in the bush!

Julia and Vhari already puffed out after like 20 mins… bush was definitely not our favourite place to be!

After 2-3 hours walking in the bush on friday after school, we actually made it to our campsite! Relief!… my group’s tent had to be setup on a big patch of sticking up grass on a slope! sooo uncomfortable! I couldnt get to sleep for 3 hours because of the heat! i thought it was gonna be cold but it sooooo was NOT! eventually I did fall asleep but the girls woke at one and couldnt sleep till 3 … i knew nothing about it… i was fast asleep!

Next morning… we had to use these burners to cook our meals… the night before we had some sort of bolognese…

Went down to the stream to collect some water to boil for our drink bottles for the day and we were ready to leave!

Oh My gOSH! after half an hour of tramping we reached the black sand dunes of PIHA!! woo! it was super hard climbing them with our packs!

Came across a tunnel and decided to take a quick picture!

After a couple hours of walking.. took a well deserved break….

Got to our lunch spot infront of our waterfall! beautiful

Back in the bush…. *sigh*… after the hardest day ever!! we made it to our campsite and it was the best!! we all gushed in awe at our luxurious(compared to the night before) place we’d be sleeping with all the civilisation around us in PIHA and an awesome playground for us to enjoy!

With our tents up and meals cooking

Sunday morning!!! Had to tramp to our pick up spot…. sadly…. this is a massive kauri tree stump which is carved hollow inside!

Best climbing tree in the world! I love this photo! the duke of Ed group all in a tree!

Looking at a waterfall …. spot for lunch

Getting ready for the last leg of our intense tramp!

And here I am… doesn’t look like me.. that’s because I’ve just endured an extra long….. (extra sweaty) *eww* weekend ! this is a highlight of the trip for me… the end of it…. we reached this amazing look out point and we just had to walk5 mins on a FLAT path till we reached our parents waiting for us… We chilled out for 1/2 hour and it was the absolute best feeling ever!

Looks like I’ll be back for My Duke of Ed Silver Challenge~!