Duke of Edinburgh Award

Wrapping up Another Twelve Months and Sending Them Off to Archives

“Returning home is the most difficult part of long-distance hiking. You have grown outside the puzzle and your piece no longer fits.” – Cindy Ross

Here we are again, approaching the end of another very eventful year. Sometimes we pause, and ask ourselves, how did we manage to get all those hikes completed – with so many students involved – whilst juggling the interruptions of exam weeks, holidays, sport, excursions, bad weather, closed National Parks, train strikes – and weariness? How could we have actually planned, organised, customized and implemented eighteen hikes, providing for around one hundred and fifty Award candidates? Did we really tramp about six hundred kilometres along bush tracks, hauling backpacks, through rain and heat, up-hill and down-stream, this year?

There are probably several parts to that answer, but one is that it couldn’t happen without the enthusiasm, amenability, organisation and maturity of our students, who are always ready to shoulder a challenge and overcome an obstacle.  Similarly, the support of the school – especially fellow staff, the back-office and the Executive – has created an environment where the students can embark on adventures with confidence, safety, joyfulness and energy. Of course, we also acknowledge the unseen work of unthanked parents who provide structure, motivate, reassure and reward their teenagers, patiently supportive and loving without threshold.

Yet another contributing factor is the Australian natural environment – “An opal-hearted country, a wilful, lavish land –“ as Dorothea McKellar said – our pupils respond to its unique beauty and mysteries with delight and thoughtfullness. We are fortunate to live so close to vast National Parks and wild places, where we can refresh in a picture-perfect swimming hole, and retreat to a bucolic campsite. Sometimes, it’s not a bad job.

So, with all those things on side, we’ve overcome disease, flood, tempest and fickle luck. Hopefully, next year we’ll roll through it all over again, enjoying the company, humour and aptitude of our young hikers, and perhaps avoiding the excesses of lockdowns, “weather events” and fractured routines. We long for a return to a “normal” year, where we can plan expeditions and just get on with them. We’re very much hoping this weekend’s hike will go smoothly, and trust that the Blue Mountains will reward us with wondrous revelations.

A reminder that every Spring we produce a short video highlighting the past year’s Expeditions, which can be viewed (with a student login) at:

D of E video presentation 2022

It gives a small insight into the nature of the hikes, and a recap of some experiences of this year’s graduating class.

Finally, we urge all the candidates to maintain the effort with their Skill, Service and Recreation components, and to be aware that if they have questions or problems Ms Bower will be diligently checking her emails right through the holidays. Often these months can provide opportunities to start or recommence building hours in your Online Record Book.

We wish you all a wonderful break over the summer, and trust you have safe travels, and perhaps some marvellous experiences somewhere out there in our wide, brown land.

Joanne Bower
Award Leader

Doric Swain
Expedition Facilitator