Reflecting on the DofE practice expedition, I was able to develop confidence in my navigation skills and learn to trust myself even if it was difficult to.  And adapt to being in an unfamiliar environment. One of the most challenging moments was the long walk back from the Co‑op checkpoint to the campsite on the first day, arriving at the camp where tiredness and exhaustion while carrying my heavy rucksack tested my resilience, but we kept going by managing our pace. Even when we got lost, we still pushed through, which I think taught me an important life lesson [NN Y12]

Upon reflection, the DofE practice expedition enabled me to develop my communication skills and improve my navigation skills, as that was something I struggled with at the start of the practice expedition and I was also able to improve my problem solving skills. Instead of panicking during stressful or difficult situations, I was able to think carefully and to solve them on my own. One thing that I liked was the change of environment/scenery as it allowed me to learn to adapt to different environments and stay ambitious and resilient [AW Y12]

On Friday, we started off by reaching the skate park successfully but took the wrong route, not following the map correctly. This was a huge disappointment to us as we thought we had successfully managed to follow our route. However, Mr Ghataura informed us we went in circles for about 3 hours! We did have a nice pit stop at a park a few feet from the skate park where we ate our lunch and went on the swings, which made us really enjoy having come to the expedition!
Having gone in circles the first day, I was motivated to document our route & stops for Saturday. With emotions running both low [from the lack of sleep due to the cold conditions] and high [determination to get to our checkpoints with a route we designed] we started our route and knew we followed the route 90% correctly this time as I documented the timings and the road names when we entered and left. Sadly, we encountered a carcase of a deer. We left a flower nearby to pay our respects, which helped us a little bit overcome the traumatic site. [AB Y12]

On the morning of Friday the 01 of May, we were to set off for our DofE practice expedition, I felt a sense of both nervousness and unease. We brought journals to record our emotions throughout different parts of the expedition, as that was our team goal. On the coach ride there, I was more at ease since I was able to interact with my teammates. We played card games and did some drawing, and that allowed me to relax a bit. After we set off upon arrival to the parking lot [with a few hiccups], I felt somewhat confident. Overall, the Friday route was alright. Along the route we had some difficulties, but it wasn’t a bad first impression of the hike and the ones yet to come. We arrived at the skate park and met up with groups 4 and 6, saw the minivan pull up into the local parking area and were taken to the campsite. The time at the campsite was amazing. Our team was able to relax, get some food, set up our tents and other necessities. It was nice to interact and socialise with everyone there. [VH Y12]

During the expedition, I motivated my team throughout the journey, so we did not give up and got further along the route that we had taken. At times, we were tired and exhausted, but we kept pushing through. Our team goals had us assessing the nature of the environment and the paths we took. When assessing these goals in our expedition, I noticed that some paths were small and hard to notice. Using the map, we could see the path, but when we got there, we had to work hard to find the path we were looking for as it blended into the environment, making it hard to spot. It took us some time to find the paths, but we got there in the end. When we did find the paths, the majority of the paths had no letters and were clean. [OG Y12]