Josh Adkin here...

Since the last blog we have been really busy with work, school, Tafe and also camps. I am currently working at the Kununurra Visitor Centre every Monday and the Kununurra Community Resource Centre every Tuesday as part of my school based traineeship. I am currently doing two different cert II courses, one in Business and also in Creative Industries, which means I have a lot of work to do.

At the end of last term we embarked on our first camp block to Gibb River Station it was a long 5 hour drive out there packed in a troopie with me, Justina, Katie, Shiriya, Kerri, Peter and Alex. We all squeezed into the car with no leg room because we had all the boxes of food and other stuff. When we finally got to Gibb River Station we unpacked and set up camp. Most of the week we were fencing, we started by taking down the old barbed wire and taking out the old post and hammering new posts in and then putting the barbed wire back up and re-straining it, this created a holding pen for the cattle – that we will use when we come back out to Gibb. On one of the days we got a killer, one of the station people killed a cow, then we went and skinned the cow and cut up the meat.

Mid-way through the camp I was getting worried that we might not be able to get back to Kununurra because the river was too high to cross because it had been raining flat out. I had to fly out to Adelaide the day after we were meant to get home so I was quiet concerned. After two days of fear Mrs Audas told me that the other car that was coming to pick us up could not get over the river, I was really sad because I was really excited to go to Adelaide. But then Mrs Audas and Mr Coltman told me that we would catch a plane from Gibb River Station to Kununurra. Ryland, Owen, Zack and Mrs Audas boarded the 5 seater plane and had a 50 minute plane ride instead of a 6 hour car ride – which the other KEFL kids had to endure. I was very happy about this and that was the end of the camp.

Last term we left for a canoeing/kayaking camp down the Upper Ord River, we started at the Lake Argyle Dam wall and left with high spirits and happy faces. We stopped 5 km in to jump of a rock we all jumped and some of us did different tricks like back flips, after about 30 minutes at jump rock then we paddled down to our first lot of fast water we called it obstacle 1 it wasn’t as fast as we thought it would be but it was still fun. After that we paddled to sandy beach where we ate lunch. After lunch we sat down relaxed and then had our first Kefl war! It was Jeremy, Alex, Peter, Andrew, Ryland and Bianca onto me. It was a good battle but I think I won. We left sandy beach and were only half way. Another hour passed and I was fed up with paddling and wanted to stop and go home but Marcus (my canoe partner) kept me going, for the rest of the journey me and Marcus would join up with Justina and Bianca’s canoe to have little breaks, where we would stop paddling and eat chocolate and lollies and we called them chocolate breaks. So every time we were tired and wanted food we would just yell “chocolate break,” after a long 7 hour day of paddling and 25 km we had finally made it to our camp. We set up camp and got the fire going and sat down and relaxed, after dinner we played some camp fire games and then went to bed ready for another day of canoeing.

We woke up the next day ready and rearing to go, we all got dressed had breakfast and started paddling up Coolamon Creek, it was good fun paddling up this creek because it was a very narrow creek and lofts of trees where we hand to lay down in the canoe to get under. So we went to the end of Coolamon Creek turned around and set course back to the camp site, when we got back to camp we found out that we didn’t have to paddle anymore and where having a boat to pick us up, so we packed up camp and waited for the boat. When the boat got to the camp we loaded the boat and everyone climbed on board and we went home to Kununurra. It was a hard long camp, but I really enjoyed it.

Coming up for KEFL we have lots more camps and activities. I am really enjoying KEFL and never want it to end… this is the opportunity of a life time and I would recommend it to any person starting year 11. You will get the best out of it and it’s a one in a million opportunity.

Thanks for reading…

Josh

Rylandia Checking In...

Since the last time I have written on this blog, the KEFL crew have been on a one week block to Gibb River Station, we have started horse riding out a Yeehaa, and have completed a canoe/ Kayak camp. All of these activities have helped me gain important life skills and extraordinary experiences that I will never forget. This year for me has gone the quickest by far, it’s crazy to think that next year is my last year of school.

We have now finished Canoeing for the year and have started mountain biking, we have a camp for bike riding next term which we will be riding to Wyndham on the Parry’s creek road. Today is Friday and on Monday we are departing for Gibb River Station at 6am for a two week block. The last time we were at Gibb we were fencing preparing for the muster to keep the cattle in the yards and into where they need to be.

This time we are doing a little more than fencing we are working with cattle but still doing a lot of fencing. On the first Gibb River Station trip we were out on the station for five days and for the majority of the time it was raining which made fencing a little bit easier as it was super-hot. Whilst we were there we went out with some of the locals and did a killer and ate it that night, it was an awesome experience and lots of fun. The trip home came along and there was a bit of a dilemma… there were not enough cars to take us back because the Pentecost River was over a metre high and could not be crossed. So I was one of the lucky ones and ending up going home on a chartered flight from the station to Kununurra.

On the canoe camp we went to the argyle dam in a bus and started our journey on the lake. We travelled 25 kilometres on the first day passing through some awesome parts of the lake such as rapids, tight spaces and reed and spider infested spaces. Once we got to the camp and set everything up we played some campfire games and mucked around for a while. I shared a miniature tent with Andrew, we could barely fit. In the morning we paddled to the very end of Coolaman creek and went through spider’s webs and log obstacles. Once we got back to camp we paddled downstream a bit to a rock we could jump off to kill time waiting for the triple j boat to come and pick us up to take us back to town, once it arrived at our camp we loaded it up with all of our gear and travelled down the river to the triple j dock. We were picked up from the dock and taken back to school to unload.

School is going well but the camps are always better - until next time goodbye.

Kerri Searle (Kezza)

Hi there, last term in KEFL we started our outdoor ED activities, this included us canoeing at places such as Swim Beach and Lilly Lagoon. We also got to participate in an expedition from Celebrity Tree Park all the way to swim beach – this expedition was pretty fun and we got to practice our rescues, I am fairly good at getting back into the canoe after a roll over.

On the 7^th of March we went to the Gibb Station for a week where we completed fencing. We had to pull down all the old fencing and put in new pickets and 4 tiers of barbed wire. Apart from this work, we did some fun activities like swimming at Gibb River road crossing and playing basketball with the lovely Nullagunda community kids. Shiriya and I got some driving lessons, as we had no clue on how to drive a manual car, thanks to Michael we are now okay at driving with only a few stalls. The Gibb was an amazing experience, we got to do new things and meet new people.

Recently we went on a 2 day canoe camp where we launched off at Lake Argyle dam wall and we canoed 25km to Coolamon Creek. It was a hard journey but it was worth it as we got to see the beautiful Kimberley scenery. We set up camp at Eco-Adventure camp site where we set a fire and relaxed for a while. After dinner we did a variety of campfire games, this allowed us to bond and gets to know each other better. The next morning we were up early and started packing up the camp site. After we packed up we hopped into the canoes and went for a paddle down Coolamon Creek where we showed Makka and Miss Audas our skills. We had to do stern rudder, sweep strokes, J strokes and swap from back to front of the canoe and vice versa. After that we had a swim near our campsite and then we got ready for the Triple J Tours to pick us up. I would like to thank Makka from Eco Canoeing for taking us on these amazing canoeing adventures and teaching us the ways of canoeing!

Our Schedules have been pretty hectic this term as a group of us have started horse riding. Every Friday so far it’s been good learning the ways of a cowboy and making a bond with our horses. Soon we will be going to the Gibb Station for our second trip; this one will be 2 weeks long. I can’t wait for the trip and hope it’s a blast.

Bye for now :)

4th Gen Wood Chopper

Bestie Selfies - Kez and Shaz

Digging Post Holes

Counting Cattle