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ECO CHALLENGE
COOLOOLA NATIONAL PARK
ABOUT COOLOOLA NATIONAL PARK
North of Brisbane, between Noosa Heads and Rainbow Beach lies a part of the Great Sandy Region known as Cooloola National Park. Cooloola is a refuge for some of the world’s rarest plants and animals such as the Cooloola Acid Frog and Ground Parrot.
The park has one of the few remaining Emu populations in coastal Queensland. The region has many lakes including the worlds largest and highest perched dune lakes and contains the oldest and largest number of independent coastal dune systems recorded in the world, as well as the oldest known time sequence of soils (podzols) with giant profiles more than 25m thick.
OBJECTIVE
The objective is to foster within each student, an appreciation, knowledge, values and skills necessary to inspire not only sound decisions and actions in their ecological environment but also in their team environment.
SNAPSHOT
Each group of 20 students has a different start point, rotating around a circuit in opposite directions. Groups meet at an allocated camp site each evening. During the course of one week, students cover one hundred kilometres. Dromedarian camels are used to travel a 15km stretch of beach, one of only 4 beach routes by camels in Australia. Two canoe legs, approximately 25km, cover the top of Lake Cootharaba to Harry’s Hut and Elanda Point to the lower reaches of the Noosa River. Students also enjoy a morning of mountain biking to their designated abseil and rock climbing site, returning by mountain bike to commence the next part of their circuit. Other challenges are used to complete the circuit such a river crossing where students are issued with several items that need to be constructed. Combined with the problem solving/lateral thinking skills of the group each person is safely ferried across. Students, equipped with a topography map and a compass must also navigate a 25km leg of the circuit.
"THE CANOE INSTRUCTORS WERE FANTASTIC WITH THE CHILDREN IN TOUGH CONDITIONS. THE STAFF WERE VERY GOOD, ENCOURAGING THE CHILDREN WHILE ALLOWING THEM TIME AND SPACE TO MAKE THEIR OWN DECISIONS, ESPECIALLY DURING THE ABSEILING AND CLIMBING."
PACIFIC LUTHERAN
GROUP DYNAMICS
A Total Adventures instructor stays with each group for the whole week insuring safety, passing on instructions for each day, debriefing the group at the end of each day and generally overseeing the camp. Ultimately it is the student group itself that directs the journey, for example, the group is responsible for morale, in-camp management and housekeeping (meal preparation/cooking, hygiene, tidiness), time schedules and group organisation.
ACCOMMODATION A combination of tent camping, swags, hoochies and dormitory accommodation is used.
CATERING Ration packs, own camp cooking
LOOK AFTER THE PARK Total Adventures uses the philosophy of what is easy to take may take years to replace.
LITTER We use products with lightweight, crushable packaging (e.g. aluminium cans). We take our rubbish with us when we leave the park. We reduce the bulk and flatten what we can when using rubbish bins. We avoid or bury rubbish. We keep rubbish in sealable containers until we can get to a bin. We lock up food and rubbish from animals and do not hang rubbish bags from trees or tents.
LAKES AND WATERWAYS We do not use soap, sunscreen, toothpaste or detergent in lakes or waterways. We have designated dish washing areas well away from waterways.
NATIVE ANIMALS We do not encourage feeding native animals food.
ACTIVITIES
Canoeing
Initiative Activities
Mountain Biking
Bush Navigation
Team Building
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