From the 22^nd to the 29^th of September, nine students and two teachers spent 8 days trekking through the Flinders Ranges. The trip was tough with many obstacles and challenges to overcome, but it really was the experience of a lifetime. Carrying everything in our packs, we walked to each of our camp sites every day in conditions ranging from scorching sun to cold wind. The days were mostly filled with walking with small breaks and activities in between. Over the 8 days we climbed two mountains, Mt Rose (800m tall) and Yudlamora (600m tall), as well as many large hills. We walked through creek beds (which almost broke everyone’s ankles) and even got the opportunity to do some abseiling and go on the only ‘Via Ferrata’ in SA. Once we  reached our camp sites each night we assigned ourselves jobs such as starting the fire, boiling water, setting up our hootchies (tarps we slept under) and cooking dinner. Dinner most commonly came in a can, which we heated up over the fire. The best dinner we had was definitely the spaghetti bolognaise. Lunch was usually crackers, cheese (that was only 70% cheese and 30% a surprise), biscuits, fruit cake that no one would touch besides from Mr Noack and sometimes we had Nutella that would somehow make it to our hootchies at night.

Overall, the experience was amazing, taught us many life skills and was filled with lots of fun, excitement, quotes, laughs, friendly arguments and humongous spiders. Special thanks to Mr Cmrlec for driving the bus for us.

Written by Irish Pagadut and Madison Litzow

Operation Flinders Team 2022: Irish Pagadut, Madison Litzow, Jack Tiller, Ryan March, Maylea Carpenter, Emily Gibson, Michael Myers, Bella Pratt, Althea Podiotan, Mr. Noack and Miss Schubert.