Country Retreat - 72. Outdoor Education

After realising that we had been approved to build the Outdoor Education Centre and not rejected, as it first appeared, we happily chatted about how we were going to get started with moving the buildings from the complex down to the site, once a few trees and shrubs had been cleared to make way for the two family pods and eight singles pods that will be relocated from the complex, as well as a new dining and recreation halls with a kitchen, scullery and storerooms attached to the dining hall and a storeroom, office and meeting room attached to the recreation hall.

With all the men’s single pods and all the staff pods currently located in the workshop and gardens complex to be moved, the staff affected were moved to the vacant three-bedroom guest pods in the main complex, which will be their permanent homes, and once the rood has been temporarily removed, two of the four family pods will be lifted out by crane from the main complex, to be relocated down to their new sites at the Outdoor Education Centre, to be used as teacher accommodation.

In total, it took three months for us to complete all of the preparation work, including laying down a gravel road from the laneway to the OEC and a roundabout and bus parking area, before the relocation of the pods to their new location took place, with the Outdoor Education Centre – OEC activity areas already completed, with the High and Low Ropes Courses, two Orienteering Courses, the Mini-Golf Course, plus the amphitheatre, Open Firepit and seating area, plus a tennis court and two basketball courts.

Once the accommodation pods were in place and the additional buildings were completed along with the raised boardwalks to link them all together, the centre was operational and ready to go, and I invited the shire to come and do a final inspection of the OEC. What we had also done using our front-end loader, was to carry large bucket loads of blue quarry stone, down to the beach when it was very low tide, and with the assistance of two very long temporary steel tacks to prevent the loader from getting bogged in the sand, to place in the water, in line with each end of the barge wrecks, to create a 150-metre long and 200-metre wide safe swimming and kayaking lagoon, for those attending the OEC, but we neglected to inform the shire of this additional work.

On the day of the final inspection, which was a windy day with occasional showers of rain, the Shire President, the Shire CEO, the Shire Manager of Works & Engineering, the senior Shire Ranger and the Shire Councillor for the Coastal Ward all arrived in two vehicles, at the time they said they would be arriving, with Marcus, Hunter, Lincoln and myself waiting for them at the newest gate near the end of the laneway, with the double gates into the OEC paddock already opened.

As we began the tour of the OEC facilities, we explained that there are 8 accommodation pods for the students, with each pod having two bathrooms and three – twin bedrooms for a total of 48 people, plus 2 accommodation pods for adults, with each pod having two bathrooms and four - single bedrooms for a total of 8 people. I explained that we would have a contract team supplying the catering and cleaning services when the OEC is in use, and at other times, my staff would be keeping the place clean and the grounds tidy.

After a detailed tour of the whole centre, I suggested that they go and check out the beach and the distant barge wrecks that create a permanent marine reef, which now had warning buoys attached at the south and north ends, but I explained that the electronic gate had stopped working and was waiting for a contractor to come and look at it, but said that a new pedestrian gate had been installed that can be manually unlocked and locked. Luckily today we had a very high tide, and with the rough seas, it would be impossible to see most of the two rock walls that go 80 metres out to sea, almost halfway towards the barge wrecks, and they elected to not go out because of the rough weather.

With final approval given for the completed OEC, we could now officially open to school groups, with preliminary work promoting the centre already having taken place, and several private and independent schools had expressed an interest in using the facilities because of its proximity to the city, and we planned to arrange a few inspection tours of the facilities during the approaching term one school holidays. Over six days during the two weeks of school holidays, we had a total of 11 private and independent high schools visit the facilities in the late afternoons, including all the activities that we provide, as well as checking out the beach area, with the kayaks for them to try out.

The tour included afternoon tea provided in the dining hall, put together by our catering team - Jamison and Rebecca, with myself as the Facility Director, and Hunter as the Sports & Activity Director providing the tours, with Hunter now having a Bachelor's Degree in Sports & Recreation and me having a Certificate 4 in Training & Assessment, a Certificate 4 in Work Health & Safety, a Bachelor in Education and a Bachelor’s degree in Neuroscience and Psychology, and all of us having Federal Police Clearances & (WWC) Working With Children Cards.

One addition that we had made before the tours, was the installation of a heavy-duty plastic floating platform, with a non-slip deck and stairs at each end, and several low bollards along the sides, which is located 150 metres from the barge wrecks and 50 metres from the beach at high tide. The platform is anchored into the sea floor by four lengths of railway iron and steel cables that are coated in waterproof wrapping to reduce rusting, and after checking on the anchors after the most recent storm, there had been no sign of any drag of the anchors.

At a senior staff meeting, with Rebecca, Marcus, Giles, Hunter and myself in attendance, we discussed how we would be operating as a farm while also as an Outdoor Education Centre. The first main item discussed was our current protectees in residence, and it was quickly agreed that they had become a useful part of our farm community and that if they wanted to, they could remain permanently, with Julia remaining as School Head Teacher, Alison remaining as School Librarian and Teacher Assistant, the Adamson brothers continuing as Farm and Property staff, as well as new duties cleaning the OEC after each camp and kitchen duties during camp.

For the Outdoor Education Centre, it was quickly decided that there would be five main staff when schools are in residence, that being myself, Hunter, Rebecca, Jamison and Lincoln, with Giles to be available when needed, but in the meantime, he would remain assisting me with the administration of the property, and the Adamson boys helping in the kitchen, and having Rebecca and Lincoln on staff would cover all emergency medical situations, as well as acting as lifeguards when there are water activities in progress.

Additional double kayaks were purchased to have twelve students and two adults using them each session, and we also included the two single kayaks that I already own, to be made available when needed, I also purchased a kayak trailer, so they could all be stored and transported down the beach easily, with them to remain in the machinery shed, when not in use. At the start of the second school term, Giles received a call from one of the private all-boys schools, requesting a booking of the OEC for five days, starting in early May in two weeks.

The OEC Staff met twice a week leading up to the first booking, to discuss preparations for their arrival, and Gran and Gramps also came up to attend. Just one week before the arrival of the first school, and already knowing that Marcus had a Master’s Ticket for offshore vessels up to 45 metres, they announced that they had purchased a trimaran ex-coastal support vessel from Queensland, that is 27 metres long and 10 metres wide, that has a draft of just 2 metres, with two diesel Mercury engines, with a cruise speed of 23 knots, which is currently berthed at the Two Rocks Marina, just 40 kilometres down the coast.

After the meeting, and once my Grandparents had left to return home to Yanchep, Marcus and I sat down to discuss the family’s new acquisition, and we decided to leave where it is for now, but we would travel down to Two Rocks to take the twin-hulled boat out for a cruise to see what it is capable of, which we decided to do in a few days when there is some good weather. With a distance of 22 nautical miles between Two Rocks and the Manakoora Lagoon as we call it now, Marcus estimated that the travel time would be about 50 minutes at a cruising speed of 23 knots.

Very early on Thursday morning, we drove down in my vehicle to Yanchep, where we called into my grandparent's place to collect the keys and papers for the vessel, which is called Reef Patrol. Gramps suggested that we leave my vehicle at home in Yanchep and he would drive me up to Two Rocks, where we did a bit of drink and snacks shopping and bought some breakfast, before going to the marina where I was not sure what to expect when we arrived, and I was very surprised to see an amazing looking vessel, with Gramps giving us a detailed tour of the vessel before we set off northwards.

The seas were fairly calm which was nice, as I explored the vessel once more in more detail before I sat at the crew chart table on the bridge deck, mainly because I had brought my laptop computer with me, and I did some work on it while chatting to Marcus as he skippered us northwards, and he said that he was enjoying his first time a skipper of such a nice vessel, and it was not long before we began to slow down. “We are approaching the barg wreck buoys,” Marcus informed me, as I shut down my laptop, and stepped forward to get a closer look.

“Where are the seawalls that we built?” I asked as Marcus pointed out the green triangle marker sticking out of the water. “That green marker, informs us that we needed to stay to the left of that, the other side of that marker was red, so I had to stay right of it,” Marcus said as we slowly passed the marker, by about 15 metres and we berthed alongside the floating platform, where Marcus quickly secured the vessel, which also has a 6-metre inflatable dingy secured down on the aft upper deck.

I assisted Marcus lowered the dingy down into the water, with an outboard motor already attached, we were soon scooting along the water towards the beach, which was void of any people. I rang Hunter and asked him to bring one of the farm vehicles down to the beach via the north gate.