On Friday the 4th of May we started our 3 peaks challenge hike. It was easily one of the hottest days of the year. We got very lucky with the weather. We were planning on starting at the sugar loaf and then walking towards Bray head and finishing on the seafront.
We left at around 10 am and started our hike at around 10:30 am. We went over the sugarloaf and reached the opposite side in about one and a half hours. It was still really hot. About 20 degrees celsius. There wasn’t any clouds in the sky so there was really nice views from the top of each peak. By the time we reached The top of Bray head it was about 2:30 pm. We stayed there for about 20 minutes and then walked down to bray seafront where our bus was waiting for us. I really enjoyed the walk. We were lucky to have such nice weather and it was great to be doing it for such an amazing cause. I am very grateful for the experience.
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I was very excited for the scuba diving trip ever since I signed up to do it at the start of the year. It was always something I wanted to try. So on the day i couldn’t wait to get going.
We all got on the bus and were driving for maybe an hour before we reached the National Aquatic Centre. Getting everything ready like putting all the oxygen tanks on took a while. Once we got into the water I realised it was worth it. I had never been scuba diving so i thought it was great fun. I learnt a lot about the basics of scuba diving and I hope one day to go scuba diving again. I arrived in Australia on the 9th of December. It was the middle of their summer so the weather was great. It had taken us over 24 hours to travel from Ireland to Perth so we were all very tired. We went straight to sleep and woke up early the next day.
For the first week we spent a lot of time going to the beach and relaxing. I have a lot of family who live in Perth so we spent time with them. After a week I was invited to go to my uncle’s farm for the weekend. While I was there I rode on the motorbikes that my uncle owns. I had been on them many times before so I felt comfortable riding them. I obviously was riding recklessly because that’s when I lost control of the bike and fell off. I later found out when i got home that I had broken my collarbone. It was very painful and i ended up needing surgery to get a metal plate in my shoulder. After that I wasn’t able to do as much activities as I could before. I unfortunately couldn’t swim and do other things but i still enjoyed exploring Perth city and other areas aswell as seeing my family. I was disappointed that i couldn’t do some things but i still really enjoyed my holiday. It was a great experience and i was very happy to see my family. After the hike we rented a car and decided to spend some time travelling around new zealand. We started in Auckland and then drove to many different towns and cities in the north island. When we reached wellington at the bottom of the north island we continued on to the south island.
There was a lot of memorable moments such as the hot water springs. There was a road known as the geothermal highway because it was made around various geothermal landmarks. An example of one of these was a volcano. We mostly drove for one day and then stayed somewhere for two days. We got to see many amazing tourist attractions. We did this for about one week, driving around the country. I found it to be very enjoyable. I feel like I benefited greatly from the trip. We arrived into Queenstown New Zealand after a short flight from Auckland. We spent some time in the town which was really good. It was a small town but there was a lot of tourists. The next morning we left. It was a long bus journey and there was a big group of us going. We met the guides and then we got on a boat for about an hour. After that we started the first day of walking.
There was about two hours of walking in the first day. It was very hot and the views were amazing. When we reached the camp we had some lunch and then everyone had some time to get to know each other. The guides got us to play some games which were fun. We got to sleep early because everyone was tired and we a long day ahead of us. I woke up early and got ready for the day. We set out at about seven thirty. This day was a much longer walk then the last one. We had about twenty kilometers to walk. The terrain was mainly flat and some uphill parts. We passed clear blue river and walked into a large valley with huge mountains towering over us on both sides. The camp that we stayed in that night was in the forest. For a few days We continued on like this. Walking through postcard like scenery. Each night we were tired. We got to know the other people on the trek and they were all from different places. The days were long but rewarding. I think that i beniftted from the trip a lot. I was sad to leave. Our week began with a long bus trip up to Carlingford Lough. I had been looking forward to a break with my friends and had heard great things about Carlingford. When we arrived in the lodge the year group was split into several different room groups and two different activity groups. That afternoon we started with the activities. My group did zip-lining which everyone enjoyed. Then in the evening we spent some time doing group games such as a jumping competition, everyone loved these games. The next morning we were up early to start with the water sports. My group was taken rowing. This was great apart from the fact that everyone was freezing. This was an enjoyable group experience in which everyone worked together. After this we returned to the lodge for lunch and then left for the afternoon activities. We did lazer tag which again was a lot of fun and everyone had a great time. This routine was followed the next few days. We did a morning and afternoon activity and then in the evening we did a teamwork exercise. Out of everything I enjoyed the evening activity the most. An example of one of the evening activities that we did was a night walk. This involved getting blindfolded and walking through the forest. We had to communicate with the people in front of us so that we knew where to step. Lots of obstacles were in place so this made things even more difficult, and of course lots of people fell over. Towards the end of the trip I started to enjoy the activities more and more. I found the group activities very enjoyable and engaging. I think that this trip benefited me and I think that it was a valuable TY experience. On the 17th of November my year went to DCU for the open day. The open day allowed us to sit in on different lectures throughout the day. Before the open day we discussed the timetable and other details about the day in our careers class. We made a list of the lectures that we wanted to go to. We were given a timetable and a map of the campus.
When we arrived at DCU we were free to go to whatever lectures we liked. I went to psychology, journalism and global business. The talks were mainly about the type of course involved in each one and the subjects you should focus on in the leaving cert for for each course. Overall the day was very interesting and gave me a better idea of what courses I would look into for college. I also thought that the campus of DCU was very nice and easily accessible form public transport. There was many challenges that we faced during the camping trip. The first was before i even left for the trip. I had a hard time packing all my food and clothes into my bags. The night before we left i realised i had bought more food then id need. The next day we got our results which everyone was happy with and then we got on our bus.
We arrived at the campsite early in the day knowing it would soon rain. The second challenge was setting up the tent. We learnt from our mistakes and guessed how the tent was supposed to be set up. Eventually we were able to make it work. By the time it was finished everyone was tired and hungry so then came the next challenge, making food for six people. Most just made their own food like noodles or sandwiches but myself and some others in my tent used our gas cooker to make pasta. It took a few tries but eventually we all got our lunch. Another challenge that we faced on the camping trip was the tent. We clearly made mistakes in setting up the tent because on the first night the tent leaked and everyone’s clothes got wet, as well as the tent shaking in the wind and keeping all of us up late. The next morning the fixed those mistakes so that we wouldn’t have those problems again and get a better second night sleep. After some time of sitting around we went on our first walk of the trip. It was only about an hour long but it put into perspective the length of the 5 hour long, 22km walk that we would have to do the next day. I think most people found both walks not too difficult. We luckily had good weather the second day on our longer walk and we made it back in time before the weather turned bad. That night we made a campfire and everyone in our tent made their own food. By the last Day we got used to the gas cooker, the layout of the tent and the campsite and also we learnt how to keep everything dry and clean. Overall it was a great trip and a fun way to celebrate the results. |