The Plan
The expedition in 2012 is all about students participating not just online, but on the ground as well. All the usual resources like the workbook, the daily reports and the forum are available, but we're also asking students to go a step further. Step outside the classroom and the school grounds and join a clean-up event. The results can be counted and contributed to the collection at the Rubbish Dump for all to see. We're focussed on the coast but if you're from an inland area, do a clean-up in a river bed or waterway and chuck it up there anyway.
The journey begins at the Woodbridge Marine Discovery Centre at 10.00am on Monday 16th July. In the beginning I'll be travelling by bike to beaches around Hobart, the Tasman Peninsula, Bruny Island, New Norfolk and south in the Channel country (follow the dots on the expedition map through the LIVE page). These first few weeks will end somewhere down near Southport in the far south of Tasmania. There I'll swap bike for kayak and paddle up to Kettering in the D'Entrecastreaux Channel. Seven students from Jordan River Learning Federation are coming down to join me and Mike Crew on his 62 foot charter yacht, the Magic Miles. Together we'll explore the coastline from the rolling Southern Ocean. This will be the first of four Skullbone expeditions that are sprinkled through the journey around Tasmania.
From the 20th August I'll have a bit over a week to connect with more schools as I ride up the East Coast to Little Musselroe Bay. There it'll be a patient wait for the right weather to kayak across to Flinders Island. The second Skullbone team from Ogilvie High School will join the expedition on Flinders for a week of coastal exploration and maybe a mountain climb. From 8th-22nd September there will be school holidays in Tasmania and a short break from the expedition. But soon enough I'll be back on the bike and riding through Bridport, Launceston and along the North West coast to Smithton. The Skullbone expedition team from Smithton High (profiles coming soon) will join the journey from 8th October at the Pieman River. We'll catch a ferry to the river-mouth and walk north to the Interview River to explore the remote and wild West Coast for a week.
After the Smithton team return home I'll continue down the mountainous West Coast roads towards Strahan and turn east along the Lyell Highway towards Lake St Clair. Picking a way through the forestry roads I'll park the bike at the southern end of Lake Pedder and walk down the Port Davey Track. If the stars align and the rivers aren't too high I'll meet the Scottsdale Skullbone students off the plane at the little airstrip of Melaleuca. Together we'll trek down to the coast at Cox Bight and survey one of the true wilderness beaches of Tasmania for 5 days. The students will fly out and leave me with the South Coast Track to tackle before a hurried kayak leg to finish back at the Woodbridge Marine Discovery Centre on 12th November.
Be part of the adventure in 2012.
Andrew
