2018 Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Award Final Expedition Report

A. Prunila 4A
Food-
The day preceding the final expedition, I along with another group member prepared our dinner
at his house. We made Tuscan Sausage Linguine with Italian Style Beef using semi-whole wheat
pasta noodles and plenty of meat to ensure that we would have plenty of sustenance and ample
nourishment in order to focus on our activities and have enough energy to proceed tramping. We
ate dinner together but brought our own breakfast, lunches, and snacks. I brought 6 Up & Gos, a
box of Weetbix, a plethora of muesli bars, and an assortment of nuts and dried fruits.

The finished meal ready to be packaged for the trip.

Day 1-
It was a chilly autumn morning on the 12th of May 2018, and I arrived at port just at the break of
dawn. It was extremely difficult to wake up so early, put we all gathered at the docks before 7
a.m. regardless. The sky was clouded over, indicating forthcoming rain, and on the ferry on the
way to Waiheke Island, the rain began to pour down hard.
 ​The city skyline from the ferry.​ ​(Most of) Our group on the ferry.

Upon arrival, we split up into groups and my group trekked through the rain around the headland
to the north of the pier and around Owhanake Bay, and this took approximately an hour.
Afterwards, we took a 15 minute break to eat some food, and continued to partake in a tramp to
the southern regions of Owhanake Bay. Overall, the terrain on Waiheke Island was slippery,
dangerous, and non ideal, therefore we were led to catch a ferry back to Auckland where we
continued the expedition. From the Ferry Terminal, we walked in lines up Queen St. and Victoria
St. East while safely manoeuvring through foot traffic and vehicular traffic. However, by staying
as a group and in single file, we were able to make it to Albert Park without any accidents that
may have caused disruption to the general public. After taking a quick rest break in Albert Park
we continued through the Auckland Domain where we then took Park Rd. and Mountain Rd. to
ultimately reach Auckland Grammar School.
 Pictures taken while crossing the Auckland Domain in the light rain.

Once we had reached campus, we set camp on the Lower Field, where we pitched tents
according to our groups and prepared our dinners. Due to the rain, most if not all of the gear we
had was soaked but thankfully our waterproof tarps and plastic bags had kept our spare clothes
and tents dry. After eating a delicious, filling, and healthy meal, we went to sleep in our tents
around 9pm to insure that we would receive enough rests for the following day’s journey.

View of the cloudy night sky from the Lower Pavilion.

Day 2-
The following morning, I woke up at 6:30 and had a breakfast of weetbix, nuts, and dried fruits.
Our group took down our tents and gathered our gear in a light rain. We spent the remainder of
the day trekking across 3 of Auckland’s most significant land formations: Mount St. John, One
Tree Hill, and Mount Eden. First, we walked off the school site in groups, walked down
Mountain Rd. and took Albury Rd. to Gillie Ave. Next, we took Owens Rd. to Mount St. John
Ave. and proceeded to tramp up the mountain to its summit. At this point, the cloudy overhead
began to clear up a bit leaving the next 3 hours to be sunny with scattered clouds.

Mt. St. John’s summit path.

After descending back down the mountain, we walked along Market Rd. and took Puriri Rd. to
Cornwall Park. While crossing the park, there was a charity race going on in the area so we
needed to be attentive to not disrupt the event. Once we’ve reached the peak of One Tree Hill we
took a quick rest to take in the view.

View from halfway up One Tree The One Tree Hill Monument. The road up to One Tree Hill.
Hill.
After trekking up One Tree Hill we took Manukau Rd. and followed Owens Rd. back to Gillies
Ave. Furtherly, we tramped up Alberly Rd. and then Mountain Rd. to arrive at Glenfell Place.
From there, we climbed Mount Eden to its summit.

View of the Auckland Skyline from Mt. Eden’s summit.

Mt. Eden’s summit.

After congregating at the summit, all of the groups embarked for the Old Boys’ Pavilion where
we completed our expedition.

In summary, the weather conditions on the trip tested our abilities to properly keep ourselves and
equipment dried. It also challenged our organizational skills when separating the wet, cold
clothes from the dried clothes, as well as keeping our personal belongings separated in the small
tents we were provided. Thankfully, aside from some of the tents being damp we were able to
avoid all other difficulties by staying focused and maintaining communication with other groups
and each other. As far as our group’s pace, we were slightly slower than the overall average to
accommodate all of our group members and to avoid injuries that would be had if we had rushed.
I would say our group was very successful in the overall for this expedition.