Duke Of Edinborough Expedition

[Mattydv]

Well thanks to peer pressure and the way that it would look on a job resume i signed up to do the D of E earlier this year. A part of the requirement however is to do an overnight expedition. For this i have chosen, along with a few friends to do an overnight camping/riding trip in the Watagans. However having never ridden in the Watagans, i have absolutely no idea what to expect. I will be going with 4 other guys and an adult (Rough Numbers) Does anyone know of any good trails or have any maps that would be of any help? (we will be riding XC bikes and other members have very little MTB experience) We will be getting driven up to the top and then riding down to the bottom and camping overnight and then either a) riding back up OR b) ride back to newcastle. Are there any necessities that should be taken? How safe would it be to camp overnight with our bikes chained to a tree? (or would we be better to sleep with them) Thanks

[casey79]

Hey ya,
Guessing you are doing your bronze d of e. Have done about five years outdoor education and have guided school groups up there. Both camps and duke of ed. There is huge scope up there to do everything from 5 days starting at wisemans and finishing with a day at ourimbah via st albans, mogo creek, bits of old convict trail, buckety, the pines (which are in the watagans) then down to ourimbah (can cut of onto some single track that follows the road when heading to ourimbah). Most of it is on fire road with not much traffic flow (watch out for logging trucks though). Not a bad 1 nighter would be from buckety down to ourimbah way via the pines. 1st day has some sweet undulating trails with out much traffic pines isnt a bad camp site and then mostly down hill to the freeway.
If you want more info (maps, grid refferances ect) just let me know.
Have fun.
Dave

[whitey89]

Hey man, im a keen hiker, canyoner, abseiler ect.. my self having completed Gold dofe by the start of yr11 and im also just finnishing my queens scout.

Ive always contemplated doing a bike ride expedition but the only problem is that you have to do the same thing for bronze, silver and gold. For eg. if you do a canoe for bronze prac and final you do two expeditions. If you choose to walk the silver expeditions you have to do two pracs and a final.

Let me know how it go's cause im keen to do some bike hikes. Also i was always worried about the whole "what if my bike pack's up thing"

Good luck!

[t]

Also i was always worried about the whole "what if my bike pack's up thing"

That's something you should cover in you planning; learn how to fix basic mechanical problems and carry spare parts for any forseeable repairs ie, Broken chain, broken cable, torn tyre, broken spoke, buckled rim, bent rotor. most of those you only really need one spare for the whole group.

If you get a dramatic mechanical problem, have "escape routes" planned that you can walk out on.

How safe would it be to camp overnight with our bikes chained to a tree? (or would we be better to sleep with them) Thanks

If you have to carry the chain in that's a lot of weight, I'd put a small padlock through your chainring and arround your chain, and put your front wheel in your tent.

Or if your sleeping in hammocks, string the hammock through your frame.

I had to do my Expedition 2 (Queens Scout)twice; because of the insurance crisis they changed the rules and off shore sailing got dropped from the list of acceptable activities, I didn't find out until afterwards :mad:

[Elbo]

Good on you for doing the D of E award. Having completed the Bronze and Silver awards, i can tell you that it's great fun, challenging, but very rewarding. I did it through school, and for our expeditions we went canoeing down the murray (Albury, Corowa and Corryong area).
Are you organising this trip yourself?, or through school, or a club etc?

The whole idea of the trip is to be self sufficient. Pack the essentials. Thermals and waterproof jackets etc, depending on temp. There is nothing worse than being cold and wet and not being able to do anything about it. A sleeping bag and tent or swag, food, toiletries, etc. You'll have to think about how you will carry everything, will you make a 'base camp' and ride somewhere and then back to camp each day or will you take everything on your back. A good tip I learnt was that if you have limited space, pita bread is the way to go. Mind you, we managed to take steaks, bacon and eggs and about $40 of meat with us (on our cold winter trips).

Our expeditions were organised through school and consisted of 3-4 days canoeing and camping. 4wd's took our tents, etc down to the next camping spot and then it was a case of shuttling back and forth to get both cars to the next camp. We covered about 35km of the Murray with the Bronze award expedition and 50km with the Silver award.

Hope you have fun and deciding what to pack and what expedition to go on is part of the whole D of E.

[Mattydv]

Hey ya,
Guessing you are doing your bronze d of e. Not a bad 1 nighter would be from buckety down to ourimbah way via the pines. 1st day has some sweet undulating trails with out much traffic pines isnt a bad camp site and then mostly down hill to the freeway.
If you want more info (maps, grid refferances ect) just let me know.
Have fun.
Dave

That trail sounds pretty sweet. I've sent you a PM in regards to maps etc.

If you have to carry the chain in that's a lot of weight, I'd put a small padlock through your chainring and arround your chain, and put your front wheel in your tent.

Yeah we're already packing a bit of weight with the tents etc. So lugging around chains as well would also be a bit of a hinderance.

Good on you for doing the D of E award. Having completed the Bronze and Silver awards, i can tell you that it's great fun, challenging, but very rewarding. Are you organising this trip yourself?, or through school, or a club etc?

The whole idea of the trip is to be self sufficient. Pack the essentials. Thermals and waterproof jackets etc, depending on temp. There is nothing worse than being cold and wet and not being able to do anything about it.

Hope you have fun and deciding what to pack and what expedition to go on is part of the whole D of E.

I'm hoping that it will be as good as everyone is saying it will be. Chances are i'll go through to my gold anyway :) I'm organising the trip myself however I got into D of E through my school.

We're hoping that conditions will be pretty mild being spring holidays however we'll see what it turns out like.

Thanks heaps i can't wait until im out there!



What is safety like in the way that if we sleep overnight in temps near Pines camping area? I mean that in the way are we likely to get raped and murdered/bashed or is it pretty safe?

[t]

Yeah we're already packing a bit of weight with the tents etc. So lugging around chains as well would also be a bit of a hinderance.


Have you concidered Hammocks or using the bikes to string up a tarp, tent poles are always a major culprate for weight. here's topeak's version it's a bit limmited in that you cant' use it without a bike.

http://www.treehugger.com/files/bikamper-combo.jpg

[Registered Nutcase]

just make a hutchi. sooooooooooooooooo easy

take 1 tarp
4 tent poles
1 bundle of string
1 knife

peice of piss and get a big enough tarp and you can put you bike in with you

[t]

just make a hutchi. sooooooooooooooooo easy

take 1 tarp
4 tent poles
1 bundle of string
1 knife

peice of piss and get a big enough tarp and you can put you bike in with you

or

1 tarp
4 bikes
1 bundle of string
1 knife

[Mattydv]

here's topeak's version it's a bit limmited in that you cant' use it without a bike.

http://www.treehugger.com/files/bikamper-combo.jpg

Ha that seems like just the thing. How much would i be looking at for it though? The tarp idea also sounds pretty good. Cold hopefully won't be much of an issue so it should be fine

[t]

Ha that seems like just the thing. How much would i be looking at for it though? The tarp idea also sounds pretty good. Cold hopefully won't be much of an issue so it should be fine

the reviews all said it was kinda shit, too heavy considering it has no poles. but the idea is good.

check out Hennessy Hammocks (http://www.hennessyhammock.com/) their site is pretty shit but you can google up better images of their gear, their hammocks range from 180g to 350g for the king size.

[Battler]

or

1 tarp
4 bikes
1 bundle of string
1 knife

OR 1 tarp
5m of string
Knife
2 trees
4 plastic pegs (since when did they have to be metal plastics lighter);)

Good luck with your expedition im just doing my bronze and doing the expeditions through cadet camps.