Kayak School **UPDATED 10am 16th March**

Requirements: Participants must be able to swim Must have attended the trip meeting

***********************

UPDATED: 10am 16th March. Please Read through so you know what is going on.

If you cannot come on this trip anymore and you put your name on the list at my trip meeting, please email me () to cancel

Where Are We Meeting?:  Outside the Boatshed, at 8am on Saturday Morning. The boat shed is next to the sport centre, on the road that you would follow to get to the MUMC clubroom. Drivers Enter via Tin Alley on Swanston St. If you are taking boats up, I will be at the shed from 7:30 so you could come early and start loading up.

Trip Cost: $25 (covers normal gear hire, goes towards the cost of transporting some of the boats and the left over goes towards training leaders, ie. Paying for a river rescue course so that someone can save you when you muck up on the river)

Other Costs: Approx $5 for car costs per person. Dinner

Where Are We Going?: The first put in (where we launch from) will be at the end of Lower Homestead Road, Wonga Park. Melways Page 279 B4

Google Maps: http://maps.google.com.au/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=Tin+Alley,+Parkville,+Victoria&daddr=-37.7374,145.22692+to:Lower+Homestead+Rd&hl=en&geocode=FTpGv_0dLvCjCCl1TKzN1ELWajGQwL4MXym2ng%3BFUgswP0dqPynCCnTcpWy1DDWajGQ6QPtdFYEEw%3BFU6MwP0duACpCA&mra=dpe&mrsp=1&sz=12&via=1&sll=-37.791608,145.17952&sspn=0.158987,0.308647&ie=UTF8&ll=-37.712751,145.295455&spn=0.009947,0.01929&z=16

Camping:  On a farm close to the end of Bourchiers Rd. Melways Page 24 C4

FOOD:

Eat something before you come on Saturday morning.

Bring Lunch for Saturday

We are reasonably close to shops, so you can either bring your dinner, or we can buy some BBQ stuff at a supermarket and cook it back at the farm, we will provide some kind of barbequing device to cook on. If the weather looks pretty bad we could eat somewhere in Warrandyte instead.

Bring Breakfast for Sunday

Might be able to stop by a bakery on Sunday and pick up some lunch there.

Depending what time we finish on Sunday we will either grab dinner on the way home, or just head straight back to uni, unload the gear and head home.

How the Trip will run:

We will split up into groups with roughly 5 beginners in each group. Two groups will be able to head down the river at any one time, with 2-3 Leaders looking after each group.  On each run there will be a focus on learning skills such as ferry gliding and entering a current and catching eddies; along with gaining knowledge of what to look out for on a river, dangers and things to avoid.

Each run of the river will take 2-3hours, and then we will switch groups so that everyone has plenty of time on river.  Really keen people may get more runs in a day, but that is dependent on numbers and how exhausted leaders are.

Same thing will happen on Sunday, we will run a couple of different stretches of the river so that hopefully you are not doing exactly the same thing over and over again.

While people are not running the river, there may be the possibility of running some kind of skills session such as an introduction to rolling, however this will depend on numbers too. A good idea would be to bring a pack of cards, maybe some games, a Frisbee, a ball, a book ect to keep you entertained whilst you are not on the river.

We will drive back to Uni on Sunday once everyone is has had enough of kayaking, we will unload the boats and then head home.

What you need to Bring To go Kayaking:

• Thermals and bathers to wear on river: Wearing any cotton on the river is a really bad idea, and if the weather turns bad you will get cold (synthetics, wetsuits and fleeces are all good things to bring, they will keep you warn even when they are wet)
• Towel
• Warm clothes to change into after we get out
• Any food you want to eat while on the river – museli bars/chocolate and snacks to put in your pockets when heading down the river are a good idea. You may get tired or cold so you should definitely have something stashed away in case of this
• Old Shoes to wear in the river – If you come out of you boat we do not want you to cut your feet on rocks/glass/ whatever is under the surface. If you have some REALLY thick wool socks, these may be ok too.
• Sunscreen
• Water Bottle

If you are camping:

• Tent (or space in someone else’s tent)
• Sleeping bag
• Sleeping mat
• If you want to cook breakfast bring a pot to cook in over the fire, or bring a stove too
• Anything else you need to eat a meal (Cup, bowl, plate, spoon, knife, fork)
• Toiletries
• Head torch
• Toilet Paper
• Garbage Bag (for rubbish or your wet clothes)
• First Aid kit (if you have one this is useful to bring)
• Any Personal Medication you may need. (if you have any health problems that a leader should know about, please tell one of the leaders before you get on the river)

*******************************************

Lets head out for a weekend of Paddling!

If you already know how to paddle, come along, help us out and meet the MUMC paddle crew; If you dont know how to paddle come along and learn!

We will start at a level suitable for complete beginners, then hopefully learn some skills and maybe even try something a little harder by the end of the weekend.

Things you might learn on this trip:
-What is dangerous when you are kayaking
-How to avoid items metioned above
-Ferry Gliding
-Catching eddies
-Breaking into the current
-How to roll (if you are incredibly keen to learn in cold water)
-How to do many other things, just depends how awesome you get at the things above first.
((hopefully you will learn many other things about life, the universe and everything too)

Car Camping close to the river on Saturday night (maybe even Friday too), allowing us quick access to the river and a good place to possibly have a fire and a few drinks.

As per usual, we will not know the exact location of this trip until closer to the date when river level information is available. The Goulburn would be the optimal river, so as long as it is flowing, that is where we will go!