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Bushcraft: The Learning Experience An Organisational Perspective

Often articles in the infamous VUWTC "Heels" magazine focus on the blood, sweat and gears of tramping. One seldom hears of the organisational or political side of the club, the strong united governing body, the influential groupies, the various factions, the socialites. Least of all, those dedicated people who organise, for the soft masses, what are called "trips". Who hears of the trials and elation that such people have experienced? The lost sleep cogitating over trip budgeting and overdue groups. The ear infection due to many hours on the telephone. The joy of hearing that everyone returned safely and had a wonderful time without them. To alleviate this imbalance, and in the name of holistic tramping, this article aims to give you a taste of what is involved in organising one of the larger trips, in terms of bodies, on the VUWTC tramping calender: Bushcraft.

Bushcraft is designed to give club members the skills and knowledge necessary for safe and enjoyable tramping in New Zealand bush conditions. It is aimed at new members who are most likely to be "beginner trampers" but also offers more experienced members the challenge of leading and instructing others. Along with Freshers, Bushcraft has a social dimension to ease new converts into the fold before we get into the more hard core, unpalatable stuff (by then it's too late!).

So with a little more loosely defined brief than the one I just outlined, I naively set off for organisational land. There are many ways to run events like Bushcraft. For the Saturday, I decided to have instruction bases. Each base would deal with a major skill (river crossing, navigation, fires and stoves, camp sites and first aid) and an instructor would remain on the same base while groups were rotated. On the Sunday, the plan was to have the traditional navigational exercise incorporating tests on each of the skills taught.

The next step was to find willing instructors. Fortunately VUWTC has a number of experienced trampers and outdoors enthusiasts even though it is a University club with a largely transient membership. I typed up an outline of the weekend and, following the example set by Mark Hurly last year, noted points that would be a good idea to cover in each skill area. This was then passed onto the instructors for comment. There is a lot to cover in each skill area so what instructors finally taught was left to their own discretion. I also delegated the task of organising the navigational exercise to the instructors.

Now, the location. Bushcraft needs; a reasonable amount of space for camping, a respectable river nearby (to get carried away with), fairly close page 10to Wellington (to keep the transport cost down), scope for a not too difficult navigation exercise and a site that is only a short tramp away. Mark held last year's Bushcraft in the Terrakneecow, so that settled it - it had to be the Waiotauru River just up from Otaki forks. I confess, I took the easy way out, several Bushcraft's have been held there. The challenge for next year's organiser is to find another spot.

Last but not least, there is the costing and marketing of a trip. The agony faced by organisers in this area should not be underrated. It is not that the cost of the trip is unpredictable. The problem is how many people put their names down and then actually pay and go (preferably in that order). Fortunately the attrition for Bushcraft was not great, 39 signed up and 34 made it. I postponed announcing the cost until I had some idea of what the response would be like, then advertised the cost ($22) with the promise of a refund ($5) when we received a Students Association Sports Council grant for Bushcraft. Good value for an instructional weekend. Being the second trip that VUWTC runs one does not need to use hard sell tactics, but publicity does help. Raving positively about the proposed trip in front of club musterings and a interesting poster, plus any other publicity stunts, will at least raise your profile in the flock.

From my perspective Bushcraft was a success. The weather was great and Saturday's instruction went well. Sunday's exercise was a bit long considering the time available, but was otherwise successful. A shared meal on Saturday night was the focus of the social dimension. A spit roasted sheep was it. Hamish the Hogget was its name. Hamish was more likely to have been a Henrietta than a Hamish, but Hamish the Hogget sounded like a 'with it thing' so the name stuck. Hamish was simply yummy, well done on the outside and getting rare toward the bone. He proved excellent bonfire material once we had finished with him, which had the side effect of incinerating the carcass totally so we didn't have to transport the remains away. The fire became the focus of the evening, with the usual frolicking between the flames. Hind sight being what it is, some more entertainment could have been arranged, but everyone seemed to have a groovy time anyway with frisbee games and some taking a dip in the river.

Organisers are people, and people make trips happen (new proverb?),

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Tony Martindale