Sample Pack and Peddle Program

Bronze Practice

Location: Myall Lakes National Park
Program: This program is two days and one night in duration. As a bronze practice expedition, this program will be based at Mungo Brush with the program focussing on skills development. Skills specific to hiking, cycling as well as outdoor living skills will be coached by our experienced instructors. Participants will be challenged as this program consists of one day of hiking as well as one day of mountain biking. One of the state's largest coastal lake systems and 40 kilometres of beaches and rolling sand dunes make Myall Lakes one of the most visited parks in NSW. Participants can expect to be spellbound with the beauty of this environment encountering plant communities which include heathlands, freshwater wetlands and dry eucalypt forests.

Bronze Test

Location: Copeland Tops Conservation Area
Program: This program is two days and one night in duration, as a qualification expedition participants will be using skills developed through their practice expedition. This program consists of the students hiking into the Copland Tops, using both marked trails as well as unmarked bush students will be challenged in their navigation skills. Upon reaching the summit of the Copland Tops and camping at one of our remote private mountain camp sites, participants will then mountain bike off the mountain following trails which lead to single track riding at BOAC's riverside outdoor education site "The Steps". Participants can expect to be challenged and rewarded, encountering a rich variety of forest types including; Riparian, Wet Rainforest, Dry Rainforest and Open Woodlands.

Silver Practice

Location: Wallingat National Park and Kiwarrak State Forest
Program: Three days and two nights in duration, this program extends skills developed in the bronze expeditions. This program uses the wonderful environment of the Wallingat National Park for the hiking training component of the program before moving to base camp out of the Kiwarrak State Forest for intensive skills development on the world class single track networks offered at this site. Kiwarrak offers brilliant, flowing trails that swoops and weaves through the sclerophyll forest. The Wallingat National Park boasts magnificent views of coastline. Participants can expect to be hiking through eucalypt forests, cabbage palm and flooded gum forests.

Silver Test

Location: Brisbane Waters National Park, Jilliby State Conservation Area and Ourimbah State Forest.
Program: Three days and two nights in duration, as a qualification journey this program extends and tests skills developed in the previous expeditions. Hiking through the Brisbane Water National Park and Jilliby Conservation Area students will camp two nights in remote locations before climbing onto the mountain bikes and riding out of the forest. Following both trails and world class single track this expedition provides majestic views in a challenging hike as well as fun, skilful and technical biking. Expect to have great time in being challenged, developing new skills rapidly. Brisbane Waters National Park is set in a rugged sandstone landscape, with magnificent views of the Hawkesbury River as well as Brisbane Waters. Well known for its wildflower displays from late winter to early spring, the park also supports a diverse range of native animals including the spotted tailed quolls and koalas.

Gold Practice

Location: Jilliby Conservation Area, Watagans National Park.
Program: As a practice journey this program is designed to extend skills developed in the previous expeditions. Four days and three nights in duration participants will encounter a flowing change between mountain biking and hiking. This program challenges participants with some good climbs off the bikes, though accordingly rewards in offering amazing views of the Central Coast as well as the Hunter Valley, not to mention the dreamy beauty of the Watagans Ranges. With multiple mountain biking sections in this expedition, participants will ride a combination of trails as well as world class flowing single track.

Gold Test

Location: Barrington Tops National Park, Copeland Tops Conservation Area
Program: Four days and three nights in duration this qualification program is designed to challenge all the skills developed over the course of the award. Participants will hike through the Barrington Tops National Park; this park is rugged and full of contrasts. Carved out of an ancient volcano, it rises from near sea level to over 1500m. In the lower valleys, you'll find World Heritage-listed subtropical rainforests. Up on the plateau, there is subalpine woodland which regularly sees snow in winter. Most of the area is declared wilderness, and it's a well respected destination for bushwalkers with an excellent network of tracks. The park's varied environments are home to a wide range of plants and animals, and it protects more than 50 rare or threatened species. In this area, many northern and southern plants meet the limit of their range. After the challenge of hiking through this thick, wild and varied environment, participants will begin mountain biking off the range, over the Copeland Tops and into the relative comforts of BOAC's riverside camp "The Steps".

This expedition offers a true challenge, with respective reward to complete your Duke of Edinburgh adventurous journeys.