LightFoot Rainforest Day Excursion

Sequenced activities for Year 3/4/5/6 children on a day visit

The aim of ourLightFoot day trip program is to provide an enjoyable variety of hands-on activities:

to build children's confidence in the natural environment
to enhance their understanding of natural processes and the role of human beings in interaction with those processes
to appreciate the structure, diversity, dynamics and particular values of the rainforest and neighbouring forest environments
thus to provide practical experience relating to Stages 2 and 3:

Human Society & Its Environment K-6 Syllabus (2006) Science and Technology K-6 Syllabus (1993-currently being reviewed) PDHPE K-6 Syllabus (2007)

LightFoot programs strive to be non-sexist and non-competitive.

Program

Please 'phone us from Dungog to let us know you are on your way: (02) 4995 9265. Typically the school group arrives at the driveway entrance to Wangat Lodge at around 10.00 am. Lodge guides will meet you there and travel with you in the bus to a small picnic ground a short distance up the road. After morning tea/toilet stop, children and staff are briefed on the day’s program and advised on safety issues. We walk approximately 3 kilometres back to Wangat Lodge via Chichester Dam, riverine and sub-tropical rainforest and wet schlerophyll forest, with a packed lunch stop and various activities en route.

We cover the following features of sub-tropical and riparian rainforest:

MICROCLIMATE, EPIPHYTES, CLIMBERS, MOSSES/FERNS, STINGING TREES, STRANGLING FIGS, CANOPY LEVELS, LEAF TYPES, SPECIES DIVERSITY, DECOMPOSITION/SOIL FAUNA, PIONEER SPECIES, NUTRIENT CYCLES, ANIMAL LIFE, SEED/SPORE DISTRIBUTION.

We also discuss conservation and National Parks, and human impacts on rainforests.

At the end of the walk there may be time for a dip in the river (under strict supervision). Children can change back into bus attire at the Lodge prior to departure.

Groups of 30 or more we divide into smaller parties – each led by a knowledgeable Wangat guide. In the course of the walk there are two river crossings which may require removal of shoes and some steep slopes requiring a reasonable degree of fitness. There may also be some no-trail cross-country walking. Therefore, please ensure the children and all accompanying adults are prepared for bushwalking and are of reasonable fitness.

Please advise us in advance of any health/medical issues of the group.

We recommend old clothes and comfy, past-their-prime footwear. Please also bring raincoats, a spare set of clothes (to be left in the bus), packed lunch, refillable drink bottle, insect repellent, sun-hat and sun-screen. Children should carry their lunch in a comfortable back-pack with straps over both shoulders.

Departure from Wangat Lodge is usually around 2.30pm. In 2010 our charge for the Rainforest Excursion is $15.00 per person (two teachers are free of charge) or a minimum fee of $500.

Helen and Ken Rubeli and Jane Richens

LightFoot Program Co-ordinators