On Tuesday, 12 of us arrived at Wenderholm Regional Park to learn some navigation skills with Linda. Despite the forecast of afternoon showers, the day was fine and perfect for the course. 

We started off round a table outside ‘the glamping tent’, with Linda checking we understood how to read a map, what the different scales were and the information provided on the legend. Then came the compass, how to use it, what may cause a false reading (pen, jewellery, my underwire bra!) and not holding it straight. The difference between true and magnetic north was explained as was the importance of having a Southern Hemisphere compass! After morning tea, it was time to try out the compass, following bearings and drawing the resulting track in our books. This caused some hilarity as we crossed each other’s tracks or in my case had to restart one when ‘the glamping tent’ was in the way! A few exercises followed to make sure we were all comfortable with what we were supposed to be doing. 

After walking 100 metres, counting our steps, it was time to head up the hill. This time counting our steps, describing our surroundings and taking compass bearings. It was pretty noisy as I’m sure you can imagine and I managed to forget exactly how many steps I’d done - so my margin of error was probably in excess of 10%! Once up at the top looking out towards Motuora and Kawau we stopped for lunch - a stunning view, with Great Barrier visible in the distance.  Then it was back to work, trying to establish where we were using triangulation. We were all pretty close, even if some of us had a few points that were in the sea! Down the hill again, and off track following a bearing in groups of four. After getting entangled in some dense undergrowth, we reached the open area, and with lots of encouragement from the numerous piwakawaka, we all made it to the finish fence. Two further exercises involving following a bearing were slightly less successful as few of us had lost the plot by this stage. However, a really good lesson, on the impact of fatigue - mental as well as physical!  

An awesome day - lots learned. Now all we have to do is practice, to retain these skills.  Thanks to Linda for making Navigation 101 such a fun day.

Alison F.

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