As part of the leadership training for the Get Outside Program, young leaders are encouraged and supported to lead trips with their communities to local reserves and National Parks. This story highlights the success of a young Chinese woman called Shuang Shuang who successfully took 30 Chinese people to explore the Tasman National Park. Trip planning was undertaken with the support of Jodie Epper the Get Outside Coordinator over numerous cups of tea and white board sessions with many visits to google maps and researching the information that we found on the PWS web site. The destination was chosen and a careful itinerary was prepared. Information sheets were prepared and Shuang Shuang and Jodie prepared Bush Safety and Leave no trace messages to be delivered on the day.
Shuang Shuang organised all the walkers and lead the day like a pro. Ranger Fiona came along for the day and added some local information about bird migration between China and Tasmania that occurs every year. It was a fantastic day and a nice way to end with simple conservation messages which allowed people from two different countries to be connected. At the closing circle here are some of the words that people used to describe the day. "Awesome" ,"beautiful" , "very pretty", "clean", "lots of fun".
The Get Outside will extend its leadership program this Easter in partnership with Tas Tafe - we will keep you posted.