With a fresh new team name of ‘#Squad82’ under the Open Team’s belt for 2016, they, along with DBS staff members headed off on the 90 minute journey to Mookerawa Waters State park for the 2016 team bonding retreat!

5 car loads and a trailer in tow, the 19 Open Team students couldn’t wait to reach their waterside destination for the weekend, even after a 5 hour day of dancing!

We pulled up in the dusty terrain and began to set up camp! The 1st team challenge was a race to set up their tents! The winners were rewarded and the slow pokes learnt their lesson! We must say, some students could certainly use a lesson or two in tent assembly!

Straight back into it, and the team members were sorted into their pairs to face the biggest challenge of the day…THE AMAZING RACE! DBS style! They read through the rules, were given a vocal run down and sent to a holding tent where teams began at 2 minute intervals. There were 8 challenges which teams had to face. Putting  their mental and physical ability to the test, all while having stacks of fun and working as a tight knit team.

A challenge which was a “favourite” from 2015 somehow made it’s way into the race in 2016, only it was harder and knee deep in the mud!

The race was an absolute hit with the students, the quickest team finishing just under the 1 hour mark, while the last team came in, in just over two hours!

It certainly pushed every team to their limits and commend all the students for completing it!

On we went to dinner where the boys cooked up a storm on the BBQ and everyone sat around and had some great conversation! The fun didn’t end there…

We headed back to camp for dessert and a nearly 3 hour game of ARTICULATE! Round the circle we went, pulling out a words from the bucket and trying to articulate what they were without saying it! Thousands of laughs later everyone headed for their tents to get some well earned rest, but not before the famous plastic red belly black snake somehow appeared in the boys tent?!!

A very HOT and early morning woke everyone, with a swift pack down of the tents the fun wasn’t over yet! Students were split into teams of 3 and 4 where they were given very little items to construct a ‘contraption’ to keep an egg from breaking when dropped from 8 feet…onto a pile of rocks! Magically, only 1 team’s egg cracked! Everyone seemed to be happy with the outcome, however others did mourn the loss of their eggs!

After a short dip in the water we loaded up the cars and headed back to Dubbo! Some very sleepy heads on the way home. Evidence of a jam packed weekend of learning, laugh, fun, friendships and team bonding!

We can’t wait for the next one! Keep your eyes peeled for the upcoming video!

Tent Setup


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