We were very excited about the arrival of our 'Commando Joe's' box. Our first mission was to the Amazon River.

Ed Stafford ' Walking the Amazon'

Ed Stafford was the first man to walk the length of the Amazon River, which is the second longest river in the world. It is over 6,000km long and took Ed 860 days to complete his trek.

We were not quite ready to complete that trek but completed some missions to learn about how to prepare for such an expedition. Teamwork was very important and we all rose to that challenge well. It was lots of fun!

Mission 1 - Packing our bags

We enjoyed packing our bags and deciding what we needed for our long trek. As we would have to carry the bags, it was a hard decision to leave some things behind, such as pillows!

Mission 3 - Crossing the Amazon River

As there are no bridges across the Amazon River, we had to devise ways to carry our equipment across. Teamwork was very important as we had to help each other cope with different obstacles. It was also important to keep our food and shelter safe and dry as well.

Mission 4 - Building Shelters

After we had crossed the river, it was important to build shelters quickly because it was starting to get dark. We applied our D&T knowledge to create shell structures and put a waterproof cover over the top. It was quite tricky getting the shelters to say up, but we persevered and completed the mission just before darkness fell.

Our second mission was to Antarctica...

Sir Ernest Shackleton - 'Endurance'

We learnt about Sir Ernest Shackleton and his expedition to Antarctica in 1914. He wanted to walk across Antarctica, but unfortunately his ship got stuck in the thick ice in January 1915, and eventually sank. Luckily, Ernest and his crew were able to abandon the ship and survived for nearly two years living on top of the Antarctic ice before they were rescued. It was an amazing feat of survival!

Mission 1 - Breaking the ice

We worked in teams to try and break the ice and transport our supplies to safety. It was tough but we did it!

Mission 2 - the campsite at night

To recreate the darkness of the Antarctic nights, we wore blindfolds and pretended to move around the campsite at night. We held onto a guide rope to ensure that we didn't fall into the icy water.