The past few years I've been on many different adventurous, far and wide, and in many different forms and shapes. You'll probably find some of those adventures on my blog, floating around here and there but it's been during my journey that I came across a program that seemed to add that extra bit of encouragement for me to continue what I was doing - this was the Duke of Edinburgh program.

So I've been on youth camps, a sailing voyage, hikes, swims, cold and nice bbq fundraising days, to finding myself presenting and actively listening to an audience. All the while, I thought it would be good to keep myself focused and as I had been ticking many of the boxes already, and felt that it would make as a good record and recognise me for what I had been doing. As you never really know what and how much you're doing until you actually sit back and reflect on it, as a program like this encourages you to do.

During my journey I've found myself reaching outside of comfort zone, overcoming challenges and discovering new ways of building on the skills and knowledge I had. It's been interesting to see how passionate and active young people really are, and I'm glad to have met the new leaders of tomorrow. Who knows, I might have even camped right next to the future Prime Minister?

While I have completed the Gold level aspects of the award, the next step is attending the graduation ceremony for it which I'm sure will be fun. As it'll be great to hear and share stories all fellow awardees. I may be away for the upcoming ceremony this December but I'm sure when I do graduate I'll find it a fulfiling little experience...