The secondary student from Bendigo in regional Victoria says he's on his computer up to five hours a night doing homework and gaming, and eight hours a day on his phone.It's this acclimation to technology and disconnection from nature that sparked the idea for a competition by the North Central Catchment Management Authority to find a couple of Gen Zers to "unplug" from technology and spend five days kayaking and camping along the Bendigo Creek.
She also spends a great deal of time online for her nursing and business administration studies, but she jumped at the chance to unplug for five days and experience more of the great outdoors than just beachside holidays.The only concern for Jessie, who did outdoor education in high school, is encountering wildlife.
"There's a saying that we don't inherit the earth, we borrow it from our children and, while these Gen Zers aren't exactly children, they've got a big stake in the future of our natural environment.""Good things come from disconnecting and getting into nature, all the wellbeing benefits that we know about, but also good things for the community more broadly as they then take up a louder voice in the management of our natural environment.
A traditional smoking ceremony cleansed any bad spirits, the smoldering native leaves clearing the way ahead for the adventurers and also connecting them to their new surroundings.Along the way, they tested the water quality and planted trees with primary school students at Huntly just north of Bendigo, where the creek starts to revert to a more natural state, and learned about bush tucker and bush medicine at a significant cultural heritage site by one of the area's traditional owners.
While Jessie admits to screaming at every spider they encountered for the first two days, she was far more "chilled" about them at the end of the trip.