Outdoor Education Camp

Phillip Island

I woke up at 7 in the morning, ready for camp. Having my bags packed and clothes ready to go, I quickly made my bed and did a quick tidy of my room had some breaky before I had to head out the door to get fuelled for the whole day. Mum was driving us to school and on the way there, the car was full of nerves and excitement, ready for camp. I was nervous about leaving my mum for a couple of days but sometimes you have to do things you don't really like doing. 

When we made it to school, my sister and I put cold food in the fridge under the bus and met up with some of our friends who were also coming to camp. When everyone had gotten there, we packed up the bus and hit the road. The bus was full of chatter about what's yet to come. When we hit Smiths Beach in Phillip Island we all got suited up for surfing and hit the water. The surfing conditions were good and the waves were high enough to catch a couple of waves. I enjoyed that surfing session very much. A couple of hours later, we finished up and made our way into Cows for some lunch as well as to go to the campsite and unload camp. Unloading the bus was easy but setting up the tents was not. With little to no instructions and lots of components, it wasn't the easiest thing I’ve ever done. 

After everyone's campsite was set up we all headed to have a shower and get ready for dinner. Dinner was our own cooking on Trangia’s, luckily I was in a group of three so it was easy otherwise I would say that it would've been quite hard by myself. We cooked tacos for dinner, and it was so good. Once dinner was done, we got back onto the bus and headed down to the penguins, and they were so cool to watch. Once we finished that and got back onto the bus we were all knackered and ready for a good night’s sleep. Once we hit camp, all of us fell straight asleep, ready for day 2.

Day 2

We all woke up fueled and ready for a big day. Lots more emotions today with people excited and also missing home considering that day 1 was a BIG day. Once we all emerged from tents, most of us made some breaky and got ready for the day. For breakfast most days, I had Saltana Bran for breakfast. We all loaded onto the bus once again and made our way to Smith's Beach for a surf.

The water was wonderful, with our wetsuits on, it was the perfect temp, the waves were a lot bigger than what we were used to but they were worth it. Once around two and a half hours had passed, we made our way back up to get changed and set off to the koala park. The koalas were so cute to look at. We saw approximately 8 and out of those eight, four were awake eating. We followed on to San Remo for some lunch, I had Subway for lunch. After that, we made Churchill Island, which was cool. We all got to watch a sheep get sheared and learn how to crack a whip, even Noah learned how to whip it. After we looked through all the gardens and old houses they had there and got to learn about the history of the place. Once we arrived back to camp, there was enough time for some free time. 

In my free time I cleaned up my tent and had a shower, ready for the hike we had later that night. Others played volleyball and other activities on the beach. When free time was up all of us got back on the bus to hit up cows for some dinner. After dinner, we were all going on an 8km hike, we all had to get something filling for dinner to be fuelled up. The hike was around Cape Woolamai and the views were amazing, with huge waves breaking at sunset, the photos we took and the beaches we got to see where one of a kind.

When we arrived at where we were doing the hike Miss Neo took some photos of us on the beach getting us pumped. The hike was hard with lots of ups and downs and changes of paths. It wasn't the easiest, but the view is what made up for it. The view was insane i don't think we all have seen anything like that before. By the end of the hike, I granted you we were all knackered, ready to hop on the bus and go back to camp. 

We arrived at camp a lot later than I expected. We all headed straight to bed, basically sleepwalking on our way to our beds. The next morning was our last, the tents started to be packed up and the bags were getting loaded. There were lots of emotions, sadness, happiness, exhaustion, and many more. When everyone had finished getting ready and the bus was loaded, we hit the road to Smiths Beach for the last time of the trip. The water was beautiful and it was such a good day to end the trip. The surf conditions were amazing for the last surf of the trip, it was cold but worth it. Before we headed home after the surf, we headed to San Remo for lunch, and that’s when we got our phones back. 

After lunch we all got back onto the bus and started heading home, The bus was full of laughter and Miss Neo’s beautiful music was playing throughout the whole bus. At school, we had to unload all of the bags and tents as well as wash the wetsuits and rash vests that we had used earlier that day. Camp was great.

From Student on Camp