Year 7 Camp
Action, adventure and wildlife on Phillip Island
To summarize camp in one word it was …. Dramatic. It was also noisy, in the bustling happy way. And noisy as in the you can’t get to sleep without bursting out giggling because of what your friend had just whispered.
Year 7 was split into two groups and went to camp separately. I was on the first wave of students. We arrived at the gym at eight thirty in the morning on the first day back at school, boarded the bus and prepared for the 2-hour ride ahead. After being released from the bus, we proceeded to listen to the camp instructors talk about safety for half an hour. We were given our cabins (I was very happy that I got exactly who I wanted in my cabin) and sorted into our activity groups.
MAJOR TIP FOR RAFT BUILDING - DON’T GET ON THE RAFT!
After building our raft we realized, it wasn’t going to hold together if we sat on it and paddled. We then realized that the instructor hadn’t mentioned anything about sitting on the raft. Once the raft entered the water and the instructor had said we could start we jumped into the water and pushed the raft around the floating cone and raced back. We where very wet. And cold. But none of that mattered because we had beat the other team.
After going through the two activities of that day we then had dinner. (I’m not going to elaborate for fear of making you gag). However, the desserts were delicious. We then had an exciting night walk. The whole camp walked around camp in the hope of seeing native wildlife. Luckily, we did: 1 ringtail possum, 1 brushtail possum, a very, very cute koala, and the highlight of the night… THE DINOSAUR BIRDS (also known as Cape Barren Geese). We were just walking by the archery targets in almost pitch-black darkness, when a student shone their torch upon a huge bird, and they swooped. Three hulking grey geese flew at us and started hissing. We all ran…. After the very dramatic encounter we all fell asleep in our cabins (well, most of us did), to awake to the next morning’s breakfast.
On the second day we had four activities. My group had: Disc golf, then high ropes, camp cooking and then the giant swing which was, by far the best activity. If you chose to go all the way to the top you were swung eighteen metres in the air in a harness. The thrill was intense. Most of my activity group agreed that it was tricky to feel our feet once you hit the ground. But it was worth it.
After we had had our dinner and finished our activities, we went to see the fairy penguins. Even though I had already seen the performance twice before it was interesting to see it again. We waited until just after sunset, when the first penguin appeared. He stood in the waves waiting for the other penguins so that they could march back along their paths to their little huts along the reserve. Slowly more penguins came. SO many more penguins.
One of the penguins kept running back to the ocean every time he got close to the shore, I think our friend group christened them Garry. But we soon lost track of them once they rejoined their fellows.
After completing our final two activities on the third day most people were ready to head back home after a very long, exhausting, but fun three days.
Harriet Williams, Year 7