Year 5 Ski Camp 

By Thomas Holmes 

It was 6.15 am, Monday 5th September, and the pre-dawn air was crisp. The North Melbourne streets were quiet and sleepy except for a buzz of excitement and anticipation at NMPS. Year 5 was leaving on our awesome ski adventure to Falls Creek. It would take 4 hours and 35 minutes to get there. The bags were loaded, and the kids hugged their families and were loaded onto the bus. Just as the bus doors sealed shut Kale, the teacher, leaped up as he had forgotten his Nintendo switch! The bus was a hive of energy and chatter but it started fading away about halfway through the journey- after all, would you keep your enthusiasm for that long?  

We arrived at Falls Creek around 12.30 pm, it was a magical bluebird day! There were people who were experiencing the wonder of snow for the very first time, others who hadn't been in a long time, and then a few like me who had recently been. Despite the long windy trip, our excitement had returned with even more gusto. Everyone got their own bag and we started the stair-filled walk to the lodge. After we had found our allocated rooms we were sent down in groups of five to get our skis and ski boots. Once everyone was fitted we walked down to the ski lift where we put our skis on and hopped onto the chairlift in groups of four. As soon as we were off my best friends Lachlan, Finn, and Michael were all saying how much fun they were having already. The spectacular views of the snow-covered mountains, snow-covered trees, beautiful sunshine, smiling friends, and crisp air. This would be a trip to remember for the rest of our lives. 

After the rush of the chairlifts, everyone was split into groups for ski school such as: never seen snow before, beginners, skied before, or advanced skiers. We had about one and a half hours to ski with our instructors. It was awesome! I’m sure some people may have been a bit nervous if it was their first time skiing but no one showed it. After that, the teachers collected us. We took the chair lift down so we got to check out the beautiful scenery and chat about our lessons. When back at the lodge people started some card games, chess, or checkers, others chilled in their rooms for about half an hour til we had a well-earned dinner at 7:00 pm and went to bed at 9:00 pm. 

On the second day, everyone in my room was awake and ready early. Eager for another big day on the mountain. We had breakfast at 7:00 am and at 8:30 am our lesson began. The snow was hard and icy first thing but softened as the sun warmed it. My class did highway eighty-three and a few other runs. After lunch, we had two options: the toboggan park or to free ski with the teachers. Me, Lachy, Finn, and Michael all chose free skiing. Excited for this bit of independence, we set off for the one run we were allowed to do on repeat, it was called Wombats Ramble. After we did a few of those, Ari took us on an adventure. It was great to ski with Ari, he was an amazing skier. Needless to say, we all slept well that night. 

On our final day, we had breakfast and headed off to ski school. That day Finn was moved up to my group and we did a run called 'The Last Hoot'. It was super icy and everyone fell over except the instructor but we all made it through the lesson. We were lucky enough to get free skiing with our friends because the second group had arrived at the lodge. After that oh no, more stairs thank goodness I’m going down them this time. We loaded the bus then we loaded onto the bus. Soon after we started our long winding journey home. After about four hours we made it. It was 10:00 pm and all the parents were buzzing with excitement to see us. Weary but excited we hopped off the bus and hugged our families. 

I want to say a really big thank you to all of the teachers, especially group one's Tom, Hillary, Celeste, Ari, Kale, and Kaajal from all of Year 5,  you really made it such a fun time for us. Also a big shout out to our families for letting us have such an amazing experience in the snow.