Year 8 Golden Valley Camp

Last week, all of the Year 8 students attended our camp at Golden Valley Adventure Resort. It was wonderful to have everyone there to build relationships and focus on learning more about our theme of loving God, loving ourselves and loving others.

The timetable was action packed and included a range of activities such as, giant swing, vertical challenge, leap of faith, hut building, obstacle course, cooking damper and billy tea, and team games. In between each of these, students had the opportunity to spend time chatting with friends and making new ones, or participating in beach volleyball, human foosball, chess, gaga ball, and drawing.

Our final activity was a reflection walk where we hiked through the magnificent Mornington Peninsula National Park considering all the things that were 'good'. Some students noticed 'good' plants or animals observed whilst on the walk, others contemplated highlights from camp or different aspects of their life. When we arrived back at the campsite we had our final reflection chat led by one of the camp staff, Curtis. He shared from Philippians 4 and reminded us that God wants us to think about things that are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent or praiseworthy. He reminded us that the reward of thinking about such things is peace. What an excellent way to end our time away!

Sue de Pyle

Year 8 Coordinator & Secondary Teacher

Student Reflections

My favourite parts of camp were just being able to build bonds with my friends, overcoming my fears on the leap of faith and giant swing, and having amazing food. This camp was one to remember. The camp leaders taught us all lessons about faith, joy, and encouraging yourself and other people on. I want to thank all of the teachers for this camp. This was amazing.

Eli H

My favourite part of the camp was the giant swing because it was daunting but I pushed through and did it anyway. A positive experience was talking to one of the staff, Christian, because he knew about low taper fade. A lesson I've learned was that pushing yourself has its own rewards.

Lucius G 

My favourite activity was the vertical challenge. It was so fun racing people. The best race I did was me and Sam going backwards up the wall, of course I beat him. A lesson I learned was to step out of your comfort zone and do things even if you are scared.

Neve W

It was a great camp. My favourite activity was hut building. Me and my friends built our hut in a tree and made it two storeys with the bed being in the tree. It was great because we won the competition that was against the other kids.

Will H

The leap of faith was my favourite part of the camp. The adrenaline rush when you jump is like none other. The view from the top was breathtaking.

Mitchell  B

What I liked about camp was the giant swing (going to the top) and the Mortal Kombat game. Ezra carried the team at the last second, being the last one in our team and still winning and getting everyone else remaining. I also liked doing the damper, cooking it, and it was pretty good.

Edward K

There was a lot that happened on camp. Some lessons I learned on camp were: Confidence is key and if you take the time to make things, they can be great. A highlight of the camp was making damper over the campfire.

Gabriel P

Camp was really fun, not just because of the activities, but because of the experiences outside and inside them. At the start of camp, I told myself I would do all the hard activities, go beyond my comfort zone, and not let fears get in my way. So I did. I went first on the giant swing and went to the top. I did the vertical challenge with a blindfold and decided to do leap of faith but the leap was hard. I grinned all the way climbing up, but then I looked down. It was like looking through a straw, long and narrow. Everyone looked like ants and I didn't want to jump but it was the only way down so I leaped… again and again.

Helena M

Golden Valley camp was one for the memory books. All three days of camp were filled with fun adventures like the giant swing that swung over a valley, the leap of faith, obstacle courses, and team building challenges. The dinners were great, but the desserts were even better! We played exciting games and went on peaceful walks. We grew stronger in our friendships and made new ones. Based on our experience Golden Valley has been our favourite camp.

Izzy M and Leah W