Year 9/10 OES - Phillip island surf camp

DAY 1-

It was Wednesday the 23rd, my alarm went off at 6:30, I put my food in my bag and finished packing my day bag, I grabbed my pillow and all of my luggage and hopped in the car off to school. I arrived at school at 8:25, got all of my luggage out of the car, and was ready to go. Everyone arrived and we packed the bus, picked our seats, grabbed surfboards and wetsuits, and were ready to set off to Phillip Island. The drive was about 75 minutes, we went straight through to Smiths Beach for our first surf. We jumped off the bus, stretched our legs, and went down to the beach. My group was doing beach games first so we played some volleyball and then went back up to the bus, chucked on our wetsuits, and went on down to the beach for our first surf of the week. I caught a few waves and stayed on the shore for a while before heading back up for showers before we left. We finally arrived at camp, set up our tents, and had a little free time before dinner. We all sat around in a circle with our Trangia’s and began cooking dinner. I made pasta for Sienna and I. After dinner, we washed up, put on warm clothes, and set off to see the penguins. We walked down the runway when we arrived, sat down, and started watching the penguins come in from the water. We then travelled back to camp and got ready for bed.

DAY 2-

On the second day, I woke up to Gabby jumping on Sienna and I at 7:00 am. We got up, made cereal for breakfast, popped a juice box, and had a little chat with the girls before getting ready to leave for another surf day. We brushed our teeth, got dressed, and packed our day bags. We boarded the bus and left for Smiths Beach, where half the group surfed first and the second went for a walk along the beach to YCW. After the rotation between surfing and hiking, we left smiths beach we went down to the Phillip Island Koala Sanctuary. We strolled through the parklands and saw a few koalas on the way. After that we went into San Remo for some lunch, and crossed the bridge to Churchill island where we participated in a few activities. Students milked cows but I gave that one a miss, we did some whip cracking and met Billie the sheepdog. After Churchill, we went straight down to Cowes for dinner. The girls and I had a dinner date and had Chinese. I got satay beef and fried rice. After dinner, we were off to Cape Woolamai where we watched the sunset as we walked along the beach, through the bushes and alongside the creepy birds flying at and around our feet and swooping us. The track looped us back to the beach where we started. We then headed back to camp, brushed our teeth and went to bed.

DAY 3-

It was the final day, I woke up to Watto shaking our tent to wake us at around 7:30. We packed our bags and packed up our tents. We ate breakfast and set off for the run home. We firstly arrived at Smiths Beach for an optional surf, I decided to just go for a beach walk with the girls, we had a search through the rock pools and played with crabs. We hopped back on the bus and had lunch at San Remo. We got sandwiches and a drink, went to the bathroom and hopped back on the bus. We drove the rest of the way home, had a little party at the back of the bus like usual and snuck in a cheeky nap. We arrived back at school around 2:30, washed our wetsuits and rash vests, cleaned up the bus and grabbed our bags ready to go home.

Bel Ferra