Year 9 Camps 

Horse Riding Camp:  Howqua Hills

At 7:45am we all met in the main car park at school.  It took awhile to get going but we hit the road at 8:20am.  It took us 4 hours to get to our destination travelling to the Howqua Hills via Merrijig.  We stopped in Yea for a toilet break and to have a snack at the Yea Bakery arriving at camp by 12 0'clock.  We sorted out our cabin groups when we arrived and Ms Ford was right, they were very rustic.  We discovered pretty quickly that nights and mornings could be very cold.

Tuesday we worked on practising our riding skills going up and down the mountains and steering on the small tracks.  That night we went for our first peaceful night walk.  We woke to rain on Wednesday morning but it cleared up and was sunny in the afternoon.  Thursday we went riding for three and a half hours and did a fair bit of trotting.  By the end of the week we all had learned how to brush and wash our horses and to saddle and unsaddle them.  

The highlight of the week was bonding with each other and our horses and looking after our horses for the week.

Alexus Driscoll and the Year 9 Horse Riders

Rafting Camp:  Snowy River

On Monday 8th November, 12 sleepy but excited Year 9 students boarded a bus headed to the Snowy River.  We arrived at Karoonda Park where we met our guides, Arby and Geza, who talked us through the equipment and helped us pack our gear into dry bags. 

We drove through windy roads and beautiful scenery down to the Snowy River in Kosciuszko National Park (NSW) and set up camp at Running Waters Campground.  We helped get everything ready – our tarps to sleep under, our kitchen, a campfire and the rafts – this would be our routine at the end of each day. 

On Tuesday morning after packing everything up, we set off down the river.  We had 2 large rafts that each held 4 students/teachers, a guide and ALL our luggage and food for the week!  We also had 3 small rafts that 2 of us could use together to navigate the rapids.  We travelled approximately 15km each day, through calm, long and wide pools, speeding up to narrow, rocky and exciting rapids.  

We enjoyed the gorgeous scenery, relaxed pace and being able to jump into the water for a swim and having splash fights along our way.   

We spent our next 2 nights at Willis Campground and Red Rock Gorge in the Alpine National Park, before finishing up our rafting with a BBQ pot roast and pack up at the enormous McKillops Bridge.  We headed back to Karoonda Park on Thursday night where we got to spend the night at their beautiful lodge, avoiding the heavy downfall and getting the added bonus of seeing a koala and its baby on its back!   

We all had such an amazing time; it was a great experience especially after spending so much time in lockdown.  We loved getting to know each other and developing our friendships, whilst learning a wealth of new skills. 

Mrs Dennison, Leigh (student teacher) and the 2021 Year 9 Snowy kids