Year 9 Camp

Year 9 Anglesea Camp:

Organising a successful school camp involves a great deal of planning but it’s true to say that there is always a little luck involved. While luck may have been in short supply over the last 12 months, we certainly got our share of the good stuff for the 2021 Year 9 Anglesea Camp. Firstly, we had perfect conditions for surfing on Wednesday and Thursday. Each day saw around 50 eager, young grommets bussed down to Anglesea Main Beach to learn the basics before getting out in the surf to test their skills. With so many surfers in the water at once, ‘drop-in etiquette’ might not have been strictly observed but, by all accounts, we saw some future pros in the making.

Secondly, we were lucky to only have a splash of the forecast rain across Thursday evening; just enough to help cool the cabins (a little…) but not enough to disrupt our planned activities. The Giant Pod Swing and High Ropes seemed to be the favourite rotations of most campers. Teachers were unanimously impressed with the courage and can-do attitude of the campers as they overcame (perfectly reasonable) twinges of acrophobia to scale, and swing through, the dizzying heights. I myself was happier hauling in yabbies with both feet firmly on the ground.

Finally, we were extremely fortunate to get in and out of Anglesea at all. We had finished our activities and loaded up the busses for the journey home when news came through of the impending lockdown. The sound of the ‘ring of steel’ crashing into place behind us wasn’t enough to keep more than a few weary students from catching up on a couple of hours of sleep which they’d traded for general cabin-hijinks over the previous two nights.

All in all, a bit of planning, a lot of luck and three bus-loads of sheer enthusiasm made the Year 9 Anglesea Camp a brilliant experience full of memories that I’m sure we will carry with us, long after we’ve forgotten everything we might have learned if we’d stayed in class.

Make sure to check out the school’s Facebook page for more pictures and videos of all the fun had on camp!

Tim Polwarth,

On behalf of the Year 9 Team and all the amazing camp staff.