Yet again we headed for our favourite trip of the year, Year 9 Adventure camp at Mount Buffalo. We were so lucky this year as the restrictions just eased, allowing us to take 4 classes up for a few days of outdoor activities. First up, Brigid and Champagnat headed up the mountain. Midweek we had a swap over and Chisholm and Patrick had their turn. What a week it was! The weather was fabolous (at least for the first 4 days) and the students were keen to get into it. Hugh Canning from the Brigid class explains as follows;

“We arrived at school on Monday at half past eight, keen but very tired. We all chucked our bags on the bus then wisely choose our seats.The bus trip took over 2 hours but it felt longer. We arrived at camp around lunchtime and set up our tents and other equipment, we were put in groups from A to D, we then headed off to our first activities. Our first activity was abseiling. Abseiling is a sport or activity of descending a rock face by using a doubled rope coiled round the body and attached to something above you. There were 3 levels, the first at 10 metres, the second at 25 metres and the third (the last one) at 35 metres. Some kids did all three and some only attempted the first, but they all were pushed out of their comfort zone and tried new things. We then carried on to our second activity, crevassing. Crevassing is a lot like caving, where you maneuver your way through tight spaces and cracks in rocks. It was great fun with lots of little challenges. Some people were claustrophobic and were very nervous but they pushed their limits and made their way through it. There was a very skinny and challenging ladder at the end of the activity that most people got up the ladder. We then walked back to camp for our roast dinner (the food at camp was very good). After dinner we got our torches and headed for a night walk around the lake, the walk was long and enough to put us to sleep that night. The next morning we woke up to no hot water due to a student’s 45 minute shower. After breaky (cereal) we headed off for our first activity of the day, canoeing. Mrs Bell was the star of that after a student pushed her off the canoe, luckily she survived the big tumble. In canoeing we played lots of games and some relays, it was very enjoyable. After a nice sandwich for lunch we then hit the rocks for a bit of rock climbing, we had a briefing and were taught how to use the harness’ and were given special shoes, we then headed up to the rock slabs to climb. Some people got all the way up and some only half way but they all pushed themselves. Dinner on the second night was awesome! We had parmas and chips, and we also got to have a warm shower that night. That night we also had a night walk up to the galleries. It was a very enjoyable walk. We had a good night’s sleep and woke up to some rain. After bacon and eggs for breakfast we headed off to our last activity for the camp. Our last activity was team games. Team games was working together as a group and trusting each other, we played a variety of different games and they were all very fun. The bus trip home was a very slow one. We were all very tired and worn out from our adventurous 3 day camp.

Thanks to all the teachers for giving up their time to take us to this camp and a big shout out to Shane for the food!”

As a teacher and fellow camp attendee I have to say that these groups were fantastic. Their behaviour was impeccable and their enthusiasm contiguous. They were part of making this camp an absolute success. Camaraderie, encouragement and a will to never give up were some of the things that stood out to me. They all need to be commended, not only for their behaviour but also for the willingness to help out, at camp and during clean-up when we got home. For me, it was a joy to see our students, away from computers, being outdoors in what should be described as “a well needed break from COVID”.

Team games

   

Abseiling

 

Burstons Crevasse