Dave's Camp Recount

­­­­­­­­Camp at Glentui

On Tuesday, 28^th of February, most students who are year 7 and 8 in Merrin School went to Glentui Camp. We went there by parent’s cars because if we went by bus, it would cost more money. I was in Zia’s father’s car. One of my friends, Sam, was in the same car with me. Sam and I talked while going. We also heard music that Zia turned on. I was excited.

When we arrived at Glentui Camp we left our bags in our bunkroom and we went to the common room. Mr Barr, Mr Russell and Mrs Mac had already divided us into 5 groups. I was in Group 1.

My group did abseiling first for our first rotation. I had never abseiled before and I thought it would be hard. I was third from last at abseiling in my group. The height that we abseiled was about 5~8 metres. I felt scared because I thought I might fall down. When I was coming down I felt easier. I felt more confident. Finally I finished abseiling. I wanted to do again because it is exciting to abseil. I will abseil next time as well.

After when we finished abseiling, it was already time for lunch. When we all had our lunch we could play until 1:30. At 1:30 Mr Barr, Mr Russell and Mrs Mac blew a whistle and we went to the common room. Mr Barr said my group is going to river to study. My group and Group 4 went together. There were too many people so my group went to river to study while Group 4 stayed and played softball with Mr Russell.

I saw some insects that I never saw before. I learnt some things about the river. One hour later, my group played softball with Mr Russell. We divided into two teams and we played softball. My team lost by few points but I still enjoyed playing softball.

From 4 o’clock to 5:30 was free time. We could do anything and we were able to swim. Jeremiah and I swam but Sam didn’t because he didn’t have swimming togs. I had fun playing with Jeremiah in the pool.

5:30 to 6:30 was dinner time. We had delicious dinner. After dinner the teacher who taught us how to abseil came and she told us what we needed to go on a walk. We played games as well. She talked for long time and it was already time to go bed when she finished talking. They gave us Milo before going to bed.

At night I couldn’t sleep because I wasn’t tired. Sam, Jeremiah and I didn’t sleep until 10 o’clock because we could talk until 10 o’clock. But still I wasn’t tired and we talked little bit more. We started to feel tired and we slept. Sam woke Jeremiah and I up at 7 o’clock and I went to have shower. The water was very cold when I went to have shower. At 7:15 Jeremiah went to have his shower. After he had showered he told us that the water was warm. I think water turns warm from 7:15.

9’clock was breakfast. We had to get ready for third rotation which was outdoor cooking with Mr Barr. From 9 o’clock to 11 o’clock we were going to cook. We had to get wood that is easy to burn. Dried wood is easy to burn. Mr Barr told us if it breaks easily then that wood is dead but if it doesn’t break easily than it is still alive.

We cooked pancakes. We needed to make fire and put a can on top and we had to put pancakes mixture on top. My partner was Shunto. We made together and we shared our pancakes. We made about 3 pancakes. Mrs Thornton helped us. She is my ESOL teacher. I gave some pancakes to her. They tasted good. I wanted to make more but we had to stop cooking.

From 11o’clock we started a fourth rotation. My group did sketching with Mrs Mac. I drew one tree because I thought that was the easiest thing to draw. But it was very hard. I had to finish drawing it. It was 1 o’clock when I finished drawing.

At 1 o’clock we had lunch and the last program started at 2 o’clock. My group was doing indoor with Mrs Black. We played lots of games and I enjoyed playing with the ball the best. We needed to stand, make big circle and three people will be in the circle. One of those three people is standing in the front and another person will stand behind the first person and grab the front person’s clothes. Lastly the person will stand at the back and try not to get hit. The first person and second person have to protect the last person from getting hit by the ball. If the last person gets hit by the ball the first person will join the circle, the second person will be in the front and the one who got hit will be the last person.

From 4 o’clock was free time. Jeremiah and I swam but Sam didn’t swim again. Paige, Lisa and Melissa were there as well so Jeremiah and I splashed water on them. We had a lot of fun.

We were very hungry after swimming so we ate some snacks. 5:30 was dinner time and we lined up and went to eat dinner. Jeremiah, Sam and I were going to the long walk on Thursday so after dinner we had to meet with those people who were going to do the long walk. Mr Russell and Mr Barr told us what we needed to take for the long walk. After, when they finished talking, Jeremiah, Sam and I went to pack our bags for the next day.

Dinner finished at 7:30 and some people were allowed to play outdoor games with Mr Barr or play board games with Mrs Mac. I chose to play outdoor games with Mr Barr. We played non-stop cricket. I had lots of fun. I like playing sport where we can hit and catch balls like cricket, baseball or softball.

About 8 o’clock it was dark enough to play spotlight. We could hide in one area where Mr Barr said we could go. Sam and I went together and we hid beside trees. But we got caught by some people. We played three times but Sam and I got caught every time. There were some people who didn’t get caught. I don’t know how they hid and where.

Everyone was tired after playing spotlight. I felt really tired. Sam and Jeremiah felt tired as well. We all went to bed as soon as we arrived into our bunk room.

On Thursday morning, I couldn’t get up at 7:30 because I was very tired. So I woke up at 7:50. I brushed quickly and Sam, Jeremiah and I ran down to the first floor. We had to go down because my bunk room was on the second floor.

We were going to go for a long walk to the mountain but it was raining heavily so we had to wait until it stopped raining. Meanwhile, we divided into 3 groups. Group one, two, three are same but group 4 and 5 people went into the group one, two or three. So I was still in group 1. My group played with balloons with Mrs Mac. We did lots of activities.

We had to hit the balloon and it shouldn’t have touched the ground. And we had to pass the balloon as well. In our group, we divided into 4 groups. My group wasn’t good and my group was last. But I had a lot of fun playing with balloons.

From 10:30 group one did one thing with Mr Russell. He gave us some things to put on my eyes so I couldn’t see. We played games without using eyes and I found out that eyes are important. It was very uncomfortable not being able to see.

At 1o’clock we rode to one place where we started walking. We waited until everyone who was going on the long walk and met at that place. We started walking from 2 o’clock

 It was windy but it wasn’t raining. Sam and I walked together. We were tired. I regretted going on the long walk. Sam and I talked while walking up the mountain. About 30minutes later since we started walking at about 2:30 we rested and started walking. At about 5 o’clock we reached the top. We stayed for a few minutes and we came down again. The ground was muddy when we were coming down. Some people went in the mud but I didn’t. I thought we would be back at camp in 3 or 4 hours but we arrived back at 7 o’clock. We had been walking for 5 hours.

I had to have a shower because my feet were muddy. We had dinner after we came back from walking. It was about 7:30 and we usually had dinner at 5:30 in camp.

From 8:30, we watched a movie called “Mr Bean’s Disaster.” It was funny but I was very tired and I can’t remember the story well. It was about 10:30 when the movie finished. I was very tired. We went to our bunk room. I was going to go to my bed but people in the bottom bunk found some stones in their sleeping bags. But when I checked my bed there was nothing. I was very tired and went to sleep as soon as I went to bed.

On Friday, which was the last day I woke up at 7:30. I talked with Sam and Jeremiah and at 8 o’clock we went down to eat breakfast. After breakfast Mr Barr chose 20 people to stay and help with cleaning. The rest played some sports with Mr Barr. I played sports and I played cricket. We could choose to play cricket, soccer or volleyball. We played until 11 o’clock and we came back to camp again. We had morning tea and at 11:30 we went to play again. I played cricket and my team won a few times and lost few times. At 12:30 we had to go to camp again.

At 12:30 we ate lunch and it was the last food that we ate at camp. We had a sausage sizzle. It was delicious and we came to school after lunch. I enjoyed the sausage sizzle so I ate twice.

I enjoyed staying at camp. I think this camp was the best camp that I have ever been to. I like camping because I had the chance to abseil and other fun things and had delicious food. I enjoyed everything that I did at camp. I want to go camping again. 

Tony's Camp Recount

The First Two Days of Camp

On Tuesday the 28^th of February was the day I was going to camp for the very first time.

When my alarm went on at 7:30 I woke up with excitement and joy. I quickly got dressed, brushed my teeth, packed my things and off to school I went.

Once I made it to school I had to put my things and belongings in a trailer. The car I went in was Zia’s dad’s car. Vincent, Sam, Dave and Brittany were in his car as well. The ride from Christchurch took 1 hour and 30 minutes.

Once we made it to Glentui we had to go into the dining hall to meet Jarn and Gea. (Jarn and Gea is the owner of Glentui camp they also the chiefs)

After meeting Jarn and Gea Mr Russell split us into 5 groups. I was in group 5. After that it was the first rotation. Group 5 and group 3 were doing water study, group 1 was doing abseiling, group 2 was doing outdoor cooking with Mr Barr. We then had to walk down some stairs which I call the very annoying stairs because when you walk down the stairs its ok but when you go back up the stairs its really hard because there’s lots of stairs  to walk. Once we went down to the instructors, they said that there’s too many people here and not enough equipment. So Mr Russell took my group and the instructors took group 3. Mr Russell then went back up the annoying stairs to get the gear to play softball.

When Mr Russell came back with the softball gear he split us up into two teams. After each team had three rounds of batting Mr Russell went down to the river to see if  Group 3 was done. After a minute or two Mr Russell came back with Group 3, then we went down to the river.

Once we got down to the river we had to split into groups. In my group there was Sam and Isobel. Water study was overwhelming. After we finished doing water study we went back up the annoying stairs. Once we made it up the stairs we went into the common room to sit down. Once we rejoined with everyone it was time for the 2^nd rotation outdoor cooking with Mr Barr.

Mr Barr told us to go down the annoying stairs and wait down in the field. After a while Mr Barr came down with some cooking gear. Next Mr Barr told us to come around the table and find a partner I picked Jamie. Then we had to pick a bowl and add some flour, sugar, baking powder, and an egg. After that we then had to beat up all the ingredients together. Then each group got a hobo stove and some sticks. Then we had to find a place to start cooking. It took us a while to get the fire going. Jamie and I only made two pikelets.

Then it was DINNER. (I was so hungry) For dinner we had pasta it was the best pasta I ever had. After that we had desert we had ice cream with plum (yuck). After we all finished our dessert we had to go to our bunkroom. In my bunkroom there was Brock, Jack, Matt, Loyd, Jamie and Luke. Then it was lights off so I went to sleep.

Day 2

I woke up at 7:40 because Luke woke me up. Anyway I went to the sink to brush my teeth and went back to my bunkroom. I waited till 8 o’clock in my bed to eat breakfast then one of the teachers said it was breakfast time so I rush into the dining hall to eat breakfast. For breakfast we cereal and toast. After we had breakfast it was time for rotation 3.

At rotation 3 I did sketching with Mrs Mac. We were sketching patterns and then we had to find a partner to sketch the forest. I picked Campbell. Then we had a little break. We had cookies.

It was time for rotation 4- Interactive games with Mrs Black. First we had to line up in our birthdays without talking, it was hard. Then we had to play this game where you had to find 4 cups and place them under the chair legs, blind folded. I banged my head on the chair a couple of times. Besides me banging my head it was a really fun game. I liked playing interactive games with Mrs Black.

The last rotation I was so excited :

ABSEILING

Once my group and I got to the hill we had to put on a harness. Then our instructor Naomi asked us who wanted to go first. (I was third). Once it was my turn I was nervous. Once I got down I was relieved that I made it down to the bottom safely. Then I had to walk a long way up a hill. Once I made it up the hill I was back at the entrance. After a while abseiling was finished so I walked back to camp and ate dinner.

Today’s lunch was drum sticks with wedges and broccoli. For desert we had crepe with cream and plum sauce, again yuck. After 10 mins we had Milo and cookies then it was bed time.

So that was the first two days of my camp. It was a really extraordinary experience. I can’t wait to go to camp at high school. I just hope it is good as this camp.

Madi's Camp Recount

        GLENTUI CAMP 2012!!!!!!!!

I jumped out of the car ready to make my bed and tidy my bunk room for once.

Before we got to Glentui camp Mrs. Black told us to take our bags or should I say wardrobes into the hall.

Once everybody arrived we were told the safety and boundaries of Glentui camp. Then shortly after we got to go into our bunkrooms. We had 15 minutes to unpack and make our beds. We finished early then everybody else did too so we just played in our bunk rooms.

The whistle blew and it was time for the first rotations. I was in group 4 with Bailey. Our first activity was outdoor cooking. We made hobo stoves cans but it couldn’t liight with nothing to catch fire so we went out and collected pine needles and sticks and as many dry things as we could find.

After that it was time to make the pikelets mixture we put flower, eggs, sugar, milk and baking powder mixed all up.

We lit the fire and puff it went out we lit it again and puff it went out and out and out and out by that time most groups have had about 5 pikelets and Bailey and I have had none. Then Ben's dad found out how to make the hobo stove work! He put some holes in the top and started to blow. It started to work just like that. Five minutes later and our first pikelet was ready to flip. Bailey tried and it kind of failed because it stuck to the bottom.

Mr. Barr said it was time to finish so we packed up and went up the 178 steps. When we were up it was morning tea I had to clean the stuck on pikelet mixture off the cans. Then I had a Cookie and went to my bunkrooms to get ready for the next rotations.

We went down to Mr. Russell down the steps and on to the steps again I just can’t get over how many there were. We did some work with compasses Bailey and I had no idea what to do. Then we went back up the steep, slippery stairs, it was exhausting!

When we reached camp it was lunch time. After lunch we had some free time lots of people wanted to go into the green looking pool. I quickly got changed then got into the pool with all my friends. I put my foot in and it was freezing I really didn’t want to go in anymore. After 10 minutes of dipping my foot into the pool I decided to jump in at first it was so so cold I couldn’t feel my toes so I got out. By that time we had to get out anyway.

We were allowed to go into our cabins or play outside and do anything except for jumping off a cliff! My cabin decided to talk in our cabin, shortly after that we had to line up in the Common Room for dinner.

For dinner we had peas, carrots and pasta; for dessert we had French pancakes berry sauce whipped cream and vanilla ice-cream it was delicious! Then we got to go back to our cabins to get ready for the first aid and safety with Naomi. Sean and Caleb were the “models” and I got to throw water on them and Caleb was the one with polyester t-shirt and shorts and Sean was the one with thermals and other warm clothes on.

After I chucked water on them I got a piece of cardboard and we had to make wind and then they had to stand in front of a fan. Then we went back to our bunk rooms to get ready for bed.

Shortly after that it was lights out we got about 10 adults to tell us to go to sleep because we were talking. Then we got to sleep eventually.

The next day we got dressed and had breakfast. There was fruit salad, rice bubbles and toast I picked toast and fruit salad. Then we did rotations the first rotation for our group was going down to the field to play Softball with Mr. Russell. Every time it was my turn to bat Mr. Russell said “Watch out this girl is a great batter,” but I really didn’t believe him. Then it was time to go down to River Study.

We had to wait for the group before us to finish some people got a net and a white container. To get the insects we had to rub our foot on the rocks on the ground of the river so it went foggy so the little insects couldn’t see where they were going and they were going into the net.

We sorted the bugs out then put them into little compartments in the white container. After we returned the bugs into the river we tested out how clear the water was with this special tube we found out that the river was 88% clean.

Then we went up for lunch we had sandwiches with lettuce, ham, cheese and carrots.

Long pants, good shoes and hair tied up why? Well I was going Abseiling. I was so nervous it was like I had thousands of chrysalises inside my tummy and hatched into butterflies. I was going to go 5^th but I hesitated and went last. I really wished I didn’t because the wait took forever.

There I was, going backwards down the steep, hard cliff. I got to the edge and took a deep breath little step by little step urging to get down I came to a bit where it was really slippery.

I didn’t have good grip but then about 4 seconds later I got good grip which was a relief! Little step by little step again I made my way down to the bottom I was relieved to get down I thought, that wasn’t that bad could I go again?

The first 2 days of camp Glentui they were extremely busy, fun and exciting!!!! 

Aieshah's Camp Recount

Glentui Camp 2012

On Tuesday morning I woke up I got so excited, I ran to mum and I said, “Mum, mum, I am going to camp today. YAY! Quick. Where is my bag? I need it. I don’t want to be late.” Then mum said that I wouldn’t be late as I woke up too early. The time was 6 am. “Ok but I am still getting ready,” I said.

Next I brushed my hair, had some breakfast and rushed out the door as the school rang mum. But mum’s phone wouldn’t let her answer it. We went in the car and hurried to Merrin School. As we got there, there was nobody at the field. “Oh no, I think we are late,” I said to mum. It turned out that everyone was on the court. But I was too early as not many people had arrived yet. I had gotten worried as I thought that the school rang mum to tell us that we were late but it was really to talk about my sister.

When everyone got to the school, we put all of our things in the car and then we went to sit down and listen to the teachers speak. After a long talk, we got in the car and left for Glentui Meadows. 

 

The drive was very long and boring except for the fact that we were eating lots of lollies. Next we put our bags in the dining room and then the teacher was talking and then the caretakers of Glentui started to talk and explain the rules. Next we put our bags in our bunkrooms and then we discussed sleeping arrangements. All my friends wanted to go on the top bunks so that decision was very hard. But I had an idea. I told everyone that we should have me on the top and Bailey underneath, Madi on the other top with Kyla underneath, Lilly was on the bottom of Vanessa and Caitlin had a bunk to herself. Every night we swapped beds so everyone had a turn on the top. 

Then after that we had to go to the meeting room and line up in our teams. The teachers explained where we were going. First, our group went to the River Study. We looked at the water and saw if there were any bugs that we could have caught with our net. My team got heaps of the bugs in our net. Then after that, we had to split groups and see how clean the water was with the DOC ladies. We discovered that the water was very clean and with one of the DOC ladies we had to use this interesting tube and put it in the water and saw if we could still see the black rod. 

Then we switched activities and we went to Mr. Russell. We played some outdoor games. The outdoor game that we played was softball. When it was my turn to bat, I smashed the ball really far and got a home run. Then it was Sam’s turn and he smacked it further than I did. It went past the trees and over the little hill. 

Next we had to go up to the top of the stairs to have some lunch. I was like “OMG! It’s lunch. YAY! I can go eat!” so I ran up the steps and had some lunch but when I got there, everyone was in line so I had to go to the back of the line because our group was the last to arrive back.  I really wished that the line would move quicker.

After lunch, we all went to our room and my friend’s and I started to play a game but we had to go to our next activity with Mrs Black and Neil. We played shoeing the horse. You had to put the four cups under the legs of your chair and then you had to try and steal your opponent’s cups. When it was Riain and Vanessa’s turn, Riain jumped over and squished her. When it was my turn I bumped heads with Vanessa. Then we had to stop as Vanessa was hurt. She had to sit and watch for the rest of the activity. I was lucky to get another turn as the game was very popular. That was one of the best games that I played but we still had one more activity to do and that was outdoor cooking with Mr Barr. 

Firstly, we were told that we were to make pikelets. We had to gather sticks and stones to put under our Hobo Stove. Then, when he showed us how to make the mix, he realised that he had forgotten to bring the butter and milk so Riain and Sophie had to run up the stairs and get the crucial ingredients. We had to wait for a long time as they couldn’t find them. When they finally got back, we had to make the batter for our piklets. Then when we finished the batter, we had to get into a group of two or three. I went with Kyla and Vanessa but Neil helped us. Then Mr Barr handed out the Hobo Stoves and Riain and Sam got the biggest one because their hole was the best. When we were allowed to make our pikelets, I lit the match and we had to do it a couple of times as the flame wasn’t strong. But when it finally caught a spark, we put the mix on the Hobo Stove. I got to flip the first pikelet. I also got to eat it. It was delicious. 

After that, we went back up the steps and had free time. My friends and I went into our cabin and sat down and talked. But before we knew it, it was tea time. We had pasta, mince and salad. It was delicious. Then we went back to our cabin and played some board games. 

We played spotlight when it got dark but Madi couldn’t play for half of it as she got a bad bee sting. Then after a couple of games of Spotlight, we went and had some Milo’s and cookies. That was YUM. 

Next we went to our bunkroom and got changed in to our pyjamas. We then brushed our teeth and went to the toilet. Then we went back to our bunkroom and Lilly started doing this weird dance. We all had to copy what she did. When we all had to go to bed and turn off the light, we all turned our torches on and started talking. Then some of us went to sleep like me and the other girls kept on talking so a teacher came in and told them off and told them that they would be split up if they kept they kept talking, so they all went to sleep.

On the next day, we had to go for a big long walk so we got ready for it but it wasn’t a nice day. The teachers checked our bags to see if we had a waterproof jacket with a hood and a water bottle. When they finished checking our bags, we had to line up if you were going on the three hour walk. So we left and started walking.

5 hours later, we arrived back at camp. It was a really long walk. My friends and I went and ran into the shower and after that we went back to the bunkroom. Our feet were so sore. We had to have tea after that and we didn’t have any dessert.  But we got to watch a movie. It was funny. Then we went to bed. We all fell asleep extremely quickly. 

On the next day, we had to pack up our stuff and go home. The teacher gave us a number and some of us had to go and do the cleaning and some people went to play a game. I had to go and clean but that was alright. We had to vacuum all the rooms. Then Lilly and I had to go to meeting room and we had to pick up all the little specks of rubbish. Then Mr Russell said that we could play a game. Lilly and I just played moshibelly cards. 

 After that when it was morning tea time we had some cookies.   That was so YUM then we had to go and play a game with Mr Barr and we played cricket or volleyball. But I played volleyball. We stayed there for half an hour and then after that we had to go and  and some lunch. It was yum. Then after the lunch, the teachers quickly said a little comment to the caretakers.  And then we had to go to the cars and go back to school and I was in Madi L.R Dads car and he went the other way so we got there before all the other people so when we went to go and see room 15 play their sport . My mum came so I went to go and see her so after that we went back to see all the other people that had just came back from camp.

After that some people had a water fight that was so fun. But  then some think it was not fun was when some people put so much water all down my back. I was so wet when I went in the car to go home. That was the best camp I have had in my life I loved that camp and I will never forget that camp.

By Aieshah (with Zia's editing assistance).

Jackie's Camp Recount

School

It was Friday in the morning. I wasn’t going to camp so I had to go to school. Luckily Harry was there so it made the day go a lot smoother. We went into our classes, got our work and entered Room 15.

Class began. I had to sit on the cold, hard ground. Mr Ford was away so Mrs Black was teaching instead. They were having a long and dull class discussion about camp and abseiling. I was so bored that I started daydreaming and thinking about what the people at camp were doing.

Next we did work. I had several books and booklets of work while Harry only had one booklet and one sheet. He completed it all right after morning tea.

After lunch we played a game of cricket. After only five people it was already side-away. Then I saw a few cars that were parked on the basket ball court so I grabbed my bag and went home.

I wasn’t really upset that I wasn’t at camp. I think proper camps should be in the wilderness in tents. The last camp I went on had a park right next to it with a fish ‘n’ chip shop right across the street so I don’t think that that camp is worth over $150. It was an extremely boring day at Room 15.

By Jackie Qiu