Zia's Recount

The First Two Days of Camp

The skies were cloudy and grey on the morning of the 28^th of February. My blood was pumping and my excitement 

level was on fire. I couldn’t wait to go on our school camp at the lovely Glentui Meadows.

First, I quickly grabbed all of my clothes, got changed, did all my usual jobs, then scooped up all of my stuff and booted it in the car. My bag was extremely heavy. It felt like I was lifting an over sized buffalo. After the gruesome pain of heaving and tugging, it was finally time to go to school. Dad and I immediately hopped in the car and we were on our way.

Once we arrived at Merrin School, I saw all of my friends instantly. I briskly ran out to them and we started a long conversation. Whilst talking, I heard Mrs Black calling out that there was to be a meeting for all parents and students in two minutes. We all hastily ran onto the court and sat down. Silence filled the atmosphere.

After a few minutes of administration with Mrs Black, my Dad and I gathered up all of the people that would be in our car on the ride to the campsite. When we finally found everyone, it was time to get on the road. We drove for an hour or so until we reached the mountainous camping ground.

I was so overwhelmed and enthused that I couldn’t wait to hear and find out about the mysterious bunk rooms. But first, we had to go through another round of admin. I wasn’t very happy about that. The anxiety and waiting filled my body like a brand new swimming pool getting ready to get filled up.  But before I went anywhere, I said goodbye to my Dad and gave him a big bear-hug.

Once all of my things were settled in the room, I got ready for the first activity of the five, The River Study. On the way there, we had to walk down a large number of steps to get to the Lower Field which lead to the river. Exhaustion quickly showed in the way I moved my body but I pushed through it. When we arrived at the river we met two ladies from the Department of Conservation (DOC) and they told us that we would be examining the river for insects. The whole purpose of the exercise was to see if Glentui had a safe, clean and healthy river.

Following an hour of discovering and finding, it was time to move on to the yummiest activity of all, lunch! But first I had to walk up those treacherous steps again. I started at the front of the group and slowly made my way up the slippery steps. I kept thinking that I could do it and that I shouldn’t stop. In a matter of minutes, I was finally at the top of the steps and I could eat my scrumptious lunch. I raced as fast as a cheetah to my cabin, scooped up my lunchbox and made my way into the dining hall. I gobbled up all my appetizing meal while chatting to my friends.

Later, it was time to enjoy the experiences of outdoor cooking. We walked down the tiresome steps and into the luscious fields. When we arrived to the spot where we were going to set up, Mr Barr told us that we were to make pikelets. Firstly, we had to make the mixture. I placed all the ingredients into a big bowl and stirred it steadily. The next step was to actually cook the mixture into pikelets. Isobel and I were in a team together and we were eager to have some pikelets.

After a few tries at making the delicious meal, our fire went out. We tried to light it again but luck was not on our side. Then, in a blink of an eye, it caught a spark. YAY! Mr Barr sadly then told us that it was time to pack up. The aroma of sweet smelling food filled the air like a balloon expanding into its usual shape.

As soon as we packed everything up, walked up the steep steps and made our way back to the campground, we had the chance to have some free time. A thought quickly popped into my mind. Where was everyone? I looked around and surprisingly saw that they were all in the swimming pool and according to their faces, the water was freezing. I decided not to go in the pool but to have a shower instead. Just as I finished my shower, I heard everyone running into the toilet/shower rooms. I guessed that swim time was over. So I quickly got changed and prepared myself for dinner.

30 minutes later, I made my way to the dining room, ready to have an amazing meal of pasta and mince. I grabbed a plate of food, thanked the parents, sat down and began to eat.The first mouthful was astonishingly delicious. The taste was dancing across my taste buds and it was having a disco party. I couldn’t wait to have more. The wait for seconds felt like a year, I sat there gazing at all the food until Mr Barr said that it was time for the next helping of grub. I rushed up into the queue and Duncan handed me another plate.

Soon after dinner, we had an outdoor adventures talk with the abseiling lady named Naomi. She told us about what we needed to do keep ourselves safe in the outdoors. Concentration was in the room as she spoke. Everyone was listening hard.

When Naomi finished her interesting talk, it was time for bed. I sprinted to my bunk room, climbed the ladder and was out like a light. Dreams and thoughts enclosed my mind. I was as peaceful as a butterfly.

The morning arrived hurriedly. Laziness was definitely in our midst when I woke up to see everyone’s faces. I jumped out of bed and changed my clothes from pyjamas to casual clothes. I then advanced towards the dining hall. The smell of cereal, toast and fruit roamed the air and my taste buds were already starting to tingle.

Later, we had our turn at the wonderful sketch class. The aim was to sketch a beautiful view of Glentui Meadows. I used intricate details and crucial shapes but it still didn’t look like I had hoped. Either way, I still enjoyed the class.

Next, we played initiative games with Mrs Black. It was all about trust and using your initiative, hence the name Initiative Games. We were then told that we had to put on a blindfold. I knew that the game would be very interesting. The game was called Horseshoes. We had to put all the horseshoes (cups) under the legs of our horse (chair) to win the game but the trick is that there are 8 legs between the 2 people and only 7 cups.

Smiles were pulled on everyone’s faces as Lilly and Tony battled it out to steal each others horseshoes. Laughter, joy and happiness circled the room like a running fan. We were all having a ball of a time.

Finally, it was our groups turn to abseil. I was second to go down. My mind was in full power and I was excited as I had never done something this challenging before. It took a few seconds to get used to but I eventually got the hang of things. Once down, I was unclipped and traveled up some more steps.

As soon as everyone had completed doing the challenging exercise, we went to eat dinner. Chicken, salad and potatoes lined the tables as if the trays were all racing cars, ready to start a race. I received my dinner and ate it all up in a matter of seconds.

40 minutes after dinner it was time to play the exciting game of spotlight. We played for an hour, laughed and had fun, until it was about 9.20pm. We were told that we had to stop the game and go back up to bed. I was upset that we had to stop but my body ached and my eyes were slowly closing. I did my necessary jobs, lay my head on the pillow and slowly closed my eyes.

I relaxed myself and dreamed about what would be in store for the upcoming days of camp. I was super excited and I couldn’t wait to experience more amazing adventures that would happen on the last two days of camp.

By Zia Mehta