Tal's Camp Recount

The First two days of Camp Glentui

 Beep! Beep! Beep! My alarm went off at 7am on Tuesday the 28^th of February and as I awoke my eyes lit up filled with energy and excitement! It was the day the Year 7 & 8 students at my school went to camp at Glentui Meadows.

I quickly whipped on my clothing and rushed into the kitchen to make my lunch. My tummy squelched and grumbled, making all this delicious food was making me hungry! So I zipped into the cupboard took out some cereal, and quietly munched it down. Time was ticking fast! It was already 8:10am! We had to be at school by 8:30am and we would depart our lovely school at 9:00. It was time to go. Dad helped me take my reasonably small suitcase that I had packed before hand into the car, I said all my goodbyes and as I hopped into the car my body couldn’t stop dancing with excitement! A couple of minutes later, we were off to school!

At school hundreds off excited students anxiously waited. The air was filled with anxiety and adventure! I waved goodbye to my dad as he drove off and started chatting to my friends. We sounded like a bunch of Kookaburras quietly giggling and chatting. Soon it was time to go and I hopped into Melissa’s car and we were off!!

On the way we stopped off at burger king, and at first couldn’t believe that we were driving into Burger King. I had to keep rubbing my eyes and pinching myself to make sure I wasn’t asleep because I was actually eating hot yummy chicken tenders, licking each of my  fingers  like  I just had the best meal ever! After we stopped off for some petrol we were back on track to reach or final destination. Glentui Meadows.

As our car pulled up to the camp my eyes lit up and a massive grin appeared on my face. Once our car was parked we opened our doors and stepped out. The beautiful scent of nature filled the air and the sound of the Tui was music to my ears. What a feeling.

We then took our bags down into the dining hall where we were introduced to the owners. The names where Jarn and Jea and they used to live in the Netherlands so they had a bit of a funny accent. It was soon time to pick our bunkrooms. People sat up like meerkats standing up so sudden and straight. People got picked, table by table to go find their bunkrooms. Girls on one side boys on the other, otherwise things would have been a bit crazy. When our table got picked we sprinted running to the cabin area like a stampede of bulls..

Melissa, Zia, Sophie A, Kaylee, Emma, Montana, Freya AND I were all in one cabin on the ground floor. I had the bottom bunk closest to the door and Freya slept above me. I lay my sheet over my mattress, my sleeping bag and pillow and flopped onto my bed where it was surprisingly very comfortable. Suddenly the whistle blew and we were all called to the common room….

In the common room, the teachers told us that we would be having our first rotation, and my group was doing outdoor cooking. Emma and I started to talk, we were both really excited. We hurriedly walked outside to meet Mr Barr at the green fence. He was taking our group down stairs to the activity area.

Down, down, down we went, counting every single step. People moaning monotonously wondering if it would ever end. It seemed like we were walking, walking, walking down the same old small mouldy wooden steps. Finally it after what seemed like forever we made it. 186 steps down into the activity area. I realised that by the time I left camp I would be VERY fit. Mr Barr took us across an old, warn down bridge into another grassy activity area and placed all the equipment on an ancient, gritty table that looked like if someone even nudged it, it would collapse. 

“Right, ok guys, we now need to find sticks, twigs anything that will burn but it has to be dry not wet!” Mr Barr instructed us. We were off looking for twigs and sticks that would feed our fire. We were scattering round like little mice, running through the wet, moist, green grass.  A couple of minutes later, Emma and I had paired up, and found lots of dry twigs and sticks, and so we walked to Mr Barr to collect our tin that he bent the into a shape that we would be cook our pikelets on. We were soon called to make our mix for our pikelets. Our gooey mix looked like a yellow alien blob just sitting inside a bowl bubbling. Not very appetising. There were bugs and little shavings of wood inside but we didn’t care.  Once we had properly finished mixing our yellow alien blob that what actually was our pikelet mix, we went to start our fire. The little spark flew out off the match like a little exploding firework and then suddenly the wistful wind whipped it away! So, it took a few times to light it fully with out the wind coming and stealing it away! It soon started to heat up very quickly. So we rushed to grab the butter to spread it onto our tin can so the pikelets won’t stick to it. The butter sizzled and popped quickly turning an interesting shade of brown. We took a spoon and gently poured it on top of our tin can. The smell of pikelets loomed in the air. Soon our pikelet was cooked and Emma and I halved it and quietly munched it down. After about an hour of making pikelets it was time for us to climb the horrid stairs back up to camp to eat our packed lunch.

At the top of the stairs in the dining hall, children were silently eating there packed lunch and talked about the activity they did.  I sprinted to get my lunch and joined my friends.

After lunch we had our second rotation and my group was doing water study. We met Mr Russell in the grass area just outside the common room and down we went again, down the dreadful stairs. Once we reached the bottom I had realised that the two groups that were doing water study together were too big, so one group would do sport while they waited for the other to come back from water study. Our group did sport first so we played softball with Mr Russell and patiently waited for our turn to come.

30 minutes later the other group returned with their shoes all wet and I wondered what they might of been doing, it was our turn to go do river study so we walked down to the river where we met D.O.C (Department Of Conservation) where we studied about the insects in the water and we checked how healthy the river was. The sun started to peek out of the clouds burning our skin and making tiny drops of water dribble down our faces. We were dying of heat. After half an hour of studying the river we climbed back up to have free time.

As I finished climbing the last horrible step back up only one thing was running through my mind. The pool. I rushed into my cabin and grabbed my drink bottle as I was dying of thirst. Ahhhh the pool I want to go swimming. The thought of jumping into a non-heated pool and have the ice-cold water wrap around me gave me the shivers but it would be so worth it in this heat. So I quickly changed into my togs, grabbed my towel and I was off to the pool!

When I had arrived I saw loads of kids shivering and splashing their lips turning a weird shade of blue. It was my turn to jump in. I placed my towel in a place beside the pool where I “hoped” It would stay dry and jumped in. The freezing water numbed my skin and bones but at the same time I felt refreshed. All my friends had jumped in too and we all had a blast. My lips starting to shiver and I had decided It was time I start moving my body otherwise I would freeze. So we all passed a plastic ball around the pool diving and laughing. After hours of games and fun it was time to hop out and have a nice hot soothing shower.

The whistle boomed my ears and we were all called into the common room. It was time for dinner. We all sat up anxiously awaiting to be picked first to go inside. The smell of hot, delicious pasta lingered slowly like a snake into the common room which made my tummy grumble and my mouth water.

“Right, group 4 you can go in!” Mrs Mac called.

Our group stood up and slowly walked in like lions eyeing our prey. We lined up and collected our dinner. I quickly went and sat down at a table with my friends, and as I took my first bite it was like heaven in my mouth. I had managed to finish it quickly because a couple of minutes later I went up for seconds. Dessert was served shortly after and we had delicious, warm crepes with whipped cream and berry puree. I was in heaven.

Later on after dessert, a woman named Naomi came in and talked to us about tramping safety and what type of gear to take. After a long talk with Naomi they had asked us if we would like some hot cocoa before bed. I straightaway shot my hand up.

As I drank my hot cocoa a warm fuzzy feeling came over me. I felt like I was in a warm happy place and for one moment everything was perfect.

Before I knew it, it was time for bed. We all slowly walked back to our bunkrooms and whispered and giggled before we were told lights out and time for complete silence. I think we were all so tired that we soon quickly fell asleep like angels.

My eyes slowly opened and all I saw was a blurry world. I rubbed my eyes and yawned loudly like a lion. I looked at the time, 7:45 am! We had to be ready, all dressed because at 8:00 breakfast would be served and we would be called to the common room. Everyone in my cabin slowly started to wake up and I think they also realised it was time to get ready cause  we were all running around buzzing and bouncing blissfully from place to place like bunnies. Suddenly a loud blow from the whistle made me jump. We all rushed to the common room.

Line by line, people were called in to have there energizing breakfast. I sleepily waited wondering what delicious food will make my mouth water. Our line was called in. I slowly stood up and shuffled in, all of is huddling like sleepy penguins. I peeked through my friend’s heads to find that for breakfast we had cereal, toast and all sorts of delicious spreads. I felt my mouth begin to water. I was starving. I grabbed a plate, a bowl and took some Ricies cereal and some toast. I sat down at the table and shortly after my friends joined me. 10 minutes later we had finished and we were ready to do our 3^rd rotation.

 My group was doing initiative games with Mrs Black. We had to stay seated because we ere doing the games inside the common room. We played all sorts of different interesting initiative games which some leaded to injuries. After lots of laughs and fun it was time for our 4^th Rotation. Abseiling. We slowly started to walk to the rock cliff we would be abseiling down.  In my tummy it felt like if the butterflies were on fire giving me a warm yucky feeling inside. After we arrived we slipped on our harnesses. It felt like I was a baby all over again wearing a very uncomfortable diaper. Bailey and Noah went first and after a couple of people it was my go. Jayden gave me his helmet and I put it on. It looked like as if I had a bright blue blueberry on my head! I opened the fence that was leading to the rock and I knew once I passed that there was no going back. Naomi called my name. I gulped. A sudden rush of nerves fell right from the top of my head to the tip of my toes. I slowly made my way to Naomi and she clipped me in. I was all set. She told me to turn around and to slowly walk backwards to the edge of the rock cliff. I shuffled slowly backwards until I could feel the edge.

“OK, Tal, I would now like you to take one step down onto the rock cliff and lean back” Naomi instructed. My heart pounding I took a step down and one by one, the butterflies in my stomach fluttered away leaving a massive grin on my face. Before I knew it I jumped to the bottom feeling proud of what I’ve just accomplished. Once everyone had finished we returned back to camp to eat lunch

An amazing smell of homemade bread made me jump up and down as we were having sandwiches for lunch and not only was the bread homemade there was plenty of delicious fillings you could put inside like lettuce, ham , cheese , mayonnaise and many more. I gobbled down my sandwich feeling nice and full. Soon it was free time.

In free time I went back to the pool for the second time and splashed around and took it easy until we were told it was time to hop out because dinner was being served. We didn’t realise that time had gone so quickly!  

Mr Barr had told everyone that we would be eating dinner outside as the grass was no longer wet. For dinner we had chicken with vegetables and all sorts of colourful salads. I walked outside and sat down. I could feel my back getting wet as my hair was still dripping from the pool. I think I was the quickest eater there because by the time some of my friends only came down to eat there dinner I had already finished, my plate gleaming the colour white.

“Dessert time!” Mr Barr called and a stampede of children went rushing into the dining hall. I was surprised no-one got run over. For dessert we had bananas with sweet vanilla ice-cream with homemade chocolate sauce on top. I wouldn’t have asked for a better dessert. My lips were covered with chocolate sauce and I looked like a clown.

Later after Dessert the teachers declared that we would have a game of spotlight. But it had to be dark. So we all waited patiently for it to be dark.  After an hour it was pitch black darkness and all you could see was the gleaming white moon surrounded by beautiful sparkling stars. We were asked to bring our torches to the common room. I dressed in black and wore warm clothes so I will stay warm and be able to camouflage myself in the darkness.  We all followed Mr Barr down the stairs with our torches flashing and moving around looking like about 80 lighthouses. Once we had made it to the bottom we had our first game of spotlight we handed in out torches and sprinted to hind. I lay silently on the grass like a tiger blending in with its environment. I could see the teachers coming to search for us and eventually they found me, not only in the first games but in ALL of them. After 3 games of spotlight it was time to climb back up to camp and get ready for bed.

In the dining hall tired faces slowly walked in, looking like a bunch of zombies we all sat down. They offered us hot cocoa and of coarse I shot my hand up and quietly drank it along with a yummy chocolate chip cookie that I munched down before we were all called to do our teeth and go to bed as we had a very long night.

Going to Camp at Glentui Meadows taught me that not only that camp is EXTREMEMLY fun and it’s a one in a lifetime experience, but, it is also about teamwork, working together as a team, about keeping ourselves safe and most importantly having so many people in one bunkroom is hard work to keep clean! Camp at Glentui was one of the most amazing camps I’ve ever been to and it will be a memory planted in my mind that my friends and I will cherish forever.