Living Springs Camp – Isa @ New Brighton Catholic

To Living Springs. Day 1: Monday

On Monday the 6th of March, the year 5s and 6s went to Living Springs as a school camp. The first thing we did on that day was packing up and travelling by car from school to Governors Bay. We then had a long walk towards the hill where Living Springs was. We stopped at the foot hill where the Living Springs Farm was. At the Farm, we all got to have a ride on the tractor for a farmyard tour. The tractor was driven by a staff who worked at Living Springs. After that, we had another long walk up the hill to the campsite where our tents would be. We had a look around as well as some afternoon tea.

We put up our tents with our tent buddies and moved our stuff into it. My tent buddies were two of my friends, Leah and Brenna. Next was a bit of free time before dinner. Lots of people said dinner was delicious but chicken curry and naan bread was not my taste. I like my mum’s curry and naan better. I do prefer naan bread made by a teacher at our school called Mrs. Rooney.

Just before bedtime, we had an optional activity walking the Burma trail. The Burma trail is a trail with a rope for you to feel while being blindfolded. Four people decided to stay behind but that’s okay. I went on the Burma trail and it was heaps of fun. I really enjoyed it. I kept crashing into Leisha who is my friend and was the person in front of me.

We came back for bedtime. That was the end of the first day. My first overnight at camp. It was really windy and scary especially with lights out.

5:00 am. Tuesday – Day 2

I got woken up early in the morning by others talking. Children had come out of their tents for some star gazing. I opened a tiny hole from the broken zip and stuck my head out. We were also playing with torches, while some stayed asleep. My tent buddies were the few who missed it, but I got woken easily because it was my first overnight at camp in tents without my parents. Then, two adult parent helpers came out and shooed us all back in the tents. Lights out, as well. Back to sleep again, zzzzzzzzzzzzzz….

Breakfast time. Tuesday – Day 2

Suddenly, a Mrs. Hamilton (year 6/my year’s teacher) voice came into my mind. I found that I was dreaming I was at home in my snuggly bed. The voice was saying “Isa(my name), get up get dressed.” I also found out I was the last to wake up so no wonder Mrs. Hamilton was calling me. Breakfast was cereal but I had toast. Turned out that someone had been ding dong ditching on the adults cabin, and so no wonder two adults came out and shooed us.

Next, we had swimming. We packed our swimming kit, travelled by car to the swimming pool, and dived in! I had more than heaps of fun doing manu(big jumps), bombs, splashing water and playing games. It was great fun!

We went for morning tea. It was caramel slice and fruits. I found the caramel slice too sweet and there was not enough fruits for everyone.

After morning tea, we did archery. We used real bows but arrows had the foamy bit at the top so it wouldn’t hurt as much. While I was waiting, I saw that the arrows looked like roasting marshmallows. So I started roasting marshmallows!

We then left for lunch. It was nachos. I tried some and it was just not my liking, so instead I had some chicken nibbles which my mum brought me.

After that, we had our Initiatives. The Initiatives were a whole bunch of challenges you had to complete as a team. We started with the tyre in the pole where you had to work as a team to get the tyre off and on again from the pole. Then we did another activity of moving the tyres. You had to move the tyres from one pole to another using three poles and so on.

List of Initiatives:

Tyre get off then on the pole
Move 5 tyres from 1 pole to another using 3 poles
Cross the poison river with only the rope
Get over to the other side without touching the spider web
Walking to the other platform using inbetween landings and 3 planks
Much more but we didn’t have enough time to complete them all…

After completing most of the Initiatives, it was afternoon tea at Donn’s Shed. I had a few watermelon slices and chocolate brownies.

It’s rock climbing time! Starting with normal rock climbing, the climber can hold any coloured rock as long as the final goal is reached. Next step, the climber follows a path of rocks in the colour corresponding to the goal. A game of Shark Attack is that everyone needed to stay on the rock climbing wall. If one don’t, one goes to the fish cemetery because one is eaten.

We headed back to campsite for bit of free time before dinner. Dinner was burger and chips. I only liked the chips.

After dinner, it was the optional activity – MONORAIL!!! I went to the Monorail with the group by car. The same few people stayed behind at the campsite. The Monorail is like a downhill roller costar but without loops. To get a turn on the Monorail, one has to carry the Monorail’s sleigh from the end of the Monorail back to the starting point. I had fun SCREAMING down the hill! It felt like I was falling off.

That was the end of the second day. We went to bed and I could finally have a tiny light inside the tent to help me go to sleep.

Breakfast time. Wednesday – Day 3

Wake up by Mrs. Hamilton for breakfast of cereal or toast. I had rice pops. Then it was pack up time. We packed up our belongings inside the tents, took down the tents, tidied our day packs, and cleaned the cafeterias and toilets. We travelled by car to the location for our afternoon activities. We had morning tea there. Following was Team Building. Team Building consisted of 1) grass skis, 2) Magic glasses, 3) carpet, 4) marbles, 5) helium stick, 6) chopsticks, and 7) lily pads. My team had a bit of argument as we were all getting tired.

We had lunch of chicken white sauce with pasta. I didn’t like it due to

A. the pasta was chewy

B. the chicken was too lumpy, big and tasteless

so I had half of a honeydew melon I wanted since a few days ago from my mum. I had to go to the toilet after eating it. I couldn’t go to the toilet for the lack of fruit for me to eat. We played for a little while before leaving Living Springs. I played basketball with people from my year and Brenna’s dad. Everyone went back to school but since I had my parents with me and didn’t have anyone taking a ride with us, I went directly home. The camp trip ended.

Monday