Bivouac: noun a temporary camp without tents or cover, used especially by soldiers or mountaineers………..but in this case, used by Breens students. 

Nineteen students went on a trip to Spencerville for the ‘Breens Challenge’ (BC for short). We started off at 10 am in Adrenaline Forest, just across the road from Spencer Park. There were many other people on the high ropes course when we got there - up to 20 metres in the air! We attended a safety briefing, and then we were off! You started at Level 1, and then you could go all the way up to Level 6. Some of our Brave students did go to Level 6, which, as I previously mentioned, can go up to 20 metres in the air. We tested our confidence and pushed ourselves past the limit until about 1pm, when we walked across the road to Spencer Park.

We ate lunch and went to the playground - which, I might add, was completely flooded. There was barely a square foot of dry ground and the water could go up to your knees in some really deep places. We played for a while, and then dried our feet and headed back to the vans.  We then split into 2 teams and played a very interesting game of ‘chuck the chicken’.  It was hilariously funny and because it was a rather hot day, afterwards, we were exhausted.

We headed over to where we were sleeping, in the bush. Literally, there were bushes and trees surrounding us. We kicked stones for a bit, ‘claiming’ areas, and then we got to work. We were given: a tarpaulin, 30 metres of rope, and a large ground sheet. The rest, we had to find around us. Well, we built and built and built! Then we put up the teachers tents and we built some more! Before we knew it, it was dinner time. Phil and a few other girls had put together a delicious dinner of nachos and coleslaw, and man it was good! After we had licked up every last drop/crumb of dinner, we went for a nighttime walk to the beach.

The sunset was absolutely stunning. We played in the water and we drew in the sand until it was dark, then we headed back. But before we did, we marvelled at the beautifully lit up mountain side. Mrs Clarke, joined us to check out our ‘bivvy constructions’ then we settled down into our cosy bivouacs for the night - slept surprisingly well!

We woke up to beautiful sunny daylight. We eventually dragged ourselves out of our warm bivouacs, to a delicious breakfast! Some had cereal, some had fruit salad, some had weetbix, and some had mince leftover from the night before. After we had stuffed ourselves silly, we went and took down our gorgeous bivouacs, but not before taking photos! After a while, when everything was packed away, we headed over to where we had lunch the previous day. The teachers took down the bikes, and we were ready.

There is a bike ride in bottle lake forest that is very similar to Mcleans Island. How do I know this? Because as a team, we rode this secluded bike track. It was really peaceful riding calmly over the bumps and round the corners, under the shade of a large canopy of pine trees. We rode for a long time, and it was very relaxing. Well, it was relaxing to those who chose not to try to be the very first in line by a long way. We rode for about 2 hours, and then we headed back to the park. We ate lunch and packed away our bikes. By now, it was about 1pm. We hopped in the vans, and time to head back to school, when we arrived we were just in time for school assembly.

All in all, it was a pretty great trip, with great kiwi cuisine, great kiwi landscapes, and great kiwi friends. We all went home that Friday feeling pretty tired but very proud of ourselves.

By Emma Gibson.