The bubbling sounds of kids didn't simmer as we drove towards the vast expanse of the fields. Shouting and yelling filled the enclosed space and vibrated off the walls. Outside cars rocketed past on the road, different colours flashing before my eyes as I watched the scenery. We pulled up to where the other cars were parked and the parents sorted us into different groups for caving or abseiling.

I was in the first group to go caving. We went in the van to the caving field. We spilled out of the van and got our helmets on. The instructor told us that we were going through the paddocks where there were some cows. A few boys raced forward to get in front of everyone. We trudged along, trying to avoid landing in cow pats at every step.

We got to a gate, the instructor opened it and we all raced forward. We came to a track and we followed it, prickles and thorns poking at us, we came to a part where we had to duck to avoid the thorns and the branches overhead. When I got through that I slid down the bank and came to a stop. Ahead there was a small creek and Mr Walker was in the creek helping people in. When I got there Ella T had jumped in and fell over causing a huge splash to cascade over the side.

I jumped into the water, droplets splashed up to touch my face and flew back down. “Plop”, the person behind me had jumped. Climbing stick over stick, feet loading up with energy to power forward. Reaching in front of me I could feel the damp moss under my fingertips when I grabbed branches.

Trudging forward I could hear the echo of voices in front coming off the cave walls, someone had gotten into them! Shadows loomed overhead and made the light curve and split into different directions.

I climbed down a bank and leapt into the stream, rocks piled in my way, creating an obstacle to climb over. I looked down and I could see the water dripping down into the creek. I lowered myself down and I felt my arms stretch to keep above me.

“Ow.”

It barely comes out of my mouth before my feet slip. My arms come away from the rock and I crash down water splashing into my face.

My feet lift up and suddenly I'm moving again walking towards the enclosed space of the caves. I step forward and can see what all the conversation was about. On the walls were hundreds of letters, all initials of people who had explored the caves. Light spilled through the cracks in the rocks above.

“Oi,” someone yelled, “Turn on a light!”

Four torches turned on instantly, all flashing to where the voice had come from. There was a huge rock in front of us. Deegan and Paikea leapt forward, eager to climb the boulder. Aaliah swerved around the rock finding a less rocky path to go through. I went after her sploshing through the murky puddles, water seeping through my shoes.

We came to a stop after the instructor yelled, “ Alright we’re here!”

The lights swiveled to fill up the empty space. I looked back and could see the faint light from outside. These caves were pretty cool as well as the other ones, the walls were covered with damp moss and initials.

“Okay, what we are going to do is turn off all the lights and try to find our way out!” said the instructor.

Shouting and yelling filled the cave once more as we were all shocked. We could hardly see without the lights and when they were turned off I heard someone shriek.

“Toughen up!” came a reply out of nowhere. Laughter followed that comment.

Slowly, but calmly, we moved out of the caves and into the dappled light of the sun. I realised we were almost back to the first creek where we had all jumped in. I looked ahead but instead of going towards the creek we were surging forward onto another path.

“Hurry up!” came the distant voice of someone shouting at my part of the group.

Surging forward with newfound energy I jumped a fallen branch and kept going. Prickles and spiky branches came out of nowhere materializing to be in the shape that we would have to duck to get past. Crawling on my hands and knees I managed to get to the other side of the prickles and got back onto my feet continuing to jog forward. I looked ahead again and the path seemed to be sloping down into the same creek.

I slid down my hands grasping for the branches that went whizzing past me as I shot down the bank. I closed my eyes bracing for the impact of hitting the water. A second later I heard the sound of another kid coming down into the water. It was Ella T skidding her way down, coming straight at the spot I had been a few seconds ago. She stood up and walked toward the rest of us. I only saw it for a second but it looked as if blood was running down her leg dripping into the water around her.

“Ella, your leg!” Came the shout of someone behind me and I got a closer look, her leg was in fact dripping with blood that was coming from a few centimetres deep cut in the front of her leg. Suddenly people were swarming around her looking at the deep cut and exclaiming at how fake it looked. The adults ushered the rest of us back up the bank and back toward the original creek.

We talked as we walked, exclaiming about the cut and how it had suddenly appeared. The weird thing was Ella had started laughing uncontrollably, her voice carried across the small clearing.

Running and jumping, weaving through the trees, we made it back to the creek. One by one we leapt across, water splashing up to grab at our feet.

I scrambled up the bank, my fingers grabbing for roots or branches to pull myself up with. Once more I had to duck to avoid the sharp branches, I went clambering to get to the other side of the bush.

Walking fast I went from side to side to stay away from the thickets of prickles all of them looming out at me. We got through to the fields and the instructor opened the gate to let us surge forward.

We watched where we put our feet as there were cowpats covering the ground waiting for someone to step in them. Up ahead I could see the vans parked neatly on the side of the road. I ran ahead and climbed over the fence that was blocking the way to the vans. Racing forward a few people took their helmets off and flung them into the back of one of the vans. We each wrapped our towles around ourselves and got into the vehicles clambering to find our seats.

Shortly after getting moving in the van we came to a spot where we could go down to a lake and enjoy our lunch. My friends found a great spot that overlooked the lake and also had a great tree to sit under. I grabbed my bag and sat down, pulling out my sandwiches from my bag.

I closed my eyes as I bit into the cheesy sandwich, glad to be relaxing under the shade of a tree once more.

By Juliet Clare