Kohekohe and Nīkau spent a wonderful, action packed and tiring two days (Thursday 25th and Friday 26th) at Camp Tirohanga last week. Activities included: river safety, bivvy building, confidence course, high walls, search and rescue and lots more. Here are some articles from the children about their camp highlights.

Spotlight

After eating delicious roasted marshmallows we played spotlight.  First we had to pick our teams. I chose Charlie and Noah to come with my dad.  In the first game we won and in the second game we were found first.  During the first game we hid on the field and the second time we hid in the bushes.  Charlie got two prickles, he said "OW" and then we got found.  We weren't the only team in that spot.  Tom's team got found last; they hid on the field near us.  They were hiding in the long grass.  It was great fun playing in the dark.

Caleb

Search and Rescue

After watching a video and learning about being prepared when tramping or walking in the bush, our group was ready to go and find Vinnie's mum, Carolyn, who was lost.  First we were all given jobs.  My job was the walkie talkie and Felix's job was carrying the first aid kit.  We went off to find Carolyn in the bush.  As we walked we were searching for clues. The first clue we found was 'Help' written in the dirt.  I reported this to Constable Emily.  Then we carried on walking and searching, we were heading up the hill.  Then we found another clue, it was a paper towel.  Again I reported this to Constable Emily, we were getting closer.  We continued our search and eventually found Carolyn.  We gave her first aid and took her to safety.

Jakobie

Roasting Marshmallows

While it was still light I helped my dad collect sticks to create a bonfire for roasting marshmallows.  I dragged logs and sticks from around the camp to the fire pit and piled them ready to set the fire.  When it was dark dad and Tim lit the fire, the flames were bright against the night sky.  Sparks flew in all directions.  I could feel the warmth of the fire on my face. Excited voices filled the air as everyone raced to the bonfire with their marshmallows.  I found the perfect stick, it had three branches so I put three marshmallows on it and roasted them for dad.

Felix S

"GaGa"

"GaGa" I yelled.  All the children pounced at the ball.  Eager little faces waited for their turn with the ball.  "Stay away" I thought, my tactic stay away from the ball until there are fewer and fewer people were in the ring. Finally it was only me and Eloise.  I rolled the mucky ball around aiming at Elosie, then boing it hit her lower leg, she was out.  "Yes" I'd won!  Now the next round, I thought maybe I'll skip this round because I was hot and sweaty and my throat was sore so I went to get a drink.  When I returned all the dad's were in the ring ready to play.  I'll never beat them!  I jumped in the ring, my back against the wall waiting for the ball to bounce twice in the centre. Then "whomph" the ball hit my leg and I was out.  GaGa was an awesome game and went spent hours playing it.

Hannah J

Glow Worms

Suddenly Miss Agnew called us over to go and see the glow worms.  We had just finished roasting marshmallows and playing spotlight.   We all stopped playing and ran to the top of the hill, near the cabins to get ready to see the glow worms.  We all lined up.  It was really dark, good for seeing glow worms.  The parents were spread through the line with their torches and we started walking up the track.  I felt a fern brush my shoulder and I got scared, but I kept walking.  It didn't take long to get there.  We went over a bridge and there they were scattered around on leaves, trees, bushes and on the mud bank.  

Evelyn