Arriving at school I was eager to get on the bus and head to raincliff for our year 8 graduation camp. Everyone was bustling with ambition and it was hard to miss the excitement in everyone’s eyes. The bus ride was full of chatter, laughter and high spirits. Pulling up to camp our faces were practically plastered to the windows trying to get a look at our new home for the next 2 days. As we all scurried off the bus we lined up in our four groups just how Miss Ross had told us too (aren’t we just the perfect children?) We then found out what room we were in and got prepped for the slumber party!

Just kidding it was time to get ready for our activities, first up for my group we had the weta caves and survival skills. Our group got split into two smaller groups, one went to the weta caves and one stayed to do the survival skills. We had 8 super cool and funny instructors from the outdoors pursuit centre in peel forest, they were there to teach us the basics about abseiling, water safety and survival skills while also showing us the Weta caves and taking us on the confidence course. In the survival skills group we got taught some key knot tying skills and then we used our knowledge that we  learnt to make stretchers out of driftwood and rope by tying it all together, the aim of the game was to try and get through the playground with one of the people from your group on the stretcher. Once we had made our stretcher Quinn volunteered to hop on, we ended up dropping him even though he was in labour with septuplets.

Next up on the agenda was… Water safety! We geared up in our wetsuits, helmets and life jackets and headed out to greet the swift river, Esther, Emily and myself ended up naming the river Taylor because you know… Taylor Swift. We learnt how to walk through strong currents the proper way then it was time for the fun part. We walked along the embankment until we arrived at our destination where a few kayaks were lined up patiently waiting for us to give them the times of their lives. Water was splashing everywhere, screams of excitement echoed around me, even though they were most likely mine. After the kayaking it was time for a nice swim to cool off underneath the sweltering sun. Then we headed back to camp for dinner and the graduation ceremony it was an awesome, fun filled night full of laughs and cheers from the talent show and graduation.

The next morning we went on the confidence course and played some fun strategising games including going round an obstacle course, an egg drop challenge and a fun game called the magic carpet. Most of us were SUPER competitive and made it our goal to beat the other teams and most of the time we achieved our goals. Finally it was time for abseiling! We got ready quickly and soon enough we were all rarin’ to go. We had a little practise by abseiling down the trunk of a small tree and then we set out on our journey up to the big boulders where our next activity awaited our arrival. There were three different levels of difficulty which were Baby Bear, Mama Bear and Daddy Bear. The abseiling was super fun and everyone was having a blast until it was time to head back to camp to pack up and head back home. It was sad to be leaving as this was the end of year 8 and the end of our primary school days. Everyone is very eager to be taking their next step into the future and are looking forward to Year Nine.