Year 4-5 Camp

In Week 4, the Year 4 and 5 tamariki from Pīwakawaka and Korimako spent 2 days at Living Springs.  We set off for camp, walking along the foreshore to Allandale, then up the steep track to Living Springs Camp. The weather was hot and excitement levels were high. On arrival, we settled into our bunk-rooms and had afternoon tea.

Priscilla, our guide, then taught us a fun game called Animal Survival. This was a chasing and hiding game where the game involved carnivores and herbivores. After our big walk and a high energy game, we were ready for a rest in our rooms. There wasn’t a lot of resting going on judging by all the giggles that could be heard!

After a delicious dinner of burgers and chips followed by fruit and ice cream, some of our parents arrived to watch our camp concert.  What a fun evening we had watching the talent - singing, dancing, jokes, poi, artwork and a puppet show had the crowd singing along and clapping loudly. The grand finale was the arrival of Mrs Meadow-Tutt who brought the house down with a brilliant demonstration of how she gets ready for school each morning. 

After saying goodbye to our audience, it was time to settle down for the evening and attempt to go to sleep. With all the excitement of the evening, this took a while! 

At 4am in the morning, Mrs Tutt was woken by Susan running to the deck. Poor Bella had woken to a weta wanting to inspect her face! She was very brave and didn’t scream and instead flicked it away and went and got her Mum. Bravely Susan caught it and sent it bungy jumping off the deck into the bush below! 

The next morning, we were all up early ready for a very fun day. Belloch and Innes celebrated their birthday on camp and we made them wear paper birthday hats all day! After a great breakfast of cereal and toast, we headed off on a trek down the hill to the Rifle Shooting and Archery area. Lots of us were nervous having never done either of these things before. After listening to the safety briefing, it was time to have a go. Boy, were we good at hitting the targets! It was awesome hearing the shouts of joy as the targets were hit with a loud TING noise!

It was then morning tea time and time to take part in the Initiatives Course. We divided into 4 groups and made our way around all the challenges. From getting the team to cross through a giant web, to getting the tyre to the top of the pole, our aim was to work together. There was lots of celebrating as teams were successful. Everyone had an awesome time and after an hour our bellies were rumbling and we were ready to head back up to camp for lunch.

The smell of delicious chicken pasta guided us back up the hill and straight into lunch. We couldn’t believe that we were at the end of our camp. With an hour left, we headed outside to enjoy time on the trampolines, playground and giant slide.

Our camp was a huge success. Friendships were formed, fun was had and we were all pushed outside our comfort zone and loved every minute of it…..and apparently Mrs Meadow-Tutt might come back to visit again one day!