It was with great excitement that the Ski Camp participants gathered in the carpark at school on the 7th of September. Porters was open, there was fresh snow, all 24 students were on time and loaded into 6 4x4 cars with all their gear (lots and lots of gear). By 7:30 we were off - heading in the right direction for 2 days of awesome skiing and training.

Mrs Smeele got a phone call about 40 minutes later to say that the mountain was on hold - so she stopped the convoy in Springfield. While the students discussed the merits of the large donut, we played, the parents and teachers had a meeting, and with the help of flat whites, they decided to push on, staying in the lodge and hoping for skiing on Friday. 

We reloaded and headed for some morning entertainment, a play and stroll at Castle Hill. It was lovely playing in the rock formations until Mr Smeele thought that we should go for a 'bit of a walk' up the hill.  Mr Smeele's idea of a walk and a full on hike are very different from mine. Most of the students made it to the top and the views were worth all the huffing and puffing.

After the 'stroll' we all needed a wee sit down, so we had a picnic lunch. We got to the lodge at about 1.00pm, picked our bunk rooms, made our beds and then had time to explore, play in the games room and hang out with our mates. Dinner was awesome fish and chips and salad that you help yourself to. Pudding was a chocolate brownie.

After dinner, the parents and teachers had organised a quiz for us. There were 3 sections: questions about skiing, questions about being a New Zealander and, how well do you know the parents and teachers on the trip. Some were very hard and some were silly "Why should you never lick a cold metal pole on the ski field?" We all went to bed filled with anticipation for Friday skiing but it was closed again, due to high winds this time.  So much snow, so close but so far away. 

Mrs Smeele cheered us all up by telling us we were going to go back to school for the rest of the day, but not before stopping at the Darfield bakery to choose something for lunch.  They do a mean pie and the staff coped really well with 24 kids all wanting different things in named bags! (They even said we were a really polite bunch of kids.)Needless to say, the Year 8s were really disappointed as too were the Year 7s but they are looking forward to ski camp next year.

Big thanks to all the parent helpers: Mrs Summerfield, Mrs Haig, Mrs Bates, Mrs Graham, Mr Smeele and Mrs Smeele.