Packed and ready to go, the only thing stopping Purau from reaching Waipara was the dreaded downpour trapping our house indoors.

While waiting impatiently for the weather to improve, Mr Phanpho entertained us with quizzes and awesome dance challenges. Finally, the rain passed over, and eagerly we boarded the buses to Waipara. When we reached the campground our excitement doubled as we got to take a look at some of the activities. Once we ate lunch and had our debrief we set off in our groups, with a skip in our step, to our first activities.

After our first day of fun, we had free time as a house to get the remaining energy out of our systems by playing football, rugby, and discovering the soon-to-be most popular camp game….Gaga dodgeball. Then came the most important occasion of the afternoon, DINNER. That night they were serving delicious roast beef and veggies followed by cheesecake for dessert. Next, the teachers hosted an entertaining game of traditional spotlight for the kids to enjoy, which included full involvement by the parents. Afterwards, together as a house, we relaxed, some even fell asleep, as we appreciated a good old movie night.

The next morning we woke blurry-eyed as the teachers came door to door waking us for an early start. Breakfast was a race to get butter and vegemite as the toast started rolling out, and just like that, our first morning in Waipara began. It was a freezing morning with grass-covered in frost and icy crisp air causing your breath to appear. But the cold didn’t put us off and each and every one of us continued with our activities and fun. The day concluded with another delicious dinner and a marvellous dessert. That night the teachers decided to make up a game that seemed simple at first but turned out to be way more complicated in reality. Frisbee spotlight, the name says it all! We then ended the night with a great classic, School of Rock.

Then it came just like that, the last day at camp! We finished our adventure with our last two activities: whether it be thrilling abseiling, the speedy water slide, the balancing act of faulty towers, impossible archery, somewhat successful raft and shelter building, freezing kayaking and the building of confidence in the confidence course. We had already packed up that morning, so we finished our time at camp with delicious burgers (made by the excellent chefs that catered for us while we were there) and one last game of gaga dodgeball. Then we set off back to school, our minds filled with fun memories that will last a lifetime.

by Emma and Rata, Room 15