During weeks 7,8 &9 in term one, the senior team set off for 4 days of school camp at Lake Rotoiti. The adventures that we had were awesome and the children had a wonderful time. Here is a sneak peak of some of the activities we got up to.

During our four days away we stayed at Red Deer Lodge, situated in the middle of St Arnaud, opposite the DOC office. A nice, basic facility which provided us with the perfect location for all of our activities. I think the children's favourite part of Red Deer Lodge was the Deer heads hanging from the wall!

The activities that we were all involved in throughout the week were:

First day - Pest control, orientation walk, mountain biking, a talk from Tracey the DOC Ranger and camp games.

Second day - Rotation day! This included a stream study, orienteering, kayaking and a boat trip out to Whiskey Falls where the children enjoyed filling up their drink bottles from the falls.

Third day - The tramp! Ruma Rimu and Ruma Ngaio had suitable weather to be able to walk up to the hut on Mt. Robert but Ruma Maire had to take an alternative route closer to camp which was sheltered and warm due to a not so pleasant weather forecast. The children definitely slept well that night.

Fourth day - Pack up day. The students and parent helpers worked to pack their bags and tidy the lodge before setting off for their final activities. The drive home was a pleasantly quiet one as we had some very exhausted children.

All in all we had a wonderful time away at camp. The children gained a multitude of new skills that were really important for our time back at school.

Thank you to all of our parent helpers that came away with us, you are all life savers!

Briar, Warren and Teressa.