From the 24th to the 28th of November last year, 15 of us year 10s went to Mount Aspiring with three teachers as part of one of the amazing trips in the camp program. It was a super memorable and fun experience, filled with so much stunning scenery.

On Monday, we all met up at school, where we double checked everything and packed the vans before heading off at 9:00am. We had a couple stops on the way, including a small stop in Roxborough where we got to buy some snacks for the drive. The walk up the Matukituki Valley was beautiful, mostly walking along the river, with a stop at a small riverbank where lots of us cooled down and skipped rocks in the water before continuing on to the hut, which was lovely, and super well-equipped.

The next day, we went on a walk up the Cascade Saddle track, which was steep, but had the most amazing views. There were so many huge waterfalls coming down, some of which we got to cross! We made our own wraps at the lookout point, surrounded by the mountains. Once we got back to the hut, we got to hang out, and some of us decided to go down to the river to cool off - it was super cold and there were so many sandflies.

It started raining heavily on Tuesday night, so on Wednesday we unfortunately had to head back to our campsite a day early. After a while waiting in the hut for the fords to go down, we set off back to the carpark in the rain. We drove to Glendhu Bay, where we pitched our tents and then some of us went swimming in the lake! 

The fourth day, Thursday, consisted of lots of reading and running from the rain. We drove into town in Wānaka to see eels and wander around town. By the afternoon the sun had come out and we went swimming in the lake again!

Friday was the final day, so we packed everything up and headed home. We stopped in Roxborough for pies and got back around the same time at the other camps which made for a very loud reunion.

Overall it was an incredible experience with such great people, especially the teachers - Ms Boomer, Mr Trickey and Mr Richards - they made the camp so much fun and it wouldn’t have been the same without them!