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9G
 

A Week of Adventure

Lewis Hendry —

Normally on a Friday morning at 6:30am you would be slowly waking up for another day of school. Not for 9G. Our class was up and packing the bus ready for the five and a half hour drive to the Mt Aspiring lodge. You would think everyone's buzzing with excitement, but not at 6:30 in the morning. We were more like a horde of zombies slowly moving around not knowing what to do.

As the bus ride nears to an end most of the class has woken up. We unload the bus at the Aspinall’s house and throw all the food and daypacks onto the back of the van. We then begin the hour and a half long walk to the swing bridge. For some it was tiring and for others it was like a nice stroll down the road. We arrive at the bridge and begin the unload into the lodge.

My first impressions of the lodge was that it was big, definitely bigger than I had imagined. Also it looked like it could get quite cold so I was relieved to find the big fire place. Some of the highlights from the first few days would definitely be going for a swim in the river - it was sooooo cold, but once you jumped in it was actually quite refreshing. Another highlight was learning how to check the traps, light a fire in the rain and orienteering. These activities helped us for the following few nights on the overnighter…

On Monday at midday we left for the Rob Roy glacier. We passed Wishbone Falls and Raspberry Creek and all together it took us about two and a half hours to walk to the campsite. It was really cool having to cook on our own fires and then walk up to the Rob Roy glacier where the view was spectacular. On Wednesday we left for the lodge and arrived back all excited about getting home early the next morning. However, after listening to the weather forecast on the mountain radio all hope was lost of getting out that day, but at least we had table tennis. So for most of Thursday we played table tennis, chess, Monopoly and this weird game where you had to flick this circular disc into more discs. Friday morning we got the news that we will be leaving at 10:00am. We packed all the bags and got ready to leave. We walked to the bus, packed the gear in and drove home. For some, stopping in Cromwell was the highlight of the trip, eating the free footlong sub, the cookie and a drink. Then we drove home making no more stops along the way…

Before I finish I would just like to give a massive thanks to Ms Casey, Mr Golder, Mr Campbell, Dr Fisher, Mr Dadley, Mrs Clarke, Alex Ballantyne, and OBHS for giving us this once in a lifetime opportunity to go on camp. Thanks.