Student reflections on an amazing Yr.7/8 camp

Written by Shakyla

School camp was the best! We all had the best experience of our life. My favourite parts of camp were going swimming two days in a row and getting to know people better. My cabin had Makaela, Bella, Marina, Genuine and I in it. Genuine had the double bed and the rest had singles.

Day 1

On the day that we left to go to Hanmer we all got to school at about 8:30am and got ready to put all of the bags and suitcases in the bus, van and trailer. Once we left the classroom we got onto the bus at about 9:20am and left the school at about 9:30am. The bus stopped once to go to the toilet and the last stop was Hanmer. We finally got there at about 11:35 am and got off the bus. All of the kids that were on the bus unloaded it and waited for the other. Once the others got there we all got our stuff and got told our cabins. I was in M5.

About an hour later we went for a walk in the forest that took about an hour. After the walk we went back to camp and played until dinner. At dinner we all sat at a table and waited. When tea arrived it was pizza and it was really good. After dinner we had dessert which was ice cream, jelly and chocolate sauce. After that we cleaned up and did our dirty dishes and made sandwiches for lunch the next day and went outside in front of the boys cabins to play a 15 minute game of spotlight before bed. 

Day 2

Mrs Watson woke us up at 6:40am. I wasn't ready to get up yet so I asked if I could go back to sleep and Mrs Watson said 5 more minutes but at that time I wasn't going back to sleep so instead I went for a shower. That really woke me up after my shower. I got dressed and went back to the cabin to get my cutlery for breakfast. We all had breakfast and I had toast with jam on top. After breakfast year 7's were on clean up so the year 8's washed their dishes and went back to their cabins to get ready for the day. 

Finally the time came to go back to the forest to do Orienteering for one to two hours. Orienteering was really fun but tiring. We were all so tired but still had to walk back to camp so we said thank you to Activity Hanmer and started to walk back. When we got back we had about an hour before the puzzle hut so we all ate our sandwich that we made the night before and had a chocolate brownie each. Once we finished lunch I went back to the cabin and changed into shorts because it was really hot outside and turned the heater off. 

When I was done, Activity Hanmer had arrived to do the outdoor puzzle hunt so they told us about the mission that we were doing was about and showed us how to do it. They also told us that we need groups of six people because there was only ten Ipads and there were about sixty of us kids. In my group were Makaela, Bella, Asal, Genuine, Manaia and me. Once we got the Ipad we were using we were off. We got a little confused at first but one of the guys that was helping all of us let us know how to use the app again and after that we were really off. About 15 minutes in we thought that we wouldn't get it done because a lot of the other groups were on a different question. We got the question that we were suck on and we all ran really fast. We had been trying to get the next question when Marina's group came. That's when we knew we needed to try harder so we tried and tried till we got it. The next question was a riddle. It took us so long to figure it out but we did and were the first group done again. 

At this time we had only done five out of nine questions and only had about 45 minutes left. We got about halfway and stopped because we found where the next question was. We were up there for a good 5 minutes and then we heard a voice. I looked behind me and saw Brodie and his group running up. Luckily we had just finished the sixth question and had to run up the rest of the hill. An hour and 45 minutes had passed and my group finished. We were the only group that finished the whole puzzle hunt and then my group went back to our cabins and got changed into our togs. We said thank you again to activity Hanmer and Mrs Watson let us know who’s going to the pools first. 

My group, the other group that won orienteering and three others went  in the first load. When we got down to the pools it was about a 20 minute wait for the rest of the kids to arrive. Most of us played a game, talked to each other/ Mrs Watson and some of us just sat there. Twenty minutes had passed and everyone was there so we went in. When we were in a lovely lifeguard let us know the rules and where we are and where we were not allowed to go. That was over so we all got changed and went swimming for About two and a half hours. 

I decided to get out half an hour early so I can have a long shower and wash my hair. After I was dressed Mrs Watson came in and I dried my togs in the tog dryer thingy and I went back to where all the bags were and waited for all the others to get changed. Mr Evers dropped Mrs Watson , Wenjing, Madeleine and I back to camp so we could help set up. 

After we set up dinner, the Rusty Carrot dropped off dinner which was nachos .Wenjing, Madeleine and I started to eat. After tea everyone was back and all the teachers and kids had finished eating tea so we had dessert which was ice cream, chocolate sauce and apple pie. After that, year 7's washed their dishes and year 8's were on clean up. All the year 7's started to get ready for bed and we were told that we were going to watch a movie but it didn't want to work so instead we all got ready for bed like normal. Our times were 9:00 pm bedtime, 9:30 pm lights out and 10:00 pm sleep. It was about 10:30 pm and I needed to go to the toilet so Makaela and I went and we saw a possum with a baby on its back. I got really scared and Makaela went to pat it. Sadly the possum ran away and we could go to the toilet. When we got back to the cabin we both fell asleep.

Day 3

Genuine woke us up at 6:50 am so we could clean up the cabin. Marina and Bella were taking a very long time so Genuine, Makaela and I helped them. We finally finished about 8:00 am and loaded up the bags again and left our togs and towel out so we could go swimming after lunch. We all had breakfast and cleaned up and said thank you to the people that gave us the camp for free and went swimming for the last time. After going swimming we got changed and had lunch which were PJ’S pies that were really good and went home. 

Written by Alanzo

Last week on the 28th of August, the year 7’s and 8’s of Waltham School went on camp to Hanmer Springs. We all met at the basketball courts in the morning at school. It was a sunny day and I was very excited. This was the first camp I had ever been on. We all piled on the bus and took off. Unfortunately a few people had to go in the van because they got car sick. We had lots of music and laughs on the bus, I even got to try dragon fruit with Kade! 

When we arrived at Hanmer Springs Forest Camp our first job was to unload and collect our luggage from the bus and van. We already had our cabins set up so we could drop our gear in them straight away. After this it was time for our first activity, which was a walk through a forest that had lots of wooden carvings of animals. There was a dog, squirrel, 3 fantails, 2 possums, and an orangutan. There were also these cool mushroom seats which we got to sit down at. While this was really cool and the sculptures were very detailed my legs were very sore from the long bus ride and all the walking.

Later that night we played a game of spotlight, this was very fun and I ended up winning the game. I was hidden in a bush and was wearing my Oscar the Grouch onesie which kept me hidden. Kade, Reuben, and Genuine were telling the searchers that I was hidden on the opposite side of the zone, keeping them away from my spot. Lots of other people walked right past 47 times (Kade counted). Spotlight was my favourite part of my time at camp. After the spotlight we went back to our cabin.

On day two we had three activities which were orienteering, puzzle hunt, and the pools. For orienteering I was in a group with Kade, Reuben, Willie and Māmoe. We came second place in the competition and our team name was The Donuts. The reason we chose this name was because of an anime we all watch.

Next was the puzzle hunt. I did not do much during this activity, and breaking ice and swinging on a swing was my highlight. Lastly we all went to the hot pools, we went straight to the slides and went down the big slope. After this we did the super bowl and this one made me feel like I had butterflies in my stomach. We got to spend an hour or two here and we hopped between the lazy river and spa’s. After the pools we went back to camp and had nachos for dinner and were meant to watch a movie but it was called off sadly. That night I went straight to sleep because I was tired as heck.

Day three Kade, Reuben, and I cleaned up the cabin so it was nice and tidy, and packed up all our stuff. After that we got to go back to the pools for a short time, we then had PJ’s pies. They were really delicious, I would recommend them! Then it was time to head back to school so we hopped on the bus. On the way home Levi’s pie exploded and landed on Ms Watson, Harrison, and the roof.

I had a great time at camp but was glad to get home to play games and have a sleep.