Last Wednesday (Week 4) all of the Year 3-5s went to Mylor for a 3 day, 2 night camp.
When we arrived, we all gathered excitedly in the chapel, dumped all of our bags in a messy pile and heard some of the activities we’d be participating in and a few rules that we needed to follow to keep everyone safe and have an enjoyable time.
We then strode towards the Onkaparinga River, following Wade (our guide), to find out where the boundaries were and hear about the dangers of the fast flowing current. After that, we enthusiastically splashed in the muddy puddles of the boggy oval. It took us about 20 minutes to explore all of the campsite grounds before heading back to set up our sleeping bags in the dorms.
Next it was time to eat the lunch that we had brought from home before getting organised into our groups and setting off to start different activities.
One of the first activities was bouldering. Bouldering is kind of like rock climbing, however, you move across horizontally rather than vertically and you don’t need any safety equipment other than mats. We also had a few fun competitions and in the end lots of us had really sore and tired arms and fingers. Lots of people wished that we had more time to do it again.
Later on, we accepted the challenge of the “Giant Swing”. This was a highlight for lots of people and even some teachers and parents joined in. The instructor described the swing as at least 4 elephants high and strong enough to hold at least 2 elephants. The scariest part for some people was when you were hanging at the top and had to pull the release (the blueberry) on your own, to fall and swing down! It felt like you were moving in slow motion to pull the release.
On the first night after a delicious lasagna dinner with chocolate pudding for dessert, we collected sticks, had a big campfire and toasted marshmallows. Some people also joined in silly, fun campfire songs while others went back inside for puzzles, drawing, reading and games.
Then it was time for showers, teeth brushing, pyjamas and bed. In some dorms kids stayed awake very late, talking and giggling.
After a big breakfast the next morning we had a little free time to play before the first activity.
The flying fox was one of the next activities. This was an exciting experience – it was 200 metres long! Stepping off the platform was a bit scary and some people had to try a couple of times. If you put your arms out instead of holding on, it felt a bit like you were flying.
Later that day we went canoeing. There were two people in each canoe and some people found them quite difficult to steer and kept bumping into other canoes and the riverbank which had reeds and spiky blackberry bushes. After paddling upstream for a while we all had to “raft up” and a few people in each group were able to run along the front of the canoes and back into their seat without falling in! When we got back to dock the canoes, a couple of crazy, brave people from each group jumped in to the river (with PFDs on) – everyone agreed that it was freezing!
Bridge building was next and this was a group, cooperative challenge. Each group was given 3 crates, 3 planks and a rope and needed to build a bridge to a platform without falling off.
When we did archery you had to be very careful and accurate to be able to hit the target. Only a few people were able to hit the centre bulls-eye. We also used “flu-flu” arrows instead of traditional arrows. These arrows went a lot further. Luckily none of the ducks who were watching got injured!
On the second night we had roast chicken and veggies with gravy for dinner and ice cream with fruit for dessert. After that we had early showers and had to decide whether to watch a movie in the chapel or do games, puzzles and reading in the dining room. Most people chose to watch the movie. Luckily we had Richard and Russell camping with us because they were able to rectify things when the power went out in the chapel – crisis averted, we were able to finish watching the movie! Each night we had enormous homemade biscuits for supper too!
Most people had a much better sleep on the second night as we were all exhausted from the day’s activities.
On the last day we had to get packed up and have all of the dorms cleaned before breakfast at 8am. This was probably one of the most challenging tasks of the camp!
Once all dorms were checked and approved we were able to start the day’s activities.
We began the day with low ropes which was another team building cooperative activity. It was entertaining watching each other work out ways to overcome each obstacle and rewarding to see people succeed.
Our final activity for the whole camp was fishing and yabbying. This was interesting and took a lot of persistence to keep going when almost no one caught either fish or yabbies, but at least we all got to have a go.
When the Year 5s were participating in archery and canoeing, the Year 3 and 4 classes collaborated in Initiative Pursuits and the very challenging Crate Stacking where people took turns stacking and climbing upon a tower of crates (with ropes, harness and helmets of course!).
After a lunch of chicken and salad wraps we all trudged back up the hill with our piles of bags to the pick-up point. Even though we had been really fortunate to have good weather for most of the camp, it didn’t quite last as we all stood around in the drizzle waiting to be collected so that we could share all of our camp stories.
Overall, this was a fabulous (some people think extraordinary!) camp. Some of the main highlights were the giant swing, jumping in the river, the flying fox, canoeing, archery and spending time with friends doing fun things. We would recommend this camp for adults and children over 8 years old, especially those who have adventurous spirits and like to be challenged.
By Room 12
