Just got back from three days in the bush with seventeen year 9 boys (plus a year 12 mentor and two camp leaders). Can you imagine spending three days with a group of teenage boys and no showers?
It was actually quite fun. The camp was at Meebunn-bia (which means “in the company of an eagle”) near Rathdowney, and the place is run as an adventure camp. Our year 9 cohort was split into five groups (three of boys and two of girls). My group did quite a bit of hiking, as well as a hoop pine climb, belayed-climb-based obstacle course, high ropes courses and a 150 metre flying fox. Many of the boys found it quite challenging—facing their fears as much as the physical aspects. Camping overnight meant making tents out of two tarps and a rope between trees, and preparing and cooking dinner with food they'd carried up on their backs. Toilets were a mix of hole-in-the-ground and composting toilets.
It was good to see some of the boys really growing as they faced and overcame their fears.
Showing posts with label camp. Show all posts
Showing posts with label camp. Show all posts
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Monday, September 8, 2008
Camp Rapture
Our church camp this year was again at Cape Hillsborough, with a theme this year of “Camp Rapture: Don't be left behind”. This time I had a decent tripod to take along, so I got some nice photos on the beach at night.
I also had another play with my interval timer, making a couple of sequences of dawn and sunrise.
I also had another play with my interval timer, making a couple of sequences of dawn and sunrise.
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Year 8 Camp
Last week (not the week just gone, which I started feeling ill and ended with no voice, but the week before: Monday 4th to Wednesday 6th August to be precise) I went on our school's Year 8 Camp. It was at Rowallan Park, just on the North-West outskirts of Mackay. The weather was perfect - cool but not too cold at night, and beautiful sunny days.
I saw a few clever T-shirts. Some students seemed to bring far too much - and some of their tents were huge! Fortunately nobody was without a tent to sleep in. (Except us teachers, but we had dorms well away from where the students were.)
Games and activities filled most of the day time. There were an incredible number of injuries, the first (a twisted ankle) within about 10 minutes of the start of the first activity.
The students' Year 11 mentors dropped in on Tuesday, and set up an awesome obstacle course. Even the teachers enjoyed it! But it certainly involved a lot of mud!
And of course no camp is complete without a campfire!
Before the campfire, the students were given a ‘survivor’ activity in which they had to prepare their own meal. But first they had to hunt for some slips of paper with food items written on them, which they could exchange for pieces of food. I was in charge of dispensing the food. My favourite moment was when one group handed me two bits of paper labelled “onion”. I gave them a piece of onion. They complained, “But that's only one piece, not two.” So I took the piece back, chopped it in half, and gave it back to them again, saying, “There you go, now it's two!”
Our Year 8 students really need to learn to look after their own stuff, though. They kept leaving personal items lying around. They just have no idea what can happen if they're not careful…
(I would upload a whole lot more photos from camp—some lovely portraits of a few of my students, for example—but they all have students in them, whose images I may not post here. Sorry.)
I saw a few clever T-shirts. Some students seemed to bring far too much - and some of their tents were huge! Fortunately nobody was without a tent to sleep in. (Except us teachers, but we had dorms well away from where the students were.)
Games and activities filled most of the day time. There were an incredible number of injuries, the first (a twisted ankle) within about 10 minutes of the start of the first activity.
The students' Year 11 mentors dropped in on Tuesday, and set up an awesome obstacle course. Even the teachers enjoyed it! But it certainly involved a lot of mud!
And of course no camp is complete without a campfire!
Before the campfire, the students were given a ‘survivor’ activity in which they had to prepare their own meal. But first they had to hunt for some slips of paper with food items written on them, which they could exchange for pieces of food. I was in charge of dispensing the food. My favourite moment was when one group handed me two bits of paper labelled “onion”. I gave them a piece of onion. They complained, “But that's only one piece, not two.” So I took the piece back, chopped it in half, and gave it back to them again, saying, “There you go, now it's two!”
Our Year 8 students really need to learn to look after their own stuff, though. They kept leaving personal items lying around. They just have no idea what can happen if they're not careful…
(I would upload a whole lot more photos from camp—some lovely portraits of a few of my students, for example—but they all have students in them, whose images I may not post here. Sorry.)
Friday, February 8, 2008
Year 12 camp
End of week two! Hoorah!
Last night I went out to the Year 12 camp—just visiting for the evening. The students have been there since Tuesday. They say it's been hot and sunny every day, pouring rain every night, and 100% muggy without a break. Certainly that's what I experienced: muggy and hot when I arrived, then soon after sundown a big storm blew in. The lightning was still flashing off the coast hours later while we were driving home.
My students were happy to see me there. As well as playing cricket and card games (and tricks), they insisted (but actually I didn't mind, it was quite fun!) I try the big swing. This was basically a rope contraption with a small seat. You sit on the seat, they winch you up to about 4-5m above the ground, then you pull a short rope and suddenly you're free-falling into a swooping swing. It was exciting! I was pleased I could enjoy it; I haven't been able to enjoy such things much since I had vertigo in 2001.
Last night I went out to the Year 12 camp—just visiting for the evening. The students have been there since Tuesday. They say it's been hot and sunny every day, pouring rain every night, and 100% muggy without a break. Certainly that's what I experienced: muggy and hot when I arrived, then soon after sundown a big storm blew in. The lightning was still flashing off the coast hours later while we were driving home.
My students were happy to see me there. As well as playing cricket and card games (and tricks), they insisted (but actually I didn't mind, it was quite fun!) I try the big swing. This was basically a rope contraption with a small seat. You sit on the seat, they winch you up to about 4-5m above the ground, then you pull a short rope and suddenly you're free-falling into a swooping swing. It was exciting! I was pleased I could enjoy it; I haven't been able to enjoy such things much since I had vertigo in 2001.
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