R17's Camp Waihola Fun!!

In Week 2, Room 17 and Room 3 headed to Camp Waihola for three days for their Y7 Camp. Here are our highlights..

Once we had arrived at camp we got straight into our activities. My first activities on the first day were disc golf, team initiative, then we had morning tea. My third activity was zipline. It was amazing! Then we had archery and ga ga ball. We then had lunch and settled down. We set up our beds and had some showers and played some games in the main lodge. But because it was rainy on the first night the parents cooked dinner and we did not play spotlight. Everyone had a terrible sleep on the first night so we were really tired. Our activities for the second day were archery tag, geocaching, and rifleshooting. We had bread rolls for lunch. In the evening we cooked dinner ourselves and had a talent show and my group won. We then played spotlight for half an hour and went to bed. On the last day we went for a walk, played on the assault course and played bubble ball. Everything was amazing!

I really enjoyed geocaching because we got to use a GPS and we got a golden ticket. I also loved the zipline and archery tag.

I felt challenged in team initiative because some of the activities were really hard. I felt exasperated because it seemed so impossible. I learnt that nothing is impossible.

I feel proud of geocaching and archery tag because I had really good navigating skills and flawless aim.

• Rose

On the first day we did heaps of rotations. Some of the stuff we did was zipline, gaga ball and heaps of others. That night we had burgers and hot chips for dinner. It was really yummy. The next day we had cereal and toast for breakfast. Then we did rotations. Some of our rotations were air rifles, disc golf, and geocaching. That night we cooked our own dinners. I was a cooking buddy with Cooper C. We made nachos. It was so yummy. The next morning we had cereal and eggs on toast. That was our last day. We did a walk down at Waihola lake and me, Liam,Rocco and Harry saw a nice size rainbow trout in the water. Then our last rotation was a bubble ball. After that we had an auction and I won a top bins football target.

I really enjoyed the zipline because it went extra fast and I was so happy. The only downside is that I'm tall so at the end my feet would hit the ground. On some of my trips the guy twisted my rope and I would do a trust fall and I would start spinning from the twisted rope. I wish it never ended.

I challenged myself by doing air rifles. I had never shot a gun in my life. It was so fun shooting with heaps of help from the parents. I finally got a hang of it and shot some targets. The air rifle shot so fast that I couldn't even see the bullet. The bullet must have been going so fast. I felt proud when I hit a target. It was so fun I wanted to keep going. It was also so fun watching others enjoying themselves. I learnt how to shoot a gun. I was so proud I told my mum and dad all about the air rifles and I'm grateful that the parents helped us.

I felt proud when I cooked dinner. It was so yummy i couldn't believe how yummy it was. Me and Cooper C were one of the first ones done and we used everything on our tray to cook the meat. I'm excited to make it at home sometime again. Also im proud of being at camp away from my parents because last camp i was with my Dad but this time i wanted to try something new

• By Alex

On Wednesday we arrived at camp and unpacked the buses. Soon we were ready for our first activities .The activities ran all the way through the day and ranged between ga-ga ball, archery tag, disc golf and many others. Once a tiring day was over. We all unpacked our bedding and had a little amount of free time. We also had our showers and headed up for dinner. Once dinner was over, we had a teacher-led activity, dessert and bed.

On Thursday, we got up and had breakfast and then got free time and morning tea before we started our activities. Our activities were rotations like the first day. They were rifle shooting, geocaching and more. Afterwards, we had free time, showers, and dinner. After dinner we had the talent show and dessert .I got 3rd in it. After that we did some spotlight in the field and then went to bed.

In the morning, we packed up our bedding and went up to the hall. At the hall, we had breakfast and cleaned up the facilities. Then we had our last activities. The last activities ranged from bubble ball, to the assault course and there were a lot more. Once we finished our activities for the day, we loaded the bus, hopped in and headed home.

My favourite part of camp was geocaching because I love to navigate around a vast area. I felt that the air rifles really challenged me because I was not used to holding the gun. The reason is that last time I used the air rifles, I had a broken hand and it was in a cast. I felt proud of getting 14 letters for geocaching because we

• By Alec

I really enjoyed The talent show because of how my group had to compromise a lot in lines since we either forgot or something else. It was really cool to see all the other groups work and performances too and generally I think everyone had a really good time at the talent show.

I challenged myself when we did archery tag because of how you really have to like fight? I guess.

I felt really nervous but I guess overcoming them is all part of what life throws at you although halfway through I started feeling like it didn’t matter if you were nervous or not it mattered if you had FUN!

I learnt a lot about archery tag and not to underestimate others that people think aren't very good at it but get you out!

I felt proud when I shot one of the Metal ducks even though it bounced back up I was very proud of myself cause I didn't think I was a very good shot and I was a bit rusty in shooting GUNS.

• By Flynn

I really enjoyed archery tag and the talent show. Archery tag was so fun and exciting, I loved all the different ways to play the game as well as pounding my enemies friends. The talent show was also wonderful. Getting up on stage and performing my part was magical and it felt so amazing to see people laughing at our questionable improv. Everyone else's acts were also incredible and we even managed to pull off second place, which to me is pretty awesome. But overall I loved all of camp and it was an amazing experience for me and everyone there.

I challenged myself when we did air rifles. I felt a bit nervous at first but I warmed up to the gun and started shooting better. I learnt so much about the correct way to shoot and I felt good when we left knowing I had done good. This is only just one of so many things I ended up learning at camp. A couple other things were how to throw a disc, how to shoot arrows better and even the whole game of gaga ball. Camp was a wonderful place to learn and I know that in the future of school camps I want to learn even more.

I felt proud when I shot the other team in archery tag because I felt that I was good at it and I'm normally not the best at sports.

By Sydney

My favorite part of camp was the talent show. Everyone got to show their skills. I think the synchronized swimming skit was hilarious. Ms. Lang and Mr. Owen did a great job planning it. I also loved geocaching. It was so cool to navigate with the GPS. Nothing can beat the thrill of elation when you find the geocache. The archery tag was weird but also cool in its own way. I loved it because you got to shoot at people.

I felt challenged by the team initiative. It was so difficult to work together to get the tire over the pole. My team overcame that challenge by lifting each other's feet so their bodies rose to the top. I was scared to shoot an air rifle but then with grants help I shot it like a cowboy on the wild west. Sohpie almost shot a rabbit with an air rifle. It was also challenging to find the right mixture of ingredients for me and Rose’s mince. Camp is meant to challenge you and it definitely did.

I felt proud when we came second in the talent show because of how much time and effort we put into making it the best it could be. All the work we did paid off. Proudness coursed through me when I won at gaga ball. I was proving all the people who said I couldn’t do it wrong. I felt so good. In all camp was an experience that I will never ever forget.

By Piper

My favourite part of camp was probably disc golf cause I thought I was pretty good at that. It was Room 17 vs Room 3, but I had to throw twice because they had one person more than us. Grant and Matt took us for disc golf. It was a heated game. It came down to the wire on the last hole where room 17 the best class won. And I was very excited because on one of the holes, I got two twos so thanks Matt and Grant for taking the time for us to do disc golf.

On the second night the teachers let us cook our own dinners. We cooked mince for nachos on gas cookers. In our cooking group, it was me, Liam and Harry. Our gas cooker didn't work at first so we needed a new one. I felt challenged trying to figure out how to cook mince because we had to put onions in first then the mince, spices and herbs, and tomato juice looking thing! It was Pretty fun and I'm pretty proud that my group didn't burn the mince, or anything because I think cooking isn’t easy. So that's what I'm proud of.

By Rocco