Room 18 Camp

Room 18 had an awesome time at camp last week. We were lucky enough to spend the night out at Berwick and although the weather wasn't always the best, we all had a great time and made a lot of good memories. Here are a few recounts from Room 18 students about their experiences.

The Gut Busty.
Written by Shaun Thompson.

“Rrrgggggnnnnnn” went the siren it was 7:30 in the morning when we all awoke, we all exited our tents and were told that we had 5 minutes to get changed and be ready for what was to come. We all went and got changed and then we sprinted back to the flagpole to be put in our groups for the Gut Buster. When we were at the flagpole there were 4 damp icy logs on the ground. Matua (Our teacher) then told us our group number and where to stand. I was in group 4 with six other members. When we picked up the logs my hands felt like they were gonna freeze in a matter of seconds. All of the class was then told to drop the ice cold logs slowly on the wet cold grass and follow Matua onto The Gut Buster track. The first of three obstacles was the ditch, where you would have to hold your team's log and walk/ run over a small ditch. The next obstacle was the Cargo Net, after running through the ditch you would have to take your team's log under the Cargo net with you and also the rest of your team under; you could only start to run again after all your team had passed the net. The last obstacle was a large ditch that was full of mud that your shoes got stuck in and after that it was finally 1 of the 3 laps. All the teams then got ready with their logs and started to run. There were also punishments for cheating and having too many people not holding the logs. My team was the first to get out of the Cargo net but was the first one to get punished so it was basically all over. Although my team came last, in the end it was an enjoyable experience for me and (some) of the class.

The Terrific Tramp.
Written by Renee Geddes.

As soon as we arrived at Camp Berwick we went straight into getting ready for the tramp. We all were told to get daypacks ready for the tramp we had to pack, drink bottles, our lunch boxes and jackets just in case it rained. We all meet each other at the front gate. As we set off for the tramp If it was pretty cool the sun was shining and everyone was having a good time but then all of a sudden it started to pour down with rain we all had to get our jackets on. We stayed under a tree to wait for the rest of the class to catch up. As we moved on the rain gradually stopped. All of sudden we came to a stop. Matua called Mr Phillips on the walky talky and Mr Phillips said that we missed the turn off so we had to walk back about five minutes. When we got to the right turn we noticed that it was all uphill in a forest. As we got to the top of the hill some of us were really tired but were happy that we got to the top of the hill. We continued the tramp we got to a really muddy part and there was a lot of gorse. A lot of use fell over in the mud because there was mud everywhere and when we were trying to avoid the gorse we would slip over in the mud. Finally we got to the top of the hill and we had lunch. There was a lookout tower and we looked out and saw the land below it was an amazing site it was definitely worth the effort. After everyone had a good rest we started heading back it was a lot easier on the way down because it was pretty much all down. As we got back to camp a lot of us were tired but I think at the end of the day we all had a good time. 

The High Walls.
Written by Benji Egan.

Near the end of the camp the class gathered together for the high wall challenge. The point of the high walls is to work as a team to get as many people as you can over them, it seemed impossible at first but we began to develop strategies. The first wall was just above head high and a few people could get over by themselves. The second wall was much higher and Troy had to pull everyone over while some people at the ground boosted others. The third wall looked impossible at that point but the combined force of two adults at the top and boosters at the bottom got us over quickly. All in all, the high walls were lots of fun and a really good team building exercise, many people went further than they expected, but everyone had a go.