YEAR 8 CAMP!!

If I could describe the last week of school, last term in one word it would be….. AMAZING!!! Because all of the year 8’s of Point England school traveled all the way to the Marsden bay camp site, for our own Leadership camp! This camp was all about teaching us year 8’s how to be a leader for the school, since we are the oldest students. We didn’t just learn we also did all kinds of fun activities, such as the water slide, flying fox, kayaking, archery and playing at free time where we got to play on the camps volley ball court and around the area. We were all split into camp groups named North beach, One tree point, Marsden and Ruakaka which was the one I was in. I was lucky enough to have three of my friends in my group and there names are Alexis, May and Marilyn. Let me tell you what happened at camp.

We made our journey by bus and the trip was long. Inside the bus was full of the chatter of children, I was sitting next to my friend Jessica and we both enjoyed the ride with games and conversations! When we finally drove into the camp site I could spot the tall and giant flying fox! My whole head was just buzzing with excited thoughts, I couldn’t wait to see our cabins and go on the water slide! It only took us 5 to 8 minutes to unpack the bus and take all our gear inside the dining hall, we all gathered in the dining hall to eat our morning tea from home and chat to our friends. I wasn’t that hungry and I was just to excited to sit still!

After a while we had to take our things to our cabins and I was so happy that I got the top bunk and to be with my friends in the cabin! Once we were finished taking our bags, we all gathered in a small lounge next to the dining hall to start our first leadership activity. We were learning about how to be a leader and also help the person in charge, because even though we might not be the leader but we still have to help them by listening and doing what they say. Our second leadership activity was about our words and how they can bring us up or tear us down. We talked about how we have to chose our words carefully and to be kind and say nice things and not bad things.

We had morning tea next and free time!! I was soo thrilled that we had free time because I could not wait to see what the rest of the camp site looked like. There is a swing, monkey bars, a small cage where you have to kick the ball into the holes in the walls, a big see saw and lastly a huge chest set outside. Everything looked super cool and I loved standing on the see saw going up and down. Unfortunately our free time came to an end and we had our third leadership activity, which was about team work and listening to each other. The first day went faster than a cheetah!

The next day we were given our activity list for the whole day and the first one my team had was push play! We played all sorts of games like cricket and soccer. I was really good at cricket if I do say so myself! It was really tiring and when push play came to an end, we had a short break to go get our togs because we were going to go kayaking next! I love kayaking but my arms got sore. It was so much fun and what was really fun was that we had a backwards race where we had to row backwards all the way to the end, I didn't win though. When our time was all most up we tipped over our teachers kayak her name is Miss Berry!! It was so funny and I was soaking wet because they tipped my kayak too! When we got back to our cabins we had a shower and got changed.

My favourite activity was the water slide!!! It was so fun going down the slide and what was even better was that my togs were made out of a very slippery material which made me go faster! I remember I went down the slide back to back with my friend Koula and IT WAAS SOOOO COOOLLLL!!!! I was happy that we got some lunch and some free time after that because it was a long day! I also loved angel art! Where we just got to relax and draw, I drew a poster of what we had learned with Mr and Mrs Samuel's who are the parents of one of the year 8 students. Mr and Mrs Samuel's taught us that words are powerful and to walk the talk, so thats what I put on my poster! The last thing I loved about camp was the food! We had tasty meals every night and I loved dessert, I can almost remember the taste of that lovely pasta!

Everything just went by so fast! On our final day we had clean everything! The bathrooms, our cabins, the small lounge and the dining hall! It was easy because everyone helped out and I got to vacuum, When everything was crystal clean we had free time while waiting for the buses. I couldn't believe that I was going back home but at least I had a fun time with my friends on the bus! 
This is me and my friend Ariana on the bus! --->

I will always remember this experience for the rest of my life! My least favourite thing was... NOTHING! I loved it all and I can't wait to see what the year 7's think of it next year! I'm so thankful for all the blessings we had on this camp! I want to thank all the teachers, parents and everyone who helped make this camp possible! I will try to be a good leader this year and try my best at everything!