Camp Katawa

1. Camp Katawa By Amelia

2. Nervous, excited and scared; these were some of my feelings on Monday because it was the day of Reignier Year 6 Camp Kaitawa. I had butterflies in my stomach as I left the house, garden, mum and most importantly my TV and computer. In the week ahead I would walk through 100km per hour rain, I would climb the biggest mountain in the world, crawl under the most muddiest and gruelling caves in New Zealand and see the awesomest waterfall. What a exhausting week ahead!

3. Monday The rain would not stop pouring as we drove to camp. I was in Chris’ car with Sophie, Harry and Finn. Finally we got to the great gate of Camp Kaitawa! We were the second car to get to camp so we were one of the first to choose our bunks. Soon after we choose our bunk every one else arrived. Then we were broken the news that we still had to go on our camp orientation walk yay . NOT. The walk was uphill on a concrete path, it was hard on your legs because in was so steep. We got back to the smell of spaghetti bolognaise but before we could eat we had to get changed and we got put into groups. I was in the Whio’s and the other groups were the Kiwi, Kaka, Kakapo and the Kereru. We had a quiz while the parents were finishing the meal and Kereru won by a mile, but I was concentrating more on dinner. Our table went first, the food was soooooo good. Dessert was fruit salad with ice cream. After we had Doc over to talk us about how stoats, ferrits and rats can kill our native animals like the Kiwi. DOC also showed us a trap, then at 9:30 we all went to bed but we chatted for a good hour!

4. Tuesday The next morning we got up, dressed in shorts and polyprop. We had a breakfast of cornflakes, weekbix, peaches, baked beans, sausages, spaghetti and toast. After we packed our bags and made our lunch of roll, apple, chips and a museli bar. Then we jumped into our cars to drive to the start of the track. Our group went first. We had to walk to the oldest tree in New Zealand which was 1000 years old. The walk to the Rata tree was easy because it was flat and it only took 30 minutes. We had morning tea at the tree and we got given a Moro bar and some barley sugars for the walk ahead. I thought the next hour was the hardest hour of my life because it was nearly vertical. When the hour was up, we stopped to wait for the others to catch up. From now on, it was still going up but not as steep as before. The next stop was for lunch. We were nearly at the top. At the end of lunchtime, we walked another 20 minutes and we were at the top. It was scary to look down on how high up we were. From now on, it was down. Everybody kept on tripping going down, including Ms Hewett! After a while, we got to the ridge. It was grassy and there were no trees – only bushes. From there it was only 1 hour. I was getting tired but my legs weren’t sore. I can remember the time was saw the ‘10 minutes to Kaitawa’ sign vividly. I was overjoyed! Soon enough, we could see camp. When I walked in the door, I ran to my bed and lay down. We had showers and then we all had devilled sausages for dinner. For dessert, I had apple crumble. After dinner, we watched a movie called ‘Ice Age 3 – Dawn of the Dinosaurs’. I watched to only halfway then went to bed – zzzzzz!

5. Wednesday Ahhh. Morning I was glad the big walk was over but we have to go on a walk to see a jail and to see Michael Noonan’s grave. We got up, got dressed and had breakfast. We had to pack our lunch and off we drove to the start of the walk for the grave and jail. The walk was mostly flat to the jail. The jail was a big rock with a gap in the middle and some prisoners and soldiers had carved their initials in the rock. We walked on a bit and came to a clearing where we could see the whole lake of Waikaremoana and if you looked closely you could see a ferry in the water. Where the clearing was, is where the soldiers had lived in the 1800’s. If you looked closely in the bush, you could see the bricks from the chimneys of the houses. We walked on a bit, downhill for about 10 minutes, and we came to an inlet on the lake. This is where Michaels Noonan’s grave was. Michael Noonan was a soldier – he was only 16 and he was a messenger. He sent a message to warn the soldiers that a tribe was going to invade their land but he was shot after he warned his people. Next to his grave was a 9 month old baby that had died and an old man who was 47 from England. After we had looked at the graves, we had morning tea at the edge of the inlet. Then we walked back up past the clearing and the prison until we got back to the cars. We then had lunch and jumped back into the cars and drove to the caves. We were told carefully to stay to the track because they were random holes that could go down 100s and 1000s of metres down. On the track there were caves and some openings were so small you had to crawl on your hands and knees. It was so muddy on the truck that the mud went up to my ankles. We took about 3 ½ hours walking the track because it was raining and it was very slippery. At the end of the walk, Chris gave out Freddy Frogs and we took our shoes off and got back into the cars. After we had arrived back at camp, we had a shower and got changed into our pyjamas. We had dinner of hamburgers and I was on washing up the dishes. We then had a quiz – it was a draw between the Kiwis, the Whio’s and Kereru’s so we had a sudden death competition. The question was ‘In South America, what country has the greatest land mass?’. The Kiwis were the first to put their hand up and they answered with Brazil, which was correct. They won 2 Crunchie Freddy Frogs and the Whio’s and Kiwi’s won plain Freddy Frogs. Supper was Milo and I got a cookie and piece of shortbread. Bedtime – and we brushed our teeth and read for 15 minutes.

6. Thursday Thursday was really sunny and we had a hot breakfast then got dressed, packed our lunches and we were off to another walking track. This walking track was mildly steep and was1 hour there and 1 hour back. Miss Hewett was quizzing us on the way with questions and when we got there, we found a hut and we had morning tea in it. Then we started walking back – it was downhill this time. We passed some DOC staff with guns on the way – and some tourists. In the middle of the way back, we passed some long-drops and they smelt really bad. At the end of the track, we found a wagon that weighed about 20 tons and we sat on top of it and had lunch. We then had a toilet stop and we went on another 30 minute track. On this one, we passed many beautiful waterfalls and they were glistening in the sun. I found a stick and made it my Harry Potter wand (it was the same shape as a wand). At the end of the track, we got lollipops (I got an orange one). When we got back to camp, we did the confidence course. The Whio’s came second and the Kiwis came first. I went back to my bunk and read for a while before the cookout. Dinner that night was a cookout over a campfire. In our groups, we made the fires then put a pan over the fire. The first thing our group put in the pan was onion (until they were soft) then we browned some mince and added the burrito spice to it. After, we put some corn kernels in and put some water in. Then we got our tortillas and put garlic aioli in them and the mince mixture. It was sooooo good. We had some left so we gave some to the adults. All the other groups had made nachos so we were the odd ones out. After we had eaten, we roasted marshmallows and most of the marshmallows caught on fire so they were charcoal. We walked back to camp and had self-saucing pudding with ice-cream. We then got into bed and read. We got to sleep really fast that night.

7. Friday The next morning we have a continental breakfast then we got dressed. Now it was the thing I was most dreading, PACKING UP. I had my clothes everywhere around the room. It took me 40 minutes to find everything and pack it! Then we played a game while the adults were cleaning up. We got into cars after and drove to Wairoa were we stopped for lunch which was hot chip butties. Chris also stopped to buy us lollies. At Tutira for an ice block, I got a chocolate iceblock. Our next stop was school. I was so glad to be back and to see Mum. Overall I think this week was very challenging, tiring and fun. Mostly all the things I did on camp were the things I had never done. I will miss Camp Kaitawa but I was glad to be back in my own bed.