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Camp Kaitawa 2011 By Sophie Eyles
It was a wonderful, warm morning. Just the weather to prepare the year 5’s for an extraordinary week at Camp Kaitawa. A camp to remember! Small popping surprises scared you as they happened, each one getting better every time. The beautiful lake, steep slippery mountains, sparkling clear falls, jet black watery caves and scrumptious smoky dinner and dessert. What a wonderfully tiring week.
Monday We had arrived at camp, some fine, some feeling sick. Off on a tramp we went. We were at the surge chamber looking at the beautiful green lake. It was as clear as glass. As we walked around the loop track we saw about three trout in the water. The pipeline walk was amazing! Your legs burned, your arms pumped and your lungs struggled. I think that Monday’s work was all worth the struggle!
Tuesday The views at the 7 and a half hour walk were phenomenal . The Rata tree was amazing! It was 800 – 1000 years old. The Ngamoko walk was done in a young native forest. It went over mountains and through creeks. We got to 1050 metres above sea level. About 7 people got injuries coming down because they slipped down. For dinner we had Devilled Sausages and for dessert we had Ice- cream and fruit salad. 2 minute shower, into bed, head down fast asleep in the Kiwi Cabin. So that’s how Tuesday ended.
Wednesday We are all excited as we walked to Lake Waikareiti. It was amazing! We went around the loop track and saw the most amazing clear, bubbling, sparkling falls. We were so excited when we came back because we knew that we were going to do the confidence course in our teams. Our teams are Kaka, Whio, Kakapo, Kiwi and Kereru. I was in Cabin Kiwi and Kaka group. The confidence course would have been the biggest hit of the day! It may have been tricky but I enjoyed everything .
Thursday Thursday was a very tiring day. We were all ready to go. The year 5’s were buzzing with excitement. We arrived at the caves ready to go through the 1st cave, 2nd , 3rd , 4th , 5th 6th,7th and finally 8th cave! Going through the jet black, watery caves was an amazing experience. The tired year 5’s walked all the way back to camp seeing beautifully lit bonfires for our dinner. Our group made nachos with extra cheese and extra chilli beans! We had a girls and boys game of paper, scissors, rock. Afterwards we roasted marshmallows and chocolate on the run down, ashy fire. I had my own foil parcel. Once we thought that we had feasted enough on the chocolatey goodness Mrs.Johnson read us the Myth of Waikaremoana.
Friday SMACK! Opens the door. Mrs Gibson thunders in “Everyone awake?” she says as the room stays silent and still. Everybody wakes up with a sudden jolt in the dorm. We got ready, had breakfast , got in cars and zooming off down the road. We stopped in Wairoa and had chip butties for lunch, and the Adults had pies. We had a play on the playground for 10 minutes. We stopped at a Gas station and got an Ice-block with Mrs Ball. I got back to school and I so happy to see Mum. That camp was by far the best camp ever. I loved the caving and confidence course. It would be heaven to go back there again.