Year 5 Camp Kaitawa

1. Year 5 Camp Kaitawa By Zarah Otto

2. Introduction A glowing sun set the mood for an exciting week ahead of the buzzing Year Five’s getting ready for Camp Kaitawa, a camp to remember! Little did they know about the adventures to come….. Getting to know camp, giant mountains to climb, wonderful waterfalls and dark caves with glow worms to explore. What an absolutely exhausting week at camp!

3. Monday Finally after a long drive we arrived at Camp Kaitawa. I was so happy to find out that Sophie and I were sharing a small cabin. After we had unpacked our sleeping bags and sorted out our beds, we set off for a walk near camp to have a look around. I walked with Alana. We talked while we walked. It was a bit rainy during our walk. On our walk we went past Lake Kaitawa (was very big), Power Station, Green lake (Was really amazing!) and just when we thought we were finished we had to walk up the pipeline. There was a lot to see at the top but the walk up took so long. My legs were sore. Then we had to walk back down again! We had a yummy dinner of Spaghetti Bolognaise with ice-cream and fruit salad for dessert. Richard from DOC came to talk to us about Camp Kaitawa and what we might see there. Soon after that we had supper and went to bed. I was so tired but, I was also a bit excited about tomorrow.

4. Tuesday I woke up tired because I didn't get much sleep. I got ready and had some breakfast .We packed our day packs and drove to the beginning of the track. Today we were doing The Ngamoko track. Not long after we arrived we got into our groups and started walking. After walking for about 20 minutes we stopped off for morning tea. Then we set off again. We kept walking and walking but I must say there were some amazing views to see on the way. We were actually crawling up the very steep parts! Finally we stopped walking to have a lunch break. Soon after lunch we came to a sign saying only 3 hours to go. I was relieved. But it seemed like 4 hours before we came out. OH NO! We had to walk all the way back to camp! Soon I could recognise some of the scenery it was only about half an hour left to go now. I was hoping we didn’t have to walk up the pipeline again! When we arrived back at camp we had devilled sausages for dinner. I was so tired. I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow!

5. Wednesday After a good sleep I awoke at about seven o’clock. When we were ready Sophie and I met everyone in the dinning room. We did not have a very long walk today but we had two walks to do. My group and another group went ahead of everyone else because we didn’t have enough transport to take everyone at once (we were going in cars). When we arrived after the drive our two groups did a small loop track. There were two waterfalls to see on the track. They were so beautiful. The first one we saw had very loud water falling . The second one was quiet and the water was falling down smoothly. When the other groups arrived we had morning tea and then set off for the walk to Lake Waikareiti. It was a lot of uphill but my legs didn’t get too sore. Finally we arrived at a hut where we stopped and had lunch at. The trip back didn’t feel that long at all. When we got back to the begging of the track. The two groups that had done the Loop Track went back to camp and the other three groups did the Loop Track. When we were all together again we did an obstacle course. It was so much fun! We were being timed when we did the course. My favourite obstacle was going along a thin rope to the other side. After that we went back to camp and had Burgers for dinner. Then we went to bed.

6. Thursday There was caving to do on Thursday and the Cook Out. After getting ready we were soon at the caves. It just looked like another walk but that soon changed. 20 minutes later we were crawling through a muddy cave to the side. Before we knew it we were sliding through more. After we had gone through 7 caves we were on our way back to the beginning. Or were we? I think we were going around in circles. We were going around in circles! After a very long time we reached the beginning. I was glad. We had gone through eight caves. We had lunch on a big grassy field. My group had to walk there because there were not enough cars. We played a game of rugby. We were so tired that we didn’t have to go on the other walk we were supposed to do. Once we were back at camp we got ready for our Cook Out. My group made Nachos. They were very nice but we made too many. We had chocolate, banana and marshmallows for dessert. We put them on the fire in tinfoil. Soon after that we went to bed. Sophie and I swapped rooms with Danielle and Brooke so we slept in the big girls dorm.

7. Friday We packed our bags and cleaned the dorms. Then we went down to the lake and played some games so that we wouldn’t get into the grownups way while they tidied up. We went back to camp and had morning tea. Soon we got into our car groups and off we went! We had lunch Chip Butties in Wairoa. We stopped off at the gas station and got an ice-cream. Finally we arrived back at school. I was so tired but what a fun camp it was that was. I will remember that camp well!