A Week At Camp With 10B

By Michael Ruske and Eli Ellison | Posted: Tuesday March 21, 2017

10B returned from camp last Friday. Michael and Eli tell us about their week.

Year 10 camp was the best camp I have ever been to and I am not just saying that, it genuinely was.

Getting to school at 6.30am with all our gear, the bus was packed and we started our four hour drive to Wanaka. We stopped at Wanaka for a stretch and to buy some food for the camp which you do need a bit of. We then got back on the bus for another hour bus ride which went quite fast. We got to the start of our walk, unpacked the bus and talked to the last group before heading off. The van drove off with our day packs and all the food and other gear while we were left to walk the two hour trip with our very heavy packs on. It was torture. We finally got there and after carrying the food up we went straight to the river at the end of our big first day.

Day two we got told we were walking to see the Rob Roy glacier which was a nice three hour walk, it was worth it, the glacier was sick! The way back was a lot faster and we went straight to a mean water hole which finished the day off nicely.

The third day everyone was excited when Mr McGarry and Mr Matehaere told us we were going kayaking which was probably our best day.

Day four was team bonding with our cabin group and prep for the overnight camp, we also played cards and table tennis. We finally got to the day of the over night, the hour and a half walk was almost easy because of all the walking we had already done. Like most days the weather was 20 degrees and when we got there and after putting our tents up we went straight into the freezing water and onto a rock where Angus spent a lot of time because he was too cold to swim back. We ended the day quite late with nice rice risotto, pasta and desert around a massive camp fire that we had made ourselves. In the middle of the night we woke to our cooking stuff being moved around by the biggest cow I have ever seen. The following morning after the cow had come back a few times we got packed up and headed back to the lodge and just chilled playing table tennis.

We had a quiz night and Dr Fisher was very cheeky and put one on the last teams score which meant our team would have won but when we were celebrating he added a zero…………………. The other team got 10!

The last full day of camp started with orienteering and then we went to Wishbone Falls and kayaking which was a great way to spend the last day because we were all extremely tired. We got back to camp and we packed. Because everyone was now good at table tennis we had a tournament (which Angus won) which topped off a great camp.

We all got up early for the ride home and this time we only had to carry our day packs which weighed 100 times less. We all enjoyed the amazing time we had at camp.

Michael Ruske

Camp was probably the highlight of my time here at OB’s so far. I had the coolest most chilled teachers and the greatest bunch of lads. We did loads of activities which were really fun and got all the young men involved.

My favourite activity was kayaking. I found this the coolest, not because I was good, which I really was NOT, but because it one of the most breathtaking moments I have ever experienced. The overnight camp was the most fun thing I have done this whole year. We made a camp fire and stayed up to around 1.30am just offering some great banter, it was a good laugh and a great time.

We also had a massive table tennis competition which was really fun. If I had to be honest half the time we were at camp we were pretty much swimming or doing something involving water. I remember this one time the water was so cold when we swam out to a rock we didn’t want to get back in, but we did anyway. I swear Angus Faulks was sitting on the rock for literally half an hour because he just didn’t want to get back in the water, that was hilarious!

I could write so much more but then this would get boring, so these are my favourite memories of camp. I would love to relive that week one more time.

Eli Ellison

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