Year 9 Camp Reflection
On Wednesday 27 August, Year 9 loaded the buses on Bourke Street and rushed aboard to head for the great unknown/Glenworth Valley. The ride up was buzzing with anticipation, singing and, for some, last minute naps as we prepared for the journey ahead.
Once we landed, we were divided into seven groups and introduced to the leaders tasked with keeping us alive. We were then welcomed to Country by Uncle Tim, a Traditional Owner who taught us what it means to be Indigenous, the family lines of eagles and crows and shared beautiful songs and stories before we set up our campsites.
Lunch then followed, with swarms of us heading for the wraps before we began our first activity: Abseiling. Each group did a different activity.
The hardest part was the walk up the hill to reach the site, but once there, the beautiful view took our already stolen breath away as, one after another, we braved the terrifying act of throwing
(waddling) ourselves down a cliff face. Boundaries were pushed and, in the end, no matter how far we got, we could all honestly say we were proud of ourselves.
In the cold of the night, we huddled around our Trangias to cook honey-mustard chicken, dreading the infamous Shiny-Shiny (cleanup) that followed, before we all collapsed into our tents, exhausted from our giddy excitement and breakdowns on the edge of a cliff.
The next morning, we collected our breakfast in communal quiet as we recovered from our chaotic first night in tents and prayed our fingers wouldn’t fall off. As it warmed up and the horses came to join us, we lathered on sunscreen and set off on a three-hour hike up Mount Olive. The journey was full of inspirational choral performances, riddles, and an unholy number of spiky plants until we finally reached a spot to rest and reflect. Everyone spread out and settled down to write letters to themselves, full of questions and goals. I’m sure they will be… entertaining to read once we finish Year 12.
After another yummy wrap, it was time to push ourselves forward, this time on mountain bikes. There is too much that can be said about our cycling, so all that will be said is—hills and pain—although we also had the transformative experience of feeding goats and cows, so it shall be fondly remembered.
That night we played games, demolished our burgers and listened to stories around the campfire before crawling into our tents for another freezing night interrupted by scream-like bird noises.
The last morning, we said goodbye to our tents and used camp magic to fit them into bags they most certainly shouldn’t fit into before we shlepped through the mud to our final activity of canoeing. The fear of capsizing left us once on the river but in its place entered the burn in our arms that became synonymous with accomplishment.
When we returned to the campsite, we said goodbye to our leaders and climbed back onto the buses nursing cuts and bruises for a much quieter and sleepier journey home.
On behalf of Year 9, thank you so much to Ms Bloomfield, Ms Satchell, and all the staff that attended for making this amazing camp possible, we have made so many memories and none of them would have happened without you
Sophie Downes
Year 9
