On the way to camp on Monday we stopped at a little lake called Tutira for a break and a snack and then stopped again in Wairoa for lunch next to a beautiful lighthouse. As we continued driving I thought it was quite humorous as we came across a large group of cattle in the middle of the road. People take their cattle onto the road every once in a while to eat the grass growing along the side of the road to prevent it from growing too tall. What a great resource for both parties here!
When we got to camp it was a mad dash for each girl to find the bunk that suited them best. I remember those days, always trying to be away from the window but next to my best friend at the same time. There are two bunk rooms at Kaitawa and we had 16 girls sleeping in each. I decided on a little "hut", pretty much just a little room, where I would stay with one of the moms. Little did I know I picked the squeakiest bunk of all. Regardless, it was a nice room and I was grateful to sleep in there and not in a bunk room most nights.
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| Cute little huts |
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| My room was Kereru |
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| The student bunk rooms |
After everyone was settled we went for a walk with Mr. Dixon, who showed us around the area at the different lakes that feed into one another providing electricity to a good sized town nearby. We walked up the pipeline (very steep hill made for many moans and groans from the girls) that has water from the lake above it flowing very fast through that leads to large turbines at the bottom that spin very vast to make electricity. At the top of the pipeline we got to the lake that feeds the water down the pipeline, which was very beautiful so the kids decided to go for a swim, although the water was pretty cold.
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| The Pipline |
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| Hiking |
Tuesday:
By Tuesday morning my phone was dead and my charger was nowhere to be found. I was bummed because I was relying on my phone to take pictures but thankfully Mrs. King lent me the classroom camera! We started off the day with a huge breakfast, that I found would be the same each day of camp. We had a choice of cereal, toast, fruit, canned spaghetti (I guess it is a camp thing) and some morning pip and squeak, which is a casserole made from leftover food from the day before. It sounds unappealing but it was actually pretty good.
It rained almost all day but that didn't stop us from doing many activities. In the morning the kids played sumo wrestling. Mr. Dixon had two girls at a time stuff pillows in their shirts and try to push one another off the mats using their stomachs. I gave it a go, but unfortunately didn't win. Next, we had a bunch of different paper airplane competitions, I didn't win at that either!
After lunch and after it had stopped raining as hard we decided to the weather was OK to go CAVING! We went in about ten different caves. Each cave lasting no longer than five minutes. I thought it was fascinating and really enjoyed them. However, not all of the girls thought it was so great... some of them were terrified! Luckily, toward the end they started feeling more comfortable caving and most of them came around to really enjoy the adventure.
That night we all had to fill out the New Zealand census. It took a while to do so with all the girls but I thought it was pretty neat I got to be in their census!
Wednesday:
At about 10:00am we all set out to walk to Lake Waikareiti. It was a pretty long walk, about 4 hours total but definitely worth it. The lake was beautiful and ranked one of the nicest lakes in New Zealand, with very low levels of pollution. On the hike up Malcolm had all sorts of tricks up his sleeves. We left camp that day thinking we would try a sugar leaf and a pepper leaf. Little did we know we would get tricked not only once, but twice into eating a pepper leaf that we thought were sugar leaves. In order to taste the strong pepper in the leaf you must chew the leaf for a little while and then all of the sudden you get slapped with pepper. The girls proceeded to call Mr. Dixon "liar, liar, tongue on fire". One of the funniest parts of camp was on Thursday when the girls asked the adults if they could make our sandwiches and stuck pepper leaves in them! I ate three pepper leafs in my sandwich without even knowing because I was that hungry!
When we got back to camp we went kayaking and practiced the races that would be on Thursday. I happy to let everyone know I won both races :) Oops... I probably shouldn't have done that but my competitive side came out full force and a had a bit of an advantage over the 9 and 10 year old girls.
After dinner we went on a night hike on Lou Dolman's trail. It was very different from the night walk at Camp Orkila back in the states because on that hike we weren't allowed to talk and there were only probably ten people at a time. On Lou Dolmans Trail the girls did really well and enjoyed calling out what was coming ahead to those behind them. "Tree, steps, roots, big hole!" When we got to one part of the trail we went under a cave like rock and the girls had to turn off their flashlights and count as many glowworms as they could. It was really cool to see glowworms and most of the girls did this without freaking out. That is until Mr. Dixon had the girls turn around and shine their torches (flashlights) on the wall behind them. The quiet and dark called for wetas, which are spider/cockroach like bugs the size of your palm maybe, on the rock behind them! That scared the living daylights out of some of the girls but they all kept their cool and were happy to move on. At the top of Lou Dolman's trail there is a lookout, where we could see across the whole lake and Malcolm pointed out different things around the lake. I loved this hike!
Thursday:
This was the day we went tramping (hiking) the longest. We went up to Panekiri Bluff that was absolutely beautiful. It was a pretty steep climb but the girls did fantastic. I think they were pretty use to hiking by now, so there were less groans and everyone did really well. The only bummer was when we got to the top of the bluff and we were in the clouds... we didn't have a view at all! However, being in the clouds was a pretty neat feeling and I really enjoyed the hike up. The different colored mushrooms, trees and moss covered everything were beautiful!
The kayaking races were next and without much practice the students did really well! It was great to see the teamwork and good sportsmanship involved. I raced in the adults race were we all picked one student to race with. We came in third (another kayak team hit our kayak!) but we had so much fun and I was really proud of my little partner!
One of my favorite memories from camp was at dinner this night. I was sitting with some girls who were watching me eat. They couldn't believe how I was holding my fork and knife! I knew that I ate different from most people here but was shocked to see that even these girls knew how to properly eat with a fork and knife. Thankfully they taught me how to do it and in the process we laughed so hard, it was so great! Even though the whole things ended with one of the girls having to do dishes for laughing so loud we continued to laugh about it the rest of our time at camp. I won't be surprised to see them on Monday mocking, with great exaggerated moves, the way I used to cut my ham... :)
That night we played a game called In The Bag. The students answered questions abotu came, picked a bag and then Malcolm would offer them "money", which were lollies (candy). The girls could take the money or mystery prize in the bag. All but two picked the bag and thankfully did because some of the prized were horrendous. Girls could win a various selection of easter candy or dud prizes like a dead spider, a toilet paper roll, a candy wrapper, a weta, a pepper leaf or even a pair of lost underwear! The girls and adults all had a great laugh. It was a neat way to end camp.
Friday:
After packing up and cleaning we were on our way home. Helen (their teacher) and I were really looking forward to a quiet ride home, assuming the girls would be exhausted. However, our car full of girls were so tired they were quiet delirious and giggled the whole way home.
I am so glad everyone had a fun and safe camp experience. I am very grateful I got to go with this group of girls, the principal, their teacher and some of the parents. Seeing more of New Zealand was excellent and I absolutely love it here. One of my favorite parts was coming back to school and having people say "welcome home" to me. It brought the biggest smile to my face! I am happy to back to Cheryl's and am enjoying a nice quiet weekend.
Pics will follow soon from other camera!
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