Camp Motutapu 2010

Last week from the 3^rd to the 7^th of May my class and syndicate D went to camp. Camp was on Motutapu Island. We went to Motutapu by boat; it took about half an hour. My friends and I were so excited so it did not seem that long a trip. We actually got dropped off at Rangitoto and then we had to walk for 6.5 kilometers to the actual campsite.

Finally we arrived at Motutapu Outdoor Education Camp. As soon as we arrived we had lunch and I had a nice ham roll. After everyone had arrived and had lunch we were told what dorms we were to sleep in. I was in dorm one and I chose a bed in the middle of the dorm. We were then brought together and told our first activity, sailing! We were told to go down to the boat shed and meet ‘J.R’ and get our wetsuits and life jackets. After we had got them we headed down to the beach. We had a quick meeting and then we were off! I was in a boat with Kyle A and Kyle G, we had a fantastic time, especially because we capsized twice. Awesome! We were going so fast but then we thought, lets capsize! So I turned the tiller away from me and we all stayed on the same side, which made us flip over!

My first nighttime activity was the Burma trail. I wasn’t that scared because I had previously done a Burma trail. Also, it was quite light which meant that you could see half the time. It was still a little bit scary but it was still really fun.

The next morning after breakfast we found out what our next activity was, mine was rock climbing. So we headed off for the rock-climbing wall to start. I got to the top of the easy wall very fast. I then went to the harder wall and then the even harder wall, the overhang! I did not make it to the top of the overhang wall but I was still happy that I tried it.

My next activity was the confidence course, my group worked really hard beating 28A. The confidence course was fun, it wasn’t great but I still enjoyed it. Some parts were quite hard but my team managed to do it. After the confidence course we had lunch, I had two delicious hotdogs.

After lunch my activity was kayaking. We played soccer in the kayaks, half of my group played the other half of my group. We lost two goals to one but it was still lots of fun. 28B went before 28A because there weren’t enough kayaks for everyone to go at once. 28B went first and then 28A had their turn, we all got really cold but it was still great fun.

High Ropes were awesome. I did three activity’s, the beam, dangling down vines and the one where you have to stand on one wire and hold onto the other wire. The hardest activity on the high ropes were the dangling down wires . Kim and Krishna did really well overcoming their fears and doing the beam and the cargo net, 28 B and 28 A helped them do it by cheering them on which was great!

On Wednesday my first activity was the gun walk. It’s amazing how historic Motutapu is. It was so interesting seeing all the tunnels and storerooms. Great fun! All though it was a walk with lots of big hills it was still lots of fun.

After we did the gun walk we did archery. We all had two practise turns but then we went into the actual round when you count. I made it to the final round but then Casey and Kyle beat me. Kyle A got 16 points, Casey got 12 points and I got 10 points. At least I made it to the final. I was quite proud of myself for making it to the final round.

After lunch we had ‘survivor’. Survivor was mean! My team worked really hard and we beat 28 A by 5 seconds. I fell into the pond three times! Awesome fun, especially because Kyle A jumped in with me!

Next was Orienteering! Michael and I won it! We won a chocolate bar. It was lots of fun. It was really hard because we did not know that much about the camp, which made it quite hard because some of the controls involved having to know where things are around the camp.

My first elective was the high ropes. I got to do the flying kiwi. The flying kiwi was awesome! What happens is you are connected to a rope that is tied to a wire at the top of the high ropes and when the line of people beside you walk forward you go flying forward and up, which makes you go into a big swing! The cargo net is just a big big net that you can climb up. I made it to the top of it really easily.

My second elective was the flying fox! The flying fox was freezing but cool! I did it about 10 times, it was cool because our group was very small. Most of the people left after their first turn, that meant that we could have more turns, it was great!

My last elective and last activity was rock-climbing and abseiling. We did abseiling first, it was heaps of fun, quite scary but awesome! For rock-climbing I did the wall that I wanted to do Vertical Two! I loved it!

On the last day we had to clean the toilets, but then we were told that we didn’t actually have to do them. Since there were too many people it would make the job really hard!

Soon we set off for our 6.5 kilometer walk back to the Rangitoto wharf, where our half an hour boat trip was waiting for us. I think that children gain a lot from outdoor education experiences like this one. I think that all schools should have a camp!

CAMP MOTUTAPU 2010 WAS AWESOME!

By Matthew