We arrived at Alfred Hines campsite a little more refreshed and moved into rooms with actual beds. Cheyne joined us at Rockingham and the fresh pair of legs were appreciated as we set up. After setting up our new campsite, we had some free time. We took the time to go for a walk on the beach, play Uno, or go for a shower.
Dinner last night was great, we sang happy birthday to Mr Ryan and ‘surprised him’ with cake which we all enjoyed. Harrison was particularly upset that he wasn’t allowed the pavlova!
Each day we have had 15 minutes of personal reflection time. We then came together to celebrate our wins for the day, talk about what we might not be doing so well, and set goals for the next day. We had a big reflection session last night. We celebrated that we had completed the walk in record time. We also celebrated that we had done better with showing respect, compassion and service to others, but we felt that we still had a way to go on that one.
Our biggest reflection point was communication. We talked about our different social groups and how communication between our groups differed. Mrs Kingdon said we were quite mature during this session as we used a lot of ‘I feel’ statements and faced some hard truths. We didn’t get our practice walk on our first camp because of COVID-19 but we did a really good job of it all things considered! After reflection time we went to sleep and oh what a sleep it was! Warm beds, no weird noises it was great.
Day three began with a bit of a sleep in… the girls were up just before 6.00am to get breakfast ready. It was a typical final breakfast of camp… eat everything that was left over!
It was then back to cleaning, packing the buses and getting ready to head off for the day. Charlize joined us for our final day. After Mr McGough found the bus keys, we travelled to Penguin Island. Rusty, our ferry driver, took us for the 5 minute ferry ride over to Penguin Island. We jumped off the ferry and onto another boat for our cruise. We were worried about the weather but the bay was so calm we could see through the water. We soon found a mum and calf Bottlenose Dolphin. They got so close to us and played with the boat. We then headed to Bird Island to see some osprey chicks and look at the erosion of the limestone which forms Aladdin’s Cave. It was then over to Seal Island. There were about five sealions laying in the sun with the water washing over them. It looked like a great place to be. Seth did one of the best thankyou’s of the camp to Taylor and Martin, the crew who took us on the glass bottomed boat.
It was then time for some exploration. Some students went with Mr McGough to explore a beach further north. There is a great video of a wave washing up the beach and getting some students as they run up the beach!
Subway cookies and sandwiches were served for lunch followed by some exploration with seaweed on the beach. Others took some time to lay on the grass and have a snooze. Those on the grass were soon joined by some friendly King Skinks who were quickly named Gerard, Bob and Jeremy.
After a briefing from Mrs Kingdon, we entered the Education Centre where we met the 10 education penguins, including 24 year old Jerry who is blind in one eye thanks to a fish hook and Kevin who thinks he is a person! We got to see them swim and eat whilst we learnt about their lifestyle. Mason, Charlotte, Jasper and Tawana asked great questions. Our presenter was really impressed with the way we acted, though Mrs Kingdon had told them we were really tired! We even had members of the public seek out different staff to congratulate them on our behaviour.
After the penguin talk we headed back to the ferry where Rusty drove us back to the buses. We are now driving back to school for one last unload and pack away before cleaning the buses and going home to sleep (and eat takeaway since we have all been sharing our takeaway favourites!).
We would like to say a massive thank you to Miss Huston, Mr McGough, Mr Ryan and Mrs Kingdon for giving up their time and taking us on this camp. It was a challenging camp. We learnt a lot about ourselves, and about working as a team.
Here’s to a weekend of sleeping and recovering!
Year 8 Bush Rangers