In Week 9, Year 9 travelled to the Great Aussie Bush Camp, Tea Gardens. We started the day at the crack of dawn and we met at school by 6:45am, this was followed by the almost 3 and a half hour bus trip to the venue.

When we first arrived we were greeted by the lovely staff at the camp and we were settled down into our cabins and headed off for lunch. I started off camp with canoeing followed by high ropes. Canoeing was a blast and was topped off with a swim in the river. The high ropes were definitely the highlight of my camp journey. It pushed us out of our comfort zones but it was also heaps of fun. Climbing across some hard obstacles was made easier by the encouragement from my peers.

After the long day, we connected as a Year group with group challenges and everyone had a fun time. Finally, we ended the day around the campfire, then off it was to the cabins to hopefully get a few hours of sleep for the next day.

The second day at camp started nice and early. My first activity was ‘The Lost Island’ a multi-stage obstacle course in the mud. This was the highlight of the camp for me. Even though the mud was cold and was thrown at you any chance anyone could get, it was still a great experience. Everyone got involved including our teachers and it was a great bonding experience, pushing us out of our comfort zone and challenging us physically and mentally. It was a great activity.

My next activity was ‘Survivor Challenge,’ another mud activity which made students apply teamwork skills in order to make it from one side to the other before the other team could. This was great to see our Pastoral Class work together, although some of us did end up in the mud. Fortunately, we had some spare time to have some much-needed showers.

Another activity I participated in was the Giant Swing. This was probably the most challenging overall for our homeroom. Many students were pushed out of their comfort zones. No matter how scared they were the majority of people participated thanks to the encouragement from other students and teachers. It was a very funny and rewarding experience. The night activity was ‘Commando.’ Basically, you go out into the woods without any torches and you have to find some hidden hostages without getting caught by the teachers. Even though there were many scratches, bruises and mosquito bites from running into trees and anything else you could run into it was so fun. It was a great, but very exhausting day.

Day three started with a very early 6am start. One of my final activities was the crate climb which challenged your peers to work together to support your weight while you stack crates together, therefore putting your trust in them. The students would challenge themselves and others to reach as high as possible, with some students climbing to an astounding 13 crates. We then had some lunch and then set off on our trip home to be awaited by our parents who could of I'm sure done a bit longer without us.

On behalf of our cohort, I would like to give a massive thank you to our pastoral teachers for giving up three days of their family time to come and look after us, you are greatly appreciated. To Miss Cupillari, thank you for everything, not only at camp but in the weeks leading up to camp. Mr Bubb, thank you so much. To organise something like camp for us is extremely hard and stressful but you still managed to do it. I’m sure our year group is very grateful and we thank you from the bottom of our hearts. And last but certainly not least Year 9, you all are amazing. You made camp so much fun and I think we all had a great time. Camp has definitely brought us all closer as a cohort. Fears were conquered, friendships formed and a great time was had. Thank you to everyone who was involved in making our camp happen.

-Liam McClafferty, Jasmine McAllister, Isaiah Elias and Kirra-lee Timms.

Year 9 SRC

Firstly, I would like to show my appreciation to the Year 9 SRC for their reflections from camp. It was great to hear of the fun and rewarding experiences you had.

Year 9 Camp was very successful and I also want to thank all students and teachers who helped the camp to be as successful as it was.

I was very proud to see the way the Year 9 students interacted with each other and the Camp staff. They were very respectful and allowed for new connections to be developed. I was also very excited to see students trying new things and conquering their fears. It was also great to see students developing key skills for life, like communication, decision making and teamwork. I am honoured to be associated with this Year group. I also believe the cohort bonded as a whole and I look forward to the future to see what more amazing things can be achieved by this group.

Kind regards,

Mr Matthew Bubb

Year 9 Coordinator