Camp Kaitawa

By Molly Jeffery

Hooray! The warm, cloudy day has finally arrived. Bursting with excitement, the Reignier School Year 5’s were setting off for Camp Kaitawa! The unforgettable adventures and challenges, extremely steep mountains, beautiful, extraordinary views, bushy green native forests and dangerous sliding tomes. Wow, what a great fun and exhaustingly phenomenal experience!!!

MondayIt was extremely hard work walking up the steep mountains and coming back down, though I was glad it was done and over with afterwards ! The pipeline was the challenge of the day! Especially when I thought Mrs Gibson was being sarcastic when she said we were going all the way down again! I was so sore and I wanted to stop but did I have a choice? So I kept walking. The dinner when we got back was absolute heaven but I was definitely full to the stomach when I went to bed!

TuesdayThe Ngamoko walk had amazing views of the dark green bushes and the still water beneath you. 2 hours later we stopped at a huge 800-1000 year old Rata tree, so that was where we snacked for morning tea. Later on when we stopped for lunch we were 1050km above sea level! So I felt sorry for the people who are afraid of heights because that wasn’t going to help! We walked down the mountain and finished the 7 and a half hour walk hour tramp! Finally I got what I was waiting for all along; a nice warm shower.

Wednesday

Everything you saw while you were walking was just extraordinary! It was like walking into a different world. All the branches would shelter from high above, and the ground was covered with leaves. As everyone arrived at Lake Waikareiti it was just shimmering! Quite awhile after we visited Papakorito, then kept going to the loop tracks, and for the first time ever I saw a weta home but there was something missing! The Wetas!

After we had settled in we walked over to the obstacle course. The obstacle course would have been the biggest hit of the day and don’t ask me why! All the team work was great was great and tricky but I love challenges.

Thursday

Thursday was the highlight of the week to me because the caves were dark and creepy but cool! It would have been pitch black but thankfully the lights worked!!! Everyone had to crawl on their bare hands and knees. We slipped and slided through swamps, climbing down steep ladders and all the waiting !!!! Finally when the 3 hours had stopped from going through 8 caves we drove to the Redoubt .

We all snacked there and had a great rugby game against the parents, while the girls attempted to form a human pyramid. When we came back, the best bit of the day had come; the cookout !!! We made nachos and you couldn’t any get better ! It was just scrumpsious ! Afterwards we feasted on delicious bananas, chocolate and marshmallows over the fire. It was so sweet and sticky! We walked back and had a shower. Afterwards Mrs Johnson read the legend of Waikaremoana.

FridayBANG! I woke up to a loud noise of someone slamming the door closed. Yah! Today's Friday and that means home time!!! Everyone packed and cleaned and got ready for breakfast. After breakfast we brung our bags outside to be transported onto the trailer. When we get told what car we were in we zoomed off. After a hour and a half we arrived in Wairoa and had chip butties for lunch. I was so desperate to see Mum and so I did when I arrived at Reignier School! Oh, I was so happy when I saw Mum!

What a great Camp!!!!!!!!!! That is definitely something you can never forget! But the best bit of all is getting to see Mum and Amelia.