Year 8 Kinglake Camp

Kinglake Adventure Camp at the end of last Term was a fun-filled and action-packed camp! It all started with arriving at the campsite at around 12 o’clock on our first day, having a quick bite to eat and jumping (for some, literally) into the first activity. Some groups were heading off for a nature walk or to do some quiet meditation, whilst others were off to climb great heights with ‘Freefall’ or ‘Leap of Faith’ activities that required much courage in scaling 15-20m heights and letting go… harnessed, of course. This provided wonderful optimism for the following day, with all the activities fellow campers had been talking about to look forward to, but not before some lovely dinner, the film, “Jumanji” and a good night’s sleep.

On our first morning, the Leadership Centre was buzzing with excitement for the activities

ahead in the most gorgeous of bushland settings. Highlights included

feeding the wallabies! The moments of calm and peacefulness were also much appreciated by

weary campers, especially when some groups went out into the forest to listen to the

environment around the amazing Kinglake.

Later on that night, we participated in the “Hunger Games!” This was a lot of fun, but certainly

hard to navigate in the dark. It helped to improve our teamwork and communication skills so

we could figure out the best way to work out the various challenges. One of the challenges

did produce some of the most interesting rope artwork of the Mockingjay teachers had ever

seen! This was the perfect way to end an incredible and busy day.

Our second and sadly last morning, had everyone quickly packed up, eating pancakes and preparing for the Wildergaining team activity where groups attempted to solve quite challenging riddles. We had to go out and collect wooden blocks, remember different points on a compass and use the teamwork skills we had been working on throughout the camp. This was lots of fun for our last day with everyone racing around in the glorious treed environment of Kinglake whilst collaborating against the clock!

Kinglake Camp wouldn’t have run as smoothly without the help of the marvellous teachers

who generously gave up their time for students to have a fantastic time. Campers would like

to thank all the teachers who came along, including: Mr Melli, Ms Anderton, Mrs Tolan, Ms.

K, Ms. Thorpe, Miss Cash, Ms. Losi, Shane Cole and Lisa Turner. A special thanks to Mrs Hodge, who organised not only our camp, but also three other camps. Kinglake Campers are unbelievably thankful to her. She even managed to have a go on the Leap of Faith!

This camp was certainly not one to forget and we have the Kinglake staff, teachers and Mrs

Hodge to thank for our wonderful experience!