Loading of the kids and their stuff onto the coaches.
The welcome and outlining of the programs and expectations.
One of the dormitory rooms. One kid said it looked like an orphanage.
The walk along the beach to my groups first activity...
'Canoeing'.
The second activity, the giant swing.
The mess hall.
Wednesday, September 7th.
For
camp I was given the assignment of being the teacher in charge of any
medicine required for the boys and Libby was given the job for the
girls. This required us to set up a desk in the hall and meet and
accept any medicines that the students needed for the next three
days. We also had to sign out any epipens or inhalers that the
students have in the school sick bay and one medical bag for each of
the three buses. The bag includes just about everything you could
expect to need.
The
weather for camp was predicted to be warm and sunny, and much better
than the last few weeks. The
buses (air conditioned coaches) were loaded quickly and we were on
our way by nine. and driving by 9. On board the three coaches we had
seven teachers, one education assistant, four student teachers and
four volunteer parents with 150 kids. We arrived at Portsea by eleven
and immediately mustered in the assembly hall for our welcome,
introductions and explanation of the programs we would be
participating in. This facility used to be a military installation in
the fifties, but was converted to a camp after that. The
instructional leaders are not teachers as this is not a curriculum
driven camp, but rather an adventure type camp. They are young
university aged people.
The
site has a number of sleeping dorms around a large parade ground. Don
and I are sharing a suite with a bedroom and a living area that also
has a bed in it, so we have our own space. All of the activities on
either on the surrounding grounds or on the beach below.
After
that we had a quick settle in and then it was time for lunch. You can
imagine the noise and excitement of 150 students as they ate.
Following that they had a bit of free time in their rooms to get
settled in.
Then
it was time for activity number 1. The kids are divided into eight
groups with one teacher assigned to each. I was in charge of a group 7
with 18 kids and one parent volunteer. Our first activity was 'canoeing' or kayaking. We
had a quick introduction and a walk to the beach to get the kayaks.
We paired them up and sent the kids out two per kayak.
Two
girls were too scared to go by themselves so the leaders got a three
seater and I tried to go with them but the surf (which wasn't too big
but was very pushy) kept banging the boat into our shins while we
tried to get in and tossed us around a bit, so much so that the girls
decide not to go. So the leaders got me a single kayak and asked me
to paddle out and supervise. I started out (with my camera in a
waterbag thankfully as I got pretty wet), but then the student who
played the captain of our First Fleet play at school, turned out to
not be very confident on the sea and bailed. The leaders then asked
me to take his seat in the kayak with his partner. We paddled around
for about 10 minutes then the time was up and we have to go back to
the beach. This
was an interesting introduction to camp here in Australia.
Then
we headed back up to camp for snack. That was followed by activity
number 2: the Giant Swing. One
student was strapped into the harness and the other 17 kids pulled
the rope to raise her up until she says 'stop'. Then the leader pulls
the release rope and the kid swings. Each student got one turn and
the early ones got bored after their turn, as it took a while to get
one kid out of the harness and the next in it, and they didn't want
to pull for everyone else.
Then
they had some free time in their rooms or outdoors where there was a
footie field, a soccer pitch and a large slide. This was followed by
dinner (lasagna and salad).
Next
up was the night walk. We were lead by one staff. We started out with
all the kids (with their 'torches' or flashlights) and leaders along
a path and then onto the road. The moon was bright enough that we
didn't need the torches and you can imagine how quiet we were (not!).
Somehow half of us got separated and walked
further than we needed to.
One
of the parent volunteers phoned Don and a camp staff member came out
to see where we were. They guided us down a different path than we
were supposed to take to get us to the beach. We walked back along
the beach until we found the rest.
We
sat on the sand and were supposed to look at the sky, stars and the
lights around Philip Bay but the kids were more interested in playing
with the sand and talking. It was impossible to get the attention of
the whole group (or hold it), so we walked back to camp where they
had a bonfire lit for us. Again it impossible to get that many kids
to cooperate. We tried to sing some songs but Don was actually booed
when he suggested something. We gave up and sent them to their rooms.
I
administered the required medications and Don and the other male
volunteers put them to bed. Surprisingly they seemed to go to sleep
quite easily.
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