I am REALLY living life now! Camp number 3.

Hello. I though instead of doing lots of little posts from time to time i will just write one big post when i have spare time.
So i last wrote on here after the rafting camp. So the week after that I went to Darlington to spend some time with my friend Trina and here cousins. They have such a lovely house and it over looks the city of perth from the hills. It was really nice to be in a family home that i have connections with and I was saying to mum that i was really nice talking to Trina about people we both new from school or just general chatter. Monday we went into the Midlands shopping mall, in the evening we went out to darlington national park to look for Kangeroos... surely enough there were loads just chilling out in the feilds. Tuesday we got up quite early and went to Fremantle. It is a toristy town because it is where the first aberiginales landed their boats, so there are a few 'historic' buildings! Its werid how the history of Australia only goes back to about 100 years ago. Everything is very new here and there are new suburbs popping up everywhere. Whenever Eleanor and i go in the car somewhere she says she remembers when that plot of land was just sandues!! it is amazing how fast this country is growing. Don't blame them i spose, there is heaps of land. Anyway so we spent the moring in fremantle, went to Little creatures for lunch. Then got the bust to Rockingham (further south) because trina had said the beach there was amazing- I didnt think the beaches could get much better, but i was wrong! it was incredible. White sand, blue clear water, really sunny. ahh wooooowwwww...
I got the train back to Wanneroo (Andy and Eleanors) for the evening ready to get an early night and head for work in the morning.
Wednesday was quite a good day at work. I got a text the night before saying we were going Canoe and Kayak training and had to meet at the office for 7.30am! I found the Kayaking quite difficult because the swan river was really rough and the wind was quite bad that day. After all that I had to drive the 4x4 uite and the canoe trailer back to the office... we took a wrong turning and i had to reverse the car and trailer up a steap hill and round a bend.... at first i got out the car and was convinced i could do it but the leaders talked me into it and said it would be a 'good learning experience' i was determined to prove them wrong but i actually surprised myself and did it easy! I have found that with alot of things actually that i am more capable than i think i am.
Thursday was quite a stressful day because i was trying to get things done for the camp last week but also prepare for the camps the following weeks too. I kept getting tasks to do from people and got quite stressed out. Not the best day really. Friday was ok as well. We had Geoff Westlake come into talk to us about small group and warriuka times again which was really awesome and helpful. I always come away from those meetings feeling so full of ideas. We had to pack up the trailer and car ready for monday in the afternoon.
Saturday was quite a quiet day. Was just at home in the morning catching up on sleep and rest, then went to Fremantle in the afternoon with Brian and Emily. Sunday did some baking with Eleanor then went to St Matts Uni church in the evening. Feel like i have really made some friend there and its so nice to go there and meet new people. The age of most of the students range from 18 ish to about late 20s so all sort of my age or older which is really cool.
Monday was first day of camp... always an unexpectant day because the week is often determined on how good the kids are so meeting them is always a bit nerve racking! Basically the camp was made up for 3 warriuka staff (me Brian and Ross) the Chaplin from the school and one other teacher. there were only 14 students this time because it was for the school council team. And the aim of the camp ws to get them to work together and bond as a team. For this we didnt have small groups within the group because then they could always be working and sharing ideas together. It was really nice not to be responsible for a certain amount of students (just me) so we all were dong everything together. The kids were all really nice and everyone got on so well. Had loads of little jokes and phrases by the end of the week- something which i will remember for ages!
So on the monday after meeting all the students and teachers we set of the hike. We were on the Bibbulum track, which is basically a path through thick bushland. The pathway wasn't always that clear so it was difficult trying to work out where to go... but luckly we had a map and a compass and there were occational markings on trees to say where to go. So we all set of with out packs/sleeping mats/tents/ food supplies. If you have facebook there are photos of me with my pack on... thank goodness for christmas presents! Thanks mum and dad =)
we only hiked about 5/6 Km that day because we got a bit lost trying to find the path we were ment to start on. That night we camped out at Yabberup hut- literally a shack in the middle of the path with a long drop toilet- which was a bit of a luxury compared to just the bush floor! Anyway we pitched our tents and did Warriuka Time- small group time. We had typicall first night camp food of spag boll that had been defrosting in our packs most of the day. So yummy and we were all starving. Went to bed and woke up about 2am to here about 20 kangeroos just sitting outside my tent... was so cool, you could here the 'BOINK' in their steps and i was so tempted to stick my head out but thought i wouldn't jut incase i would get eaten! lol.
Tuesday got up at 6.30 packed up tents and got ready for the day. I was told I had to hike on my own back to the car to drive it to a certain point on the map to meet them after their walk. It was one of those things that i really didn't want to do but surprised myself in doing it. I had to hike about 2 KM on my own through the bush with map compass and my pack... it was such a good feeling when i could make out the car through the trees. I got to the car but i was packed off road and the only way of getting it out was to go over this ditch. No problem with a 4x4- but i different story with a trailer attached to the back! I did thry to do it but the trailer came off! it didnt get stuck though which was good so i just had to put it back on. Ha funny story i think i will remember in a few years time. I then met the others as they finished their hike and left the car with the other leader to take down to the dam. I walked with the group to Wellington Dam where we had dropped the canoes and lunch off on monday morning. We set up lunch and i practised my briefing of the PFD (personal floatation device) and the paddles. Was good practise. We then canoed with all our packs to Potter Gorge where we set up camp. I had a go on the Ski Kayak which was really good fun because i am leading the flat water rafting on the next camp on a sea kayak so it was good practice. I am finding i really like kayaking... perhaps a new found sport i can carry on in england?
Wednesday was a bit of a rest day. I had organised this thing called adventure journey- team challenges to get the groups working and problem solving together. Then in the afternoon we drove to a different camp site in geographe bay with the luxury of toilets- showers- beds and a roof over our heads... it was sooo good to have a building! In the afternoon we all went down to the beach for a few games which i ran and a free swim. Although that didn't last long because the waters were swarming with stingers. not good.
Thursday was i think the best day i have had here yet. In the morning we drove to Giants Cave which last time i did i found such a challenge and really hard for me. This time i really enjoyed it and discovered i overcame my fear. That was awesome. Then we had lunch on the run whilst travelling to Williabrup- a stretch of coast with some awesome cliffs to absail and rock climb. We rigged up a few ropes and off we went. Ross is and trained absail instructor so was really good to have him. Brian and I took turns to do the rock climbing. We had to hook them up then lower them down when they had finished. It was alot easier than it sounds. I managed to get a go on the 15 meter absail which was soo good. I got to the bottom and felt like i wanted to do more. So we rigged up some ropes on the 30 meter one and i went down that one. I would quite happily do a 60 or even 80 meter so i suggested it to ross and we are going to do a training day with some in. cannot wait for that one!
Friday was just a pack up day- said good bye to the students which is always a bit sad but all good things have to come to an end! Got back to normal life fri eve and was really weird going from such a tight community of people to a house where people do there own thing. I do really love being on camp and having the sense of belonging to i group I always come back on such a high.