Rangitaiki Independent School

Camp Okataina 2008

LAKE OKATAINA

 

“Come on, wait up!” I yelled, everyone was ahead of me, I had to keep up!

I ran, I ran a little more, and finally I was back in line.

 

After what seemed like forever we stopped for a snack, and to have a refreshing drink.

Then we set off again! Hiking, walking, jogging, running, doing whatever we could to keep up!

 

We kept walking until we met up with a tall man wearing dodgy overalls; he showed us where to go to get to the beach.

At last we got to the sandy beach, and there, right in front of my eyes was a HUMUNGOUS waka. There were heaps of red paddles lying in a pile right next to it.

We sat down on the beach and chowed down our lunch.

 

When we had finished our lunch the man in the overalls showed to paddle in time.

We all put our lifejackets on and hopped in the waka.

 

“Swish…Click….Swish…Click….Swish…Click….Swish…Click.”

The oars “swished” and “clicked” as we paddled around the lake, the glare of the bright as ever now that we were out in the open.

 

I looked down into the water and I could just see the lake weed because it was still a little bit shallow.

We were looking around trying to see the lodge, when suddenly someone saw it, “right there!” they hollered, we were finally back.

 

When we arrive we hopped out I fell on the ground, I was so glad to be back on land!

We finished the day off with a swim, then we went back to camp. That was the best day ever!

Ashlie McIlroy-Brown

ELECTRIC FENCE

 

Thud! I hit the ground. It had been my turn to jump off the hard, wooden plank. Linton and Will were holding a big plank which we had to climb on and jump off over the wire. We all took it in turns until only Linton and Will were left. Linton climbed onto Wills back and jumped off onto the other side of the wire. Will then ran up and jumped over. ‘’Yes!’’ he said. Sometimes we touched the wire which meant we had to start all over again. Finally… Thud! “Owwwwwwwwww!!” We all succeeded in completing the task.

 

Benjamin Hilterman

LAKE OKATAINA

 

Today I was going to conquer the great ice lake.  Not really, it was just big cold Lake Okataina, but I was extremely excited. It was Wednesday on school camp and I got to the lake by minibus.

“Marcus do you want to go for a biscuit?”

“Ok then can I have tea with it too?”

“No, I mean the water sport”

“Oh, sure.” I walked up to my steed with Ck (because he was the other person on the double biscuit) and buckled myself up ready for the huge ride ahead ………….

“WAAAHOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!”

 

We were off, skidding along the like when someone throws a pebble, but a lot faster. There was one jump where I looked like I was doing a handstand because I was heels over head (not head over heels,) but it’s really fun when you go down this drop in the water that the boat makes with it’s speed. It was really exciting. I also went on the biscuit that Michael was driving and I went with max. That was brilliant fun too, not because of the speed of it, it was when he slowed down that made it fun , because the whole biscuit seemed to sink and that made it extremely hard to hold on, but I was really persistent.

 

Next I went kayaking, it was really cool, but it was also really hard, as I was dragging along 4 people including me. Kerryn, Zion and Toby, but when Toby just jumped on without anyone holding the boat, the whole thing just capsized and everyone fell off……….

SPLASH!!!

“Toby!!”

“Sorry.” Kerryn supported the kayak while Toby had a second attempt at climbing on and luckily the boat didn’t capsize this time. Oh year I forgot to mention that I had strained my wrist the other day (not at camp) so it made it even harder to paddle.

“Kerryn can I go out to that buoy”

“No way it’s to far to out”

“But I’ve got a life jacket on”

“You still can’t go out there”

“AHHHHHH”

 

After kayaking I thought I’d go on the Jet Boat. That was brilliant too. One of the first tricks Tracey did was a 360. It was really cool but I kept on getting water splashed in my and I couldn’t keep myself steady (the reason I couldn’t keep steady was I had my arms up in then air and wasn’t holding on for the whole ride.) Another trick Tracey did was loads of jumps huge and tiny. They were superb but on one of them I nearly flew out of the boat and landed in the lake (luckily I didn’t.) Also Tracey was doing a load of sharp turns that really surprised you, but while she was doing all that, the boat was going extremely fast so that added to the excitement of it all.

Finally, for the last activity of the day I went knee boarding. I reckon that was the highlight of camp for me, and I’ve never done it before. It took me two turns to get up (it’s harder when your heavier) but I eventually did it. ZOOOOOOOM!!!!!

“WAHEY!!! This is so fun!” I was speeding along the water at a gazillion mile per hour. This is unbelievable. As I was doing so well and I had been half way round the lake by now , I thought I’d try to do a swervie, and guess what……… I did it. When we were nearly back at shore Michael decided to do some mini jumps, and I nearly flew out of the knee board but luckily I kept my grip and didn’t fall off

“That was brilliant!!”

 

I got home from the lake tired and hungry but luckily I was just in time for dinner …………..YUM! I felt great because it was a brilliant day and I had loads of fun.

 

Marcus Walklett             

Success through Quality Private Education

Activities included:

· A bush study where students got to adopt a tree

· A stream study where students tested the water quality of the stream using special equipment and by checking what insects could live in it

· A hike around the lake and return trip by waka

· Glow-worm visiting

· Water activities:

· Ski-tubing

· Knee-boarding

· Jet boating

· Kayaking

· Swimming