On Wednesday 27 March, the Year 9 Advance class embarked on our first camp for the year. After a long bus ride winding along the Great Ocean Road all the way to Lorne, we finally arrived to set up our tents and have lunch. We then hopped back on the bus to go to Urquharts Bluff for a surfing lesson. Everyone had an amazing time, even if some people weren’t able to stand up on the paddle boards. After dislodging ourselves from our wet suits we went back to the camp site for a shower and dinner. After ignoring all the cockatoos at dinnertime we wrapped up warm and went out for a night walk and some scary stories. Some of us struggled to sleep that night after hearing Mr Evans’ stories.
After a quick breakfast we all jumped back on the bus and headed off to the initiative course. This was a series of activities where we all had to work together to complete it. After that we headed into Anglesea and the local shops for lunch. Our next stop was Point Roadknight for a 2 hour session of sea kayaking. With 40 minutes to spare we did a couple of run, swim, runs ( of which we had 12 to complete). We began the sea kayaking by battling against the breaking waves, out where we could catch them. It was a challenge to catch any at first but as we continued it became a lot more simple and fun. Everyone caught a lot of waves, some of which made us capsize. It was lots of fun. After another 2 runs, swim, runs we headed back to camp. After a long dinner and an attack from the cockatoos we walked down to the local park for some games of 44 tag and shark tag. We all had a great time that night and we were extremely tired by the end of it.
The following morning we woke at 7:30 am for breakfast and the packing began. We also did another 2 run, swim, runs, in this time which was brisk with the freezing Lorne surf. After packing our bags and tents we left Lorne, all very tired from the past few days. We can safely say that everyone thoroughly enjoyed their Lorne surf camp experience and we were able to take away so many skills, stories and great times to share with our family and friends. It set a very high bar for this being our first Advance camp and we are all very excited about our camps and excursions to come. Thank you Mr Evans, Mr Nicklen and Ms Howler for making this great experience possible.
By Max Nowak and Noah Crowe