Te Wera Camp

On the first day of school mum woke us up early in the morning to get ready to Te Wera Camp.

Once we had got ready mum had to go up the woolshed to do something with the sheep dad said that we had to go and get into the car.
When we got onto the bus Chris drove us to Te Wera camp. When we got there we got out and went to play on the playground and then after a couple of minutes the Huiakama children arrived and then Mr Chapman said that we had to go and take our shoes of and go into the Dining room.

When we got in there we had to find a seat. There were not enough seats for me and Kristal so we had to sit on the freezing cold bench. When we were all quiet Bushman Bob’s wife told as who she was and the boundaries and the rules that they had and she also told us to watch out for the wasps. She said that they had dealt to all of the other wasps nest at Te Wera but there is still a wasp’s nest around the back of her house. Then once she had finished talking Mr Chapman told the little kids what they were doing first and through the whole day and then he told the bigger kids what we were doing first.

A man from the regional Council called Mr Archer came out and he told us a bit about him and then first thing that we did was river study. Mr Archer told us what we would be doing. Once he had finished all of his chattering Mr Chapman put us into groups and then we went down to the river to see what we could find.

When we got to the river Mr Archer told us what sorts of things we could find in the river. Mr Archer said that the first two people to find these stick things got a drink bottle that does not leak. The group that thought that had one was Nina, Koren, Megan and Samantha’s and when Mr Archer came to have a look he did not think it was one so they did not get a drink bottle and after that everybody found one and one group found a fish and a crayfish. Once forty minutes had passed Mr Archer told us to go round and see every ones boxes and to see what they had found.

When we got back to the camp Mr Archer talked to us and then he told us to line up and he said that his favourite number was 16 so once we had finished lining up he taped our heads while he counted up to 16 and the first two people to be counted on when he got up to 16 got the drink bottles. The first two people to get the drink bottles were Angus and a boy with a broken leg.

The next thing we did was have lunch and then we played predator. While Miss Hooper told us how to play Mr Chapman handed out bibs to tell us what animal we are. I was a dog and I had two lives stuck to my bib Nina and Kristal where the same animal as me so we all stayed together until Kelly came running up to me so Nina, Kristal and I got one live from her each so then she only had one and then I heard the hunter and hid but Nina and Kristal ran for there life! So that was when we split up and then I followed Roma Miss P and Scott to the place that they were going to hide bit I could get a life of all of them. I was lucky that I did not die.

After we had played Predator we got into groups and Mr Chapman took our group to Archery and Miss P took the other group to Team Building Activities. When we got to the place that we had to do Archery which was just down the hill where the playground is.

When we got down there Mr Chapman told us a few rules and then he told us to get a partner because there was not enough bows to have one each and also there was not enough targets for one each is well. My partner was Samantha and we could not get it in for a long time but then the first person to get it in out of me and Samantha was Samantha and then after a few turns I got it then I kept on getting the target.

Then we went to team building. The first activity we did was trying to get a tyre of a high pole. First we split up into two teams and we did “paper, scissors, rock” to see what team went first. Our team went first. We couldn’t find a solution so we didn’t get the tyre over the pole. The other team had a really good plan and they got it over. No-one could get it off so Chris threw it up in the air. The first time he threw it up it did a flip and landed on the pole again!

After that we went on the balancing board. All the team had to get on without the board touching the ground. It was hard.

The wall was the last activity. It was so hard. Chris had to get up the ladder and help us up. Brendan got up the wall but our team couldn’t get anyone up.

On the second day at Te Wera the bus was not going so mum had to take us to the camp. Koren and Kristal were waiting for us because they did not have any one to play with and also they did not know any body. When we got there Koren and Kristal came up to greet us but about five minutes after we had arrived Mr Chapman told us that we had to go to the hall and before we got in there we had to take our shoes off and our bags.

When we got into the hall Bushman Bob and his costume looked really cool. He had heads on the wall from animals that live in the bush. Bushman Bob said that he had to talk for 25 minuets. In the 25 minuets he talked about bush survival and what to do and not to do if it dark and how to tell if the river is safe to cross and if it was not safe to cross. Once he had finished talking he told us to line up and then he said that he would make sure the road was safe and made sure no big trucks were coming.

Once we were all over safely over we walked to the bridge where the little kids were doing river study then we went over the bridge and walked another 5 minutes until we got to the bottom of the bush.

When we got there Bushman Bob told us to imagine this story about some one who had a plane crash in the bush and it was getting dark and he had to find somewhere to sleep and then he had to build a shelter. This is where we had to come in. We were put into groups and my group was Chris, Angus, Nina, Koren, Brendan and I. the next thing we had to do was follow Bushman Bob to a place where we could start building a bivvy.

The first thing our group was to try and get our frame so then it won’t fall. The next thing we did was put the plastic and then we had to get heaps of scrub and fern so then the wind and rain could not get in. we only had half an hour to finish our bivvy. Once half an hour had gone Bushman Bob came and told us to come with him and look at the first bivvy that Callum and Justin had built. Bushman Bob talked to us a little while then he asked us if we were hungry so we had a little bit to eat before he tested Callum and Justin’s team called LOST. Their bivvy was not very good because the wind could just pick it up and then you would just have the coldest night of your life!
The next bivvy we went to was Kelly, Roma and Shane’s hut called Ngahere hut. Their hut was not very good either because there was only one little peg to really hold up the whole hut. None them got wet but the same thing happened the wind could just pick it up and they would be so cold and they will also have a really bad sleep.

Then finally we came to our one it was the best one out of all of them. The only problem was that the water could get through but the wind could not break he bivvy. Once we had finished talking and asking questions we had lunch went to go see some other bivvies and then we went back to the camp then we had to leave.