On the 16th of October 2019, Year 5 carried their gigantic bags down the sidewalk of Stanmore Road. Within minutes, everyone had been dropped off. We entered the 3-hour bus drive and our ears screamed as the children at the back started to ask, ‘Are we there yet?’

The questions soon ended when we found ourselves at a shocking, steel gate. The bus drove through the gate. We passed an archery range and many other exciting areas.

The bus stopped outside of a bunch of cabins – mixed reviews followed. Some kids groaned and others thought it would be like real camping. In the end we just sat on the circle of logs as the instructors told us the plan (and the rules). They laid down the rule about having a lot of fun! Finally, we were assigned our beds and we were all very happy.

Soon we went to our first activity, the ominous giant swing. People were scared and were already saying, ‘I’m not doing it!’ over and over. After cheering people, we had to pull the rope to lift each boy and teacher up to the top. We made it back for shower hour and dinner: Spaghetti Bolognaise.

On the way to Commando, whilst teasing people with drop bears in the wild, a storm came. Unfortunately, we had to head back to camp and into a steel gym. Thunder and lightening exploded overhead. After a loud clap of lightening, the lights went clean out.  Some boys cheered and others were on the floor in fear. Soon the storm ended and all the fear ended with it. We headed back our tent for a good night’s sleep after an eventful day.

Moisture dripped down on our foreheads as we woke us to the cool breeze on the second day of the Great Aussie Bush Camp. This first activity was the daunting mud run. There was singing, laughter and cheerfulness on the walk there but as soon as we saw it: silence. The cold wet mud squeaked in our shoes as we made our way around the course. We were not prepared for what lay ahead of us: jumping, crouching and ducking were all part of this activity. Every boy laughed at the teachers having to go through obstacles as we were sure they were not built for adults. The activity soon came to an end, we got into the showers with joy (until we realised the shower water was colder than the mud!) When we got back to the campsite, we were straight back into another activity: raft building.

This activity tested our collaboration skills. We were supplied with three bits of wood, two ropes and two tires. Once the rafts were built, the race began. The groups tied. We were informed there was a crocodile in the lake but, after we knew his name was Gummy, we were not scared one bit and we jumped into the lake for a swim.

Once this activity was done, we headed to lunch with grumbling stomachs. Then we were off to jump the terrifying power fan. We were to climb up a pole which was 18 metres high and jump off a platform. We finished the day with some team building games which were very competitive. The teacher’s team won – they were very excited about it too!

We woke up the next day to music and packed our bags. We got into our seats and experienced a much more quiet bus trip! It was really fun and thank you Miss Dillon for organising it and all the teachers who came along with us.

Written by Gil Gracie and Sam Rudd.