Year 7 Camp in 2020

Year 7s were back into school this week after spending Week 3 at camp on Tamborine Mountain. Read students' accounts of their experiences on the mountain in some of the heaviest rain our campers have endured.

Camp was an experience that we won't forget. The activities were beyond what we thought they were going to be. The scary activities were such an adventure. The food was great as every night we had dessert - jelly, ice cream and apple pie! The sound of the kookaburras laughing as they were waking everyone up from their sleep was a great way to start the morning.

Camp was a great way to build friendships as people helped each other through team activities and encouraged each other to beat their goals in a variety of frightening activities. The days went quickly. One day we enjoyed swimming in a rock pool from natural springs and we slid down the water fall into the freezing cold water. Year 7 camp was a fun way to start the first year of Senior School.

Leo Razack

While you were at school last week when the Gold Coast was experiencing its biggest rain event in years, we were camping at the top of Mount Tamborine in our super waterproof tents! It was a blast. It may have been a little wet, but we had so much fun. We scored some sunshine to pitch our tents and they were waterproof for the first couple of nights. But as we woke up in puddles on Thursday, we decided to move into the massive shed with everyone!

After recovering from the hilarity of our camp concert, we had stern word from Mr Sayer to settle us down for sleep, and unexpectedly while people were about to close their eyes there was a massive scream coming from the girl’s side of the shed. We were all wondering what on earth could it be. A frog in someone’s bag!

I am not sure we will ever forget waking up on Friday morning disorientated and surrounded by 135 other kids in sleeping bags. Then we remembered the funny night of House Plays the night before with the Laver Bachelorette, Starkey News, Veivers Murder Mystery, Franklin Talent Show and the inaugural Class of 2025 House Performance Champions – Andrews Love Island, where we learned of some very unlikely marriages. All these shows had us in stitches!

For the old Year 7s, we thought that the Year 6 dance was over. But no, we had a good old bush dance on camp, where to our horror we were told to find a partner of the opposite gender and link arms! But we all had great fun especially getting to act like three-year-old’s again and do the Hokey Pokey and Chicken Dance. What a relief the boys didn’t kill each other or poor Liv on the camera in the process!

Finally, one of the highlights for many of us was making new friends and welcoming our new classmates to Somerset. Thank you all for a great camp. Special thanks must be given to the Year 12 leaders for coming up on the wettest day, but most of all to our teachers and staff who made this trip possible.

Daisy Webber

Well Daisy was right about the rain. It really was very, very wet, but we soon forgot about it as we were surrounded by our friends and got to do some amazing activities. The giant swing, leap of faith, tree climb and giant ladder were all fantastic. They pushed us outside of our comfort zones. Personally, the leap of faith scared the living daylights out of me. I was so frightened thinking something bad might happen but the encouragement of my peers made it so much easier. Many students will agree with me that they could not have jumped off the platform, climb up the ladder or let go and swing without the support of others.

Apart from the rain, the encouragement from friends is what I will remember most about the camp. The bonds that we made will help us through the year when we work together in the school environment. Bike riding and archery were also lots of fun. During bike riding we got to explore a jungle like track with lots of greenery. It was lots of fun apart from the pouring rain hammering down on us. Archery was also great! We learnt how to use a bow and arrow and got to know a little bit about the sport.

Of course the only other important thing to mention is the food which was incredible...I mean edible. Sadly there was no bacon on the first morning. However, pancakes sure cheered everyone up the next day. As we headed back home to the Coast, we had a pleasant bus ride home just as the sun started to come out for the first time in days! Everyone was exhausted from camp and excited to get home.

Thanks so much to all the teachers, gap students and staff who made our camp a really enjoyable trip in some of the hardest conditions possible. Thanks also to the parents who washed our dirty, smelly, wet clothes. We all had a great time but it is nice to be clean and dry again.

Benji Liu

We started off Year 7 Camp waving goodbye to our parents in their cars as we headed off on the bus. In this moment our whole adventure was just beginning. Little did we know what we were about to encounter. At Mount Tamborine we unloaded all our suitcases and backpacks, as well as the tents. As soon as we were finished everyone picked their spot for their home for the week.

After we set the tents up, we all went to our first activities. Over camp we experienced some great team building activities like bush cooking, a survivor challenge, giant ladder, mountain biking, tree climb, the Leap of Faith, archery, bush hike, rock pools and of course everyone's favourite the giant swing. My personal favourite was the rock pools as I got to slide down the waterfall into the freezing water. On the first two nights, we did a walk to the glow worms and some bush dancing. Everyone’s favourite was definitely Hokey Pokey.

On Thursday we had extreme rain and activities were cancelled in the afternoon. Instead, we watched the movie Tooth Fairy. When it was night time, every house performed a play. In the end Andrews won but the other houses performed well also. That night we slept in a huge shed that could hold everyone including the teachers. The next morning everyone woke up dry.

On Friday we packed up the tents and loaded all our belongings on to the buses. Then we went to go and have our last meal at camp, burgers. After lunch we boarded the buses and headed home. On the Veivers and Franklin bus we watched the funny but lovable Mr Bean. Unfortunately the DVD glitched and kept restarting from the start. We never saw the end. Eventually most people fell asleep from a busy week at camp. When we arrived everyone was happy to be home and see their parents again. We unloaded the buses. Then headed home from a rainy but fun week on camp. I am not sure about anyone else but I will definitely remember this camp.

Jamison Webber