St Marys District school Grade 7 students were lucky enough to go on a two night camp experience to South Mount Cameron, on the North East coast, in week two of Term One.  

We farewelled our loved ones, packed up the bus and headed off down the Pass.  Our first stop was in Gladstone for a quick snack and to stretch our legs, then back on the bus for the final leg of the journey.  We arrived at the camp around lunchtime and were greeted by the camp manager - John LeFevre. After an induction from John we set up our beds in our cabins and familiarised ourselves with our home for the next few days.

John then walked us down to some of the ropes/challenge activities that are set-up on the grounds of the camp.  Both students and staff participated in the challenges.  John made mention, a number of times how well our students were working together to achieve the challenges.  It was around 5pm when we finished the last challenge.

We headed inside to have showers and get dinner organised.  We had spaghetti bolognese that had been prepared by Mrs Green and Amanda at school– thank you both.  Mrs Waters had prepared a roster for serving and cleaning up during meal times and our students took it in turn to assist with these jobs throughout the camp.

After dinner we walked down to complete a tight rope crossing– called the Burma bridge.  The students had to wear a harness and cross over the wire above a creek. Some were even brave enough to wear a blindfold on the way back! Mrs Waters had been busy preparing milo’s and desert which everyone enjoyed when we got back.

After this we had some time in the lounge room playing cards, guitar and getting to know each other.  Bed time was soon upon us and students settled into their cabins for the night (after a bit of chatter and giggling).

We woke on day two, to a very warm morning and set about having breakfast and preparing for the walk up Mt Cameron.  The humidity made the climb a bit tricky, but we were patient and encouraging of each other and we soon made it to the maze.

Students were able to explore the rock maze, squeezing in and out of the gaps.  We pushed on, finally able to see the top.  Unfortunately, we did not get full views of Flinders Island due to the smoke from bushfires, but everyone was proud of their efforts.  After having lunch, we made our way down and back to camp.

Because it was such a warm day we decided to load everyone on the bus and head down to Tomahawk for a swim in the river.  Students had a great time playing in the water and on the beach.  After returning to camp, we had a BBQ dinner and students completed another challenge– the spiderweb.  After such a big day, everyone was asleep as soon as their head hit the pillow.

After breakfast on Friday, we had to pack up our personal belongings as well as clean the camp lounge, kitchen, bunk rooms and bathrooms.  John was so impressed with how our students cleaned up that he said it was better than when we arrived! Maybe the students were encouraged to do such a fantastic job because they knew they had the flying fox activity still to come.  John explained the flying fox activity to us and we headed down.  Everyone had two turns.  It sure was a lot of fun!

Thank you to the staff who attended the camp and made these wonderful experiences possible for our students. Mr Innis, Mrs Waters, and Matt. 

A huge THANK YOU to John, who made all the activities so fun and really got to know each and everyone one of our students so well in such a short time.  We were extremely proud of how our Grade 7 students conducted themselves during this camp experience and really enjoyed the time getting to know them better.

Laura Swanson