Camp Reflection

On Sunday 4/11/18, everyone from Room 4 departed from Matawai School at 7:45 am, brimming with excitement, and ready for the journey that lay ahead. We chatted and chatted until our mouths almost fell off. We played card games and other forms of entertainment on the way to Gisborne. I was feeling alright until Gisborne when the car sickness hit me as we started over the treacherous Wharerata mountain ranges. Before long we turned on the movies to pass the time. We stopped a couple of times along the way in Wairoa, Napier and Dannevirke. I drifted in and out of sleep but after about eight and a half torturous hours we arrived at Silverstream Retreat. Everyone was absolutely exhausted but we had made it.

On Monday we woke up at 6:00am, had a small run to shake out all the sleepiness, freshened up then left for our busy day. Firstly we stopped at Parliament looking around the interesting exterior of the Beehive, debating chamber, and the parliamentary library. After going through rigorous security we stepped inside the Beehive, ready to learn about every possible thing we could. I learnt a load of new interesting facts about inside Parliament, like for example… did you know that the high rank people in Parliament used to wear wigs and the longer the wig the more important they were, although they haven't worn any since 1999! For lunch we travelled by Cable Car up to the Botanical Gardens where we soaked up the amazing view. We then headed straight to Te Papa. We searched the six floors, but the Gallipoli exhibition was my favourite. The statues were so lifelike and had so much time put into it that it took 6 hours to put 1 eyebrow in place. All the 6 floors had art all the way from Toi art to a to scale whale's heart.  We walked around taking in every possible bit of information that we could. I also loved the room that changed colours and cast amazing multi coloured shadows. Afterwards we headed to Silverstream to freshen up for a well deserved rest. That afternoon we had a quiz and my team the Windy Welly’s just scraped a win.

On Tuesday we woke up to a run and some breakfast before piling on the bus to Weta Workshop. We were all full of life and chatter as we drove to Weta Workshop for a load of fun. We stepped through a door and into the life of movie making. I loved learning about the steps to producing a movie and the stress the employees have to go through! But I really loved the miniature scenes, and learnt that buildings or objects that are closer are actually bigger than the buildings behind that appeared bigger. Weta’s motto is ‘be creative and make cool stuff.’ After saying thank you we walked back onto the bus, excited for Wellington Zoo.The soft buzz of happy chatter filled the air as I strode off the bus into the entrance  and were given free rein to explore the zoo until our VIP tour of a couple of habitats. Me and my friends made our way around happily exploring all the interior space. My top 5 favourite animals where…
Red Panda
Blue Penguin
Meerkat
Otters
Gibbon
Then we had our VIP tour and my favourite fact was that the Capuchin Monkeys use onions as a form of bug repellent! Did you know that Gibbons change colours from when their born to when they turn into adults, both genders are golden for a start to blend into their mum and then change into a black colour, then the boys stay that colour and the girls change back into a golden colour. Then we headed back onto the bus, tired and ready to get back to Silverstream. That afternoon for the post quiz my team won again!

The next day, Wednesday, we woke up to a soft knock on the door, went for a soft run and left for Zealandia an eco-sanctuary. Firstly we went to the old water outlet control tower that is almost 150 years old! Then we went for a walk around the bush, seeing, hearing and learning amazing stuff. We saw a tunnel web spider web, kereru, tuatara, tui, shags, and many more. My favourite was the baby tuatara as it was so small and full of life. Did you know that the eldest recorded tuatara who is still alive is Henry at the whopping age of 118! Time flew by and before I knew it we were at the city tour. We walked around in our activity groups with $50 dollars which our group spent on the best ice cream in NZ at Cuba Street, before heading to our mystery location - by train! The mystery location turned out to be Jumparama, a place with loads of really cool trampolines! We bounced around for an hour and I can now even do a flip on a trampoline, just I can't quite land it yet. Then we started to Silverstream for a freshen up, quiz and bed. My team tied for first place but still took out the 2018 quizzes!

On Thursday we woke up bright and early, got ready and headed straight for the ferry that would carry us to Picton. We each received a ticket, and handed them over while boarding. Before we knew it we were leaving the dock and soon it was just a small pin-prick in the distance. Everyone was eager to have a look around and enjoy our 3 hour trip to Picton. Time ticked past slowly but surely, as the sea sickness started to get to me and my friends, so we lay on the floor which really helped. After what felt like a century we could see the lands of Marlborough Sounds. The rough waves of the Cook Strait calmed substantially as we pulled right into the Sounds. Before long we pulled up to a dock in Picton. The sky was covered with cloud, a miserable grey colour as the rain trickled down onto us. For a start we went to a boat called the Edwin Fox which was put into a dry dock. It was really fascinating learning about the vessel’s history. Next we made our way to the aquarium. It was amazing to be able to hold a tuatara and a turtle too! The turtle was a lot heavier than I expected. After a long ride back to Silverstream it was about 11:30 pm when we finally made it back. We all went straight to bed and slept very deeply.

On Friday it was luckily a later morning get up, as we were all very tired from our late night before, and the weight of the busy week behind us had finally caught up in all its glory. We all piled in the bus after breakfast, dreading the 8 and a half hour bus ride ahead of us.  Believe it or not I was so tired that I didn't get one problem with car sickness. We had some small pit-stops along the way but rolled into Matawai at about 6:30, exhausted form our long trip away. Over all this was an amazing experience, I learned a lot, and had a ton of fun. Although I think it’ll be a while until the tiredness completely wears out from this action packed camp!