Lara:
The first day when we got there, we got off the bus and the camp leader had gotten on when we were at Cooma. His name was Sean. We sat in a circle and he told us about what we had to do that day. They gave us lunch first then we got our packs and waited around for a while then we walked over to this big open space where the campground was. Maya got swooped by a big bird, I think it was a magpie. She curled into a ball because she hadn’t been swooped before and then when the bird flew away she ran away and we all went back to the campground where our bags were.
We got our packs and Sean told us how to waterproof them, so people who had plastic rubbish bags took them out, you put them in the pack before you put anything else in the bag, then you took your sleeping bag out of its sack and put another garbage bag in it and the sleeping bag sack in so it’s double protected when it’s in your bag. Sean brought all the food over and we grabbed some and put it in our individual bag. We had to put that in the bag against our back, with the bivvy if you were carrying it (there was one between 2 or 3 people. A bivvy is like a tarp). Then we put all our clothes in that we were going to use and the stuff we’d need when we first got back to the camp we put on the top.
Instead of tying the garbage bag, you hold it together and twist it and then tuck it in so it’s waterproofed. If you tie it it’s harder to untie and more likely to get broken. Everyone had to wear the hiking stuff on the bus before we got there. We got there at around 12 or 11 I think but I’m not sure because in my group no-one had a watch except the teacher or the camp instructor, it was really annoying. Sean asked us if we wanted to do 6km on the first day and 10km on the second day or 16km on the second day and we said 6km and 10km. We left before any of the other groups.
On the first day, me, Maya and Ruby were at the back and after that we went to the middle and front because we got more used to it. We took a few breaks but I think it took us two and a bit hours to get there because like no one had their packs adjusted like it’s supposed to be which is 20% of the weight on their shoulders and 80% on their waist.
When we got there, our teacher Mr Crick put us into 3 groups. There was cooking, cleaning and navigation. On the first day you could volunteer to do any of those. When we first got to the campground, Sean said that whoever got their bivvy out first, he would set their tarp up as a demonstration for everyone else. It’s a different knot that you have to tie around the stick so it held. No-one could really do it at first. Also you had to find sticks and at that campground there were no sticks, so it took like an hour to put up our tarps. Whoever did the cooking decided to add two-and-a-half bottles of aioli for the Caesar salad, which wasn’t really a Caesar salad, it was just a chicken salad, so we used bread and made sandwiches. It was kind of sour and gross.
We had dinner, we cleaned up and then we went up the hill to look for some sticks for the camp fire. Everyone went up and it was really fun. We came back down and went to the river and most of the boys went fishing ‘cause they brought 4 fishing rods for some reason. I don’t think they ever caught anything, or maybe they caught 2 fish total and they had to let them go. It was getting dark and we played spotlight. There was a drop toilet there which was really nice. I realised I forgot my head torch which was annoying, because we went up to get wood for the fire. We sat around the fire for a bit then we went to bed. I woke up like 5 times during the night, it was freezing even though I was wearing like 6 layers. Everyone woke up at least once and I don’t think I slept through the night any of the nights because it was so cold.
The next morning it was sunny when we woke up, and that was the only day it wasn’t foggy and cold in the morning. I had breakfast (weetbix every day with powdered milk) and took off my thermals, it was warm enough to just wear one layer (no fleece or rain jacket). It was colder in the bivvy because it was stopping the sun going on us, so we packed it up and left.
That walk was the first time when we were crossing a river. We walked for ages and got to a river where we could go back 2km and take a bridge but we decided to walk through the river because it was faster. People who had crocs put them on and crossed then threw them back to the others. One person accidentally threw their croc in the river but we got it back with a stick. When someone threw one to me, they accidentally threw it up and it landed on someone’s head.
We walked up a hill to get there and on the walk up, someone saw a rabbit. Half the group went over. It wasn’t moving when we went near it, so we pet it. The teacher said it was about to die so we left it.
We were supposed to arrive at 2pm but we arrived at 12 (we had left at 9am) because we didn’t stop for lunch and ate when we arrived. That campsite was on top of a hill, it was more than 200m to go and get water down a hill on the edge of a lake that the second snowy hydro is being built on. We put up our tarps and were under them for a bit, then we went down to the river and were playing games there.
That night we had curry for dinner and after that we went back under our tarps and me and Ruby went over to Maya and Farah’s tarp and stole Rory’s Uno cards and played them. The teachers made us go back to our own tarps because some of the boys went to take a shit and were missing for half an hour.
We went canoeing the next day so we had to get up early. We had to take our packs on the canoes which was really bad ’cause everyone was scared they were going to capsize and lose their packs. We got in the canoes and the canoe instructor made us go to the other side of the lake to make sure we could do it. Right after that, Maya and Ruby had a massive spider in the boat and Maya got up out of her seat because she was so scared and it was right in front of her. One of the boys in my group rowed over and got the spider out and put it in the water. We took a few breaks on the water and canoed past the new snowy hydro. We canoed 6km and got to the other side of the river where we were going to start walking.
We walked past the dam and we’d only walked 3km when there was a massive hill we had to climb – it was like 100m elevation for a 50m walk, it was so bad, it was so steep. We got to the top of the hill and they told us we had to go down the bottom and camp because Sean forgot the satellite radio at the canoes. Around the place we set up camp were like 3 other groups. A couple of people went in the river for a swim, it was really muddy and one of the girls who went in said it would have been better not to have gone in and they would have been cleaner. That was the shortest day because we only travelled 9km total and 6km of that was in a canoe.
The next day was the worst day because we walked the longest that day. We started off not walking up the steep hill and we took a short cut through a river instead. On the other side of the river there was an ants nest where we were taking our shoes and socks off. A lot of people took off their pants and wore shorts for the day and that was a really good decision because it was fucking hot. After the river, the walk was good. We reached the place we were supposed to camp and it was really nice. We walked up the hill and had lunch at the top of the hill. It took us 3 hours to walk up. Everyone walked by themselves because we were too tired to talk the entire time.
We camped next to another group next to a tiny stream of water and I put up our tarp. At that point, four people in the group knew how to do the knot that we were supposed to use and I was one of them so I helped another group put up their tarp, which took half an hour, it was so annoying. We got our food drop and bags that night, which was so good because I got another two layers. It was still freezing. We got fresh meat for that night so we made spaghetti bolognaise which was really really good.
The next day we left early because the forecast was raining and really bad weather so we were going to do a two-day hike in one day. It was actually hot and sunny and we saw an echidna. Sean made us go up and down the mountain bush-bashing and rejoin our path and someone saw a snake. Maya was near the snake and the teacher told her to get away but she just looked at it. When she came back down she said she should have gotten bitten so she could go home.
At the top it was so pretty and we could see the Snowy Hydro in the distance, which was so cool because we could see that we had walked in a loop. We hiked past two campsites but both had groups in them so we couldn’t camp there, so we hiked up to a steep campsite but it was too far from water so we had lunch there and walked down to our campsite. It was in a valley and it was protected. We set up camp, played games, had some chocolate and found a natural spring next to the river. You could go down the natural cave and end up on a rock, it was really pretty. We had carbonara for dinner.
The next day we got up and it was sunny. No-one woke us up, so we got up late. Sean said the plan for the day was to either do four hours solo time if it didn’t rain, if it did rain we’d go on a hike. We did solo time, which is supposed to be four hours of sitting by yourself and not talking to anyone or really doing anything. After about 45 minutes it started raining so we all went back under our tarps and stayed there. Me and Ruby moved our sleeping bags into Farah and Maya’s tarp so we could play games and stuff. When I was sitting under the tarp by myself a kangaroo came close, about 2m away, it was cool. We were about to go for a hike even though it was still raining and then it started snowing, so we got back under our tarps.
After a few hours we saw another group that had been walking in the snow. While we were talking to them it started snowing again and everyone was trying to catch snowflakes on their tongues and Sean told everyone to go back under their tarps ‘cause it was cold but no-one really wanted to. We all went to the food tarp and had dinner there (tacos) with fresh meat instead of freeze-dried, it was so nice. We all went back under our tarps and Ruby and I slept in Maya and Farah’s tarp that night because it was warmer. I was on the inside so I was kind of warm. The next day we woke up and mine and Ruby’s tarp had collapsed during the night because both of the sticks fell down. Most people’s tarp had at least one stick that fell down in the night because it was so windy and someone’s plastic bag blew 200m up a massive hill and they had to go get it.
We got up and we had to go early because we were caving that day. We packed up everything and left it there and then we went to go caving at the Cooma caves. I was in the second group which was really fun and I really liked the instructor, she was English. We had to wait 45 minutes for the other group to come back because we had to split up into two groups of 8. While we waited we explored a tiny hole that was like 30cm wide. Then we went into the cave which was so muddy and we were crawling for most of it. There were like two times where you could stand up in like a chamber and the end bit was just a puddle, there was no dry bit. One really cool part of the cave: you climbed up bouldering a bit then you went into an open chamber that was sparkling.
When we went out we went back to the campsite and packed up and walked the whole day. It was the best walk of the camp because everyone was walking so quick. In the distance we could see mountains with snow on the top from the night before. We got there at like around 2 and it was at the base camp so my Head of Year was there. We set up and had dinner there and that night me and Ruby slept with Maya and Farah under their tarp again. Maya said that she hadn’t wanted to be at the camp for the first few days but now she would be sad to be leaving. To be fair, she was probably the warmest ’cause she was wearing like 10 pairs of pants. I’m not even joking, she was waddling like a penguin.
After Maya and Farah fell asleep, me and Ruby went over to the fire and everyone else from my group came over and three of the boys from the camp group next to us came over and we were just talking to them it was really fun. We went to bed at around 11 after that.
Sean woke us all up early and made us get up to watch the sunrise. Half the group woke up with ice on their beanies and it wasn’t even one of the coldest nights – it was weird. The sun rose on the other side behind a mountain so we didn’t see it. We packed everything up and hiked maybe a kilometre to where the buses were picking us up and we waited for like an hour and had lunch while we were waiting. On the bus I woke up 10 minutes before we got to Cooma, which was the halfway point, and no-one was talking, everyone was asleep, which was about 30 people.
When I got home I ordered a Boost and I had a really long shower and a sleep.
