Illegal Animal Poaching

In room 28 we have been looking at 'Causes in Our world'. This is the research I found. I hope you learn something new.

Camp Activities - High Ropes

Taking My Fears To New

Heights

 

On Tuesday the fourth of May, 2010, I faced my biggest fear. Heights and I did so by walking the beam on my year 7 school camp.

 

It was our last session for the day and we were doing High Ropes. I was so scared that I was crying as I climbed up the ladder that would lead me to the beam. A million things were running trough my head like ‘What if I fall?’ or ‘Don’t look down, don’t look down!’

 

I had reached the part were I had to step off the ladder and on to the beam. I was starting to turn so I could step on to the beam when I realized that I couldn’t do it. I was standing on a pole just over 8 metres off the ground and I was stuck. I just couldn’t do it.

 

I was still crying when all of a sudden I heard the shouts of encouragement from my group. They were all calling out ‘ Go Kim! You can do it!’ And I thought ‘Give it a go. They're all standing down there, cheering you on. If not for yourself, do it for them!’ So then, so slow that a snail could have beaten me, I carefully stuck one foot out and placed it on the beam. I did the same with the other one. I was now standing on the beam!

 

I was up there and standing, but it wasn’t over yet. I had to get a least halfway across the beam to come down. If I came down to close to the ladder, I could bash my legs against the beam or bang my head I had to keep moving. Unfortunately, my legs felt like jelly so walking was going to be tough.

 

I walked slowly, doing the shuffle all the way to the middle. Finally I reached the middle. By then I had had enough. I was going down!

 

As soon as my feet touched the ground, I burst into tears. I don’t know why I was crying, probably relief. I was on land, just the way I liked it!

 

I may have done the beam, but I am still afraid of heights and I probably always will be but I will never forget doing my Year 7 Camp High Ropes.

 

By Kim

Room 28

Camp Motutapu 2010

Camp 2010

On Monday 3 May, syndicate D and room 28 went to Motutapu Outdoor Education Camp. We met at Half Moon Bay Marina at 8:15 and got on the ferry that would lead us to our destination. We arrived on Rangitoto Island at about 10o’clock. There we got instructions about our walk in. It would take 2 hours with one stop. When we reached Motutapu we had our stop. At about quarter to eleven, we left our stopping point and started walking.

When we arrived at camp, we had out lunch and were told the rules and places of camp. Then we found out our dorm numbers and found a bed. Then we did out first activity, which was sailing. I was in a boat with Ally and Karen. It was really fun! Ally was steering and I was working the main sheet, with Karen sitting in the middle, balancing out the weight. We had to aim at a bouy in the water and when we reached it, we had to try and hit it.

After sailing, our activity was Team Raft Building. It was 28A against 28B. It was really fun! You had to run up and get barrels, bamboo sticks and rope. It was all a big rush at the beginning, but after a while all the supplies were gone, so it calmed down a bit. After about 25 minutes of this we were both finished on our rafts, we carried them down to the water. The big rush came back as we fought to get in the water first. Eventually 28B (my group) got in the water first, but struggled to all get on. Somehow we all got on and started paddling. But then disaster came, one of our barrels came off and was bobbing in the water. We started sinking and everyone was yelling “abandon ship” so we all jumped off and climbed on to 28A’s raft and began dismantling it. That didn’t work too well so we tipped them instead.

Shower time! Me, Ally and Karen had first showers because we helped out at the boat shed. After showers we had a little bit of free time. For dinner we had Nachos with coleslaw and cheese, it was soooo nice. Next came the night activities. My group was doing the Burma Trail. It was really challenging and we really needed to have a good grip on the rope. Night activities finished and we wrote our diaries. When we had finished we went to bed after a hard day!

Day 2 already! Today for breakfast I had yoghurt. It was strawberry flavour. After breakfast we did our first activity. It was Rock Climbing. We made our way down to the rock wall and there we got instructions about how to put our harnesses on and also our helmets. Once we had done that, we could start climbing. The first wall I attempted was called Batman. It looked easy. The Batman had a really tricky part where you really had to push with your legs if you wanted to keep going. I got stuck on it, so I came down. The next wall I tried was called The Slab. It was much easier, but because I am weak, I only made it three quarters of the way up.

Confidence Course! Session 2 had started and my mum was doing Confidence Course, so that was a bonus. We had to figure out how to get our group of eight across a plank, play games on a beam without falling off and make our way through a confusing course with poles to jump over and go around. It was all about team work and it paid off. I think our group became closer after we did Confidence Course.

After Confidence Course, we had lunch. It was Garlic bread with salad, beetroot and cheese.

After that we did out third session. It was kayaking. I was really nervous about it, but luckily it was too choppy to go out too far, so we just played soccer near the shore. We had to split up again into 28A and 28B because there weren’t enough kayaks.

Session 4 already, and it was going to be tough. We were doing High Ropes, which was really scary because I’m afraid of heights. We walked our way to the High Ropes course, and I was so scared, I felt like I was going to be sick. When we got there we had to put on our harness and helmet. Then we got told to get into groups of 5 and to find a parent. Once we had that sorted, we could start. My group started with the spider net. Although it looked easy, it was really hard. I got about half-way and then came down. After all five of my group had had a go, we moved on to this wire thingy. It was a strip of wire with about four pieces of rope hanging above it. You had to walk across it, holding on to each rope, until you could reach the next.

After the wire thingy, we moved on to the beam. My goal was to get halfway across the beam. When it was my turn, I climbed slowly up the ladder, not really knowing what to expect. I reached the top and looked down. NOT the right thing to do if you’re afraid of heights and you’re 8 metres off the ground! I got really scared and the sick feeling was worse than ever. I carefully placed one foot on the beam and did the same with the other and made my way to the middle. I came down as fast as I could and burst in to tears. I don’t really know what I was crying for. After we did that, our sessions were over for the day.

That night for dinner we had Chicken Drumsticks with mixed veges, potato and pumpkin. Dessert was Banana Split. Out night activity was Hall games. We played Captains Coming and Zim-Zam. It was really fun.

We went to bed that night more tired than the last.

For breakfast the next morning, I had yoghurt. Strawberry flavour again. For our first activity on Wednesday we had the Gun Walk. We walked way up into the hills and saw the remains of the buildings that were built for World War 2. They must have had a lot of men and women there because there were a lot of buildings and rooms for people. We went through one of the underground tunnels and we saw some rooms as well. It was so dark down there that I was glad I took my torch.

For our second session, we did Archery. It was tricky but then I got the hang of it and I got most of my arrows on the target. Each person got three practice turns and then we got into groups of four (there were 4 groups) and the best score from each group would get another go.

For lunch that day we had Hot Dogs with cheese and salad.

Our next activity was Survivor. It was so fun! First we had to pick a fort. My group picked red. It was called Whykickamoocow, and then we could start. We had to do all sorts of wacky, fun activities and be the first group back to our first fort. We had to run down a hill doing all these crazy things and run up a hill to do other crazy things and then back down and back up to Whykickamoocow. In the end, we won by about 2 seconds.

Our last activity for the day was orienteering. My partner was Karen. We worked pretty well together and we only missed about 4 of the 12 clues. The sentence was YOUR FINISHED. It was a good way to end the day.

For dinner we had Spaghetti Bolognaise with potato and mixed veges. Our night activity was Spotlight, and I think that was the best activity we had!

On Thursday we had electives. We could pick our own 3 activities. Me and Karen had Frizbee Golf. It was really fun but hard we had to walk way up in the hills. You had to try and hit these poles with your frizbee. In our group it was Izzy, Baylie, Victoria, Karen and I.

For our next activity, I did Beach Bum. You could do pretty much anything. Play with balls in the water, make a sand castle or a dam or make a shell mobile. It was very relaxing! For lunch that day we had Macaroni Cheese with coleslaw. YUMMY!

My third session was Movies. We had to vote on what movie to watch. The choices were Enchanted, High School Musical, Ratatouille, Bridge to Teribithia or Alvin and the Chipmunks. We watched Ratatouille. That was so relaxing that I nearly fell asleep.

After that we had about an hour of free time so I read my book. For dinner we had Roast Beef with corn, peas, potato, pumpkin and kumara.

That night, instead of activities, we had a Camp Concert. It was so cool. One girl sang 2 songs. Her name was Mary. She was really good. There was another girl who sang a song she wrote herself! It was amazing!

The next morning I had Rices for breakfast. After breakfast we had duties for clean up before we left camp. My group was cleaning toilets. When my group finished we went down to the beach and picked up rubbish.

After half an hour later, it was time to leave. We began our walk out. Although it took 2 hours, it felt like half an hour. When we got to the wharf, we waited until the luggage truck was unpacked and had driven off the boat. When we walked on to the boat there were no seats inside so I had to sit on top of boat.

When we got to Half Moon Bay marina, I was one of the last people off the boat.

Camp was really fun. I had a great experience and I will always remember my Year 7 school camp.

By Kim