Leaving the house on that miserable morning I was feeling nervous, but excited at the same time. Different emotions were flying through me. The Year 6’s of Reignier School were about to head off on a journey that led to lots of challenges and fun times at Camp Kaitawa. The pouring rain, the enormous walks, the squelching mud, the flowing water from the waterfalls and the smoky cookout fires all in one week. It was amazing.

When we arrived the rain was still pouring down. It was like it was angry at us. We unpacked our suitcases in the rain, got everything in order, and then realised that we had to go out in the rain again for a walk! Knowing that we’d be trapped, just walking was a horrible thing. In that walk we saw a few power stations. It wasn’t worth it. I would much rather be at home lying on my comfortable couch watching TV. But I guess the rain made it memorable. We couldn’t really see any views because of all the grey spooky mist.

When we got back we dried off and put our soaked wet clothes in the warm drying room to dry. We had scrumptious Spag’ Bol’ for dinner. Yum. After dinner a lady from the DOC committee came to talk to us. Her name was Aniwa. It was an interesting talk. I learnt some new cool facts and saw some of our predators. She also showed us a trap that they used. We all were looking at it then, BAM!! The trap went off and we all got a fright. When she had finished Aniwa left. We had arrived safely at Camp Kaitawa and were ready for some sleep.

It was the big day. The day we’d all been dreading. Today was the day that we were going to go on the biggest, hugest walk we probably have been on in our lives, so far. It was called ‘Ngamoko.’ It was a climb up an enormous mountain. We reached 1050m Above Sea Level (but started at 600m ASL). It took a long time. Around 6 hours we were walking for. First we walked quite an easy walk for about 15 minutes to a tree that was between years old. It was called the ‘Rata’ tree. We stopped there for morning tea and took a photo of each group underneath it. It was magnificent. It looked like there were tree’s growing off it. Bits of shrub stood up off the branches. It was defiantly not what I expected it to be like. It was more mysterious and magical. I have never seen anything like it before. But we still had a lot to go so we kept on going. We had a lot of breaks.

We got lots of scroggin, barley sugars and Moro bars to keep us going and give us some sugar and energy. It was actually a fun-ish climb. It wasn’t straight up like I thought it would be. It went up and down and side to side. I guess you could say that there were obstacles in it. Obstacles such as tree roots and rocks. There was a lot of mud as well. And to go along with that a lot of slips. And I mean a lot. Even teachers and parents! It had poured down the day before of course so the mud was freshly soft and gooey. Perfect for a nice slip to get really dirty. Most of us, if not all of us took that opportunity and got really dirty. Near the end all of us were getting pretty tired. We were all exhausted. In my head I was thinking ‘I can’t believe I did it. We’re nearly at the end of this. It’s nearly all over.When you get back to camp can just fall on your bed and rest.’ My legs and feet were hurting but I knew that I had to finish. So I just kept on going. We got out of where the trees were and we could see the sky and feel the lovely breeze. But still kept on walking. My group had a photo in front of one of the power station signs. That gave us a break. Then we just had to walk a little bit more to get to camp. When we got back I was feeling extraordinary. I was exhausted. It was a real challenge but we all took it on and completed it. That night we had delicious devilled sausages for dinner and amazing apple pie for dessert. We also watched a movie – Ice Age 3. I didn’t watch all of it, I went to bed.

We started off with another walk. But this one was interesting. We were walking along chatting, then suddenly, we stopped Nic (our walking leader) stopped and started talking about this jail. Enemies would be put in and guarded. We walked up these steps and to our surprise we saw a big rock. It was on a lean so there was space between the ground and the rock. So that’s where they stayed, underneath a rock. It didn’t look like any prison in these days. After we’d all seen the rock prison we kept on walking until we got to a lake. We stopped for some morning tea we had packed this morning. Each of the groups took turns at having a look at Michael Noonan’s Grave. Michael Noonan was a soldier. He came on his horse all the way from Wairoa to there to deliver the message that enemies were coming. But, the enemies saw him and chopped off his head. But the people at Waikaremoana somehow got the message. He was only 16.

People say, that Michael Noonan is the Headless Horseman and he comes to Camp Kaitawa at night and knocks on the windows. Spooky!! We also saw a child that was only 9 months old. It’s grave was tiny. After every group had had some morning tea and seen the graves we walked back to our cars. Then headed over to some caves. It started raining again. No!! Caving was still awesome. The caves were made of rocks. We had to climb under over, around and through rocks, and tree roots. We had a couple of practice caves before the more difficult ones. One of the caves was a really short skinny tunnel we had to crawl through. I’m surprised that Mr Crawford could fit through. Everyone had to go down this long bendy ladder. Then there was this hard, slippery cave that the parents had to stay in the cave and help us get up the slippery slope. It was very muddy. Our shoes were mud covered afterwards. But we still had a terrific time. We had dinner a short time after we got back which was Hamburgers. Then after dinner we had a letter Quiz. You had to name different things that the teachers gave us which starts with the letter they gave us. Then went to get a good night sleep.

We got ready for the last day of walking in Camp Kaitawa We drove to the start of the Waikarieti lake walk. It was a very boring walk. But to add to that the walk was mostly straight up, but occasionally went down. When we got to the lake there was a little hut that the children had morning tea in. After morning tea we got back on the track and headed back to where we started. It was easier on the way back because we were going down more than up. Once we got back to where we started we had lunch on a big rusty old wooden wagon. And Grace, wasn’t very keen to eat lunch, but did, I think, in the end. Next, we started walking to bridal veil falls. We were walking with Miss Hewett as one of our leaders and started to hear Mr Crawford asking the boys in his group sports questions. So, we asked Miss Hewett to ask us some quiz questions. So she did.

She asked us some questions about places she had been in her OE. It was really fun. When we saw the 2 beautiful waterfalls, one above the other for the first time, I was amazed. They were so beautiful. It looked magical. Water crashing down. Once, then twice. Clear water flowing gently. You could see through it easily. I felt relaxed. We had to walk back sadly but we had to get back to camp. Once we were back at camp we had a go at the obstacle course if we wanted to. That was fun. Then we started the Cookout. All the groups lit their own fires, except for us. We used the example one. I sort of wish we lit our own but it’s too late now. We cooked delicious Nachos and Marshmallows and got lots of smoke in our eyes. But had a really enjoyable time. After dinner we had a chocolate self saucing pudding that had been cooked the night before. And then, the moment we had all been waiting for. The Talent Show! Each group performed their own thing. Everything was funny and fun. When we had finished everything. We went to bed for the last time in Camp Kaitawa, for this year and went to sleep.

On Friday we packed up everything, then suddenly realised we had to write in the log book. In the log book we had to write what we did every day, and make it look amazing in a very, very short amount of time. We were under a lot of pressure. Everyone else's looked amazing. But we did it. Everyone was waiting for us but it looked great for everyone to look at. Then we got on the road to drive back home. We stopped in Wairoa for hot chips and then hit the road. Also we stopped in Tutira for and ice block then got back on the road to head back to school. When we arrived I felt like I was back at home. I felt awesome. Overall I really enjoyed camp and would defiantly go back there. I loved spending time with my friends and eating the amazing food my Mum cooked. I loved the experiences I got and the views were amazing.

This power point is made by Jessica Dean with the help of other people for taking the photos.