Yes! Yes! Yes! The excitement whirled around me. It was school camp for the year 5’s and 6’s. This year we were going to Camp Kaitawa, Lake Waikaremoana. To make things even better my dad was coming as well. It shall be a week full of excitement. Pouring rain, Massive walks, Muddy Caving, Fantastic cookout and Yum Ice blocks. This camp is going to be so AWESOME!!!!!

We arrived at camp and it was pouring with rain. We got told we were going for a walk. Great, in this appalling rain can’t the teachers think of anything better to do. We got into our rain gear then met in the dinning room. As we were walking we passed the Kaitawa power station, the Surge Chamber and a beautiful lake and if you look closely you could see trout. On the way back we walked up the big water pipes. That was a sample on how camp would be like. For dinner we had spaghetti bolognaise then for pudding we had Ice cream and peaches. Then Aniwa from DOC came to talk to us about the rain forest and all the birds and other things living in it. It was very interesting. When she left we did our chores had a hot chocolate and then went to bed.

On Tuesday we got told that we were going for a massive 15km walk. We had a yummy breakfast of cereal and hot food. We drove for about 20min then got into our groups Kiwi, Whio, Kereru, Kaka and Kakapo. I was in Kiwi with my dad and Philip’s mum as leader. We walked for about 45min then stopped at the Rata tree to have morning tea out of our packed lunches. We also had a Moro bar from the parents. The Rata tree is estimated to be years old. Along the walk we had had a few breaks although some people didn’t need one. When we were going up a hill Grace was behind Miss Hewett and Miss Hewett slipped and slid down a little bit and Miss Hewett said that Grace should of stopped her instead of standing aside watching. When we stopped for lunch we were 1030 metres high which was the highest we went. When we arrived back we had walked for 6:30hrs. For tea that night we had Devils Sausages and for pudding we had Ice cream and apple crumble. For a treat we watched Ice Age 3. We had hot chocolate and biscuits as well.

On Wednesday we had a yummy breakfast of cereal and cooked breakfast. Then we hopped into the cars and drove down to our walk that we were doing. We are group 3 so we were in the middle of all the groups. On the walk we stopped at an old prison and had a look. It is very different to the new prisons because it is just a rock with no bars in front of it. Soldiers would stand in front of it with guns so nobody could escape. After all the groups had seen the prison we carried on to a beautiful pond. There we had morning tea and group at a time would go up to see Michael Noonan’s grave. The reason why he is special is because he died to warn the village that invaders are coming. The village is now all rotten and gone. There were only 3 other graves that they have found. One was a 9 month baby there were two other adults which I don’t know there names. On the way back to the car park we stopped at lunch hut to have lunch. After lunch we went to the caves. The caves were awesome. My favourite bit was climbing up a steep hill. For dinner we had hamburgers. They were delicious. Then we had a quiz night and our group won. We also got told that we would have talent show in our groups. It was another fantastic day of Camp Kaitawa.

For breakfast on Thursday we had cereal and hot food. When we had finished we packed our day bags and lunches. Then we went to the cars we came in from Napier and drove to the visitor centre to go for a walk to Lake Waikareiti. The walk was another beautiful walk of Lake Waikaremoana. We had morning tea up there then walked back down and had lunch at the bottom. Then we did a little walk to some waterfalls. The good thing was that our group was in front. We were going to do another walk but then we had no more time. When we arrived back at camp we did an obstacle course it was so much fun and plus our team got the best time. Then came the best bit, the cookout. In my group I had Johanna, Jacob and Riley. We were cooking Nachos. My dad helped us. In the end Dad thought that ours was the best. We then made a flying aircraft. Then we roasted marshmallows.

On Friday we had breakfast then packed and tidied up. We then packed all our gear into the cars then went to our cars that we came in then left. Bye, Bye Camp Kaitawa. In Wairoa we stopped and had some hot chips. They were yum. Later on we stopped to have an Ice cream near Lake Tutira. Then when we arrived at school we got our gear and then we went home.