Camp Kaitawa By Jacob Eyles

Introduction The rain was horrendous! The cars were getting pelted with jets of showering water. All of us, tension rising, were wondering what adventures and challenges lied ahead of us; In the end, every year 6 from Reignier had experienced highs and lows at Camp Kaitawa. The week was jam packed with interesting events, such as, pouring rain, enormous mountains, caving in the mud, beautiful walks and smoke filled cook outs. What a fun packed exhausting week!

Monday As everyone started to unpack the mud splattered cars, the powerful rain started to dominate and lots of people’s belongings got soaked. After we had found our beds and settled down, the teachers notified us that there was a wonderfully wet walk ahead of us. So drenched in water, the year 6s set off for a saturating walk. But, the luscious spaghetti bolognaise heightened most of our spirits.

Tuesday Finally, on Tuesday, the mighty Ngamoko walk dawned upon us. Everyone had been dreading the 7 hour hike. To start off the tramp, everyone drove down to Whatekiri point. Our first real taste of the forest’s archaic nature was about thirty minutes up the track, was an astounding Rata tree. The tree itself was the biggest I had ever seen. It had said on the information sign that the rata was dated between years old. By the time it was lunch, everyone had reached the top of Ngamoko. We were all exhausted, but, we soldiered on to the end. At last we returned to a scrumptious dinner and a movie.

Wednesday It was Wednesday and to start off the day everyone drove to Redoubt for a walk. On the way up, we saw an old prison in the rock. Every guard and prisoner had carved their initials in the rock. At the end of the walk, there was a beautiful lake and the grave of a constable called Michael Noonan. After lunch, we drove to the Onepoto caves for a 3 hour walk.As we got there it started to rain so the rocks were all slippery and the ground was muddy. When we got back to camp, some delicious burgers awaited us. After we had eaten, everyone got into groups and we had a Quiz and then went to bed.

Thursday It was now Thursday, so, we had breakfast and got ready to go out. Then we drove to Aniwaniwa road to do a 2 hour hike. We had morning tea in a lonely cabin at the top. On the way back down, we met two hikers and two hunters with rifles. Everyone had lunch on an old transporting trailer that weighed about 7.5 tonnes! On our second walk that day, we went to the Papakorito waterfalls. When everyone got back to camp, we started fires for our cookout. My group’s meal was delicious, I couldn’t stop eating it!

Friday Wow! It was the last day of the year 6 camp. Everyone was exhausted but buzzing with excitement. We all wanted to see our families again. First, we packed our bags and made our rooms spotless. Then, we headed off for Napier. We stopped in Warioa for fish and chips. Once I had got back to school, I gave my Dad a big hug. This camp was one of the best ones I’d been on. I would definitely do it again.