On the first day of big camp, everyone arrived in the morning and immediately started work on building their tents. After tents were set up and lunch was served, campers participated in a variety of different sports such as football and basketball. We then proceeded to start air rifle shooting where each person, in turn, would fire 10 rounds into a target. We would then compare everyone's scores and see who was the highest. After a couple of rounds, everyone's scores had drastically improved and overall everyone was very happy.
Once everyone was back from the air rifle shootings, we began cooking jacket potatoes on the campfire. Whilst they were cooking, everyone participated in team games where there were puzzles and challenges that we had to overcome. Once we had finished dinner, we played a game of capture the flag in the pitch black where we had little wristbands which indicated the team you were on. We finished the first day toasting marshmallows and camping at 23:00, worn out but excited for the next day.
On Saturday, the team woke up bright and early to enjoy their breakfast around the morning campfire. This included eggs, bacon, beef and veggies sausages, along with wraps. The team then prepared themselves for a very busy day, where they enjoyed the caving. The caving included crawling and wriggling through a series of wet tunnels where everyone was covered in mud and soaked from head to foot. These caves included climbing, crawling under things and rolling off of small ledges. The team encountered many fears and challenges such as spiders and closed spaces, which they were all able to overcome. To finish off the experience everyone had the opportunity to do a part of the caving underwater, which meant being able to hold their breath for a short while, which was a great way to finish the morning.
Shortly after, they enjoyed a great picnic under the sun, laughing and having fun. Towards the end of lunch, the team evaluated their time at big camp, which included the ups, the downs and the best ways to improve. The most voted answers were wishes that it was longer and it happened more often.
The rest of the afternoon was spent relaxing under the sun and completing a final round of games. These games included two truths and one lie, which led to the discovery of many interesting facts about one another, and we honoured our founder’s favourite game of After 8 - whereby you slid a chocolate biscuit from your forehead to your mouth!
Overall, it was an incredibly busy and fun weekend.
Written by Christina Arena and Archibald Bean