On Tuesday the 10th of December 48 of the 2014 year nines of Echuca College loaded onto a bus. Once the bus was finally packed (aisle and all) we headed off to Anglesea, unaware of the fun ahead. After setting up base camp we headed off to the first of our activities, canoeing. We enjoyed paddling along the manmade canals in Anglesea. We learnt that the canals were made to extinguish severe bush fires in the area that happened around the same time as the Black Saturday fires. We also learnt about the coal and minerals in the ground that we were also learning about in science. Next we went for a bush walk that turned into a lovely, freezing cold swim at the beach. We enjoyed seeing the Anglesea township and surrounds. After a refreshing night sleep we awoke in the morning excited for the afternoon’s trip to Geelong Adventure Park, but first we went to admire some magnificent rock pools. From this spot we could see the light house where the TV series ‘Round The Twist’ was filmed, we could also see caves that William Buckley (famous English convict) had camped in. We were learning about William Buckley in humanities before we left for camp. We also learnt about the igneous rocks that formed the rock pools and we learnt about the limestone and sandstone that could be seen in the cliffs around us. We were also investigating this in science. At rock pools we were fascinated by the creatures and plantation. We saw animals such as starfish, crabs, sea snails and fish of many species. Immediately after viewing the rock pools we headed off for the much anticipated trip to the Geelong Adventure Park. Everyone had a great time and it was a good laugh to see the teachers racing the students on the Aqua racer. After exhausting ourselves unfortunately we had to leave. The bus trip back to our campsite was filled with the stories of what people had done at the park and this was followed by laughing.

That night we all slept comfortably with no energy to keep us awake. The next morning it was up early and a mad rush to get to our activities. First we went snorkelling. Though the water was a little murky we all enjoyed diving below the water into deep holes filled with wild life. Often people could be seen swimming in circles chasing fish. It was a great experience to be able to see what lives in the waters around our coast. After a warming hot dog lunch we headed to our second fun filled activity for the day. We went surfing! The wave were huge and temperature was low but that didn’t stop both students and teacher’s carving it up, hanging 10 and all that other stuff. Everyone had at least one massive wipe out but after laughing it off with everyone else they got straight back into it. Everyone caught at least one wave and had fun doing so. This day wore us out completely but the anecdotes were endless. The next day we were sad to leave but after the struggle off packing up our tents we got back onto the bus and set off home. On behalf of all the students that went to this camp I would just like to thank the teachers who attended the camp and the ones that helped plan it because it was defiantly a camp I would go to again!!

Kelly Gould