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Initiative games. Since there were about forty of us, we were split into groups. The first activity was called, 'A Frame'.
The 'A' is a wooden frame that is shaped like an 'A' without the cross in the middle, or like an upside-down, enclosed 'V'. The frame had a few, say, six, ropes on either side, stretching from the top. The idea is that one person stands inside the frame while the other people each take a rope, and have to 'walk' the frame from one point to another without the person inside getting hurt. The right side would pull, while the left side slackened their rope very slightly, and then touched the ground again, a few inches further forward than it was before. Then the same thing happens on the other side until you reach the end.
I did not go in the 'A Frame' itself, not because I was too afraid to, just because I didn't get a chance.
Another game we played was…well, I don't know if it had a name. Picture a hollow tube, like a straw, but a little bit bigger and made of metal. Now slice it in half and take the top away. Now point the bottom like a 'v'. There was one of these for each person and then there was a golf ball. Or something. We would have to line out metal 'tubes' up to make one long one and then try to roll the ball along from one point to another. The trick was, when the ball rolled off your pole thingy, you would have to run to the end of the line to keep it going. This was more difficult. The whole game depends on every single person to keep still and be careful. So we had a race with the other teams. It would always be that when we were so close to finishing that we'd have to go back and start again because the ball fell onto the ground before it was supposed to.
And then we moved to another section of the island, about fifty metres away, and this activity was when one person had to let themselves fall back/forwards and trust that another person would catch them, except, this time, there were two people pushing the person backwards and forwards.
Then I lay on the ground and the people in my team picked me up and then put me back down again, and I distinctly remember that either my head or my feet reached the ground much faster than the rest of my body. I wasn't dropped; I hope I didn't make it sound like that, but the person holding my head or feet lowered me to the ground more quickly.
Climbing ropes was up next. That was fun and fairly easy, but more about balance. In smaller groups (since there were about five rope courses, each group took one), one person would climb and then the others would spot for them. Spotting means that you look out for them and are there to make sure their fall isn't as fatal as it could be. Spotting was a bit more difficult than I thought it would have been, only because the sun had picked the perfect spot to shine right at my face so I could hardly see the person I was spotting for.
When I was climbing one of the courses, one of my spotters said, "Hey, don't I know you?" which nearly made me lose balance from shock. It was the girl that I had said hello to and knew from ABBA Camp. We joked about how it had taken so long for her to remember me.
I remember that dinner was fantastic. After dinner, when we were all sitting and talking at the tables, the teachers caught out attention. We were going to have the possum debate soon and needed to 'cast' actors to play people who were against or for the possums. I put my hand up every time, getting desperate when there was only one person left, I didn't care who I got, as long as I got someone. One of the teachers noticed this and I was finally given the last part. I was playing a person who had been to camping on the island and hated the possums because they had destroyed their tent, food, etc. My part was originally for a male which amused me.
Tiejana also had a part; she was playing some fairy-like woman who was against all harm to creatures.
Apart from scripts, we also had costumes. Mine included a possum hat and a shirt that said, "I eat possums" or something nasty like that.
Anyway, I didn't mind playing a nasty character, it would be fun. So we went back to the cabins to change into costume and go over our lines.
This was exciting. I had never had 'lines' or a proper 'costume' before. When the bell tolled, Tiejana and I rushed to where we would be performing.
The experience that people had had with this kind of thing was noticeable. Tiejana did very well and put on a voice, make her character even more airy-fairy. My performance could have been better, but I still think it was alright. Some people did not do too well with their lines, and when they made a mistake, would apologise for it.
Like I said, the experience is noticeable. I still think everybody had fun though.
After we had all said our lines, we would chuck around ideas of what to do with the possums and then discuss them with the rest of the kids (it's odd calling them kids, because I'm one too, but 'children', 'teenagers' and 'people' all sound wrong). It was a bit messy when more than one person spoke at a time, but it was what I think a debate should be.
After a while we had to come to a conclusion and we put it to a vote. I voted in favour because I did agree with most of it even though there were a few details I still wanted to flatten out, but we were out of time. We had decided to bring Aboriginal people to the island to hunt the animals and keep the numbers under control.
After the debate we had tea and biscuits and stood around talking to each other. I was chatting with Tiejana and Anna-Belle about tea. Tiejana told me that she was a caffeine addict and drank about the equivalent of three or four mugs of tea a day.
Walking back to my cabin, I had a fright when Bridgette yelled, "Boo!" at me. I was stopped in my tracks when I saw the night sky. I had never, ever seen so many stars. The sky was coated in them. At home, the stars are scattered here and there but there were tons of them. I also noticed when I was walking back, that a Curlew was stalking me. I stopped walking and it stopped. I slowly started walking again and stopped after a few metres. The bird had moved with me.
"Oh-kay, that's a bit freaky…" I thought.
In my cabin, with Tiejana, before we turned the light off, she was telling me that she was almost impossible to wake up and she had slept for three days in a row, once. Well, I thought that might be a bit much, but she wasn't kidding. When I tried to wake her to ask if she wanted to go on the 6:00 AM walk, it was a lot more difficult than I thought it would be. Gentle shake, whispered 'Tiejana' = no reaction. Medium shake, whispered 'Tiejana' = rolls over, I thought she was awake, but no…
I did eventually wake her but she said she didn't want to come and then went straight back to sleep again.
During the night I was woken several times by our three other cabin mates talking outside and people running from cabin to cabin. I emerged a couple of times to see what was going on and was awake until about 2:30 in the morning. I was exhausted.
But I went on the walk anyway, how many chances would I have to be up at 6:00 AM wondering around North Keppel Island in such perfect weather? Not many, I decided. So I went. And it was worth it. The ocean was stunningly blue, the sky was brushed with pink and orange and we found heaps of little snail shells on the rocks at the end of our walk.
At breakfast, I noticed that a lot of people had bed hair. Obviously, they had just woken up. I was surprised at how much these people ate in the morning! Cereal, toast, eggs…it was crazy.
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patrick hi remember me from that camp :P
patrick rachel moved to the usa :(