One day in Katherine town, I had a great surprise, I bumped into Scarlet and Ivy Anderson shopping in the supermarket. They were camping at Leliyn Falls. Leliyn Falls is an oasis in the desert surrounded by palm trees and shady places to picnic and swim by the river. There are waterfalls to swim under. I visited Scarlet and Ivy camping in a great spot next door to a Bower Bird. Fancy that, being next to a bird who makes his home on the ground, showing off his collection of white treasures. The Bower Bird didn’t mind us looking at his nest along as we didn’t touch.

The Colours of Nature

In the first week back at school we basked in the beautiful nature of Candlebark by going on a colour scavenger hunt and creating lovely nature sculptures inspired by Andy Goldsworthy.

Our goal was to create a sculpture that showed colour fading from dark to light or blending from one colour to the next on the colour wheel.

• By Peta Domm

Grade 1X

Grade 3/4Y

3/4X

3/4Z

Bunkhouse Break Out Stories

Bunkhouse Breakout - By Daisy Ford

Twenty-four nervous kids are huddled in a small room waiting for the bell to ring. There are four ways out. When the bell rings, we escape from the darkness, into more darkness. Outside, there is only one light but we know there are four more waiting to strike.

I make my way around the amenities block. I feel my way along the wall. I use my ears to listen for footsteps. Then I hear the noise. Footsteps. Coming towards me. Teacher or kid? Enemy or friend?

I whisper a question “Who are you?” And then comes a reply, “Jett”. We continue in silence, getting close to the base. Twenty metres to go. We make our way around the building. Will we make it?

This question is soon answered by a frightening “RAHHHHHHHH!!!!!” I scream the loudest scream I have ever screamed. A terrifying teacher tears out from the bushes. In the darkness, it could be anything - a monster, a vampire, or maybe even a Tyrannosaurus Rex.

I breathe a sigh of relief. It’s only Shaun. I am safe.

Bunkhouse breakout - By Henry Tucker

It was night at Candlebark. There was a shiver up my spine as I stepped out of the French room. I ran behind the amenities block. It was disturbingly silent.

I took a breathe in, running out into the moonlight. It shone down on me. I heard footsteps and looked left and right a couple of times before I saw them.

I ran past Andys room. My heart is racing. Skidding just past Cam's door, I turn and open it and slam it shut. I see a teacher in front of Cam's room.

I hide in the corner of the room. The teacher opens the door. I hold my breath in. They walk past me.

Letting my breath out, they turn and see me... I sprint across the room. Opening the door, running full speed, I jump over the puddle. I run on to the tennis court touching the fence.

I go back to the French room, panting. This time I go around the front of amenities, snapping a twig, they hear me. I dart to the end of the building. Someone loomed around the corner and yelled out my name.

The End

5/6Y Nature Sculptures

5/6y explored the elements of pattern, shape and form, as well as colour, when creating their nature sculptures.

India's farm is a gloriously beautiful place to visit as you can see from our photos. Visiting the charming pigs was a highlight, and oh boy do they love chomping on their corn and whey mixture (and our apple cores)!!

India and Matteo were very good guides when we went with our magnifying glasses looking for fungi, and yes we found some interesting specimens.

'Bok bok bok' went the chooks as they crowded around us. Max the calf thought he was a child and he thought we were all lickable things!

We just loved the Icelandic horses in their fluffy winter coats. Ragnar and really enjoyed meeting us all in their green, grassy paddock.

Thanks so much to Lucy and Jan and India for a wonderful visit. Earlier in the year we met Gabby's camels, horses and stingrays at her amazing family farm, so what lucky people we are!!

Grade 1 Camp

In a brief window between lock downs that was as narrow as an arrow slit in a castle wall, the year ones known collectively as Wolf Court donned their cloaks and best castle clothes and spent two days and a night at Kryal Castle near Ballarat. The approach to Kryal was quite bleak- the sun shone as we drove away from Candlebark, it started to rain gently near Bacchus Marsh, then fell hard then harder still. However, driving up the hill to the stone walled castle, one child exclaimed “This is the BEST day of my life.”

We took part in so many different adventures it is hard on reflection to believe it was only two days. Highlights included preparing a medieval band aid from ground up herbs (that really worked!) using a battering ram to crash through a door, medieval dancing, learning some battle tactics and getting to try them out, archery, trying on armour, learning how you approach the royal family if you a mere steward and a falconry display. During the display we met a peregrine falcon and a Nankeen kestrel under the care of Martin. And learnt so many excellent fact! Did you know… the term ‘hoodwinked’ comes from the hood that is placed over a falcon to fool it into a quiet state of being? Or that the term “under my thumb” refers to the falconer shortening the length of leather tied to a falcon’s leg with their thumb when they want to firmly control the bird. Or that the term “the end of my tether” refers to the state a falcon can get into when it wants to fly but is still tethered to the falconer and is feeling frustrated.

Actually, while all of these were fun, possibly the most exciting aspects of the excursion was the fact that we were the only people in the whole of the castle. And early on the Tuesday before breakfast, we all were scampering about the grounds of the castle in the ‘misty moisty morning’. It was atmospheric and whisked many of the kids into a time and place where we were in for-real-life-actual medieval castle. Just before we left we all went around and said what we were grateful for about our trip to Kryal Castle. One of the year 1s said in all earnestness “I am grateful that the Kingdom of Kryal castle has not been invaded and is still strong.”

It was a pleasure sharing the excursion with all the kids and the adults. For your information, Leeanne is lethal with a sword, Luca is the best natured and most helpful squire around and Geri is a dab hand at leather work and looks fab in castle get up.

Long may the Kingdom of Kryal prevail!

- Katy

Little Raven - oil pastels on yellow card by Albie / Little Raven - oil pastels on brown card by Jaxon

Crimson Rosellas - oil pastels on green card by Willow / Crimson Rosellas - mixed media on teal card by Bethany

Little Raven in flight - oil pastels on blue card by Oliver / Crimson Rosella - oil pastels on white card by Chiara

Wedge-tailed Eagle - oil pastels on green gloss card by Noah / Little Raven - oil pastels on yellow card by Bethany

Crimson Rosellas (mother and child) - pencil on white paper mounted on black card by Willow

Grade 5/6Y Shipwreck Coast Camp

The Drive! - By Sarah Cottingham

Everyone scrambled onto the filled bus with their day bags and full water bottles. Most people were aiming to get seats at the back of the bus luckily I was one of the people who did. Everybody was in their seats and we were ready to leave for our trip.

We were only ten minutes into the hour and a half road trip and I already had a headache. I could hear every single word anyone said. Every letter made my head pound like thunder. I tried to rest but it wasn’t ever going to work. Another ten minutes later I remembered I had packed two pills just for this regular circumstance. I pulled my water bottle and panadol out of my bag and sculled it as quickly as I could. I knew it would work straight away so I layed back and looked out the window. The panadol had worked and I was feeling better than ever. I went back to interacting with my friends and having fun.

At least two hours go by after leaving the You Yangs where we did rock climbing. Most people were tired and weren’t really talking, most of the boys were being loud as usual. Esther and I were sitting next to each other on the bus in nearly silence. I wasn’t surprised since we were laughing the whole time apart from then. That silence only lasted around five minutes. The next half hour we had a huge burst of energy and were singing all our favourite songs. While we were having fun and singing together the sun was setting and it was quite beautiful. Soon after we ended up at the campsite and unpacked the bus with all our bags, food and other essentials. We got there at dark so there wasn’t much to see but the cabins and games room were very welcoming and nice.

Rock climbing at the You-Yangs - By Miranda Ware

On the first day of camp, around an hour and a half into the drive, we stopped at the You-yangs to do some rock-climbing with Jess, Laura and Sunny (The dog). Jes and Laura had already anchored the ropes so as we got there we put on our gear, (helmet, climbing shoes, and a harness) and listened to Jes who was explaining how to belay the person who was climbing and to slowly let them down when they reached the top. There were five climbs; 3 on the lower face and 2 on the top face. The first climb on the top face had an amazing view when you reached the top. You could stand on the top and see everything around you for kilometers. It was the easiest climb and nearly everyone reached the top. The one next to it though was much harder. The first half of it was perfectly flat and about halfway up there was a ledge that you could use as a hand or foot hold but above that, there was a meter wide bowl-shaped indentation that was incredibly difficult to get past. Only Ethan and Zadie managed to finish the climb. The left climb on the bottom face was the easiest. You had a meter and a half of completely flat rock with a tiny crack running through it. Most people chose to skip that particular section by walking across and climbing over some boulders to get to a foot-wide ledge and walking across a meter to where you were meant to climb. Above that ledge there was a fairly wide crack that you had to climb up to get to the top. The climb on the right was a massive crack that you got stuck in really easily, it wasn't quite big enough to get your whole body into but it was enough to jam your forearm into. The middle climb was the hardest, you came the same way as you did for the left climb, but then, instead of a crack, it was completely vertical with tiny hand and foot holds. Only Zadie reached the top. When we had done 3 or 4 climbs we had to finish and go to the bus. It was really fun and Jess and Laura were really nice.

Rock climbing - By Zadie M-G

It is a lot harder than it looks, I thought as I wedged my foot between the narrow rocky crack. And certainly a lot more painful, was my view, as I struggled to get my foot out of that crack. My eyes were looking up to find a handhold, the wind brushing against my face, when I noticed a giant hairy spider. An “Eeeeeek”came out of my mouth, as I instinctively pulled my hand away from that area. “What?” Maddie yelled, “What is it Zadie?” I realised she was carrying me and quickly moved my hand to another area to steady myself.

“Spider.” I called back, “ Just wait a moment.” I told them as I adjusted to flick it from the side. “ All gone,” I called as we continued up the climb. The next few minutes were very uncomfortable as I scuffled upwards towards the top, but the end result was worth it as I looked out at the view and saw nature at its best!!!

Rock Climbing - By Nash Mathews-Prentice

After a long 2-4 hour bus ride we arrived at a small mountain looking place, with lots of rough granite rocks. The drive up the mountain was pretty scary as we were driving in a bus right next to a thirty metre drop, each turn was terrifying. Once we parked right next to a cliff with the only barrier a small brown tree with very dark green leaves. We all eventually got out of the bus even though everyone was scrambling to get out first to stretch. On the other side of the road there were two people and a dog wearing helmets and other rock climbing equipment. The dog was small and golden with smooth curly hair, its name was Sunny. The two people were the rock climbing instructors. At that point they told us what we were doing and how to put all the equipment on. After everyone was in the equipment and had written their name on tape that we all attached to our helmets, we all walked up a steep hill only with small and sandy steps. When we were putting our equipment on, we had the option to put some special rock climbing shoes un, but I chose not to because I had hiking shoes with good grip but the climbing shoes could hold onto small ledges so I'm not sure whether it was a good idea or not. Once we were at the top of the hill we all sat down on the ground or on a small boulder, we were all staring at the ropes hanging exactly ten metres from the ground onto huge boulders. The boulders almost looked like they had no hand holds too.

The instructors taught us how to get safely strapped in and how to b-line. That was where we had to keep people in our group up if they fell and help lower them down. Then we were told to choose a group of three to four people and choose a boulder to climb up, I was a bit surprised when they said that I thought that those boulders would be for experts and that they would take us to something that was really boring. After my group chose what looked like the second easiest one because the easiest looking one was taken we all took turns at the different roles. The first wall was at the start fairly straight and flat making it the hardest part of that climb, the second part was a big crack that you had to painfully shimy your way up to victory, but most people didnt make it through that part because of fear.

The middle climb also supposed to be the hardest was at the start just a curve and at the top of the curve you could almost stand but most people didn't get through that part because the flat rock climbing shoes had almost no grip, but my hiking shoes did it easily so I was one of the only people to get that high and the second half of that climb was an almost completely flat wall that was very hard to climb but it turns out that was the only climb I finished and I was one of the two people that finished it that day because it was probably the one I put the most effort in and took the most time.

The third and farthest to the right was a huge crack in the boulder and only one person finished that was Jasper. He probably finished 3 - 5 climbs most people didn't finish any. My attempt at the third climb was OK I got about 5 metres up half way and my foot got stuck when i got down and I had a few cuts. If you enter the place and go left on foot up from the other walls there are two walls neither of which I got to try due to time. The first one on the left was a swide ways 90 degree angle that you had to shuffle up with your back and the other was just a normal wall that you first climbed up then across to the ledge.

After all the time at the rock climbing place was over we got to enjoy another four hour bus ride. :)

The Games Room - By Jasper Grey

As we got to the campsite, we got off the bus and unloaded the bags. When we finished unloading, Andy said that 20 years ago he camped on the other side of the campgrounds. We were shown where we were sleeping, the location of the kitchen and the best bit of it was the lounge. It had a concrete floor, a pool table, air hockey, table tennis, two couches and one armchair.

The next day, I woke up and quietly got out of the cabin which was called the Lochard. I went to the lounge. There, Cooper and Henry were playing air hockey. I started to set up the pool table and Cooper asked if he could play, I said ‘yes’ to his offer. After setting it up, we started to play. I realised that the table had been ripped from use but it didn't matter because it didn’t interfere with the game.

As time went on, more and more people started to arrive. It was close, I had two more

Stripes left and Cooper only had one solid. Then he could pot the 8 ball in and win the game.

As I got all of my stripes in, Cooper did too. I hit the 8 ball AND IT GOES IN. I WON THE GAME! Everyone was so happy that the game was over as it seemed to go on for hours!

The Pool Table in Camp Cooriemungle - Chris Mueller

When I laid eyes on the pool table I knew this camp would be better than I thought,my pool table at home had been broken so I sort of know how to play but have nothing to play with. And only a couple of days in and i had met my match, Jasper he thought every move through and five times out of ten he sunk the ball like a rock in a river but after some practice i was sinking them like like the Loch Ard, but i also found out how i can mess up Jasper but alas as the table was empty for all except two balls the dreaded eight ball and one of my striped balls. I was usually stripes but with nothing to stop him he hit the ball right into that netted sock.

But if you know me you would also know that i don't accept defeat well, not like a sore loser or anything I just keep trying until i or my team win but no more practice could be done, we were leaving camp it was now or never! He hit those balls like his pool cue was a wand and he had them under a spell but just then, then of all time right at the end of our game three balls left for Jaspar, two for me. There was a cabin inspection but we ignored it and kept battling, at one point I was one point ahead and Andy called our cabin. We came dead last in the inspection so we cleaned and fixed it up and then Jasper pointed out that I had won I had wanted this but I had mixed feelings it did end sit right, it didn't feel right but I shrugged it off I had won the war of the pool table but lost the fight of the cabins.

But later on the prize had been driven out a packet of snakes for each for the two winning cabins but our friends from the other cabins gave us lolly snakes. Maybe we didn't lose the fight, but we didn't win either.

The Beach (Wednesday morning) - By Ethan Rogers

From up the top it was a sight to never forget, as my memories came rushing back to me. It was amazing. But there was something more important than thinking about that. We got to go down to the beach.

We all raced down the steps. It was breathtaking, especially when you could smell the sea salt air, it was truly spectacular. When we finally got on to the beach everyone rushed including me to have a look at the caves, which had naturally been formed but the best bit was yet to come. Myself, Felix and I think Albert, took off our shoes and ran down the small sand hill, which was fun and when we got to the ocean part of the beach it was the best.

Not long after everyone else came and joined us. It was just joy and laughter. People were running from the waves I was doing flips in the sand. People were climbing rocks and Andy was yelling at us not to get too wet, and that we need to leave soon before someone gets soaked or before the tide reaches us all. So after twenty minutes of great fun we all headed up to the bus.

A lot of people went up with sandy feet, but I have experience with these from living by the beach before, so I knew what to do. I quickly got my socks and shoes on and ran up the stairs where most of the other people were. We all had a great time, and I think I might secretly know the people who didn’t take their shoes off are probably regretting it by now. We all headed into the bus laughing and talking as the shipwreck coast camp continued.

This is a story about the Loch Ard and Where it Crashed - By Maddie Payne

We went to Lochard gorge. It was amazing the water was so blue and the sky was so bright. It was hard to imagine that Thomas Pearce had to swim to shore in the dead of night in a storm and then he went back out to save Eva, even though he did not have too. Tired and wet they had no time to rest. Thomas had had to scale the cliffs to raise the alarm.

We stood there running from the waves that crashed against the sand. Where we were standing the Lochard would have crashed 143 years ago. When it crashed people helped and took as much stuff as they could. It felt weird to know that the beach we were standing on was where 143 years ago when someone had failed to see the cliffs on a cloudy and stormy night, a ship had crashed.

They had been at sea for about 3 months only for their trip to get cut short because of the weather and the cliffs.

Thunder Cave - By Henry Astuto

Everyone hopped off the bus, excited to see the thunder cave. From where I was standing the view of the ocean was already amazing. I could see some big rocks that looked at least ten times bigger than me, the big rocks looked like little meteores. Me and Albert speed walked to the place where you see the thunder cave, we got the speed walking from a TV show called Brooklyn Nine-Nine. Surprisingly Me, Arlo, Albert, Felix and Chae, we weren’t even running. As we approached the thunder cave my eyes glanced around. I could see water crashing, foam flying and much more. The waves got around 5 metres off the ground, but when they went up the thunder cave they kept on getting higher and higher. As I was watching the white and brown foam it was flying around in every direction, it was very satisfying to watch. I watched the waves crashing against the rock. It sounded nice when the water crashed against the rocks. I looked at the rocks for a bit and I still wonder how the rocks shaped that way. A few minutes later Andy came over and said “ How do you think the rocks are shaped like that?” Most people put their hands up for water erosion and some people put their hands up for air erosion. Seeing the view of the thunder cave was one of my highlights, if there was one way to explain thunder cave it would be AMAZING!!!

Warrnambool - By Esther King

My class and I walked into the Warrnambool museum. I looked up and was amazed at how high the roof went.

Our tour guide led us through to a room filled with projectors. My class was standing together in a group, watching a big screen with people talking about the history of shipwrecks on the coast of Warrnambool.

After we finished watching the short documentary, we walked into another fascinating room and I was interested to see three little models of shipwrecks. One of them was a model of ‘The Lockhart Shipwreck’ which was 90 metres long so to put that in perspective it is 10 metres less than a 100 metre sprint. The other shipwreck models I didn't catch the names of, but one of the ships sank 20 minutes in on it’s first run. It was only a small sized ship, with few passengers.

We walked into a different room where we saw this insane amazing beautiful peacock which was looking amazing inside a glass cube. Jan told us about how it had survived the lockhart shipwreck with only a small crack in its beak. Some people had pulled it up out of the ocean in a wooden crate. There were 53 people on the boat and only 2 survived; their names were Tom Pears and Eva Carmicheal. After that cool room we took a step outside and we saw a rustic old village. At that moment I was thinking about how people who lived in this village traveled, how they harvest food and I thought of my own life and how different it was and how lucky we are. Half way through this amazing discovery of the village, we got petrified at these huge turkeys. We all jumped and looked beside us and then, “Gobble gobble gobble!” replied the turkeys. Finally after passing those turkey’s we went through to go look at a lake which had whaling boats floating over the water. After about ten minutes of learning about them we followed our tour guide into another room where she had sat us all down and started to tell us about whaling and whales like bailing whales and what it looks like and mini sculptures of whales.

Maritime Museum - By Arlo Coone

At the Maritime Museum there was a Sovereign Hill kind of place, where there was a lolly shop, black smith and all kinds of stuff like that. We did a scavenger hunt there, where we would look at a question on a sheet we had been given by Jan, the person taking us on a tour of the museum. We would then run to the place in pairs, for example one question was: what did Cooper do? So we would go to Cooper's workshop and there would be a description of him and we would get the answer from reading it and the answer was woodturning.

I was in a group with Chae and Henry. There was a mini lighthouse where you could go to the top, it was only about six metres tall but it was still pretty cool. There was also a lighthouse keeper’s cottage that the first time you would go in you would just come back out straight away screaming because there were scary dolls staring at you.

There was a slippery hill there where I would slide down on my tummy and go pretty far.

Next to the blacksmith there was a pen with four turkeys in it but that wasn’t the only animals there: there were peacocks, sheep, llamas, a goat and two guard dogs guarding penguins from foxes!

After we were finished at the museum we went to go look for whales and after we had dinner we came back to the museum to go to a light show. Apart from being blinded by the projector light it was a pretty good show.

I really enjoyed the replica town, and I would recommend it to anyone visiting Warrnambool.

A Whaling story - Lachlan Rodgers

The men behind me rode like it was the death of them, the southern right whale was getting closer by the second. The reason us whalers go for the southern right whale is because it loses its strength very quickly and once it dies it floats to the surface. We didn’t kill them for sport and glory, we killed them for their oil, bone and baleen of the mouth. The other men managed to get me close enough to the whale so I could throw the harpoon at the back of it.

The harpoon was designed so it went in the flesh quickly but didn’t come out. The whale swam as fast as it could with the boat being dragged behind it. “We can get him lads!” I said through the whale's sad and dry moans. The whale raised up its tail and dove as deep as it could. We were still attached to the whale as it went under and I had no choice but to cut it free.

The men were tired and angry for the more whales they caught the more money they brought home, if they survived. We stayed there for an hour trying to keep an eye out for another whale. As the sun slowly seeped below the surface of the ocean, the crew returned to the mainland.

Scavenger Hunt at the Maritime Museum - By Chae De Silva

Hi, I'm Chae one of my favorite things about camp was the scavenger hunt at the Maritime Museum and I'm going to tell you about it. I loved it because you got to run around and explore.

We started the scavenger hunt in an old village. Arlo, Henry A and I were working together to finish it. We started sprinting to our first destination at the museum, wrote down what we figured out and sprinted to our next destination, the Ship Smith (the black smith). All in all there were sixteen different locations. The one I liked best was the one in the lighthouse. I loved it because you got to climb it and there was a great view but the absolute best about the hunt was doing it with my Friends and solving the clues.

The Scavenger Hunt at the Maritime Museum! - By By Felix Cameron

After a bit of a bus ride we stopped outside a cafe or so I thought because we were actually outside the Maritime Museum. I knew we were going to the museum. I just couldn't see it but I thought this was just going to be a normal museum. Turns out again I was wrong. We walked in and were met by a nice lady Jan who was going to take on the expedition through the museum. We all went through a room full of projectors and lot’s of sheets for them to project on. We started with a welcome to the country and saw some local whalers who talked a few words each about the area. Then we walked through what a hallway under a ship's deck would've looked like. We got told about the ships and I couldn’t believe the schomberg was 90m long. Then we got taught about the Loch Ard the 2 survivors Tom Peirce and Eva Carmichael and the famous exports on the ship the peacock and the mystery heren. Then we made our way around the village, saw some turkeys and learned about whaling.

After that we had a scavenger hunt I partnered up with Albert and we immediately went to work there were heaps of place we had to go but the first place was the museum we end running to Andy saying we’re finished with Kaelan’s group in the end we realised we forgot a page and handed our book to Andy completed 3rd. That didn’t matter though because we had fun exploring and realised some of the shops and stores were really relaxing. The Mechanics institute was my favourite though because it smelt nice. And after 1 final drama trying to find Kaelan who was in the church it was off to hopefully see some whales. I really enjoyed the olden days scavenger hunt and the museum.

After that we went to the park, had some chips and went back to the museum and saw the light show. It gave me a massive fright when the chairs started bouncing up and down and I got a little blinded by the projector. The show was about the whaling and the Loch Ard, the captain some sailors, Tom Pierce and Eva Carmichael it was a little corny because there were a few holes in the story and Tom looked like he was walking in the water and Eva held him like they were falling in love while there was calm water which completely went against the story the accents were not the greatest the captain had a bad scottish accent and tom sounded very American but in the end I thing the water projector evened it out

Blacksmith at the Maritime Museum - Erin Cadogan

Me and Nash were walking down to the dam after we had been sucking nectar out of honey suckles, to see what buildings there are down at the large mucky dam filled with small whaling and fishing boats. We passed the alien looking turkeys with skin hanging off their beaks. As we walked past we saw Kaelan looking at this boat realer thing. We turned around and saw a replica of a black smith. The two of us walked in to see what was in there. It was really dark and dusty and things were on the ground. But through the darkness you could see horseshoes and bits of saddles. As we were about to walk out we heard a thump. It sounded like a hammer hitting metal. All of sudden an old man started to talk as the turkeys started to gobble. We both jumped and screamed. It was just a motion sensor projector with a man pretending to be a blacksmith. We both walked out speechless.

Overall if you're going to Warrnambool I definitely recommend going to the Maritime Museum!

Chips in the playground - Cooper Owen

We got to the playground around 7:00 pm and ran straight to the maze where me and Chae were the first to get to the tower in the middle.

When we got out of the maze we ran over to the playground where there were two flying foxes, a big one and a small one. Chae helped me get on the small one and pushed me off. It was sooooo fun going down the flying fox and then we played shark.

Whilst we were playing. Andy had gone to get fish and chips and 20 minutes later he came back.

We all ran over to the bus where there was a gazebo. There was soooo much food I ate so much that I felt like I was about to explode. We got on the bus after half an hour of people stuffing food in their mouths. We went to the light show. The light show was astonishing.

Warrnambool Camp - By Henry House

On camp we went to Warrnambool to go to the Maritime museum, look for whales, eat fish and chips and see an amazing light show. These are the stories from the Shipwreck coast.

On the way we went to Loch Ard Gorge without knowing the story to see the caves and to run away from waves.

When we got to Warrnambool we went to a shipwreck museum where we saw artifacts from shipwrecks such as the Loch Ard then we went outside to see scary blacksmiths, old banks and schools, and even turkeys! We learnt about whaling, saw old whaling boats and then did a wicked scavenger hunt! Finally we were bound for Logans Beach for whale spotting but with no luck.

A little later we went to an amazing playground with amazing flying foxes! At around six thirty Andy brought truckloads of fish and chips to enjoy! After squirting each other with a dodgy bubbler and almost wiping out the playground's fish and chip population, we crossed the road, now dark, to see the light show.

Back at the museum we were handed lamps and made our journey to the lake. The ordinary movie today is 2D. This one was at least 20D! It had moving seats, rain, projected over the whole village, and the film was projected over mist!!! The film was about stories from shipwrecks, the Loch Ard in particular.

The Shipwreck Cemetery - By Kaelan Vassallo

Recently our class went to visit a very special cemetery. This place housed the bodies of so many people that died in the shipwrecks against the shore known as ‘Shipwreck Coast’.

Tom Pierce - the ship's apprentice on his first journey and ironically one of the survivors on the Loch Ard - has a memorial there for him.. He turned out to be a hero - he saved Eva, another passenger, from drowning, swimming out to her when he heard her calls for help.

We found out some very interesting things about ships and the treacherous coast line and a huge thanks to our tour guide Peter. He did a great job telling the stories of the place and took us around and showed us things that were incredible to see and hear about, all on his own time.

Then we went up a hill to a sort of second story for the cemetery. And we even saw a koala on the way up. When we got to the top we saw about twice as many graves. One that particularly stood out to me was the first ever grave dug there, one with cracks and rubble inside from the shifting earth over time. It was the grave of a little girl who had been bitten by a snake.

Unfortunately there were lots of little graves with one date because they were the graves of children who either died during birth or had been still born.

We visited important gravestones and he told us their stories. I loved how we got to understand the past about other people's lives during that hard time period.

The Shipwreck Cemetery - By Albert Cahill

This was probably my favourite camp since being at Candlebark because we did so many amazing activities and we stayed in cabins with beds and mattresses and pillows and blankets. Before we got to camp we went rock climbing at the You Yangs.

After rock climbing we drove for two hours to get to Camp Cooriemungle. When we got to camp we set up who went in which cabin then we had dinner and went to sleep.

The next morning we went to the beach and played some games like running away from the waves. After that we walked to the Thunder Cave. It's called the Thunder Cave because when the waves clash on the fall of the cave it makes a big thunder sound. Next we went to the Maritime Museum and got taught about whaling and what they did it for. It was for the oil for lights and other things like round things to keep your dress up. In fifteen years they wiped out all the whales that came to Warrnambooll. Finally, we went to a park and had fish and chips then we went back to the museum and watched a light show.

The next morning we got up early because we had to go to a graveyard and Henry House’s uncle was there and he taught us about all the graves and he showed us the oldest grave in the cemetery. The person was a little girl who got bitten by a snake and died because there wasn’t a lot of cures back in the 19th century. There was only one person who died on a ship, which is very weird because there were alot of shipwrecks near there. We got to have a look around and I saw four Alberts in the cemetery.

Reflections from Cavehill Creek Grade 5/6x Camp

Ivy post, Grade 6

Walk up the small wooden steps, find yourself on a wooden deck.

Open Up the big flap doors, and find yourself wanting nothing more.

Two bunk beds on either side, one with a queen sized bed below.

Carpet outstretched everywhere, a thin layer of grey.

Hang your torch on the metal frames of your bed, for at night you will be in the dark.

Black wood shelves at the back, with itchy purple rugs.

Behind the beds is a secret door, to lead you outside on the grassy floor.

Chloe

You start on the ground as you climb the milk crate stack,

Ten high

Hold the rope above you as you see the view

Then jump down well

People cheer you on.

Remy

On camp there was a bouldering wall. It did not go upwards like rock climbing but it went sideways. It was pretty hard but fun. When I finished it, it felt good.

The Platypus - By Monty

The rocks crumbled under my shoes as I walked past the shiny lake. I took in a deep breath as I looked across the beautiful lake. I smiled but as I looked away I swear I saw something move in the lake, I looked back and stared for a while. After a couple more minutes of looking there on the other side of the lake was a platypus swimming through the water. What a beautiful animal I thought.

Ollie Mann

I'm at the low rope course. The only thing keeping me from falling into the wood chip lava is a wood bridge. I'm behind eight people all trying to get to the end of this blasted course. Many of my allies fall with too big shoes and not seeing the rope but I make it. I and a couple others make it for a while then it happened – sabotage! One of the ropes is stuck to a tree where I can’t get it, what do I do; all this work for nothing? But I was saved, by a being that can walk on lava, Kate the teacher, and I make it past. This one is different, this one has no hand holds, only two metal wires. I take three steps into the challenge and wobble and fall but instead of heat and lava I feel wood chips. I get up and walk back to the bridge…

Audrey

At camp we did lots of fun and challenging activities, but one of my favourite activities was archery.

I had never done archery before this. But as soon as I was told how to do it, I was shooting the arrows pretty far. I hit the target about three or four times. This camp was the best camp I've ever been to.

Basile

At the camp my favourite activity was the ropes course. The balance and concentration I needed to finish the course was a lot!

Banjo

Up and up I went. Daisy close behind me.

"Pass me another crate" I yell down to Charlie.

He stands on his tippy toes and passes it up. About two metres away Daisy’s stack is starting to wobble, then it tips and the stack falls to the ground. Daisy gets caught by the rope and slowly comes down to the ground. I'm still standing with 11 crates. The camp helper puts a crate on a long pole and starts to lift it to me. Once I get it I slide it on to the of my stack then stand on it. In on 12 and I need one more to beat Sam Thorpe's record. As the helper starts to lift the next one up, my stack starts to wobble. Soon it is wobbling like crazy, I jump off and float to the ground.

The Cave - By Harriet Carter-Williams, Grade 6

The sun beamed down on us as we reached the top of a steep climb. It was a beautiful, clear day for walking to the Waterfall and Cave. We reached the cave, where we found a crowded slit in the rocks, which was the marvellous cave. Many of us waited until the cave was nearly empty, then we ventured inside. It was breathtaking, and surprisingly dark. There were shallow pools of water that rippled as we ventured inside.

Daisy Canny

Tucked up in our cozy beds

telling stories of dead heads

pigs being married and tears of joy being shed

now is time to go to bed

Finbar

My favourite activity by far was definitely the orienteering \ code breaking. We chose groups of two or three and were given a map and some paper .The goal was to find twenty posts with letters on them and when you and your taem were finished, you had to unscramble them to make a sentence.

The reason I loved it was the route planning, the teamwork, and the navigating. However, the unscrambling was very frustrating, especially because our piece of paper blew into the lake.

A game in the tent - By Jimmy

On the second night of camp it is 11pm.

There was one victim, two audience members and one police officer. Then there were two watchers, one under dog and a pro wrestler. I was the under dog and victim of course. Then there were two coaches and two Russian slappers. Me, one of the slappers, moved in for the first slap but suddenly got slapped by the opponent at the same time, accidentally poking me in the eye on the other side of my face.

THE FOOD - By Lewis

I am going to start with the food. I thought the food was exquisite! I am not a food critic but mmm…

The first night we had these meat-balls which were delectable

The second night we had chicken. Sadly there wasn't a third night but it was so nice and yummy.

Thanks for reading Lewis.

Phoenix

The Giants ladder was a very fun and difficult experience.

At first when you start you think it won’t be too hard but when you start you really get a feeling of how it really is. At points you might want to give up, but you have to push through. When you make it to the top you feel this sense of accomplishment that makes you feel so good.

CRATE STACKING WAS AWESOME!!! - By Otto

So we got into our harness (which is the exact same type of harness as Candlebark)

The staff were teaching us how to use everything. Two people got to have a go at once and Sam Thorpe was picking two people to have a go... and it was me and Phoenix.

NOW FOR THE FUN BIT. We stacked them as high as we could and I fell down at three crates like four times but I started getting used to it which made it 10 x more fun. The higher it got the more scary and exciting it got... and eventually I got up to 11 crates and then tumbled down and everybody screamed.

The end

Charlie

When we went on the giant ladder I was a bit nervous at first, when I was halfway up I could see the various types of trees, and over to the left the glittering blue lake was still and quiet.

When I finally struggled to the top I could see everything, the wind was blowing on my face. I could see the kitchen with my classmates and friends playing ping pong. It was like flying. It was the most amazing feeling.

Bunkhouse breakout; A game in the dark - By Deacon

The moon was out and our disguises were on. We were getting ready to strike in the moon lit campsite. Our target was locked, we rushed in with great speed and tried to touch the bus without being seen. Kate, Sam and Harriet were the spotters. Many succeeded and failed!

Ziggy

On the bus ride home we had a wild ride. We sang Let it go, Moana, Days of the week, The continent song and the Months of the year. Most of us lost our voices but it was worth it for the whole ride.

Orvie

My favourite thing about camp was the heated tents. All the activities were fun too and the food was awesome. The staff were really friendly too. It was nice to be able to see my friends before lockdown.

Giant Ladder - By Cole

I was not very hopeful at the start looking up at the rungs. They looked way too far apart for me, but I was excited anyway. I clipped myself in and waited until they were ready. Once they were, I hoisted myself onto the first rung and found that it actually wasn’t that hard. But, when I made it about three quarters of the way up, I looked down. It was not a height I felt comfortable at, but I kept going, reminding myself that I had a harness and I wasn't going to die if I fell. Eventually I made it to the top, and looked around. It was a pretty good view, and you could look out at the lake and the buildings. The trees blocked our campsite, but the rest was pretty cool. Then there was getting down. It was pretty easy getting down and actually kind of fun. The Giant Ladder was my favourite activity of the camp and I wished I could have done it again.

Year 7 English Class

Year 7s in an English lesson. How lucky are we?!)