On the morning of Monday 28th December, the Pittwater House Year 9 cohort arose from their slumber whilst the moon was still high (4 am) to prepare themselves for the start of their 5-day camp at Murramarang National Park. At 5:30 am, we all gathered at the school gym with our duffle bags - very excited, but still a little tired - and were separated into our groups, (my group teacher was Mrs Wenman.) Then, we headed onto the bus, and departed around 6:20 am, to begin the 4-hour bus ride down south to our first coastal location.
Day 1:
We arrived at a campsite near Bawley Beach around 1130 am, where reformed our assigned groups, ate our lunch and met our camp leader Maddie. Maddie guided us through the packing of our hiking packs, helping us unload the contents of our duffle bags and sort them into the different parts of our packs. We waterproofed our clothing and placed this in the body of the bag, as well as our rain jackets, shoes, sleeping bag (and pillows), toiletries and group gear (I carried the knife set). We placed our cooking utensils, torches (head and handheld), whistle and extra food items in the pocket at the base of the bag, and any other needed items in the brain. After, we set off on our first 6km hike through the Murramarang Aboriginal area, crossing beaches, climbing rocks, wading through shallow water, pushing through spiky bushes, until eventually (after what felt like 10km) we reached our first campsite just off Racecourse Beach. When we arrived, we were greeted with the taste of fresh, cold juicy oranges, (well-needed), finally collapsing to the ground relieving our aching shoulders and backs of the strain from the heavy packs. Knackered and sore, we went straight into rigging our tents, hoisting them up, placing our sleeping mats and bags inside. We then were introduced to our metal, “Trangia Pots,” (image beside) in which, we would begin to cook our dinner. We chopped up our tomatoes, diced our onions and drained our chickpeas, adding them to the pot, as well as some mince and tomato paste to create a delicious first meal of soft-shell tacos on white tortillas (which were a hit snack with the group later on). The showers were great at this campsite; though, this meant a long line out the door, as many of the girls were eager to get in a shower before bed. Tired as ever, we all crashed into our tents by 830pm, ready to enjoy a nice, well-deserved sleep before our next day’s adventure.
Day 2:
On the second day, we were glad to wake up at the more reasonable time of 6am and be greeted by the sight of a delicious breakfast of Weet-bix, cornflakes, nutri-grain, honey, milk and fruits. After breakfast, we got changed into our swimmers, and headed over to the beach for an early morning surfing session! Fortunately, the water wasn’t too cold, (around 18°C or 19°C), and we were lucky to also have the warmth of a full body wetsuit around us during the activity. The swell was great today, with sets of waves around a metre high, and the back of the surf being nice and flat, allowing us to have a nice rest upon our foam surf boards. Around 10am, surfing ended, and we headed to the showers before morning tea which was muesli bars, muffins and oranges. We then were introduced to Uncle Lez during an Indigenous immersion session, through which we were blessed safe travels by a traditional smoking ceremony and taught about the traditional owners of the Murramarang Land. We were also tasked with creating a fire with two sticks, (though, none of us managed to get there), and were taught the correct pronunciation of tools such as the “Boomerang,” through an interactive presentation of all the tools which the Indigenous people have and continue to use today for daily practices (e.g fishing, hunting). We then ate lunch, which were wraps, and begun our second 6km hike of the camp. We headed across many beaches, and this time a few hills and staircases, until finally we reached our campsite (Pretty Beach Campground) around 4pm. Then, we set up our tents, unpacked our packs, and sat down to make dinner. For dinner, we ate a green curry with vermicelli noodles, that was packed with veggies, and had a really spicy green sauce! We were treated with chocolate for desert whilst we told our group story of the day and were informed of our early start of 4:55am the next day in preparation for our 12km hike before bed.
Day 3:
Today was the day. The day of the highly anticipated 12km hike. We rose (reluctantly) at around 5am, ate our breakfast (same as day before), packed up our bags and set off on our hike. Little did we know that the seemingly flat first 100m of the hike would turn into a very, very steep, 2 hour upward climb to the top of Mount Durras. Multiple ABBA playlists later, our legs were aching by the time we reached the top (285m above sea level). Relieved by the site of a picnic table, we were excited to have a rest and well-deserved snack. Then, we continued our hike, excited by the site of a downward path (yay!). As the damp forest loomed nearer, we became away of the ominous leech city that lay ahead. Suddenly, we went from a reasonable walking pace to a sprint down the hill, keeping our feet light on the floor to prevent ourselves from collecting any leech friends along the way. Unfortunately, our running on hot coal tactic was proven ineffective, with many of us gathering multiple leech companions along the way, leaving us with some nicely red stained socks… We eventually reached our 9km mark, Pebbly Beach, and stopped to chat to (and warn) a group of boys walking toward us about the leech village they were soon to enter. We powered through the next 3km of our hike, overtaking the group in front of us, sliding up and down hundreds of pebbles (who knew pebbly beach would have so many pebbles!), traversing across slippery rocks and shallow water, until we surpassed 2 other groups of boys and reached our campsite (hooray!) around 1130am. We were thrilled to have reached the campsite first, allowing ourselves to pick the best campground in the area, and have bragging rights over the other groups. Knackered and hungry, we were excited to have our wraps for lunch when we arrived at camp. For the rest of the afternoon, we mostly relaxed, sitting on the beach as a group and watching a few brave members face the cold water for an afternoon swim. Maddie (our camp leader), then played cards with us, teaching us a magic trick which we frazzled Mrs Thomas with when she arrived at our campsite. We then got ready for dinner, chopping up zucchinis, carrots, and onions to put into our delicious spaghetti bolognese that was – to our great excitement – topped with grated parmesan cheese! We ate some well-deserved chocolate for dessert and crashed into our tents for an early night after our great day of hiking.
Day 4:
Today we felt unstoppable. After completing our 12 km hike, we knew that todays last 6km hike would be easy as pie. Motivated, and energetic, we woke up around 630am to the warm sun shining down upon us. We then ate breakfast, and then headed over to our morning snorkelling session. Unfortunately, they didn’t have enough flippers for everyone, so a few of us had to wear our water shoes under our ginormous flippers, which, (surprisingly) made it much easier to swim faster in the water. Once we had put on our wetsuits, we headed down to the glistening 15°C ocean, where we reversed into the water (so our flippers wouldn’t get stuck in the sand) and swam past the shore break. The water was, well, fresh, so we all huddled together for warmth, doing our eggbeater kicks beneath the water for both floatation and to heat up our wetsuits. Then, we put on our snorkels, practiced a few dives, and swam out toward the rocks, where we saw a plethora of sea animals like urchins (we held one), fish, sea slugs, and a variety of seaweeds. It was very clear in the water, so we were able to see a lot of Sealife, and even saw a packed of dolphins flicking their tails out the back! After about an hour, we headed back into shore, showered, packed down our tents and braced ourselves for our final 6km hike. Our goal was to reach the river crossing around 12pm, before the high tides could cause the river to rise. Over hills, across beaches and along slippery rocks we hiked, until around 12:15pm we reached the river. The water was around knee deep, so we were instructed to put our packs into kayaks, that we ended up shuttling (walking) across the chilly water. Wet, and a little cold, we sat down upon a tarp and our towels on the sand and made our lunch which was wraps again, however today with the tasty addition of hummus! Maddie then informed us that the next part of the hike was along flat road, which cheered up the entire group, and allowed us to speed through the last section of our hike. We reached the campsite around 3pm (Big 4 Durras Lake) and were treated with Doritos, salsa and drinks from the vending machine as a post hike snack. We then set up our tents and chatted to the other groups before beginning dinner, which today was vegan butter chicken (chickpeas instead of chicken) and rice. This was our favourite dinner of the entire camp, leaving us with barely any leftovers. Our final task for the night was to “squeaky clean,” our Trangia pots, which meant to use the steel wool to deep clean all our cooking utensils. We then ate some chocolate for dessert and debriefed about the entire camp, stating our “stick, rock and leaf,” meaning a memory that “stuck” with us, an activity that “rocked,” our world, and a something that we are willing to “leave,” behind. Later that night, Miss Brady brought out her speaker, and we had a massive dance party with all the groups and teachers. We were all very entertained and impressed by Miss Dunstan and Miss Lamplough’s dance moves, partying until the sun had fully set (around 9pm) as a celebration of the end of our camp.
Day 5:
Today was our final day on camp, but not our final activity! We were woken at the early time of 530am, given breakfast for the road, and were sent off on a 2km hike to the river for an early morning kayaking session. We arrived at the river around 7am, still very tired, were paired up and given a kayak, safety vest and some paddles. It was quite chilly in the water this morning, and many of us were unhappily splashed by others whilst paddling… Once we had reached the first sand bank, we docked our kayaks and played a game of “paddle,” which was where the instructor would call out either “right, left,” or “spin,” and we had to move that particular direction to the next paddle in the circle. The game got a little hectic, and certainly woke up our reflexes, having to catch the paddles before they fell over, or on us! We then kayaked a little more, playing a game of World Domination, where we had to tap the back of another group’s kayak and claim them under your country. Unfortunately, our group leader Maddie was too good at the game and took all the kayaks under Guatemala for the win! We then walked back to our campsite, packed down our tents and bags and sat in a circle to say our final goodbyes to Maddie. We left the campsite at 1030am and set off on the long 5-hour bus trip back to school. Many of us slept on the bus, knackered from the events of the past 5 days, and were very excited to see our parents waiting for us by the school gates at 4pm.
Overall, camp was a great character-building experience, through which not only I, but many others learnt new things about themselves and others in their groups through the mentally and physically challenging 5 days of hiking and activities we participated in. I would highly recommend going on this camp for the coming year 9s and younger years, as it teaches you that you can really do anything, face any challenge, if you put your mind to it. It also teaches you that you really don’t need everything that you pack in your pack on camp! Through living like a snail for 5 days and carrying my life on my back, I have learnt that there are necessities for camp (e.g., toothbrush), but also many unneeded things (e.g., all my extra t-shirts and snacks). All of Year 9 have grown greatly as individuals through this camp and have come back as independent and strong young men and women.
By Adele Cosentino
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