This week, we, the Year 7s went on camp to Anglesea. The camp was centred on aquatic sports. The aquatic sports were as follows; surfing, boogie boarding, and stand up paddle boarding. We went to local beaches and rivers, specifically Anglesea main beach, Urquharts Bluff beach and Coogoora Reserve (Anglesea River way).

It was an early 6:45 when we woke up to go to surfing. The winds were rough, the waves weren’t high but it was perfect for everyone’s first time surfing! Surfing is very different to boogie boarding. With boogie boarding, you have to catch the wave breaking behind you and then you have to push off from the wave. Whereas with surfing, you have to find the wave with the right amount of force to push you along and enable you to have the time and stability to stand up. It takes a lot of balance, core strength, perfect timing and motivation! When we were surfing, we felt connected to this beautiful earth and we appreciated nature and what it has done for the planet.

Boogie boarding is very fun and it feels amazing when you are zooming and gliding along the waves, but when you stand up on a surf board, you feel like you are on top of the world! Learning how to surf, was an incredible experience and we thank the Go Ride A Wave Team for guiding us.

It was also super fun to see Russell Newman especially nose-dive multiple times and Miss Syros get catapulted by a wave over and over again. Seeing Damien jump on his board with his long hair, made him look like a stereotypical surfer dude, except when he fell over (which was most of the time). Yoel got so confident with surfing, that he was giving us high-fives while in the middle of getting trampled by a wave. While the instructor was teaching us how to ride a wave, JD was asking to organize a funeral for himself. He was always surfing in the shallow water even though he is 6 ft 4. Nina on the other hand didn’t even go surfing, which leads us to SUP. Stand Up Paddle boarding. Nina loved SUPing so much that she abandoned her own class to do it. OMG!

Stand up paddle boarding was very relaxing. Before you went in, you felt a little nervous hoping you wouldn’t get your hair wet and have to wash it again, but after you stood up for the first time, you got into a real rhythm. Just paddling around plants and nature. Nice and chill.

After doing early morning aquatic sports, our afternoons were filled full of different and unique activities run by the teachers. There are relaxing and calming activities such as; mindfulness, arts and crafts and yoga. There were also exciting and energetic activities such as; archery, boot camp, low ropes course and ‘dancercise’ (Shake your booty with Nina).
Specific training is also being taught here at camp! We have been learning about first aid (specifically CPR) and learning how to prepare meals in the bush using a trangia. The first aid was run by JD, a trained paramedic and very handy, ‘handsome’ (so he said) basketballer.

In the first aid we learnt the acronym DRSABCD. Which is a checklist if there is an emergency and someone is unconscious.
D stands for danger. You have to check for and dangers such as liquid in the mouth, weapons or illness.
R stands for response. The response can either be physical or verbal.
S stands for send for help. That is pretty self-explanatory.
A stands for airway. You have to make sure the airway is clear and nothing is in the way of the person’s breathing.
B stands for breathing. Is the person breathing ok or is the person struggling to breath?
C stands for circulation. Is the person’s heart pumping and is blood flowing through their veins?
D – get a defib and use it

We also calculated our resting heart rate and did CPR on our pillows. Luckily, our pillows lived and are all healthy now.

The Trangia tea boiling was run by Russell, the camp manager and dad joke expert. To start off the tea cooking session, Russell explained that if he taught us how to cook things in a trangia now, it would save him from doing it on year 9 camp. In year 9 camp we will learn more camping skills including how to set up a tent, how to go to the bathroom without an actual toilet and all that stuff.

Trangias are cooking tools that resemble pots on stoves, that are portable. They include a fuel container that stands in the centre of the trangia. A bowl of water is placed on top of the lit fire to boil to one hundred degrees Celsius. The boiling water can be used to cook rice, pasta, tea and much, much more! There is a spondonicle that helps lift the hot bowl out of the trangia (like an unattached handle that can be attached and used multiple ways) to prevent burns that send you to the hospital or to JD. If you put the spondonicle on top of the lid, it signals to others that there are things cooking and to not come close and burn yourself.

We learnt how to boil water and then made tea. The tea was actually really good and according to Russell all the groups did really well and he looks forward to leading us on for year 9 camp (or so he says).

The food on this camp has been really delicious and has definitely exceeded our expectations. It was so good and we would like to thank Oded for making all of our meals.

This camp was an amazing camp! From making tea with a Trangia, to learning how to surf! Lots of happy memories were made that we will cherish for the rest of our lives! A big thanks to Russell and Miss Syros for organising the camp, and also to the kesher teachers and JD and Chelsea for looking after us and working over and above to keep us happy, healthy and safe.

Lastly thanks to the Araluen camp site for letting us stay here.

By Leo Gelfand, Amielle Grinblat, Jada Hersz and Eden Lentin