Page 30 - Southwell School Year Book 2020

YEAR 7 CAMP : BAY OF PLENTY ACTION, TAURANGA
ROCK HOP
My toes gripped the edge of the smooth rocks and I stared blankly into the ice- cold water far below me. Everybody was watching me and shouting, "Jump, jump, jump!”
You can do this, I said to myself, even though my heart was pounding and my stomach was doing ip ops. All the kids had to jump off the rocks into the river and swim our way through gnarly rapids and erce waterfalls.
We all stood in line waiting for our turn. A loose helmet was balanced on my head and a blue life jacket was fastened tightly around my chest. Thank goodness I had my warm wetsuit on and my new aqua shoes because they were the only things protecting me from the sharp rocks that lay ahead. The instructor jumped in the water rst and then it was up to us. One by one the other kids jumped into the water. I inched my way to the front of the line and then it was my turn. I knew I didn’t have a choice. What had I got myself into? I took a deep breath, pinched my nose, squeezed my eyes shut and jumped.
Splash! The cold water took my breath away. I popped up to the surface and stared up at the high rock which seemed a million miles away from down here. Quickly I kicked my way over to where my friends were, so we could watch the next jump.
At the start of the river, the water was clear, deep and calm. In a single le, we oated feet rst in between the ginormous boulders. It was actually quite peaceful. Every now and then I felt my back hit the river bed so I had to push off again. All around me everybody was giggling, laughing and shouting at each other. Soon, we reached a large water hole. The deep pool of crystal, cold water was surrounded by tall trees and clusters of rocks that everybody
was climbing on. I swam over to one of the rocks but when I attempted to climb on it, my legs slid straight back into the water. “It’s so slippery!” I shouted. After a few tries on different rocks, I nally pulled my heavy, wet body out of the water. Perching there, we waited for the instructor to tell us what was happening next.
Stage two of our adventure was a lot more treacherous. Unpredictable dangers lay ahead. The water wasn’t calm and settled anymore. It was wavy and wild. Once again we lined up and one by one we launched ourselves into the rapids. Swinging around the rst corner, I squeezed my eyes shut as the water came at me from every direction. I felt like I was in a washing machine being tossed, turned, lifted, dumped, ipped and swayed. Up ahead, where the river narrowed, the next instructor stood in the shallows and helped everyone squeeze through the tight gap. He grabbed hold of my life jacket and said, “Off you go!” A second later I felt myself spring forward.
What followed was more erce rapids pulling us further and further down the river, more slippery rocks to climb on, more deep, deep water holes, and more twists, turns, bumps and bruises.
Two hours later, we reached the end of our adventure. Standing was difcult because my legs were so tired. Everyone was talking and laughing at once. “That was so fun,” I said to my friends while we all stood there shivering. I wrapped my towel around my shoulders, used my last bit of energy to climb up the stairs and grabbed some afternoon tea. Even though I could see the grazes on my knuckles and I could feel the bruises on my legs, I felt proud that I had conquered the Rock Hop and I couldn’t stop grinning.
Isabelle Porteous (7TR)
TARZAN AT ADRENALINE FOREST
As we advanced through the rocky terrain beneath us, everyone glanced above us at the sky-high course we would have to defeat individually. It was like the course was glaring at us with an evil grin smeared across its face. It felt like an escape room with no escape.
Once everyone understood how to safely undertake everything, we got onto the level we wanted to start with. We weren’t allowed to go back a level so we had to choose wisely. As some people probably already know, I’m a very prudent person and nobody wants to risk hurting themselves at camp. So I chose Level 2 to start with! It was very long and quite terrifying already but I was astonished by how high I was already!
As I was nishing up Level 2 I thought maybe I could have a go at Level 3 because I still had lots of time. I did have to take some responsible risks at camp if I wanted more excitement. I was hesitant at rst but soon convinced myself to attempt it. I took a deep breath and without thinking I started climbing up. I felt like butteries were having a party in my stomach. My friend Lydia was above me and so we gave each other a friendly wave.
After some very calm moments I came across a very difcult choice. There were two paths I could choose from. Either the decently relaxing path or the deathly TARZAN SWING! I had to choose quickly because people were catching up behind me and I didn’t want to hold them up. So I hurriedly chose the Tarzan swing and... "AAAAAAAHHHHH!!!" I sounded like Tarzan!
Alisa Zhang (7GM)
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Southwell School Yearbook 2020