What a great experience!!!!!

Where do I start?

DAY 1

I was feeling a little nervous and so was quiet on the bus.Neville( Gr7 teacher) and I chatted about what would be happening on the camp and a little bit about ourselves on the 1 hour and half bus trip down to Holloways Beach.I must admit I don't get motion sickness, but I was feeling a little queasy in the tummy by the bottom of the range .We arrived just before lunch and met with Chris , the camp teacher/manager.He was truly wonderful ,cool,calm and collected the whole time.

This is the building where we always met at for talks and meals.

Our cabin, called the"FISH TANK".There were fish painted all over the walls.

The kids were very hyped up and had heaps of energy by this stage.They wanted to run around everywhere and especially to the beach.However, there was all the rules of the camp, as well as a look around at where everything was situated.Then it was to our cabins to unpack and make our beds etc.They had a cabin inspection every day, so they had full repsonsibilty of keeping our living quarters clean and tidy every day.As well as trying to keep our energy and water usage down to a minimum.I was very proud of how well they kept everything neat and tidy.They were out to impress Chris the camp manager every day.BTW...my girls won the cleanest cabin and won over all with points.I was very proud of them.

After setting the cabin up, we then went into groups and did some group activities to see how they go with working /communicating together.After an hour, we then swapped with the other group for another activity on the rope swing.They had to get all 13 in their group across a creek full of crocs( pretending of course), onto the bank which were three tyres laying next to each other.It was very interesting to see how they communicated as a team and got all of them across.

Once that was done, then it was to go and walk on the beach and look for some seeds that wash up on the beach.Their unit of learning this term is all about the waterways( fresh/salt water).So we talked about all the different types of seeds that wash up on the beaches.About 10 percent were rainforest seeds.Amazing just how far they can travel.

Then it was fun time on the beach, fishing and building Sand Castles, as well as running around.I have a couple of photos to share.

I can tell you, that that night was a LOOOOOONG ONE as the girls were very excited and were very chatty.I think it was around 11pm before we all finally got to sleep.And then it was up at 6am the next day.

DAY 2

Thursday was the most Gorgeous day for being out on the boats.There were three groups in three boats, and we went up the tributaries just north of Cairns.We had to spot as many birds as we could and identify them by name, as well as throw crab pots out, and name some of the mangrove tree species.Louise, who is the big boss at the Environment camp,was a great driver and company.

There was a small glitch, which has now become a standing joke for Neville with me, and that is about CUPCAKES.Some of the kids MUMS had baked stuff for us and this day we had decided to take an icecream container of cupcakes as well as fruit for morning tea.So Nev took the fruit with him and I carried the cupcakes.As we weren't stopping for morning tea, we were to eat on the boat.When Louise stopped against a bank and said it was time for morning tea, I freaked and thought, what on earth are we going to eat.Then I thought, oh well, we have the cupcakes and we shared them all out and had 2 each.Well about 10 minutes later on the radio, they were asking us to meet them across the river so that we could share the cupcakes....GULP.....oh dear.Louise said well you may have MUTINY on your hands as we have eaten them all.....LOL.So all day and today, I have been reminded constantly...all in good fun of course.( So I thought for the next few weeks, I will decorate one CUPCAKE each week just for Neville to bribe him..heh heh. I still giggle about it whenever I think about it.All the kids in the other two boats call us all the CUPCAKE MONSTERS..

Had lunch at the mouth of the Barron River, and then headed home,sighting over 34 species of birds, 1 crocodile, and caught over a dozen MUDCRABS.They were undersize however and so they were measured, tagged and then released.

We got back to camp and cleaned up , had afternoon tea( less one cupcake each for our boat...LOL), and then we went and had some more free time on the beach.The boys did some fishing and the girls walked , talked and played.One young man caught a Whiting which he ate for brekky this morning.

The kids had put together a concert for the evenings entertainment.I got a phone call from Steven, William and Alan around 8pm.Poor Stevo was really upset and couldn't talk to me for crying.That then sent me off with tears.I ended up just telling him about my day and he felt better I think, just hearing my voice.We finally got to sleep around 10:30pm this night.THANK GOD.

( Amazing the goss you hear when you sleep in with a group of young girls.But boy I can't believe some of the things they were saying and wanted to do with a couple of the boys in the camp.OH MAN , my two will be that age soon.There is a lot of hormones raging I can tell you.)

Kayeesha, the young girl that I was there to support did very well, and I was really proud of her.There were a couple of problems concerning the other girls in the cabin that was due to Kayeesha, but they eventually sorted it out.She is very high maintenance, and can very easily get on your nerves.

DAY3

Alarm went off at 6am again, and then it was a quick trip to the beach and then pack all our stuff and clean our cabins.Brekky at 7:30am, and then straight into the mornings activities.One group did the HIGH ROPES, and the other went to the Aquarium.I was with the group who did the high ropes first.It was very safe and well managed.The kids loved it and most did all four of the challenges.No I didn't go up by the way.I am not too partial to heights.

Sorry about these photos being so dark, it was quite an overcast day and even rained at one stage.

Then we had morning tea and swapped to go to the AQUARIUM.We saw a huge Barramundi,Stone Fish,Butterfly Cod, Toad Fish,A small Estuarine Croc and many more that I can't remember their names.The it was clean up, lunch and on the bus.

I tell you, when I got back to school and went to see Stevo, I got very emotional.It had to be because I was so very tired.It was great to see the boys and they were happy to see me too.

So I hope you enjoy readingall about my days away and maybe get a giggle or two.

Thanks for reading.

These are the girls that were in my cabin bar one who left early this morning.Kayeesha is the girl at the front with the shoulder length hair and long sleeve shirt.