Wyvern House Boys take to the bush ‘Year 4 camp was phenomenal!’ Wyvern House Year 4 student Ben Chau shares some of the highlights of this extraordinary experience. 4V’s first activity was the notorious Lost Island mud run. First you had to slide down a pipe and into soggy brown mud and go over and under narrow tree logs. The wind chill made the atmosphere as wintry as Arctic ice! Then you would swing from a rope into more slushy mud and sing Dear Newingtonia in a low net before climbing back out to brace for more obstacles. After the mud run, most of 4V looked like they had bathed in dark dripping chocolate. Next we did the Power Fan, where we had to jumpfrom an imposing 15 metres back down to Earth. The students had a plethora of fun, some even combatting their phobia of height. For our first night activity, the entire Year 4 played a hostage game named Commando. In teams of five or six, the Year 4s had to locate the handful of hostages that the teachers had taken. All eight teachers had torches and, if spotted, students were asked to retreat to the Commando base and earn back a life by telling an amusing joke. Year 4 students loved the mud run. The next morning, we participated in the High Ropes Course. Later in the day came the giant swing. Standing at a staggering 17 metres, it’s the Great Aussie Bush Camp’s highest and most daunting activity. Three students were buckled to a large pole that created the seat for the swing. In order to lift the students up off the ground, the rest of 4V had to pull a rope connected to the pole until the height of the drop was within the three students’ comfort zone. For many of Year 4, the swing was the pinnacle of their camp experience. The second night activity was a County fair. Inthis activity, a group of 10 studentsowned their very own shop or gaming centre. Other students brought fake money to spend on the activities. The aim of the game was to get the most money by the end. Some of the Adam Yassine and Rhys Howard-Jones get ready to fly down a zipline. activitieswere a milkshake shop, a On the third and final day, 4V did on us that camp had finished. Following bakery, a nail salon and a sock wrestling fencing, a sport that originated in some sad faces and desperate waves of place. Ultimately, the bakery won with a France. Fencing is where two people goodbye, the bus trundled away from all staggering 2,100-plus fake dollars, dual with swords and a point is the excitement and back to school. followed by the milkshake shop, on under awarded to the person who strikes the Camp this year will be a memory 1,000 fake dollars. There were some wedged inside many students’ heads for hilarious ‘prizes’ for the groups, like other person in between the shoulders having to do the chicken dance and givea and the hips. the rest of their lives. 1-minute comical speech all about eggs. The moment then came when it dawned Ben Chau, Year 4 38| NEWS SPRING 2018| GRATITUDE