Forrestdale Year 6 Camp to Walpole 2022
On Monday 14 November, the Year 6 students and I left for our camp on the bus – driven by our trusted bus driver, Principal Mr Wise! We spent five days down in Walpole, exploring our beautiful south. We had a wonderful week which was jam-packed with many adventures and explorations and were blessed with such amazing weather (for the first three days!). The theme of the camp was conquering fear and overcoming challenges. On Tuesday, many students (and adults!) conquered their fear of heights as they walked 70m above the ground amongst the beautiful Karri, Marri and Tingle trees at The Valley of the Giants Tree Top Walk. We then spent a wonderful and entertaining afternoon with Gazza on the WOW Eco Wilderness Cruise. Gazza is an Eco-warrior, full of knowledge and he kept us all in stitches with his animated antics and storytelling the entire afternoon!
We were very well looked after by Mal and Barb who catered lunch and dinner for us. We were treated to a couple of night walks – one to Mt Clare where we laid down on the giant rocks and star gazed, and the second walk to Sandy Beach. This was an amazing trek as we walked through the rainforest listening to the frogs before suddenly appearing on the beach and right on the water’s edge – it was so beautiful
On Wednesday we spent the day in Albany; visiting the ANZAC Memorial Centre first. The students really enjoyed walking through the interactive museum and learning about our history with war. Mr Wise and I were so proud of how respectful they were and their engagement in the various stories and artefacts of the soldiers and servicemen and women. We then headed to the Whaling Station and Museum which was really interesting and fascinating. We explored a decommissioned whaling ship and viewed a 3D whaling documentary.
We were treated to some very wet weather on Thursday and unfortunately we had to change one of our activities. Instead of climbing Mt Franklin, we visited Denmark Dinosaur World where students were captivated by a range of creatures to view and hold! Many students overcame their fear of snakes and held them in their hands and even let the snakes drape around their necks! Not Mrs Povey though! We were treated to some beautiful birds and the students enjoyed talking to them and having them dance on their arms!
We then visited the Swarbrick Art Loop before heading back to camp for some free time bouncing on the giant pillow! We were in awe of the students’ unending energy supplies! On our last night of camp, we were treated to a roast for dinner (as you do when you’re camping!) and enjoyed a relaxing movie night with plenty of popcorn and snacks.
It was a wonderful week on camp and I feel very fortunate to have shared this experience with my students. The Year 6 camp brought students together and deepened their friendships. The camp experience also fostered a supportive and encouraging environment which enabled each child to step out of their comfort zone and achieve personal goals. It was a real blessing to have Mr Wise join us on camp and we had a fantastic team of parent helpers too. I’d like to sincerely thank Mr Matthew Marshall and Mrs Melinda Saunders for joining us. They were both absolutely amazing and we are so blessed to have such eager parents here at Carey working with us to provide these awesome experiences for our students.
Mrs Tania Povey | Year 6 Teacher
