Camp+diary

Mangatepopo Camp 2010 Diary. //**Mangatepopo Camp Diary Day 1 **//

Heaps of excited kids arrived at school with their bags etc.

Loading the bags and food got underway quickly. Really cold wind but at least the sun is shining.

Cracker bus.

Heavy stuff first and then the lighter things on top. Would it all fit in??? It is surprising how much luggge everybody brings.

On the way by 10.00 am. Headed out through Feilding to Mt Stewart. Kids all ready playing I spy.

Bit of rain as we came up over the hill between Mangaweka and Utiku. Morning Tea stop at Taihape railway station. A few spits but back in the sunshine at the top of the Taihape deviation. Driver filled the bus with fuel in Taihape.

Up in the clouds over the Desert Road. Drizzling.

Arrived Turangi at about 1.30. Had lunch at the park near the Tongaririo River. Light drizzle but not cold. No wind.

Drove around to the Major Jones Pool swing bridge. Instead of walking up to the Red Hut Pool Bridge we decided to walk to the Lookout Point because we weren’t sure about the weather. The walk included a good hill climb and was about 4km. The swing bridge was a first for a lot of the children.

Back on the bus, collected groceries from New World and headed for Mangatepopo Camp School via Rangipo. Arrived at camp about 4.30pm. Got the children organised into their Dorm groups and set about unloading the bus. Some of the children explored the playground area for awhile.

Spent some Camp Diary writing time and then it was dinner time. Fairly tired group of children so all were in bed by 8.30pm. Most were asleep by 9.00pm after a lot of torches were collected.

Parents then set about organising things for tomorrow’s lunches and hangi. We have decided to only do the Lake Rotopounamu Walk, Trout Hatchery and Hot Pool tomorrow because we will be pressed for time otherwise.

If the weather is not good on Thursday we will do the Te Porere walk then and also some of the walks out behind the Camp School instead of the Taranaki Falls walk.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Here is a piece of writing Jennifer wrote during Diary writing time.

<span style="color: #ff0000; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%; text-align: center;">Camp Day One <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Stomp! Stomp! Stomp! Up a hill we go on the river walk, it’s <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Tiring and I’m sweating like an ice-cream when it’s been in the sun too long. I finished my water, my legs are asleep, I’m so glad they don’t snore. Made it, swing, swing, swing. <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Across the swing bridge we go. I’m scared at first but when we come back to the bus across the swing bridge I don’t feel scared any more. I felt exhausted when we came back to the bus. I almost fell asleep on the bus. Click, click I’m taking photos of Turangi with my camera. I took photos and films about the mountains. It looks like it has been melted with cloud and snow mix together to make a snowy cloudy pancake that has been bent over on the chocolate mountain. Yum, yum, it’s also cold on the mountain. With snow sometimes it looks like a lahar bowling down the snowy mountain.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">By Jennifer Moeahu

//**<span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%;">Mangatepopo Camp Day 2 **//

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> Still raining!!!! Quite persistant. Boys went to sleep the quickest but were all awake at 6.10am. The girls weren’t so good at going to sleep and therefore didn’t really want to get up this morning.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> While we set out for Lake Rotopounamu on the bus Mr S and Mr Lundy headed to Tokaanui to but our food into the steam oven so it would be ready for our tea tonight. We walked up the track through the bush in the rain. Some thought people were throwing acorns at them but it was only the big rain drops landing on their coats. The walk up through the bush was quite different in the rain. The earthy smells and water drops change the setting quite remarkably. Mr S was going to catch us up once he had organised the hangi. Once up the big climb the going was a lot easier. There were several puffed campers at he top of the hill. Everybody was also starting to understand why we had been putting so much importance on being properly prepared. Wool or polypro keeps you warm even when you are wet in places like this and raincoats that look ‘cool’ are not always designed to keep out the water. We viewed the lake at the first beach and looked at where we had to go. There weren’t a lot of birds singing because of the weather however at times fantails followed the group. While it was raining at least there wasn’t any wind. When we got to the far end of the lake we had a drink, something to eat and some made use of the toilets before plodding along the beach and into the bush again. Once we got back up to the track junction we all knew that it was down hill all of the way to the bus so the mood of the group became positive again. Splashing down the track through the puddles dissolved a lot of tension – it great fun splashing in puddles – even though it gets you a lot wetter. It rained all of the way around but we all achieved the goal. We all arrived back at the trout bus completely soaked but could all say that we had completed the task successfully. Water everywhere. Mary

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> Headed back to camp to change before going to the National Trout Centre in Turangi. It was still raining however there was a building to shelter in and the rain did get lighter in the end. After a little talk from Mike the Education Officer at the Centre about the Taupo fishery all those who behaved appropriately were able to catch a fish. Once caught Mr D gutted them ready for smoking. Most of the fish were in the 600 – 740gram weight range which was pretty good.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> We left for the Tokaanui Hot Pool for a well earned soak in the hot water to revive the aching muscles.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> Mr S and Mr Lundy collected the food and we ate it back at the camp because of the weather. A great meal!!!!! It was interesting to see how many came back for second helpings.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> After completing Camp diaries and having bed time stories it was to bed for all. Interestingly most had no trouble getting to sleep – unfortunately a couple did end up sleeping in the foyer on the floor!!!!

//**<span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%;">Mangatepopo Camp Diary – Day 3 **//

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> Hey there is no rain – there must be something wrong!!!!

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> Most children were awake by 7.00 am. Breakfast saw everyone refuelled and ready to go.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> First stop today is going to be Te Porere Redoubt. This is where Te Kooti took on the might of the British soldiers. On the way to the lower redoubt the children cross the headwaters of the Whanganui River. We got some glimpses of the mountain as we make our way up to the upper fortification. This is an example of one of the earlier impacts that man had on this local environment because of the earthworks that had to take place.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> At the carpark area we also talked about how the gum trees planted there drop their leaves, bark and smaller branches – all adding to the fire hazard during summer. Links were made to the fires in Austraila.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> Next stop was the Ski Hire shop at Tongariro to collect some sleds to use this afternoon. With 29 sleds loaded on we headed back to camp for some lunch. We planned to make this a quick stop because we wanted to get up the mountain and on to the ski field. It is amazing how listening skills need to improve because the teachers and parent helpers got rather tired of having to chase children up to makes <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> Sure they had the correct clothing on. Even then we had some going off to change because ‘they didn’t want to wear what they were told to wear – even after the Bush Walk yesterday. After 15 min of waiting on the bus for a small group we set off about 40 minutes late4 which meant we could not fit in both the visit to the Whakapapa Information Centre and the time at Happy Valley. We headed straight up to Happy Valley for some fun in the snow. Once again kids had lost gloves hats etc but when given the option find them or stay on the bus they were quickly found.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> For some this was a first time in snow and many others it was also the first time that they had been on a chair lift – scary stuff for some but once again everybody got down to the Happy Valley learners slopes. Then the fun began. Great fun was had by all and more will be written about this by the children in the4 coming weeks. It was great to have sun all day. We headed back to the bus again because the field closed at 4.00 and we didn’t have time for the Information Centre on the way home so it was straight back to camp.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> Diary writing and smoking 30 trout got under way. It was getting colder and the frost was setting on the ground by 8.00pm. Because the atmosphere was so clear the parent helpers could stand out on the veranda area to contact home via their cell phones instead of having to stand in the rain out near the road fence.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> Cottage pie and vegetables for tea – kids don’t like carrots and orange sauce!!!! They loved the self saucing Chocolate Pudding though. Took quite awhile to get everyone settled after such an exciting afternoon and yet some tried to tell us they were bored!!!!


 * <span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Mangatepopo Camp Diary Day 4 **

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Today is our last day at Mangatepopo Camp School. There was a frost this morning.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> We were all up early and started the tedious job of sorting our clothes and things out so that we could start repacking our bags. Our rooms had to be tidied up which was a bit a mission for some. Breakfast was at the usual time. The yr 8's all got stuck in with helping to do the tidying up and helping the younger ones sort out their stuff and get their bags repacked.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">As the bags were packed they were put out for loading onto the bus. After taking a Camp photo we got onto the bus and headed for Tangiwai. The rain started as we left. We stopped at the Tangiwai Bridge to have a look at the scene of the 1953 Rail Disaster and also the damage created by the Lahar a couple of years ago.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Next stop - Waiouru Army Museum. Every one was excited about this because we were going to cook our lunch from Army Ration Packs. We had a tour of the museum first and then we had to split into our Camp Duties groups and worked together to do our lunch. Great team work created great results. We got on the raod again heading for Bunnythorpe at about 2.45 pm. Arrived back at Bunnythorpe School at 4.45pm. Everybody helped unload the bus which was great. The smoked trout was distributed and then everyone headed for home. What a great camp. Special thanks to all of our parent helpers and the teachers who organised the activities. Well done team.