Thursday, 20 September
We all woke up today with smiles on our faces realising it was our last day. We cleaned up our cabins after breakfast and got ready for the big day ahead. After all it was the Binga Challenge Day, which we had been reminded about for the whole month. The day was packed with heaps of activities and a few surprises along the way. The scores were announced with the girls winning by two points.
We are now packing our belongings, dreading to leave but at the same time so excited to arrive home.
Binga has been a great time for all of us and we will never forget it.
Millie
Wednesday, 19 September
Today we started off a long day with a good breakfast of scrambled eggs. The girls won the room inspection by 2 points. We then went off to saddle the horses for a trail ride. We split into three groups for the ride. When the first group left, the other 2 did t-shirt painting, putting cages onto the back of a truck for collecting hay as well as woodchopping.
We all enjoyed the trail ride and were amused by playing ‘I spy’ along the journey. We are all exhausted from a long day of activities and are looking forward to showering tonight. Dinner promises to be good as we are having hot dogs.
Caitlin, Eli and Mckenzie
Tuesday, 18 September
This morning we woke up on solo after a good night’s sleep in our tents. The morning was still wet from dew and rain yesterday. When we got back to Binga we had a surprise. We had a trip to Binga Mountains instead of horse riding due to the weather. We went to the Binga Mountains to have lunch which was sausages on bread then we went for a walk through the rainforest. There was a lot to see along the way. We saw a lot of wallabies and birds in the forest, a few waterfalls and some streams. We had a 0ne hour ride back to Mt Binga. Overall a funfilled day with good activities. We are all tired and ready for a good sleep.
Maddy, McKenzie, James
Sunday, 16 September
Following a good night’s sleep the boys were woken at 7am for jobs. Having lost room inspections for the week by a rather large amount of points, we now had to take over all our Sunday jobs. After a quick flag raising and worship, we all set out for our jobs while the girls got to sleep in and enjoy the extra time off duties. After what seemed like an uneventful job session (a rare occurence) we were given a period of time to have breakfast and get ready for room inspection.
Room inspection went well with only minor problems preventing both the boys and the girls from getting perfect scores. At 10:30am we went to Sunday worship, a period of 40 or so minutes where everyone came together in the old stable to listen to Mr Grieger and pray for families and the like. After worship we were given free time for the rest of the day up until 4pm when the boys needed to do their evening jobs. One job, helping move the Alpacas to a new area was put forward. A group of students helped staff complete the move before returning to their free time.
Eli, Jamie, Ben
Saturday, 15 September
Today we woke up fresh after a great night’s sleep and were ready to start our weekend. We had a usual weekend planned but with a few surprises. Mr Grieger made butter with Ms Gibson for the first time in years. Milk was pasturised into cream in a big mixer and then into butter. It took a long time to process. It tasted good and Greasley and Schultz each got some in their fridges. We also washed our clothes which was good because they were very dirty. The boys mainly played Basketball and the girls read. It was a hot day so the boys got sick of it quickly. Overall it was a good day and as it drew to an end we settled in for the night.
Corey, Luke , Harry
Friday, 14 September
After the usual jobs we headed off to abseiling and rock climbing. The abseiling wall was 8 metres high and everybody soon got the hang of it. Going upside down and jumping down the wall was soon happening as everybody wanted to try something new. After we were done we returned to the camps and went on with journaling and afternoon jobs. The day soon came to an end with everybody feeling great about the day.
Tom, Tegan and Josh
Thursday, 13 September
It is good to be back at Mt Binga after survival and get back into routine again. Today after our jobs we went down to the horse yard and saddled our horses. We then split up into three groups and rode our horses on a trail ride. It was good to get out of the small paddock. Each group rode for an hour. While one group was riding the other two groups were either cleaning the wood chopping yard or preparing for abseiling. Abseiling preparation was great! We learned lots of new things we needed to know for tomorrow’s adventure.
Millie, Jacob and James
Wednesday, 12 September
On Monday we were introduced to survival, a three day experience where we had to build our own shelter, cook over a fire and make our own entertainment.
After waking up from under our hand made tents, we prepared for our final day of survival eating breakfast and packing our few items that we brought. The survival event was a three day challenge in which we had to build our own shelters from scratch and ration food out between our other group members. Nights were cold, the days hot and sometimes boring but everyone managed to get through relatively unscathed. With the boys and girls having been separated from one another to form the two groups, everyone got to know their companions better. When the troopies arrived to pick everyone up, the clean up had almost finished for the boys while the girls still had a bit left.
A short road trip later and we had all arrived back at camp. Washing up followed with everything getting a scrub. We headed off the the Palms National Park for an afternoon walk. On arrival we had lunch then proceeded to walk the bush track. The walk was great something we all enjoyed. Then it was back to Binga and off to our afternoon jobs.
Sunday 9 September
We all woke up this morning pretty keen to see our families and to have some junk food. At the time it felt like a good idea to stuff our faces with food but we’re really paying for it now. Everyone had a really good day and our devotion went quite well. I had a great day. Thanks Mum.
We are all pretty pumped for survival tomorrow because now the boys and girls are both going at the same time.
Jacob
Saturday 8 September
Today we had so much fun we had a marvellous sleepin which I think everyone enjoyed and needed. After our 7:00am wake-up call we journeyed over to the assembly area where we had worship. For brekky we had bacon and eggs. Unfortunately our eggs didn’t look appetising but tasted amazing. So never judge food by its looks. The boys shoved down their brekky and got stuck into cleanup. We were losing cabin inspection by 12 points. We wanted this sleepin tomorrow badly. It wasn’t enough though we still caught up by 2 points. These girls definitely made sure we knew we lost..haha!
We then had Saturday cleanup so that meant scrubbing walls, floors and doors, cleaning out fridges and much more. Practicing our Family Day worship was tough considering we have cleaned Mt Binga for almost two hours but we are happy we got the chance to practice. The rest of the day was free time. Some chose to shoot hoops (Basketball) while others washed their clothes. Most of us just chilled and talked. Afternoon tea was 2 biscuits and 1 extra if you wanted. We are all pretty keen for yummy hamburgers for dinner and also desert which is a surprise. Everyone is so excited for Family Day tomorrow so it could be an early night for most.
Harry, James and Corey
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