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
Friday, 7 September
We had a great sleep last night after a hard three day hike. We were eager to start a fresh day. Breakfast consisted of pancakes with sugar and honey and it tasted good. We went on with our normal routine. Millie, Sam and Eli lead devotion. The girls got the first twenty out of twenty points for room inspection. Today was a practice for Family Day. We had to wash clothes today because Friday and Saturday were Saturday and Sunday’s timetable because of Family Day. Whoever finished their washing had to help to make a fence and move cows. After that we had journal writing then afternoon tea. As the day drew to an end we commenced our evening jobs and started to settle in for the night.
Tegan, Ben, Luke
Wednesday, 5 September
The girls set out for our three day hike on Tuesday with smiles on our faces. We were already excited but soon realised that it wasn’t going to be enjoyable all the time. Most of the first day was spent in a creek bed with rocks everywhere which all six of us rolled our ankles on at least once. You will never understand how rewarding a 20 minute break and a muesli bar is until you have walked Binga’s three day hike. Soon after our break, Caitlin let off the biggest squeal, as we saw a wild pig run past. We kept on walking and were brought to our campsite for the night.
After setting up our tents, we all sat down and dug into our Salada crackers. Falling asleep was not a hard task but we were all woken later by the cool breeze. In the morning we packed up our tents and began on the second day of hiking with our compass and map. Finding our next camping destination was not hard but the ten kilometres of hills definitely was. A hill that the girls have named ‘Death Hill’ really was as it sounds. Soon after we got the hill over and done with we were rewarded with our campsite. Making the cows move was scary with everyone of them looking like they were going to charge at us any second. Our early meal time of 7 o’clock did us the world of good, leaving us refreshed and ready to go the next day. So the tents got packed up and we set off excited to complete the third day.
The hills were alright not as bad as the day before but it definitely got worse. We were told that there were only 500 metres left until we were brought to the fence that let us into our camp. We made it! It was finally over after we sent all of our gear back to the hike shed. We had our hot showers and sat down for dinner which was Nachos and it was delicious. Desert was served shortly after and was butterscotch pudding.
After our mail was handed out we sat around the camp fire happy to be back. Thinking about it now the girls would do it again. It was really rewarding and we all loved it.
Millie
Tuesday, 4 September
Today we started our three day hike. Each day the hiking distance decreases. We were pumped and ready for action. We put our packs in the back of the ute and filed into the troopie. After a short drive we got dropped off at our starting point. We walked for about 1 1/2 hours then we got on a relatively flat stretch of land. After the decline it was hard going but we eventually made it to our first camp site. It was a nice area, nestled into the side of a stream. We had walked 12kms that day.
After a good night’s sleep we started off again. It was mainly uphill and this was when we encountered death hill. It took us 20 minutes to walk up and it was exhausting. We finally made it to our second campsite. After a 7km hike we fell asleep right away.
The final day had come and this was when we had to scale Mt Binga. There was lots of encouragement going on as we made it to the top. As we walked the last 50m of our 5km hike to the Mt Binga campus we were already half asleep after unpacking. We finally got to go to sleep on a real bed! Overall we believe that the 3 day hike was a great team building experience for us all.
Eli, Sam, Millie
Binga Blog 