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

Monday, 3 September

On a frosty, clear morning
Another day at Mt Binga was dawning
Out to the flagpole we ambled
To come back and find our eggs scrambled
Instead of the girls going hiking
They stayed back to do horse riding
We sat down and listened to the daily report
It was time our horses got caught.

After they were finally saddled
Though many of us battled
The first riders were set
As they had won the battled bet
Others were chopping wood
As a few were baking goods
Everybody did great
and were up for a trail ride Matee!

As the day came to an end
People had letters that they wanted to send
We are all anticipating mail tonight
I hope we’re all right
Tonight I’m sure we’ll all sleep well
To soon be awoken by the bell.

Tom, Corey and Josh

Sunday, 2 September

As the boys had won the sleep in, the girls were woken up at 7:30am. We did cooking and duty jobs while the guys just watched. For the rest of the day we relaxed and some of us washed. We wrote letters to family and friends, played basketball and visited the animals. The girls wanted to rest up for tomorrow as we leave for a 3 day hike.

Ame, Tegan, McKenzie

Saturday, 1 September

Today we woke up with a breakfast everyone was excited about – bacon and eggs. You know the smoke alarms work when they go off three times whilst trying to cook breakfast!

After a very anxious cabin inspection, the girls were sad to hear that the boys had over taken them in cleaning and would have the privilege of a sleep in tomorrow morning. Today was extremely relaxed with the only task of washing. Yes mums, the boys did suprisingly wash their clothes!

The rest of the day consisted of mainly letter writing and some board games. It was good to have enough time to write letters back home and just unwind for the exciting week ahead. We’re all very much looking forward to tonight’s dinner of pies and mash.

Caitlin, Maddy, Millie

Friday, 31 August

Today we started off with a great breakfast of pancakes after finishing our morning jobs. We then went on to the low ropes course and initiative games that Ben and James dominated at. The initiative games included teamwork activities and a fun game called ‘bang’. We also completed Adrian’s wall which everyone did really well at. We then had fun trying to get over the top of the wall with no help. It was great for teambuilding skills with everyone helping and encouraging each other.

We then had a good lunch followed by new afternoon jobs. We are all looking forward to tonight’s dinner of tacos.

Jacob, Jamie, McKenzie

Thursday, 30 August

We woke up early after a good night sleep, the best in days. We were excited to start our day. Breakfast was good scrambled eggs with a side of cereal. We went on with our morning jobs until we were ready to start horse riding. The horses were in their pens ready to be saddled up. There were not enough horses to go around so some of our class went to do wood chopping and some went to bake.

Our class had lots of fun horse riding. We had to do numerous procedures with the horses such as turning, touching your toes while on the horse and stopping. James and Ben surprised everyone with their horse riding ability. Mr Grieger’s cockatoo was being hilarious with its colourful vocabulary. Some of the horses were cheeky and trying to dodge their saddles and ropes. The Macadamia tree is full of nuts and they are littering the ground.

We are looking forward to tomorrow with low ropes and initiative games.

Ame, Luke, James