Tullie Zimmerman

Year 7 2011 Camp

Today was the second day of camp. As per usual we would wake up at 7aqm each of us had a shower from my cabin, get dressed and go straight down to the food hall. Today’s breakfast was hash browns, scrambled eggs and toast. After we had finished eating we would go straight into our activities for the day.

The morning activity today was rock climbing, which I was excited for. Our wonderful instructor Nick and our amazing drama teacher Mrs B took us on a long walk down to the rock climbing area. When we arrived at the area another instructor by the name of Shaggy was there, he was  in charge of showing us how to put on our harnesses and helmets. After knowing how to put or helmets and harnesses we got straight into it!

 The first rock climbing wall I did was called The Ocean. It was the easiest of the all. I had a lot of motivation from all my friends to reach the top. When you reach the top it is a wonderful moment. The next wall I tried was the one just a little bit harder but in fact it wasn’t hard at all. I had reached the top with in no time. Then I did some belaying. So I got back into my harness and helmet and held onto the rope they were attached to. Every time they had stepped up onto a higher rock you would have to pull up and make sure there was no slack. After a long tiring activity it was time for morning tea.

Our group all walked up to the Cake House were morning tea was served. Today we were having freshly cut mouth watering oranges, Bananas and green cordial. We all met up for 10 – 15 minutes with all the other groups to chat and share the news on what activity we just had done. After morning tea our group was scheduled to participate on The Giant Swing. Nick took us all on another walk to The Giant Swing.

Then we arrived to The Giant Swing. The activity I had waiting for the most out of the camp. Once again we were shown how to put on our harnesses and helmets and then we started. Every time somebody had a go we would pull this long orange rope and walk backwards to lift them higher up into the air. After 6 or 7 people it was finally my go.

I walked over to the diamond made out of rope and went under it. Nick strapped me in and I had to walk up 3 steps of a ladder and then let go so that I was dangling in the air on a rope. When it was the all clear everybody started to pull me up higher and higher with the tree tops. It was an amazing sight and then when you look down and you see your feet dangling in the middle of the air it was so scary. Everybody yelled 3, 2, 1! And I pulled this small blue rope and I went whoosh whoosh in the air backwards and forwards and backwards and forwards until Nick told me to cross my legs and he would hold onto them until I would stop. Then I stepped onto the ladder and Nick un-buckled me and let me go on to the ground. That was by far my favourite activity in the camp and cannot wait to go back again next year if we go.

Gal Kaminski Task 1

Task 1 by gal kaminski

I walked into the front gates of my new school “Reddam House” I was a bit nervous about a new school that I only new 2  people and that I did not even come to orientation day because I only knew I was going to Reddam about a month before the year actually started.

I headed up the stairs and made my way to the basketball courts to have a little look around the school to see if I recognised anybody.

The first person I saw was a guy named Eric Zykov he is a kid from my old school Rose Bay Public School which I was in from year 1-6. The next person I saw was Bobi Klein she was also from my old school but they were already hanging out with other people so I sat down on the side of the basket ball court for a couple of minutes by myself. After that I went back to the front of the playground where a teacher was waiting for all the year 7 children to come so they can all walk to Adelaide Hall for the first assembly of the year.

My second  day was a bit better I met a couple of new people and it was the annual Reddam  swimming carnival I did not participate in any of the competitive races but I did participate in the participation races it was a fun swimming carnival. My third forth and fifth days a in Reddam were the best I think out of the whole two weeks. They were the days we went out for camp. On the way to the place we were staying which was “Cataract Scout Park”, I met a really nice kid name Maxmo who offered me to sit next to him on the bus. By the time we reached our destination it was nearly lunch time my favourite parts of camp were the “Giant Swing” the “Flying Fox” and “Caving”. Camp felt really short but everything is short when you are having fun.

 The second week at Reddam became time to learn something. The first thing I did when I came on Monday was head up to the basket ball courts when I saw all the year 7 kids sitting down in one room so I joined them and the teachers were handing out each persons time table and telling them their tutors. From then on it was learning, but it was fun learning because all the teachers are great and there is no subject that I do not like so far in Reddam. Maxmo and I still hang out at recess and lunch with a couple of other kids like Kenneth and Kenny. I joined up to the basket ball team and we play every Saturday and train every Tuesday, I also signed up for a sailing academy which we have every Friday after school I really enjoy sailing and I think Reddam is the best school I have been to so far.

Michael Grant task 1

Autobiographical writing by Michael Grant 
On our first week of school we had our year 7 Camp at cataract Scout Park. When we first arrived we went in the dining hall to eat lunch. We had sandwiches then we headed to our first activity for group three rock climbing. I was the person that held the climber on our wall.

After rock climbing we had pioneering, where we made catapults. We had Daniel in our group so it was all good. When we finished making the catapults we shot water balloons at each other it didn’t go too well no one really got wet.

 Then after pioneering we had dinner penne Bolognese with salad it was pretty good. Everyone was pumped for what we had next, the waterslide, a 40metre slide. After dinner we had an explanation of the to the waterslide. After that we went to the waterslides at 7pm we all were so exited I took off my shoes and lined up. On the first go I had to sit up but on the second go Noah, Bryson and I did a train. It was so much fun until we packed up at had to go to bed. About 30 minutes after lights out, all the cabins (except for ours) was having a party until Mr. Garret came in and told everyone to stand outside the cabin facing the wall for 5 minutes the we went to bed.

The next day was really fun, we had caving first which was really fun. We all went through a cave with spiders, toads and goannas we went thought main chambers stood in the blackout room which was as close as pitch black. Then we went to the other side our instructor asked us if we wanted to go back with no torches about half of us said yes and back we went it was so much better because we went through a tight space it was like a secret passage out.

After caving was orienteering we all got a map and a compass and mark off checkpoints. Our team was Jared, Sam and Hannah we were all good up to number 7 we went the wrong way. We wasted time we went the other way after 20 minutes and we saw Dario's team just sitting there but we helped them but they went the wrong way so we all just went back we were all sick of orienteering.

Then after we had lunch we had challenging valley. The muddiest activity in the site, we went thought muddy obstacle everyone got so muddy and wet. After challenging valley we had another go on the water slide. For another hour then dinner all the same then that night we had night activities then about 10 minutes through the lights went out we all thought it was a game turns out it was a black out it lasted like 18 hours so we did night activates in the dark.

The next day still no power. We had scrambled eggs and bacon for breakfast. Then off to the flying fox we had our explanation then we had our go we ran to get our equipment I gave mine to Gabi. Then waited for my go next was Alexandre we bucked up and jumped off 3 story building and fly when we dropped the rope and got off.

After that we had the giant swing a 15 metre swing. I was so scared when it was my go I was shaking when I went up. I was so scared then I pulled the rope then it didn’t go then I did it again then I freefell 15 metres I screamed – but it was my favourite activity after that we had lunch the went home and that was the end of year 7 camp.

Chelsea Stokes Task 1

Autobiographical writing by Chelsea Stokes (The Caves & Chelsea just didn't mix)

I could hear the dry soil crunch beneath my feet, I could see the mounts of rust on the old and tiny door, I could hear the birds tweeting high above the treetops, as I guided myself inside the cave I could feel the damp ancient rocks on my fingertips, and I could smell the fear coming from my own breathe...I could feel the terror building up inside of me...like a construction site hammering and building bigger and bigger, it was unbearable; I knew I was claustrophobic but had a determined mind to conquer this Dreadful phobia.

As I entered the cave, it was whole different scenery; the area around me was now limited, no turning back. It was pitch black in there except for the occasional line of sunlight peeping through a crack. It really was an amazing thing to see because the light shone as you would see the rays of sunlight reaching down in the ocean water. Everyone also had their torches that all shone in different places at once it looked pretty awesome. Our extremely enthusiastic leader wanted to try something new so she gave us all a coloured glow stick that connected like a bracelet around your wrist. My glow stick was a violet purple; at one stage it was so dark that all you could see were all the different coloured bracelets crawling in the cave. 

Then we came to a spot in the cave were the roof was only 30cm of the ground, I’m claustrophobic so this was terrifying for me...The fear built up again, this time as quick as a flash, it hit me so fast. All I have to do is tuck my head down along with the rest of my body, crawl through and then we are in bigger space again it was that easy! I also had a big, white, bulky safety had on my head so the space felt incredibly smaller. Eventually I realised it’s only going to take 3 seconds and then I’ve finished part one so I just ducked my head then the rest of my body, slided through as fast as possible and then as soon as I was out from under it I sprung straight back up just like an elastic band.

We had just been told we had finished section one and now it was time for section 2 but firstly we took a little break to breathe some fresh air because it was sticking hot in the cave as there was no cool air coming in. As I was breathing the new clean air before my next rush of fear I noticed my hands knees were black from the dirty mud I was crawling on, “I call dibs on the first shower!” I stated to my roommates. One of the weirdest things was that we were under rocks and sand and we hadn’t seen any creatures yet...

As we started crawling again the roof was less than a metre of the ground but for some weird reason I wasn’t scared. Then SUDDENLY something very minuscule leaped right in front of me. At the time I had a heart attack because I was not expecting anything at all. But quick as a flash, my flashlight shone on the little creature, once I saw it I was stunned by what was before my eyes. It was a pale green colour, it had 4 incy little legs, the whole thing was about the size of my fingernail and it was as cute as a button. I hadn’t seen many of these in real life before! It was a miniature Frog.

A frog in a cave, yes it does sound a bit funny. A couple of minutes later we stopped somewhere in the cave were I found another creature. This one was much larger, Much Darker Green, longer legs and higher at jumping. It was another Frog quadruple the size of the other one, but it leaped away before anyone else got to see it.

My experience of this cave was amazing and I’d like to do it again sometime. In the end my determined mind set on a goal and I managed to achieve it. Caving is still quite frightening but I still love doing it for the experience and fun I get out of it.

Written by Chelsea Stokes

Task 2-Zac Zurnamer

It was a hot, humid day on the Greek island Santorini, my grandmother, my brother, my mum and myself decided to go to a small restaurant just up the road from the hotel we were staying at. I remember seeing another family taking an alternate route up to the shopping village where the restaurant was, so I decided when it was time to leave for lunch to tell my mum and grandmother and take the alternate route.

As I walked further and further across the footpath I began to realise that I was nowhere near the restaurant, so I walked past a few houses but no one spoke English. I just got a bunch of odd sounding Greek responses I knew that I was in big trouble now, lost, no one speaking my language, on an island that I’ve been on for 3 days. I had no idea what to do!

After about 15-20 minutes of searching managed to find an American man who had bought a house on the island and was in his garden hanging up his washing, he seemed to have a lot of Basketball jerseys, there were too many to count! I asked him how to get to the shopping village he gave me very complex instructions, ‘You then turn to face north and walk in that direction then turn east.....’ I eventually then said, ‘Look man, I’m 11, I don’t what you are talking about! Can you use left and right rather?’ he then realised that I didn’t understand a thing that he had been saying and started all over again. Not a good idea, those directions were just as bad as the other ones, after he had finished talking and talking and talking about random things he suddenly asked me what my name was and where I came from, as it turns out he knew a lot about Sydney and he said that his father was born there.

After leaving the man to finish hanging up his washing I decided to try and find my own way there, as he was no help, I then came across a couple sitting on the rocks together and decided to ask them for directions, but once again language was an issue, well not really language, accent rather, couldn’t understand a word, their French accents were to strong and words like ‘up’ suddenly became extremely confusing. I kept on walking for at least another 10 minutes when I saw some shops, this was it I walked up a large flight of stairs only to find that I had the wrong restaurant, and once again there I stood, no phone, no food, no water, in the middle of nowhere. After another long period of walking I saw more stairs, and this more than just one building at the top, I thought to myself for a moment then realised that up there had to be the shopping village. I was so hot and tired, I didn’t know if I would make it up those stairs, so I counted as I went up ‘1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7...’ until I reached 112 stairs, I met my mother at the top of the stairwell hoping for some sunburn cream and a bottle of water, or milk, or even baby formula! I needed fluid, and I needed it fast, I fell into her arms and stumbled into the restaurant, and god was right there, in the form of a freezing cold glass of coke.

After a delicious lunch and the most water I had ever had in my entire life, I finally got back to my hotel room and slept for the entire afternoon. I was so happy that I found a way to the restaurant, I almost felt lucky to be alive! All I know is that could’ve turned out much worse if I had just given up.

By Zac Zurnamer

Task 2.By Bobi Klein

The Gun

Task 2

So I am at Emma’s house, my best friend, to sleep over one night.  Emma’s parents are out and left us at home on our own for a few hours.  Suddenly at 11:00pm we hear a knock at the door.

Then all of a sudden we hear a creak coming from the laundry door. CRASH BANG THUMP.

We hear footsteps coming from up the stairs. Emma and I hide under our blankets shivering from fright and bewilderment.

The door to the room we are in opens all of a sudden and to our delight we see Emma’s father.  Emma had forgotten that he had been out at the movies and after returning home and had come upstairs to check if we were all right and whether we were asleep.

We jumped up from under the covers with great excitement and gave him such a big hug.  We did not know who was making the loud noises from the lower level and all we could think about was that there was a robber in the house and that he was coming to steal things from the room we were in.

Emma’s father told us that he had brought us something to play with, a plastic edged water gun.  We both thought that this was pretty cool. Emma and I were throwing the water gun around whilst lying on her bunk bed.  We threw the gun back and forth from the upper mattress where Emma was to the bottom one where I was.  I mistakenly missed the water gun and it hit me square in the head above my left eye and split my eyebrow in half.

Before either of us could murmur another sound there was blood dripping down my face.  We called Emma’s dad to come and see me.  Luckily he is not afraid of the sight of blood like my grandmother is and we rushed to the emergency ward at the children’s hospital.  After a short wait, I was taken and looked over by a nurse who in no time had summed up the situation, stitches, oh my G-d.  Doesn’t sound good.  I had never had them before. But a girl’s got to do what a girls got to do.  Yep you got it, cry.  Nah, I was strong and held it together, well only just.  I received 15 stitches on my left eyebrow.

I was feeling a bit woozy after that fun experience, not.  So it was decided that I had better sleep at the hospital overnight.  So you think that’s all.  No, not quite.  Not only did I cut my eyebrow and nearly lose an eye.  I went to hospital, they smell, and waited, got stitches and yes I fell out of the bed.  I had a nightmare that I had cut my eye, dah, and the side bed lever was not erected, so yes I tossed, turned and fell out of bed. 

So, there is a very good lesson to learn here.  Guns are not for young people and can lead to whole lot of problems, so stay away from them.

Task 2 jasmine fountas yr 7e

She was nervous, her hands were trembling and there was sweat dripping down her spine. Her heart was skipping beats and pumping as much blood as possible through her veins. It was March 17^th and it was time for all her hard training to pay of. It was the state championships and she was ready for action.

She was at the start line of the 100metres, she could see her competitors, they were focused, but so was she. The finish line was I her view. She quickly set up her blocks and did a practice run. She was ready and she knew this was her chance to finally get a medal.

“On your mark” said the starter as he lifts his arm up and points the gun to the sky. Sally’s heart suddenly started to beat faster as she felt more nervous and felt butterflies in her stomach. “Get Set” he yelled and she knew it was her time, she took one last look at the finish line, she inhaled one last breath of air and she felt more focused than ever. It was dead silent and then suddenly the gun blew. She emerged out of her blocks like a bat out of hell.

She was in fourth place with 60 meters to go. At this time in the race she was full speed as were all the other competitors. She ran past the crowd, she heard her family cheering for her. At this point in time she could only hear her mum saying she didn’t have to win she was already proud of her whatever happened. After hearing this she found the determination and strength from within and wanted to win even more. As she was sprinting towards the 50meter mark she got her second wind. All of a sudden the crowd went wild. Sally was moving up, she was now in third place, then second. It was now and her nemesis Naomi battling it out for the gold medal. At this stage in time third had dropped a little behind but she still had a chance, Sally and Naomi were now at least half a second in front of third.

The crowd started clapping as they approached the finish line. Naomi kept pushing for that first spot but Sally wasn’t giving up, this was her time to shine, and this was the reward for all her hard work. As they crossed the finish line they both pushed their chest out but the judges couldn’t tell who won so it went to a photo finish.

They waited anxiously for the results to show. They waited and waited, Sally was even more nervous than before the race. After 10 minutes the results had shown Sally had ……….. WON!!!! She was so happy, not only had she won she had beaten her nemesis Naomi. She was so happy when she saw the results, winning this race meant everything to her. Sally was now officially the under 13 girls 100 metre state champion. Now her Olympic dream was even closer. Sally slept very well that night