Camp 1 2018

Day 19 21/9/2018

Students: Conner, Alex, Haydn

We woke up this morning to the sounds of the bell, met in the quad, the camp instructors telling us about what will happen today. Today was clean-up day, we were eliminating the horrible brown/dirty stains present on a wall of Bertha. We found out that a wall we were cleaning was in reality white, and not black. Oh, the exciting tales of Binga. After careful consideration of complete cleanliness we noticed a horrible, disgusting, festering WASP NEST! After identification of the filthy, diabolical, horrid creatures present we decided to take the most rational action, what must be done? sound of a can of bug spray being shaken <psssssssssssssssssssssssssssss>. WE HAVE WIPED OUT THE WASP SCUM!!!! After that we had wraps for lunch. Later we did high ropes which was fun and final reflection. Some students went out to clean the troopies and got sprayed in the chest, head and more several times with a hose by Marcus. However this morning we woke up to a pleasant sight, the horses had sneaked past the 3 watch towers 6 automated crossbows and 2 kids lost on their way to the toilet, but alas the guests did not stay long as Ryan (READ: RYAN SAVED THE ENTIRE CAMP) quickly foiled their plans. This was one of the most interesting days doing high ropes, Horses escaping and wiping out all wasp-kind.

*No wasps were harmed during the making of this blog.

Day 18 20/9/2018

Names: Evie and Maddie

Today we all had Challenge Day and were separated into cabin groups assigned to different colours, my group colour was blue, and my cabins name was Sewell. Some of the challenges ranged from

exercises that needed physical strength or team work to get each other through. Today was a great

day because everyone was participating and showing great team spirit towards each other. After the challenges were over we all performed our war cries that we made at the start of the day, obviously Sewell’s war cry was the best. After the war cries were performed the winners were announced and the prizes were given out. Sewell and Greasley tied for the win followed by Fielke and then Schultz with a close finish. With Mt Binga staff being the amazing people they are, everyone won prizes. Only two days to go and I am so excited to go home although I am going to miss Binga so much.

Day 17, 19/9/18

Students: Will, Laura, Alex, Caitlin A

Blog:

Today the boys returned from their solo camping, and the girls did high-ropes, horse riding and service work.

We did the “Giant’s Ladder”, which is basically a bunch of logs attached to each other going vertical with a 1.5-2 metre spacing, and the aim of the challenge is to reach the top of the logs, with the help of two other people. It is rather difficult, as you have to swing your legs over the top log and hoist yourself up, with the help of two other people. An extra challenge was to do it blindfolded or not speak, or both. It was fun watching as people couldn’t see where they were going, or the strange positions they had to be in order to clamber their way up.

We also did horse riding, which was a trail ride through the forest. It was fun yet difficult, going up and down hills and worrying you were going to fall off. Most of us enjoyed horse riding as we got to bond with the horses more and engage as a community. Some groups had the joy of singing along to songs and talk about stuff. Solo was very interesting. We sat in a tent for 26 hours and ate some cold, bad noodles that ended up spilt anyways. We had to make our own toilet. Some people experienced the company of unexpected guests living in the area nearby, some of these visitors were kangaroos, possums and koalas.

Date: 18/9/2018 Day 16

Student: Caitlin

Today the girls returned from the solo camp out and the boys went to their solo camp out. The girls enjoyed solo, being by themselves and reflecting on the last 2 weeks we’ve been on camp. When the girls returned from solo we unpacked all of our packs and equipment we had and them chilled out and talked about how we went on solo. This afternoon the girls split off into groups and went off to their afternoon activities which included the horse trail ride, giant’s ladder and service learning. After afternoon tea, the girls all split off into their jobs for the afternoon. Tonight we are having crumbed chicken for dinner which is going to be delicious.

Names: Tahlia, Lucy, Anna, Erin and Esther

Date: 16/9/2018 Day 14

The second Sunday was off with a fun filled and busy with solo prep and people were getting their ration bags ready. The baking people made cookies, brownies and milo cupcakes. The other students had their share of time in the rec room, the others helped Anna and Maddie wash the Ute’s and pack the trailer. Tonight were are having community dinner which is Chicken and Bacon Pasta Bake and engage with a church service later on. We love the staff and their personalities, sense of humour and the engaging manner. 

Name: Jacob F and Lachie

Date: 15/9/2018 Day 13

Blog:

It’s Saturday afternoon at the end of the second week here at Binga. The guys are on jobs today so the girls will be doing jobs tomorrow. We got an extra 30 minutes of sleep, scrambled eggs and bacon for breakfast because it’s the weekend. We then got to relax for day but some odd jobs still needed to be done like cleaning the cars and preparing for solo next week. Some people chose to do baking and others just chose to relax for the day. Last night we had the talent show where everyone had to participate. There wasn’t much talent, but everyone still had fun and enjoyed themselves. We are both looking forward to the last week of camp especially the horse trail ride and Solo.

 Caitlin J and Sophia

14/9/2018 Day 14

Today the boys returned from survival. Survival is where groups must use sticks, tarps and ropes to build structures for people to live and cook in. You can pretty much make anything you can think of and get points for it, the points can be used for food. There was a challenge that everyone had to do to get their luxury items.

This morning for daily exercise, the girls played a game similar to tag but after being tagged you join the tag line. Though I think everybody would much rather sleep. The girls continued with activities, horse riding, archery and high ropes. It is much more loud and occupied with the guys back at camp (not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing). With the guys doing their debrief and orienteering activity, the girls were able to have some free time before afternoon tea and chores. Apart from the boys coming back from survival it was a normal day at camp.

The activity that the guys had to do for their challenge day was carrying someone on a stretcher down a steep hill, through mud and up the other side. The bathtub group (bottom group) carried Haydn whereas the top group carried Ryan and Jacob F. Harley and Alex have a different point of view on the stretcher activity to what Caitlin and I do. We think it was challenging but the boys reckon it was a breeze.

13/9/18 Day 11

Name: Olivia

Today was fairly quiet as the boys are still on their Survival. The girls were split into three groups and we did either horse riding, archery or high ropes. We did one activity today and we will finish the other two tomorrow. Horse riding was really fun, as we went back to some basics in preparation for the trail ride next week. This afternoon we had Picnic Times (yes, I am very aware that it is a cheesy name) and that was basically making a whole bunch of sugary foods and eating it all. We made milkshakes, Banoffe pies, meringues and cinnamon doughnuts. Shame the boys had to do survival prep instead of this, those doughnuts were really good. Marcus made us do ‘team building’ exercises this morning, (thanks Marcus) having Fielke and Sewell compete for ice-cream with dessert. We had to hold hands under our legs in a line (which was a feat of flexibility- thanks Marcus) and then detangle ourselves and then had to make a bridge thing with linoleum tiles. I wouldn’t describe the exercise as ‘team building’ as we were all really desperate for ice-cream.  In the end, both cabins won ice-cream, so today will end with yet more sugar. (Thanks Marcus) Granted, we won the ice-cream before Picnic Time, so we did not quite realise the amount of sugar that both Picnic Time and ice-cream has, so I think a few girls will be completely over sweet food tomorrow. 

12/9/18 Day 10

 Names: Abby, Molly R, Evie, Georgia and Olivia

On Monday, the girls split into two groups and set out to a 3 day survival camp. We were left without any supervision and had to make a fire to cook our food, build shelter with sticks, ropes and tarp and lastly dig a big whole for the whole group to go to the bathroom in. On the first night a group of us decided to sleep out underneath the stars just on our sleeping mats and sleeping bags. The stars were so pretty and I would have to say that was probably the best part of the survival for me. The next morning we could sleep in as long as we like, so no walking up at 6:15am and having to go for a run. We all just slowly started to rise whenever it suited us. We started out with no items, no entertainment, and just each other’s company but then we had to create a song with random words in order to win one luxury item each. Thankfully we all used our amazing singing and dancing skills and we won them all. I brought a book which I read the whole entire day and someone brought a guitar. That night we used the guitar and all sat around the campfire singing songs which was really great. Overall, the survival wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be. It turned out to be relaxing and allowed us all too just chill and have some time to ourselves. Although the survival was fun, I’m really excited to take a hot shower and sleep on an actual bed. – Abby & Evie

 We just arrived back from the three-day survival camp. It was fun, being left with a bare minimum of supervision and tarps, ropes, and esky full of food and some flint and steel for us to live with. The camp itself was really chill, the first day was setting up and enjoying each other’s company, and chatting. Our luxury challenge featured us trying to incorporate random words into a performance. Our group just used songs with those words in it to win back our precious luxury items, which were mainly books and cards. We all had so fun doing our performance, even at the expense of our own sanity, as we all have Backstreet Boys’ I Want it That Way stuck in our heads. But it was worth it. Over the three days, we all learned so much about each other, and grew closer. The camp was all run on our own time, and featured a lot of relaxing around the fire. While some may not be anxious to repeat the experience, it was a great experience all the same and we all had fun. Because we lived in the dirt for three days, we are all now anxious to jump in a nice hot shower and eat really good food that was not cooked on a campfire. – Olivia and Georgia

So everyone is alive and well and enjoying being out in the bush and not being at school. Survival was good and sleeping outside was great! People worked together and made a shelter to live in for three days and it was pretty good if I say so myself. People wrote songs around the fire and performed them which was pretty nice and they were all pretty good. It’s good to be back and everyone’s ready to shower and get all hygienic and clean. -Molly

11/9/2018 Day 9

Names: Caleb, Jacob F

Blog – It’s Tuesday afternoon and Jacob and Caleb started the fire that heats up the showers, checked the water metre and the water tanks. Today, Caleb did morning fitness on the oval while Jacob milked the cows and fed the alpacas and chickens. Caleb did horse riding for 2 hours learning how to turn his horse, Jackson, around tight corners and played some games. Jacob did high ropes where he climbed the middle rope on the course that not many people could do. All the boys then did an activity called Tangled as a group and it was so much fun. Everyone is tethered to a 350metre rope that is wrapped around trees and knotted on itself and we had to work together to get through it. After that we played Crocodile Crocodile. All day the girls were out doing Survival so there were only boys at camp doing the activities. Overall it was a great day that was quite challenging but enjoyable. We go to Survival tomorrow morning.

10/9/2018 Day 10

Names: Alexander, Jacob and Hayden

Today, the boys where split into three groups so that we could do activities such as Archery, High ropes and Horse Riding. All of these activities were extremely enjoyable and gave us plenty of challenges. In horse riding we learnt how to manoeuvre our horse’s better by practicing turns, ducking under branches and riding over fallen logs. In archery we learnt about improvement and persistence which helped us get over loss and change our mindset. Finally we did high ropes which taught us about getting over our fears and anxieties so that we could reach the top of a challenging course. In conclusion, Binga has taught us many important physical skills and mental skills that we can use in our daily life.

9/9/18 Day 7

Names: Jono, Lucas                                                                  

I (Jono) have thoroughly enjoyed the Binga experience so far. I would tell you about the activities we’ve completed or the 30km hike, but these have already been covered before. We are constantly busy at Binga, but what about the down time, especially on weekends? Weekends are a time when we can complete both supervised and un-supervised activities. These consist of pool, ping pong, baking, cooking, board games and any sports of the choosing. Me personally I’ve been cooking (chilly mac and cheese, and scrambled eggs with toast), baking (brownies and caramel slice), played plenty games of pool and have played a large selection of sports, mainly soccer and grid iron. All of the physical activity could be tiring so playing uno, cards and just talking to friends also played a part in what my weekend at Binga has been so far. Boys and girls both have to do the jobs solo on at least one day of the weekend, so for us (Ethan, Lucas, Harry and I) we have participated in oddies. This job required us to start the fire (heating up the water), take the compost to the dirt pile, calculating how much water we used in the last day, and writing a devotion. Harry is leading the devotion, and the topic is love. That’s all from me, bye.

 Through the past week, students have found support through Binga’s trials in all new friends: Helpful and friendly supervisors, as well as fellow students, both new and old friends. Binga has opened kids to a whole new group of kindly people, but also to their own peers in a way that does not often occur through school. This could refer to leisure time, but also the new challenges students face. From relying on new and old friends to finding fun in experiences such as sugar-gliding and horse-riding, Binga has greatly encouraged students to face new opportunities with an open mind. (Lucas)

Day 5: 7/9/18

Names: Caleb, Esther, Anna, Reese

Yesterday we returned from 3-day hike. The hike was pretty amazing, it was a great experience and I (Caleb) had heaps of energy and ended up running up the biggest hill ever! The campouts were a really good experience and gave us an opportunity to hang out with people we don’t really know. Night 2 had the best campsite because it was on a huge hill and had an AWESOME view and beautiful sunset.  The other groups got back from hike just now as we are writing this and they are screaming with joy. Izzy just hiked back and sat here – she said it wasn’t as bad as she thought it was going to be and she actually enjoyed it…but now she is dying for a shower.

Today we did what the other group did on Tuesday. Horse Riding was pretty fun although I wish we got to ride the horse for longer. We did learn how to care for the horses and start to have a bond with them. We did our first high ropes activity which was really fun. We went zooming up into the sky. My (Esther) favourite activity today was Ring Finger – we had to get a tyre off a 4 metre pole without it touching the pole as we were lifting it. We had to stand on each other’s shoulders and support each other to get it up. I liked it because it made us use what we had learnt on hike and during the week to complete.

We are looking forward to some free time and to catch up with the other half of the camp over the weekend.

 BYE

Day 2: 4/9/18

Names: Piper, Tahlia, Tom

Today was our first real day at Binga. We woke up at 6.15 and it was freeeeezing!! We then went for a morning run…some people took 7 minutes while others took 22. After that we had reflection time, where we went to our own spot and spent a bit of time to do some journaling, then breakfast. We then had to clean our cabins for cabin inspections – DON’T LEAVE THE LIGHTS ON! Or you will lose points! We also learnt how to use a mop and bucket.

Gabby led the morning devotion on gossip. She said gossip was bad, creates a bad culture and gives bad impression. It will be important not to gossip here as it is all so close and we don’t want to lose valuable friendships!

Half the camp went off on their challenging 3 day hike to help build resilience and teamwork. While the rest of us stayed here to do Horse Riding and a high ropes activity called Sugar Glider – we leave for hike tomorrow. At Horse Riding we learnt how to saddle them and to have a strong bond with them, because they can be a dominant animal it was important to care and respect them so they treat us right in return. We had a small ride too, it was so good. We can’t wait until our next horse session. Sugar Glider is an activity where the donkey team have to connect to a rope and run which will then send a student flying up into the air. It was exhilarating and helped me (Tom) partially get over my fear of heights. We learnt about team work, because if we didn’t work together and carry the load the person wouldn’t have gone into the air. We then did an initiative called Ring Finger, it was quite hard and we couldn’t work out how to complete it which was frustrating, until we finally did it which was a huge relief.

I (Tom) would say today was interesting because it was full of good and new experiences that I have never tried before.

I (Tahlia) think today was good for teamwork and I enjoyed it, except for when Sabrina the horse started walking backwards!

I (Piper) thought today was tiring but fun and I want to go to bed…and I feel bad for forcing Conner to climb the Ring Finger pole even though he kind of didn’t want to. And I’m hungry.

Day 1: 3rd September

Lucas, Laura

Today was the first day of the three weeks we will be spending at Mt. Binga, and we loved every second of it. We were greeted by the beautiful mountain landscape of Mt. Binga after the lengthy bus ride to our destination. Upon reaching Binga Campus we were treated to a sight of the Binga horses, galloping majestically across the rolling hills.

We were quickly assorted into four main groups. Greasley, Schultz, Fielke and Sewell. Following this, each group was then assigned to a group coordinator who led them on an adventure through the campus of Binga. This adventure consisted of a scavenger hunt across the campus using various activities to seamlessly introduce students to various parts of the Binga compound. These included Big Bertha (the bread oven), the “Eiffel tyre” and the dairy, where cows are milked. Following this, students were then introduced to the living and sleeping quarters, the “rec room” and the blazing central fire that keeps the water warm (for showers). Later that afternoon the various groups exercised their leadership skills to assign each other various jobs including: cow milking, faming, baking bread, cooking, cleaning and various odds and ends around the campus. This is a good way of implementing and teaching discipline in students.