Camp 1 2019
Day 24
27/2/19
Tara, Felicity, Abi, Danny and Blake
As we head into the final few days of Binga mixed emotions are spread throughout the camp. Some people are keen to head home and others are sad that the journey is soon coming to an end.
The boys returned from a 24 hour solo this morning feeling refreshed and ready to carry on with the rest of the week. Today was debrief day, we did a lot of activities like the lily pads (high ropes activity) journal making and reflected on our time here at Binga. Today was a nice, cool, overcast day today still without any rain.
Tomorrow is challenge day and we are all excited for what it brings.
Day 23
Date: 26/2
Emily, Eva, Grace and Scarlett
The girls pulled into the driveway at around 9am this morning. Tired but happy after successfully completing ‘Solo’. For those unaware of this challenge, it is where each individual is placed in an allocated spot and are not allowed to communicate with one another for 24hrs. Once we had all set up our ‘hoochies’ or tarps, most girls spent their time writing letters, completing diary entries, reading books, doing colouring-in or catching up on sleep. The rain held off, thankfully and it was perfect for stargazing. There were numerous critter visits ranging from cuddly possums to startled wallabies but we enjoyed the experience. The guys left soon after we arrived. The campsite was … quiet, a first. We did the same activities as the boys did yesterday so, Horse Riding, Escape Room & Service Learning. We made great progress on the new garden. This was our final normal activity day, as for the rest of our time here we are doing final prep to come home on Saturday.
Today we also learned a song, would you like to know? Well, you don’t really have a choice. Here goes:
I’m a little cashalmond (cashew and almond)
Camping out at Mt Binga
We are here to have some fun
Lets go crazy everyone
Cashalmonds we’re crazy
Cashalmonds we’re crazy
Anyway, we miss you all heaps, see you soon x.
Day 22
Date: 25/2
Today was Monday so it started off with the usual Monday morning run and reflection, followed by breakfast and the departure of the girls to solo soon after. Today the boys split into 3 groups for 3 different activities; horse riding, escape room and service learning. As this was our last session of horse riding, we did our long awaited and keenly anticipated trail ride, one of the most fun activities for many students. Escape room was tricky and although the first group were unable to do it properly because of some faulty locks, every group got stuck in and most students regarded it as another one of their favourites. Service learning is an integral and very necessary activity to do as it gives us an opportunity to give back to Binga by taking part in certain projects around campus, however, excluding some possible anomalies, it is not one of the favourites in terms of activities at Binga. Having said this though, we still had plenty of laughs chopping lantana plants as after all, we were still around our mates.
Day 21
Date: 24/2
From today it will be 6 days until family day. Almost everyone is excited to see their families soon. Today we packed our ration bags for 24 hour solo. The girls will have their solo on the 25th while the boys will have theirs on the 26th. Some of the girls and guys today did baking for everyone’s solo. They made brownies, caramel slice and many more delicious treats. Today we woke up to find out that we had used all the water until 11:00am so some of us could not do washing until a bit later. After the tanks had been filled up we found out that we had used 7552L of water today. For lunch we had a sausage sizzle for community lunch. We also have community dinner tonight which is burritos which will be delicious. Today was also Anna and Dan’s birthday. Some of us made a happy birthday sign for both Anna and Dan. They used paint and their feet and hands to create a sign which reads “Happy B’day”. They also used chalk to draw on the quad for the surprise tonight.
Day 19
Date: 22/2
Eva and Kate
Been M.I.A for four days on hike. But don’t worry everyone is perfectly fine.
Tuesday We woke up and packed for our hike = NO MORNING RUN!!! Little did we realise the exercise would come later in the day. We broke off into the three hike groups and set off for our first campsite, which was 7.9 km away. The track was relatively hilly and always in the sun which made it a lot harder than it could have been. Luckily no one got drastically lost and we all got there well before dark. Most of us made the decision to sleep under the stars.
Wednesday 15.1km. It started out easy, with about half the day on mostly flat and level ground. However after 8km and lunch, the flat road changed to an all uphill track. Nathan and Sarah’s hiking groups merged and left before Anna’s. Meaning, they should have arrived to the second campsite long before the others, however they were overtaken and Anna’s group arrived at camp first. Despite a sea of cow pats covering were we would later sleep, the campsite was beautiful and the sunset was beyond impressive.
Thursday Woke up thinking day 3 would be easy and mostly downhill given how high up the campsite was. We thought wrong. A lot of the 12.4km was uphill. The highlight of the day was bush bashing: Each hiking group entered with only bearings to get them through the 1.5km trek to the tip of Mt Binga. There was no clear track given and the only sign that we were going in the right direction were a series of numbers stapled to trees. Thankfully everyone made it out alive and intact to our final campsite, which was also inhabited but countless ants, a goanna and a very cute, hungry possum. That night instead of cow pats our issue was cacti. Oh, and we got milo.
Friday The final day. The shortest day. The easiest day. Only 7km with only one major hill it was a breeze compared to the other 3. Everyone made it back to camp in good time with the motivation of showers, proper beds, mail and getting off our feet.
Although challenging everyone found it rewarding and realised hiking over 40km is hard but fun in the right company.
Day 14
Date: 17/2
Today was more of a chilled out day, due to the fact that it was a weekend. Some activities that occurred include a car wash which ended in a water fight, baking and an hour long game of touch footy. However, the main attraction of the day was a heated game of poker which mysteriously ended with about 40 cards and many stolen chips. When 3:30 rolled around, the boys reluctantly got together for chores (otherwise known as punishment), while the girls had extra time to harass the guys while they worked. All in all, today was a pretty good day for some and not so great for others but nobody got severely injured so in the eyes of the instructors it was a resounding success.+++++++++
Day 12
Date: 15/2
Grace, Blake, Connor, Georgia and Jade.
Yesterday for Valentine's Day, the girls had a little picnic with the doughnuts and milk shakes they made and played some Valentine’s Day themed games at night time, as the boys were out at survival. We then finished the evening with a pink Valentine’s Day cake that was made by the girls earlier that afternoon. The guys sat on their bottoms all day and played cards on survival. Very fun.
Day 9
Date: 13/2
Names: Tilly
Today, the girls finished their Survival Challenge, at 7 AM we woke up and packed up our camp. From there we walked to the bottom of Tractor Land where the challenges were being held. The two Survival groups were split up to do these challenges group 1 went and did the stretcher challenge. The stretcher challenge is when there is a patient on the stretcher and a team of 6 have to hold each corner and the patients head and feet. THEN we had to walk across a slippery steep hill of bright brown dirt, following that between the two steep hills there was a gully of smelly, deep mud that if you got in it was so hard to get out. With Group 1 Kiera and Jade were covered head to toe in mud. As Group 1 was doing this challenge Group 2 were during the second challenge. The second challenge was a challenge where the goal was to get across a large tub which was supposed to be a dangerous flowing river, anyway, we were given some logs and rope. With those materials we had to make a bridge to cross this dangerous river. After about 20 minutes we swapped and Group 2 did the stretcher challenge and Georgia got the messiest but not as messy as Jade and Kiera. They had the record for that challenge. Group 1 attempted the bridge challenge and didn’t quite get the finish as that challenge was very frustrating and difficult. Then everyone had to walk back to camp although there were a few hills the walk was pretty chill. As we got back to camp we packed up our Survival things and then had GRAPES. We were all SO excited as we haven’t got grapes this whole camp and everyone loved them. Then we did 2 activities one was a high ropes activity which was the milk crate climb Fielke Cabin got the record out of the girls with 15 crates stacked up. The second activity was the Tangled Forest and that was confusing and frustrating then we had lunch and lived happily ever after.
Day 8
Date: 11/2
Names: Jordi, Will, Dylan.
Blog: Today the girls left for 3 day survival, whereas the boys stayed at Binga and did a series of high ropes courses, and created and started on the first ever… Immanuel Gardens at Binga. Last night before we had a chungus pizza made by Jordi, Will, Dylan and Connor. It was thicc (with 2 c’s J) and tonight for dinner we are having chicken carbonara with pasta. Also the girls get back from the survival on Wednesday and that is also when the boys leave for the survival which is a 1km away from where we were doing the gardens work. We also got to design the Immanuel gardens and soon we get to vote about which design we want for the gardens. Both of the boys groups did theirs and the girls do theirs next. Boys group 1 and 2 will always be the best J
Day 7
Date: 10/2
Names: Scarlett, Grace, Martha & Tara
Today is day 7 of our Mt Binga experience. Our first weekend at Binga was extremely enjoyable, with no rain and lots of time to relax. With the girls heading off to survival tomorrow (two nights in the bush with only each other), today was a day for packing and prep. Everyone started the day with pancakes followed by snags cooked by Blake, Jordi and Will for lunch. Every Sunday night we have a communal dinner with tonight’s meal being pizzas. The boys spent most of their day playing cards, whilst the girls did some baking. Tomorrow the boys will be doing horse riding and the girls will be taking off for survival. Despite being home sick everyone is enjoying their time and is excited for what is to come.
Scarlett, Grace, Martha & Tara
Day 6
09/02/19
Names: Eva, Kiara, Lily & Tilly
WASSUP FAM,
Today was our first weekend day at Mt Binga. We started off our day with a fab 30 minute sleep in, followed by a sunny morning reflection. It was the first morning since our arrival that did not rain so we actually got to sit in our reflection spots. The rest of the day consisted of many games of heated poker, relaxing, washing our disgusting clothes, baking cookies and brownies, receiving our Binga shirts, re-reading the letters we got in the mail last night from friends and family and crying again (the tears were mainly from the guys as Binga has toughened all the girls up and we no longer cry anymore). Most are missing home, some more than others, but we are all really, really enjoying the Binga experience and living every day with positivity.
Until next time.
Eva, Kiara, Lily & Tilly.
Day 5
08/02/19
Names: Scarlett, Jade, Jordi, Emily
Today was the 5th day of Binga. The second half of the hike group woke up to the sound of birds chirping on Tonys place (the campsite for the night) whilst the first hike group did a quick morning activity at base camp.
The first hike group split into groups of two, one half learnt the basics of horse riding. Whereas the others experienced Sugar Glider, a fun high ropes activity. The second hike group made their 6km journey back, they had to orientate their way back to the Binga community.
The horses were extremely friendly and created a great bond with the students. This assisted to calm any nerves from the students.
Card games such as UNO has become a favourite pastime among us. We are excited to get our shirts tomorrow.
Overall it was a fantastic day filled with adventure, team work and fun.
Much love to all the families, we miss you heaps.
Day 4
7/2/19
Names: Abi, Miranda
Today we walked back from our 2 day hike. When we woke up this morning, we woke up to rain coming in through our hoochie. The rain was cold but it was a way to get us all up out of bed! We then packed up our camp for the night and waited for leaders to wake up for brekkie. After a couple disputes, we had a delicious breakfast of cornflakes. We were then ready to hike home! The first group took off and while the second group waited to head home, we played an intense game of Uno. The hike home was a nice chill walk. After around 2 hours of hiking home we then arrived back at camp. The experience all up was very exciting and we all persevered and engaged in our community. After we got home we had some time to relax and then we played an initiative game called recreate. The game was basically a massive game of Chinese whispers. We were in teams of 5. The first person had a peak at a structure of blocks. They had to then describe the structure to the next person and so on. After the last person described it to the person at the end they had to recreate the structure. This game was a fun team building activity. Day 4 was exhilarating.
Day 3
6/2/19
Names: Kiara and Lily
Today, despite the rainfall all morning half of group one prepared for their 2 day hike. With half of us still at camp we prepared for our hike with practising our cooking skills over the fire and setting up our hoochies. We are all set for hiking and camping, except for a few nerves.
My (Kiara) favourite things so far have been horse riding – where met, groomed and saddled the horses. I also loved woodchop, I got to channel all my anger and just ram the axe into the wood.
I (Lily) loved Sugar Glider – a high ropes activity. I was really scared before I did it, but then I actually had a lot of fun and kind of got a little bit over my fear of heights.
Day 2
5/2/19
Names: Felicity, Jayden, Freya, Abi, James.
Today we woke up at 6.15am after a long night sleep we were rudely interrupted by the loud bell. From there on we went on a morning run/jog/walk which was 2km. then we had breakfast and got ready for our morning activities. Depending on which group you were in you either did sugar glider (high ropes), horse riding or hiking prep for their 2 day hike.
Day 1
Date: 04/02/19
Names: Georgia, Kate, Jacob, Sophie O
After we departed from the Life Church we took a long, scenic and windy 3 hour road trip to arrive at Mt Binga safely. We were introduced to each of the staff and got set up in our dorms. We were then split into cabin groups and set the task of defrosting a frozen t-shirt so it could be worn by one of our group members. After that we all had a break for lunch then took a tour around the camp, where each group member was blindfolded between stops. We proceeded to have afternoon tea and then completed our afternoon jobs.