And on Wednesday we...

On the schedule for Wednesday morning it said “7.00 am Run to Bridge”. Hats on. Shoes on. Extra layer or two on. And all sixty students ran downhill to the bridge and back up the hill to breakfast. Instead of running, I took the opportunity to take some pictures of course :) 

Snow up where we would be hiking on Thursday.

Weet-Bix is New Zealand’s #1 breakfast cereal. There was also a lot of toast with butter, jam, vegemite, and marmite (NZ’s version of vegemite). (There was some peanut butter which I ate while everyone else told me I was crazy). A baked beans/cheese mixture is also a Kiwi breakfast favorite. I have tried a lot of new things, but unfortunately had to pass on this Kiwi food this early in the morning.

Room 6 hopped on the bus and headed to the Swamp Track for our bush study, solo study, and swamp trek. In the weeks leading up to camp the students spent time learning about the trees and bush native to NZ. As we made our way to the Swamp Track the students were given the task to find the trees they have been studying in real life. After my time working with the students in class and at the Karori Sanctuary I was quite impressed with my ability to identify the Rimu and Rangiora (Bushman’s Toilet Paper) trees. It was neat to see the students get so excited about their hard work in the classroom paying off.

We then arrived at the Swamp Track where the students began their Solo Study. We dropped the students off about 20 meters apart to have about a half hour experience alone with the bush. In their journals they could write about what they see, what they hear, what they smell, etc. or just sit and take in everything that is going on around them. I was dropped off as well in the middle of my students to keep an eye on them so I took the opportunity to breathe in the fresh air and take some “artsy” pictures.

Once all of the students were picked up form their solo we stopped for morning tea and then prepared for the Swamp Trek. The Swamp Track is a large oval of swampland. When this swamp adventure was described to me, I envisioned sinking into mud and stepping over vines as we traverse through the swamp. But I was not envisioning was what was before me when standing on the edge of the swamp. Trees and bushes and more trees and vines and streams and mud and lots of prickly things. All in the shape of a bowl – you trek downhill into the middle and then begin the large uphill climb. There are different marked points on the edge of the oval that are associated with specific coordinates. My group entered at the bearing 78 degrees. Our challenge was to enter the swamp in a line – one compass at the front, one in the middle, and one at the back – and keep at the bearing of 78 degrees until we reached the other side. Keeping a bearing of 78 degrees seems like a relatively easy task until there is a tree trunk in your way or a stream to hike through or layers of vines to climb over. Before we entered I gave them a pep talk about how we were a team – we would enter the swamp as a team and we would leave the swamp as a team. We needed to work together and depend on each other so that everyone made it out together because we were not leaving anyone behind and no one would be running ahead. My students did amazing. I was so proud of how they used their compass, how my girls in the middle helped the front communicate with the back, and everyone showed concern for everyone else (instead of their self) – which all lead to our success. It took my group between 25-30 minutes to trek through the swamp and meet back up with Emma.

I did not take my camera into the swamp with me because I did want to have a camera to use later in my trip; however, this is a picture from the edge of the swamp track. We walked right into this - at a 78 degree bearing - and made it out alive - with all 10 kids all in one piece.