Awakeri School

Room 14 Aongatete Lodge Camp

21 - 24 Feb 2017

Day one of our camp. We settle into Aongatete Lodge. Shaun and Izzy master the stilts. Oscar practises his guitar.	Now we are off to Katikati. We orienteer around town. Outside the library is a sweet piano.
Everyone says hello to Barry and his dog Jack.	Back at camp groups have jobs to do. Jake, Coral, Skylar and Isaac (The Mexican Tunnel Diggers) have to help prepare dinner.
Josh and Shaun do their share of the hundreds of dishes.	Day 2. We go by flash bus to Waihi. Phil tells us loads of interesting things about the gold mines.
On the bus we get to touch $200 worth of silver (Cate and Skylar)...	and $1800 worth of gold (Kalib).
After the museum, we head on the train to Waikino. Isaac, Dan and Oscar Murray enjoy getting the trucks and cars to toot at us. We get a record 24.5 toots!	Josh Broadmore looks the part as a guard on the train.
Back to camp. The river has gone down enough for us to have a swim. It was Acacia's birthday, so her dad came to visit.	There were little waterfalls, rocks to jump off, and cool cool water. Followed by a 25 minute walk back to camp.
At camp, the confidence course was always fun and challenging. Josh Brown tries the hardest activity.	Hmmm, what accusations shall I make? Tawha thinks about the mock court the next night. Kieran's dad Richard gives him advice, but it didn't save him!
Day three. We are off into the Kaimais. We have lots of bush identification to do, a stream to cross and a murderer to avoid...	Oh no, Shaun has been murdered! He was fairly dramatic, the first of about eighteen.
Leanna is blindfolded by Jason. Now can you identify the tawa tree?	On the way back across the stream, Rheet didn't quite make it. She is wet almost to her shoulders.
Now we are at Sapphire Springs. We had a free play for a while, then we got out, had lunch. There were a number of water safety activities to complete in the deeper water, like swimming non-stop for five minutes.	Amie tries to high five Sammy as she slides down.
Games of keep ball between parents and kids are always fun. Andrea Schuler swims away from Kalib, Coral and Sasha.	Back at camp, Ayla finds a friendly Puriri moth.
Kalib mixes up the crumble for pudding.	Mock court at last. Judge Shane and assistant Andrea hear the cases brought by prosecutor Cate. One of the jury, Ayla, is giving a statement.
Kieran is in the dock. Witnesses Jake and Corban don't help much! Yes his alarm did go off at 1 am!	The cases are entertaining, like when Teigan was prosecuted for using her twin sister Olivia's name in Spotlight. Olivia ended up in the dock too! Here are Ayla, Isabel, Sasha, Bonnie and Taya in the front row.
Taya is in court for what she was calling out in her sleep.	Taya gets her own back by being a witness. Corban and Oscar are in trouble for pretending to put spiders in her hair.
Rodney is accused of causing earthquakes. Oh no, his wife Iona is keen to testify against him, and she's on the jury!	The last day of camp. We get packed up early. Shaun and the Nolan twins invent and play stilt soccer.
At Waimarino. After some good instructions from Chris, we spend a while kayaking, playing Shark and Seal, swapping kayaks, rescuing each other (Taya tipped out about eight times!). After lunch were the shore based activities. Nice back flip off the high board Taya!	Dan has just come down the hydroslide and Samantha has just leapt off the high board.
Joel blobs Joshua Brown high into the air.	Amie is racing down the slide. High impact ahead!
There were some impressive splashes! Jason Broadmore bombs off the high board. We can't tell who that is hitting the water off the hydroslide!	The U.F.O. was popular. It has its own mini blob, water trampoline and slide. Shaun, Jake, Josh, Cole, Joel and Kalib have their turn.