WPCA INTERACTIONS

On the 11 Feb all the year 8's met at school early to load our gear into the vans. We met William Pike which was cool and got on our way to go to the Hawdon hut.

The trip there dragged on a bit but we made it fun by talking about the adventure that lay ahead.

When we got there army guys were training in the field near the car park. They were doing push ups, burpees and running. I found this a bit random, why did they have to do it there.

We had a quick bite to eat for morning tea and then divided up the food evenly among everyone for the tramp, then we walked through the trees to the start.

To start with we crossed a river, we had to link arms as we walked through the water to help support each other so we didn't fall over. If someone stumbled the person next to us could help us up.

We walked for around 15 minutes until we came to a fence. Mr Priddy then told us a story about a couple of people who crossed this river at this same spot when it was in flood. They tied themselves together for safety but when one slipped they got swept downstream and their rope got caught on the fence pole and they drowned. There was a piece of string still hanging on the fence post and I wonder if it was the piece of string from the victims.

We kept on walking after this for about an hour and then Mr Priddy decided we should stop for lunch. It was a really hot day and everyone had drunk their water so when we headed on our way again we got really really thirsty. After about 30 minutes walking we could see a stream ahead and everyone sprinted to get a drink of water - it was REALLY refreshing! It then took another 30 minutes to get to the Hawdon hut - FINALLY!

We reached it and the hut came into view at this point my legs were SO sore!!!!  I could barely stand,

My pack had squashed me into the ground.When i took of my pack i felt so light after that we took of our wet socks and shoes and put them on the veranda. we sorted out our bunks girls in one room boys in the other. Once we had settled in we made our way down to the river and went for a swim, It was freezing. I wasn't planning on getting in until Marcus pushed me in. After that we went back to the hut and ½ an hour later Benj and Derrin turned up we had wondered were they had been. They were lost in the forest but had made it back safe and sound. After that drama we had some tea. It was freezed dried food and i choose roast beef. Everybody started to get tired so we sat down around candles and William pike told us his adventurous life while we were drinking our milo’s. After we had listened to his story we made our way to bed.



When we arrived at cave stream my heart was pounding with Excitement.I was dressed in some rugby shorts and a thermal with my William Pike top over it. My group and I were the first to enter the cave. When I was entering cave, the water was creeping up on me and I was getting more excited. After a few minutes it started to warm up all we could here the other groups screaming from the water rising. When I looked up at the top of the cave all you could see were boulders wedged between the cracks and the walls were made out of limestone. If you looked at the walls closely you could see the tiny crystals. Once we got further into the cave our principal Mr Priddy asked all of us to turn or lights off. It was amazing if you put your hand right up in your face you couldn’t even see it, it was that dark. After we had moved on and put our head lights back on. We moved on closer and closer to the waterfall at the end of cave stream. For a little bit before we reached the waterfall we were weaving and climbing up slippery rocks and then finally we reached it. It was so warm and we were cheering on Riely to swim under the waterfall. He did it and then we made it up a ladder and crawled across a narrow ledge and out into the open it was lovely to get out of the cave even though it was amazing it was great to have fresh air.