1983 School Magazine

TF{E VEAR TEhI CAR,flPS From the moment we arrived they were upon us, leeching themselves onto us. They were everywhere, even in the toilet. We just couldn't get rid of them. Out of every creature in the world I think they must be the most disgusting, repulsive things that have ever been created. We were told that we were going to walk the short distance to the hut and put up camp for the night. After walking for nearly an hour and a half we finally arrived. We wondered if Miss McAdam was being funny when she said a short walk. Because it was raining we couldn't sit around a campfire and sing songs, so we went into the hut and sang until we were ordered to got to bed about 9.30. The following day we walked 18 km. through leech- infested rainforest, up steps, along narrow ridges and down steep hills, and all this with 20 kilo packs on our backs.

We spent the night around a campfire singing any songs we hadn't already sung and playing games. The lads from the forestry department had brought along a book about Uncle Art and his wild bush tales. They were really "good" and everyone had a good laugh. The last day we started out up a 500 metre hill that was steeper than anything we'd ever walked up. Apart from that the day was relatively uneventful, until the second group took a wrong turning and our group leader had to joe all the way back to find them. They then had to jog all the way back down to the cow paddock. The bus journey home was full of tired but happy girls. We drove along the freeway singing "tr-ove you Brisbane" at the top of our voices until we had to stop. All in all, apart from the leeches, I'd say that everyone had a ball, but I don't think we'd do it again. Lindsay Fry (10 Lilley - 108 Camp)

When we finally arrived at the clearing where we were going to camp for that night, we almost walked past it. Luckily some observant young girl realised that the blue things to the left of us were tents. Nearly half an hour later the last group walked in and put up their tents too. Then most of us collapsed on the grass. It was not without adventure though as one of the girls got a tick on her and another enterprising young girl put metho on it, not realising that the metho would only make the tick angrier. The night was not without mishap either as another tick was found. Luckily, no one put any metho on that one.