HI I am Ella and I’m 10 years old. I went on a tramp to the Big Bend campsite in the Orongorongo river valley with Dad (Barry), Ollie my brother aged 7, Hamish who is 8 and his dad Richard. It was quite a simple walk. It was Ollie’s first tramp with the club.
At the Midway Bridge, Ollie and Hamish had races across the swingbridge. I refused to race because I much preferred the sweet taste of chocolate. Soon after Midway bridge there is this monkey tree that grows across the track that I really enjoyed climbing.
We arrived at the river and on the other side of the river there was a large bank of loose stones. Hamish and I were the first to climb to the top. We thought it was a great place for making landslides. Richard made a tree bridge across one part of the river. Ollie really enjoyed making avalanches on the stony bank, as well as finding sticks and cool looking stones in the river bed. We didn’t tell him that we used some of his sticks as firewood later.
After that we kept on walking to the campsite up the river. It was Ollie’s first time crossing big rivers and the water was freezing. Just as you were getting warm again after the last crossing you walked through another one. Finally we arrived at Big Bend campsite.
Big Bend was a cute little campsite with cow pats everywhere. We put up our tents and collected firewood. Hamish, Ollie and I went off exploring. We found the remains of an old hut and an old track that we walked along for a while. Eventually the Dads found out where we had gone and it was time to come back to the camp ground once they had caught up to us.
We lit the fire and cooked our dinner. Richard had brought along some sparklers of different colours and we had cool fun waving them around and making cool patterns. We also toasted marshmallows over the fire, making s’mores by squashing the burnt marshmallow between warm toasted Girl Guide biscuits.
Just before bed time I got called to come quick! I HAD A PET WETA ON MY SLEEPING BAG. He was named Max but he didn’t like being around people so he jumped away like a grasshopper.
Then we had another unexpected visitor. A possum was rustling through the packs. Dad chased him up a tree and threw stones at the possum but he missed.
The next morning it was cold and raining. Ollie and I really hated having to put our cold clothes and wet shoes back on but once we started walking again things weren’t so bad.
On the way out everyone got a Star Wars name, Ollie was Ewok, Hamish was Yoda and I was Princess Leia. The Dads were boring old stormtroopers. At least they handed out dark brown squares of Jedi Fuel every so often to keep us going.
I really enjoyed my trip to Big Bend.
