So last Friday we headed off in our bus with 12 staff and a truck following us filled to the brim with camping gear. Who would have thought you had to take soooo much stuff for a week camping. But it was all needed as we had 2 nights with 40 students each night. The massive green communal tents where for the students and one was a cook tent. We luckily set up ages away from them so had peace and quiet as I am sure there was lots of late night talking going on!
The weekend before the students arrived was beautiful. The weather was nice and hot, apart from an afternoon wind that came up the lake. It was so windy it blew 2 small tents away..... maybe that was saying something about our work tents! Dion and I invested in one so we were nice and safe. It was a great weekend, we worked all day setting up the massive tents which took forever as the bamboo had to be cut, then strapped to the cross bar and everything had to fit nice and neatly otherwise it would fall down! We would also occupy ourselves with getting a fire going for water, scouting for hikes and climbs and eating good food. Evenings would consist of beer drinking, camp fire and good food... followed by strange Chinese ghost stories! Was all good fun.....
Till the students arrived... then it all went down hill!!! The were the worst bunch YET. They had no apprication for any of the area we were in. They also were so ill prepared that I am surprised that more of them didn't come down with hypothermia!! The weather turned to shit as soon as they arrived. So bad that we canned a days kayaking for a group and went down in a wooden boat instead. Also we canned an afternoon of rafting as I had 3 thermoals on top long johns, jacket and a beanie and I was freezing. These kids had shorts, t-shirts and ponchos. But the hot ginger tea was amazing at the end!
So all in all was a good week away. The area is really beautiful and we could easily go hang out there for a couple of weeks to find new things.
The winter has well and truly arrived. Down to 8degrees and apparently there is going to be snow..... what the!! I thought we were in the tropics. Time will tell i guess.
