For the past 3 blogs, I have been covering memories I've had of campsites and experiences from my childhood through primary school. In total, there were 4 camps - Journey's End, Leigh Camp, Hanmer Springs Forest Camp, and the subject of today's blog entry. Like a lot of good things, this one also must come to an end, unfortunately.
I've had fun reminiscing over the fun times I had at these locations, but sadly, there was only a short frame of time to do them. Just like the camping experiences themselves, the blog entries about them had to stop at some point. Today is that day for the final chapter of this particular part of my life, from a storytelling point of view.
Before I get into it, of course, the obligatory disclaimer - my memories and views in this entry, like the past 3, may not reflect how the campsite is today. These experiences took place a long time ago.
With that out of the way, one more point I'll add. At the end of this 4th chapter, I will be doing a brief summary of all camps from start to finish. The pros, the cons, just to cap off the subject at the end. So, without any further delay, here's Part 4 of my times in the Great Outdoors!
The year was 1993. My final year at primary school and it was only a matter of months away (at the time of these events) from becoming a high school student. From a Ministry of Education point of view, I was what they once referred to as Form 2. Today we call that Year 8. I was a mere 12-year-old at this time. Just to paint a picture of where we, as kids, were at.
With the previous camps, the distances from our point of departure varied a little. Where Journey's End and Hanmer Springs were quite far, while Leigh Camp was fairly close, the destination of what would be my final school camp overall was actually a lot closer. Roughly half the distance it is to Leigh Camp, in fact. This year, we were off to Blue Skies in Kaiapoi.
As your resident tour guide, I shall show you the way one more time. To get there from Christchurch, head north to State Highway 1, crossing the Waimakariri River bridge. Turn right on Tram Road until you get to Main North Road, turn left (alternatively, you can make your way there all the way up Main North Road and cross that bridge instead). Follow the road into the town of Kaiapoi. Moments later, on your right, stop at the large building with the triangular-shaped roof. Guess what? You're there already! I told you the trip was short.
Click to enlarge.
Before I get into the actual camp, I must mention the fact that I'd been to Blue Skies once before, but it wasn't for accommodation. Once upon a time, believe it or not, I used to go to Scouts. It was a short-lived chapter of my life. Not much to say about my experiences to be worthy of its own blog entry. That being said, I'll get it out of the way now - I went to the Scout den on St. John's Street, Woolston, in the early 90's. We had a lot of indoor activities, but not very many outdoor ones. Played at a nearby field across the river, planted a tree at the Anglican Church across the road, went to a Scouts gathering at Barnett Park, Sumner, did a big hike to Kaiapoi...and that was pretty much it. After a couple years or so, I stopped going. Probably got bored or something.
About that Scouts hike to Kaiapoi, I don't remember where the starting point, but it all ended at Blue Skies. It was a long journey. We even had to cross the road bridge at the Waimakariri River to get there. Anyway, it was the carnival-like event taking place there where the hike ended, and it was fun. I even got to ride on the back of a Harley! 😁
And that was my entire Scouts experience, in a nutshell. So, back to the school camp.
Of all the campsites I went to with school, I think Blue Skies had the best accommodation for sleeping, etc. It was very well looked after (that's not to say the others weren't at all). There's a chance that because this site was right in the middle of civilization rather than being situated either on the outskirts or well away from anyone's skirt, I enjoyed it even more so. I guess I'll always be a city boy deep down.
The campsite itself is probably my favourite of the 4. Again, not to discredit the others. Even though I have more memories of a couple of the others' experiences, this is one I'd willingly stay at again, given the chance...and it's one you can get to by Metro bus these days (the 1 Rangiora route, if anyone asks), so...bonus!
I briefly mentioned just now that I have more memories of a couple other campsites over this one. This is unfortunately true, but I will do my best to unpack the things I do remember. For the campsite itself, I recall there being a swimming pool, which I didn't use at the time. There's a large field at the back of the main building complex (which, by the way, is almost all-in-one - from facilities to cabins, it's mostly the same building, from memory).
One of the main features in the large field has to be the abseiling tower. Yes, we got to do some abseiling. This was a personal first for me. Given my issues with heights, this was an experience that made me nervous. Not so much after you've scaled (downward) about halfway, but to begin with, I felt like this was where I'll be breaking my first bone. Thankfully, this wasn't the case after all and I made it back to the ground safely, despite the fact that I misjudged the rope system at one point and started to swing into the tower, almost faceplanting it. I hope nobody saw that...
However, there was one feature of the abseiling tower that was the most pleasing - it was attached to a flying fox! 😁 If you've read Part 3 of this blog series, you'll understand the reason why this was special to me. In fact, if you go back on all the previous blogs on this topic, you'll have more of an understanding of all the references I'll be making. So...you know what to do.
So, yeah. The flying fox was very popular at this camp. In part, because of the events of Part 3. Did I mention which teachers I had this year? Once again, along with Mrs. Galbraith's class, I had Mrs. Smith and, you guessed it, Mrs. O'Connell... I think you have an idea by now on where this is leading... 😈
When it comes to hiking, being in a township made things a little different. As I recall, there aren't really any walking tracks in that general area (if I'm wrong, feel free to let me know). We didn't go on any either way, so yeah. But we did do something that was kind of close to hiking, and I must say it was a lot more enjoyable than what I'd endured the previous years. To make it more interesting, the annual hike was converted into an orienteering event.
Anyone who knows me well should be familiar with the fact that I loved maps when I was growing up. I still enjoy them to this day. A lot of the time, I would actually draw maps. Not tracing them from a book. I mean from memory, drawing what I could remember. I may not be an outdoorsy person at heart, but at least I know I won't get lost. So, with this in mind, doing orienteering around Kaiapoi was very much my cup of Milo (I don't drink tea). I was introduced to orienteering back at school in the year prior to this camp, some time after the Hanmer trip, so I was well-informed on what it was by this time and I was all in.
Another key experience during our stay at Blue Skies was a boat ride along the Kaiapoi River. The boat was well-known around these parts. It was the historic Tuhoe.
I should probably add a little extra info about me before talking about the boat. Around this time, I found myself having a major crush on a girl. This girl, whom I will not mention the name of for the sake of privacy (even though she knows about this), was in Mrs. Galbraith's class, and as I mentioned earlier, her class was camping with us. So, this is one of the main reasons why this camp was extra special to me. It meant that I got to spend a week away with her as well. 😏 (Not that anything happened anyway, but it was still fun because of this)
Back to the Tuhoe. On that one day during this week, we all walked down (of course) from the campsite to the dock along the river (which is still there, by the way) and made our way on board. The boat ride was fun, but even more so for me because of my crush. Had things been a little different back then, there could've been a Titanic moment, long before "My Heart Will Go On" was even written.
Speaking of the Titanic, in 2015 I was greeted with the sad news of the Tuhoe running aground by the mouth of the Waimakariri River, after having repairs done in Lyttelton. Unfortunately, it was unsalvagable. Given my memories and experiences on this boat, I was very much saddened to read about this. Rest in pieces, Tuhoe. 😞
A few more things to share before I get into the brief summary and draw this series to a close. First of all, the evening activities.
Just like the Hanmer camp, I don't really have any memories of late night shenanigans for this one either. Maybe as we got older, we were less troublesome (but not entirely, of course)? Either that or we just weren't in the right environment to successfully achieve the nonsense of old.
Next...also like the Hanmer trip, we brought back our newest tradition - the Mock Court...
😈
As you've probably guessed by now, that flying fox tower served its purpose during this camping trip in the same way the previous one did. Mrs. O'Connell once again became the defendant of yet another Mock Court case - for the same crime, I might add. This means she was a repeat offender! So, one last time, in all of its glory, we witnessed her speeding down that metal wire in all its hilarity. If I were to say what my best memories of that teacher were, these were the ones. 😊
My final memory I'll be sharing is the old tradition that had been around since (before?) my first camp at Journey's End - the Camp Concert. There was never a camp without one. It's a bittersweet feeling knowing that it would be coming to an end for me at this point of life. I never went on any camps with high school, even though the opportunity was there the following year (I chose to opt out, for some reason - I regret it now though). On one occasion, at another camp I attended this same year (a camp rewarding selected school kids who were well-behaved, organised by the NZ Police), I tried to attempt a Camp Concert with that group by explaining what one was and seeing what would happen. A few jokes were told here and there, but that's about as far as it got. It's a shame, really. I think all camps should have their own concert events with large groups.
The memories of this year's Camp Concert are but a few, and they mainly revolve around the fact that I was involved this time...almost. Why almost? Well, the thing is that the group I was to perform with actually had 2 sketches in mind, and were planning on performing them both back to back. I was only a part of one of them. When the time came that Thursday night, the group started with the sketch I wasn't in. That's fine. However, after they'd finished, one of the teachers said something along the lines of, "One performance per group". Thus cancelling the second sketch - the only one I was meant to be in. I was rather annoyed by this, as I never got to properly show off my performance skills to the other kids (I've been in one or two school plays here and there, but they weren't Oscar-worthy). A sketch that was an original idea (not mine), but never got a chance in the end. I sometimes wonder if the teacher knew I was involved and did something to prevent it... Conspiracy theory.
For more information on Blue Skies, Kaiapoi, click here. They have a website domain name, but it redirects to their Facebook page, so I've given you a direct link to that instead. 👍
On that note, we have come to the end of the series! As I draw this 4-part series to a close, I shall give a brief summary of all that went on. My favourite moments? Any regrets? Let's do this:
1. Journey's End (1990) - Overall, being my first camp away from my family, it was an important lesson that I wouldn't realise until years later. I needed to learn the importance of independence. My family weren't going to be around forever, as sad as that is to say. Spending that week away from them was an eye-opener, for sure. The least favourite moments were mainly due to homesickness. But the best moments were the times we were misbehaving while we were supposed to be sleeping, and the first Camp Concert.
2. Leigh Camp (1991) - This one was a highlight, even though there were a few more negative points compared to the previous camp. These were in the form of pre-breakfast runs and unwanted fitness sessions. The best memories, however, involved Tali hijacking the fitness sessions to make them enjoyable, going on a hike along the river bed and saving my neighbour's then soon-to-be pet cat, the overnight mayhem and the Camp Concert once again.
3. - Hanmer Springs Forest Camp (1992) - I made it pretty clear in that blog what the low points were. The ridiculously long hikes that are, in my opinion even 34 years later, not best suited for people with little legs. However, the best parts were the hot pools, the Camp Concert (particularly the Color Me Badd lip sync performance) and what would be the first Mock Court, which delivered some payback for the long hikes. Justice was served.
4. Blue Skies (1993) - It was mostly all positive this time around. If there were any setbacks, it was probably not getting to perform in the Camp Concert. In fact, this was probably my main regret overall for each camp. I wish I had gotten involved more in this field with each trip. Around this time, I was actually going through an actor/comedian phase (which would return later in life), with the likes of Mr. Bean, Jason Gunn and Bill Cosby as strong influences (Disclaimer: The Cosby influence is regarding his stand-up routines and not what you're thinking). Taking part in the Camp Concerts would've been a huge thing for me, but for some reason, I remained an audience member. If I could change just one thing, it would be this. Nevermind though. At least we had one more Mock Court to punish Mrs. O'Connell with.
On that note, I shall bring this series to a close. Thank you all for reading about my camping experiences. For now, this Journey has come to an End. 🥁 😉
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