Eltham Term Week 5 2019

Wednesday was a big day at the gym as we were all getting our own personalised workout plan from Jordan. We met at the station, drove to Eltham leisure centre and got stuck straight into it. We are extremely lucky to have Jordan this term as his dedication to not only show us the gym but formulate everyone their own unique workout plan is pure gold. We paired up and got stuck into working our way through the our plans. It was great to see everyone so focused on what they were doing and asking questions on how to improve their form and activate the right muscles. We did this until we couldn't anymore, said goodbye to Jordan and made our way to Melbourne polytechnic to have a tour of the campus. We met with Rachel who work at the campus and began our tour. With many thanks to Rachel she gave us the opportunity to speak and see many different trades offered at the campus. We were able to get a snippet and speak to the leading teachers of plumbing, carpentry and bricklaying. We also did a small taster in the middle of the session around how to brick lay. With lots of information given from the teachers and observations of the campus the young people were retaining a lot form the visit. Rachel also left us with a parting gift of a course guide to all the courses offered at Melbourne Polytechnic which a few of us were very thankful to get. We said thank you and goodbye and made our journey home.

On Thursday the group set off from Collingwood train station for Bancoora Surf Life Saving Club located 10 minutes out from Torquay. After an hour and a half, we arrived at our destination and met Toll who welcomed us inside. We then discussed the plan for day one over lunch before playing a round of number pool and heading off for our first surfing session. Due to less than ideal surfing conditions at Bancoora we headed towards Cosy Corner Beach about 10 minutes away where we met up with our instructor Kev. Kev set everyone up with a wetsuit and a surfboard before we met together on the sand. Prior to jumping in the water Kev went over the basics of surfing including how to stand up as well as how to maintain balance while surfing and then we jumped into it. Early in the session balance was the major challenge whether it was paddling to catch a wave or attempting to stand up however as the session progressed each group member showed ample amounts of improvement with everyone managing to catch at least a few good waves. This session was a great introduction to surfing and left everyone craving more, we finished up by enjoying some chips from the local fish n chip store before heading to Bells Beach. Bells is one of the greatest surfing locations in the world and here we were able to enjoy watching surfers and stand-up paddleboarders tackle some great waves before returning to the lifesaving club to prepare for the night. Upon arrival back to the club we had showers hung up our wetsuits played a few more games of pool and then started to prep for dinner. For dinner we prepared a delicious BBQ and salad and shared it together while enjoying some great conversation. After dinner some of the group members headed out for a walk/ run on the beach while others elected to stay at the club and prepare dessert. Once back we had one on one check ins with everyone to see how their finding Newstart and how they are tracking with their school goals. While this was happening the remainder of the group indulged in watching the Batchelor finale while playing some pool as well as enjoying some small camp style circle games. We then enjoyed some apple crumble and ice cream before enjoying a well-deserved sleep.

On Friday the group awoke at 7am and jumped straight into Breakfast featuring some delicious pancakes before cleaning the club, packing our bags and preparing our lunches. Following a team effort, the place was ship shape by 8.30 and the group chucked on their wetsuits in preparation for our final surf session at Bancoora Beach. Our instructor Kev arrived at 9am and set everyone up with a board, following a reminder on the surf basics we headed out to build on our improvements from the day before. Once again, the improvement was evident with everyone standing up on their boards and enjoying the surf. Following another great start to the day we jumped out of our wetsuits got changed and had lunch on the bus as we headed towards the Torquay surf shops. After a browse around the shops and a quick trip to Maccas we got back on the bus and headed back towards Collingwood. After two days of surfing the group was exhausted and this resulted in a mellow drive back to the school. Upon arrival the group unpacked the bus and then met together to have a quick debrief. Students were asked to reflect on a time during the camp that they demonstrated patience, persistence, perseverance or participation and to rate the camp out of 10. Following some high rating from each of the members we jumped back into the bus and finished with some goodbyes at Collingwood train station.