Nanga Bush Getaway Camp

On Sunday, I participated in Nanga Bush getaway camp which was organised by International Students Service (ISS). This is just a small camp for the committee to know each other more.

Wonderful morning.

As early as 7.30a.m., I started to walk from my home to uni to meet the other committee. The weather was not too good. Rain was forecasted to pour on that day.

Entrance of Nanga Bush Camp.

Nanga Bush Camp is located about 90 minutes from Perth. It is a great place to organise a camp as there are loads of activities you can do there. In addition, Nanga Bush Camp offers three large bunkhouses and also smaller cottages.

Timbarra bunkhouse.

We were placed at Timbarra bunkhouse. I find this bunkhouse quite unique as the whole building was built using local timber. This is a huge accomodation which I think can accomodate more than 100 people.

There are different facilities in the bunkhouse. This includes sleeping facilities, catering facilities, dining area, indoor activity area (sports activities for example) and also toilets for both male and female. With all these facilities, I'm pretty sure this place is perfect for camping.

After we settled everything in the bunkhouse, we decided to take a short rest and had our lunch.

"Treasure" hunt.

Our first activity started at 1p.m. This activity was similar to the normal treasure hunt.

Potato Salad Team.

At first, the 13 of us was splitted into two teams; Potato Salad and Egg Mayo. We were required to walk around Nanga Bush Camp using only compass and map provided and find 10 hole punchers within the time set. For each hole punchers, we need to stamp it on a piece of paper. Team with most stamps win.

How to get the most stamps?

Prior to the game, each team were discussing on the shortest route to gather the most stamps. We need to come out with an agreement among our team members on which route to take. In this game, we learnt to communicate and develop team spirit.

Devil's Elbow.

During the game, we walked through a lot of places. It seems like a game to explore the whole Nanga Bush Camp. We had to walk non-stop and also to chase the time as our goal was to win the game.

On top of one of the highlands.

We had to walk up and down hill. It's not easy! To add, the weather was not kind to us. It kept on raining!

Murray River.

My team, Potato Salad, managed to collect 6 stamps before we reached Murray River. The next hole puncher is across this river according to the map. That was extremely challenging. If we could cross the river, we would be able to collect the remaining 4 stamps. If not, we only could go back to the bunkhouse with only 6 stamps. At this very moment, conflict arose. I suggested not to cross the river but some of my team members was not supportive on my idea.

In the end, I had no choice but to agree on crossing the river. As you all can see from the photo earlier, There were only 2 guys in the team. So, either me or the other guy would go first. Since I think I'm sort of older, I decided to lead them.

We took off our shoes and socks. When I took my first step on the water, I shouted, "WAHHHH!!! So cold!!!" The water was really cold. It made my legs numb. I, then, took a step followed by another on the rock to cross the river, followed by the other members.

"WAHHHH!!!" I screamed.

I fell down!

Some of the bruises.

The rocks were very slippery in the water. I got myself all wet and worse, I picked up several bruises on my hands and legs. I don't know whether I was lucky or unlucky. Lucky because I didn't have any serious injuries and unlucky because I fell down.

I think by then, my team members finally realised that my suggestion at first was correct. *Sigh* If they listened to me at first, I wouldn't get such an accident. If I insisted on my suggestion, I wouldn't get such an accident. Anyway, we went back to the bunkhouse after that since we exceeded our time limit.

The results, Egg Mayo won the game with 7 stamps.

Warm, warm and warm.

In the bunkhouse, each of us have our own activities. Some sit around the burning wood fire to keep themselves warm. Some played table tennis and also basketball to entertain themselves. I had to take a bath as I was wet from head to toes.

BBQ for dinner.

At about 6p.m., most of us started to get hungry. Therefore, we agreed to have our dinner. Nothing can be easier than the BBQ. Sausages, corn, chicken wings and vegetarian patty were the food on the barbecue pit.

Let's eat!

Overall, not a great meal, I reck on. It was just a meal to fill your stomach.

After dinner, two navigators named, Peter and Jonathan, came and took us for a night walk. Using only moonlight, we were led by the navigators and walked through the forest. Every now and then, Peter would stop and pass us some information. He told us about night vision (how to use our senses to walk in the dark), the history of Nanga Bush, the space and so on. It was an interesting walk which lasted us for about 1 and a half hour. I simply love this walk. :)

Game time.

The night was still young after the walk. Everyone's eyes were still wide open. Hence, we had some card games to fill our time. Those who lost the game will have to eat the left over; sausages and chicken wings. Another punishment was to have a sip of Vodka Cruiser.

We stopped the game at about 11p.m. Many started to take a bath despite the cold weather. I just chilled with two and three committee members around the wood fire.

Finally, our tiredness made us surrender.

Next day, we were supposed to wake up at 7a.m. Nevertheless, almost all of us were reluctant to do so until 7:30a.m. It was freezing cold once I get out from my sleeping bag. How I wish I can crawl back to my bed and hide in my sleeping bag.

Superb scenery.

Thereafter our breakfast, we had our canoeing as our final activity. I was quite looking forward for canoeing actually. In spite of that, after I realised that we wouldn't be able to go far using the canoe, I was quite disappointed at it. We were just paddling around one area as we scared the strong current of the water might sweep us away.

Say cheese...

Canoeing ended our 2 days 1 night getaway trip. We went back to the bunkhouse for cleaning up and also packing our stuff. Before we went off, another accident happened. Now what, you must be asking.

My poor camera.

Someone dropped my beloved camera! I was quite sad actually. The "zoom in/out" button and the body of the camera were dented. I was speechless seriously. I didn't know how should I react except saying "never mind".

Initially, I thought this would be a fun camp but ended up, two accidents happened to me. Should I still enjoy the camp? I should have just stay at home and relax. :(

P/s: I was quite unlucky these few days. Apart from what happened during the camp, my laptop is giving me problem now. I can only deal with this laptop after my trip to Adelaide and Melbourne. *Sigh*