This year I went on the Sea Kayaking Camp in the Gippsland Lakes. At first, I was slightly hesitant to go, as I had never done any form of kayaking, let alone on large open lakes. However, I was keen to give it a try.

Early on a Monday we arrived at school and began our long journey to Gippsland. Kayaking the estuaries and lakes of Gippsland was an incredible experience. Not only was the clarity of the water an amazing sight to see, but an amalgamation of the vegetation along the water, with the sounds of hidden animals, was a sight to behold. Even though that kayaking was physically taxing, especially when refining our technique, it was great to travel along the system. Unfortunately, we were unable to kayak on Wednesday due to heavy winds, but we found other interesting ways to explore the surroundings, like Geocaching on Raymond Island. Apparently, there were many koalas on the island, but we only saw one. The best moments of the camp were during our downtime. We were able to chat about the day and prepare for the next day. We often found ourselves playing cards or fishing when we could. Overall, it was a great camp even though not everything went to plan.

JAMES LONGLEY
Year 11

My name is Elliot and I am a Canadian exchange student at Woodleigh school. The camp I chose with my twin, James, was Sea Kayaking in Gippsland. We were supposed to do more of a nomad type of camp but sadly the camp had to be rearranged to be more of a sedentary type. We stayed in the Allawah trailer park for the whole week and did day-to-day trips. The kayaking instructors were superb and really tried their best to bear with our situation, to plan a different itinerary depending on the wind. All and all, it was a great experience and would recommend the Sea Kayaking camp to anybody who wants to try it.

ELLIOT