Sunday November 23

Today we had our chapel service.
It was pretty comfy in the little cabin.
Lots of people did their washing today, but other than that we basically did nothing except playing a couple of games of football and soccer.
One of the boys cabins, called Schultz, which is our cabin, lost the sleep in and had to do all the work with only 5 people.
Tomorrow we are going on our Solo camp out.
It should be good to have some time and space to chill.
We had a massive barbecue tonight, and it was goooood…..with our first steak of the camp and rissoles, as well as some nice sausages.
All is alright up here….looking forward to coming home.

Jesse and Mitso

Saturday November 22

Things are going really well up here.

Today was mainly washing and free time.
I have never seen so many guys run to a washing machine!!!!
Some of us went to 'The Lease' to give the other cows and the bull water.
We are having a great time, but every one is excited that there is only one week left and that we can go home and see friends and family.

Cam and Jason

Friday November 21

Hi everyone.

Today was the first day of the week it hasn’t been raining!!
So.... we actually got to go out and do stuff...yay.
We were quite excited!!!!
We went abseiling and rock climbing!
On the way there in the troopie we had a singing session and Mr. Grieger sang along. It was good fun.
KEEP WRITING LETTERS !
For dinner we had sausages and mashed potato and last night we had spaghetti.
It was good!
We discovered the pet spider in Greasley (a cabin ).
See you all in 7 days !

Emma
Jesse

Thursday November 20

Today the boys came back from their Survival at Emu Creek Hall because of the storms.
The drive back to Binga was detoured in a different direction because the roads were flooded!! While the guys were coming back the girls drove out to see a creek that had over flown onto the road, it looked really cool.
When the boys got back everyone did our flat ground abseiling, and tomorrow were going abseiling....yay!!

Bye from Hannah and Ryan.

Wednesday November 19

Well hello from Taylor and Teagan.
The girls and guys Survival was detoured to Emu Creek Hall due to bad weather warnings.
The girls got back this morning and had an awesome time making damper; playing tug of war, catch the cow, skipping, wheel barrow races and sack races.
We slept on a heap of wooden chairs, which wasn’t that comfy!!
When we got back saw the guys and then they left for there Survival.
Then we headed off to ‘jail’ at Googa Creek.
We had to escape a little jail like thing with only a bbq scraper as a mirror and some sticks.
Our time was 44 minutes which wasn’t that good but we got outta there.
The guys time was something like 20 minutes, which we weren’t too happy about but we still know were better than them!
Only 9 days left and its gone sooo fast…cant wait to see family and friends again its going to be SWEET!!!!!

Take care
Love Taylor and Teagan
xxx :D

Monday November 17

Today felt like it was pretty boring!
Due to bad weather the girls Survival was proponed till further notice.
The boys were ready to go abseiling but could not because of the weather.
Instead we had our third horse riding lesson we went on our first trail ride.
We did not go very fast, but it was ok.
The other groups that were not riding horses were doing other jobs around the camp.
Nothing much exciting happened today and the weather was miserable with a low fog set in for the day.

Mitchell and James.

Sunday November 16

Today, Family Day was a very fun day for every one.
We messed up our devotion but we had lots of food and it was good fun.
We played footy with the family.
Our families were happy to see us.
At the end of the day when the parents left, the boys had to pack everything up.
We had to eat all the leftovers before 7:00pm

Jason and Joel

Friday November 14

Life is pretty quiet here at Binga.
We have been naming insects and Turkeys that we frequently see.
So far we have named 3 turkeys and 2 insects.
One if the turkeys we see the most is Boris.
One insect called Georgina died because of an accident.
Every night we have the Mt Binga high roller club where we play poker.
The highest rollers are Jason, Mitch, The Jesse’s, Frizey, Cam and of course Mitso.
This is how we spend most of our nights here at Binga.
Family Day is soon and we are looking forward to that, as some people are getting a bit homesick. 3-day hike was alright, but Mitso slipped on cow poo while running down a hill!
Other than that, we had a great time

By Cam and Mitso.

Photos from Family Day

Thursday November 13

Today the guys got back from their three day hike.
It was very tiring and we all wished we never have to do it again.
For some people it was really rewarding, but for others they were just too tired to think anything.
On the walk back to Mt Binga we came across two dogs and one of them mistook Brenton for a tree!
Some of the girls went to see Odis the huge bull and his little kiddies and many wives… he looked was like a rhino. It was pretty freaky.
Everyone can’t wait till Family Day on Sunday to see their family.
It's been too long!
Some have realized that lollies and soft drink aren’t really needed in everyday life and are amazed that they are surviving with out it and some are still counting down the days till they get to see their precious lollies again.
Some are just counting down the days till we go home.
But a lot of us are getting to really like Mt Binga and wishing we could stay a bit longer.
There have been some new additions to Mt Binga.... a calf was born and some of the girls decided to name it Beetroot.... but the staff think Cotton Tail is a better name (but we still call it beetroot!)
Mail days are still HUGE everybody loves to get mail but not everyone gets mail…so write to us…please!!!!
The food is really good and the deserts are even better THEY HAVE THE BESTEST CHOCOLATE PUDDING EVER. Wood chopping has taken off in Joels life. In his free time all he wants to do is chop wood.
Whereas, in others free time, all they want to do is sleep, but NOT Joel.
Well, take care and till next time...... bye

Ryan and Taylor

Wednesday November 12 update

Today we got back from our 3 day hike!
It was lots of fun and very tiring .
We came across 3 animal heads , 2 scavenger possums that ate some of our food , 1 large MOUNTAIN called The Finger , 1000000000 flies, ants that like to eat our food , 2000000000000 cows that stare at you while your hiking and lots of pretty horses .
Teagan, Taylor, Emma and Kiri came up with an awesome way of getting over the big hills, we sung heaps and heaps of classic hits.
We all got back safe and sound and were extremely excited about the HOT SHOWERS!!!!!! Teagan was fortunate enough not to have to carry her pack on the last day, we all were so annoyed but we got over it lol!!
Someone wouldn’t stop snoring!!!!!!!.
And we found a huge rock at our 2nd night campsite that looked like a whale so we named it whale!
Well that is all from us.
We'll keep you posted on what happens next.
We're all looking forward to the yummyness on Family Day
….Bye Guys!!!

Love Emma and Kiri

Miss you all,
p.s. Please write to us!

Saturday November 8th

Today was a rainy day, so we did very little, but that was ok.
In the morning we all gathered around the flag and did devotion.
Later the boys played a game of cricket while the girls sat up in the library and played on the piano. We learnt to use the washing machine.
Parker cabin has to clean up on Sunday.
The girls leave for their 3 day hike on Monday.
The boys leave for a 3 day hike on Tuesday.
Joel loves sitting around the fire, but sometimes he gets into trouble for making it too big!!
Brenton has seen 5 shooting stars or maybe they were ufo's....who knows...it might be a Binga mystery!

Brenton
Joel

Mt Binga Camp 3 9C Thursday November 6

The start to our camp at Mt Binga has been great!

We have all settled in and are getting to know our way around and the jobs that we need to do each day.

We have also spent time learning how to navigate with a map and compass.

On Tuesday, the boys and girls were driven in the troopie to different campsites.
We set up our tents, cooked our food on the fire and camped overnight.
The next morning, we had to use our new navigation skills to find our way back to Mt Binga.
It wasn't a really long walk and we had fun trying to work out which way to go!

Today was a bit of a weird day!
We had rain all day yesterday and so the girl’s horse riding activity was cancelled because the ground was all wet.

Instead of that the girls did the same thing as the boys which was low ropes and initiative games. Everyone was split up into groups by the the dorms you were sleeping in.
The first group which we were in did low ropes.

This was a course with a series of high tension cables and we had to walk along to get to the finish. Then we did this group building activity called Hadrons Wall.
We had to climb up a vertical wall about 3 meters high.
Ryan and Alex lifted everyone up over the wall while everyone else pulled them up.

After that we had lunch.
After lunch we swapped over the groups doing low ropes and initiative games.
The first game we played was a game were we had to throw a tennis ball to everyone and they all had to touch it at least once the object of this game was to complete a full circle in the least amount of time.
As a group, we figured out that we could cut down time if we used only one finger and we got a time of 0.2 seconds!

The last game we played was Three Blind Monkeys.
The object of this game was to guide a person to do the right thing but the twist was that the person was blindfolded.

Tomorrow everyone goes horse riding. We can't wait!

We hope to write some more for the blog over the weekend when we have time to chill.

Hannah
Zach

Wednesday October 22nd

The girls have just come back from survival which is 3 days long. Every one enjoyed it but the flies drove us insane!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We had to make our own tents and everything.
Ms Von Berkley said it was one of a kind!
On the second night we all crowded into one tent cause there were storm warnings….and in this tent there were no holes so it was absolutely boiling!!!.
<8)))))>< we all smelt really bad (like dead fish)!
We all packed up nice and early this morning ‘cause we wanted to get back for horse riding.
The trail ride today was pretty cool and Barney (the horse) had to be whistled at almost all the way to stop him going to the toilet!
We have just started the fire for the showers and we are all craving one so bad.
Oh yeh… and on the camp out we got some surprise visit from Ms Baron which was cool and cause we were so awesome at the campout we got rewards, which were avocados and some other yummy stuff. We mixed the avocados and honey together and we made a face mask for every one (Freya’s idea).
Then we baked a cake and sultana bread in the ground oven which was absolutely delicious!!!.
And we think that was about it.
Ok until next time!!!!!!!
BYE!
By Tarryn Nikki and Freya.

Saturday 25th October

This week we went trotting on the horses and Kasey got to canter.
Then on Friday the girls went on a road trip with Miss Vonberky to see the over hanging rock, the fire tower, the palm forest and to an awesome swinging bridge. Whilst we were on our road trip with saw Shetland ponies that were about 1 metre tall. When we were out the boys had to do project work (stuff that needed to be done around the place).
Everyone went on Survival and when the girls got back we told the boys to watch out for Russell and they are still asking us what it is. =]
Tarryn and I (Kasey) were sleeping in the same TP that we had to make out of logs and a tarp and I woke up and heard something out side so I’m like “Tarryn, Tarryn make loud noises” so she screamed and scared both the animal and us.

Today we did our washing and had free time for the rest of the day.

Tarryn, Gian, Kasey

Photos from a recent staff visit....enjoy

On Tuesday October 21, I drove the long drive past Blackbutt and visited the 9B class at Mt Binga.
The boys were having their morning news, ably run by Gian and Daniel P, whereby they listen to the radio, take notes and announce to the others activities of interest that are happening around the world. Naturally sporting results were highly popular. Next, woodchopping. Jacob R swings a mean axe; or horseriding. The female camp instructors were very impressed with the improved attention to proper detail when saddling and dealing with the horses. It was a quiet, peaceful time, saddling, grooming and enjoying time with horses. I felt like I was in outback Australia at a men’s farm, about to go on a stock ride.

Next, off in the leader’s ute to visit the girls group on their 3 day survival. We drove for about 5-10 minutes to a lovely ridge where the girls had set up an assortment of ‘engineered’ shelter tents, with logs, tarps and string. Very proudly, they showed me their ‘kitchen’ area, and whilst visiting I saw a chocolate cake made and placed into a camp oven, and damper ‘scones’ cooking on a griddle on hot coals. Of course they had made other items such as a swing and food storage tent. This was the day of the big electrical storm warning, so I wonder if they got wet?

What a wonderful experience…The Mt Binga Adventure!

Kristine Baron
(9B Christian Studies Teacher)

Family Day update October 19

Mt Binga Family Day

It was a magnificent day for Family Day Sunday 19 October 2008.

After a beautiful drive through the countryside families arrived, sharing hugs and news.

The worship, prepared by the students for Family Day, had the theme of friendship.

The development of relationships and the ability to handle the ups and downs of camp is a major part of life at Binga.

The growth in each of these adolescents in this area is quite marked through this experience. This growth was reflected in the worship prepared and delivered by the students.

From the photos...you can see that Matt had his room fairly tidy for mum and dad to inspect. He was very proud of his space.....
...as was Freya. Letters adorn the wall of many of the students and they eagerly await the postman when he arrives with letters from home.
It was such a beautiful day. The families set up picnics under the tree all over the grounds. The students showed the families all over the camp site telling all manner of stories about their adventures at Binga.

Anthony Mueller

Update- Thursday October 16

Today a few things happened.

The guys got back from their 3 day hike.
Overall, we walked 38kms and it was pretty fun.

The walk was a bit boring, but when we got to where we wanted, we had some fun.

The second night, we stayed in a hall because there was meant to be some storms.
We laughed all night, and an owl flew straight into the side of the hall... lol.

The last day was a killer, we walked over 18ks, and it was mainly up hill.

When we got back, all the girls were going on about how much we stunk and we had no idea what they were talking about apart from the trail of flies that got a ride back to Binga!!

And while the boys were at the hike, us girls went for a nice horse ride. It was interesting because Kasey had a horse that was stubborn, so we had to change horses.

Then we did wood chopping and then we cut down some lantana.
Lets just say don’t go anywhere near Hannah when she has a machete!

All in all today was great and we had fun and bonded with each other.

Teagan Z
Luke B
Matt B

Binga Update - Wednesday October 15

Hey everyone,

Binga is awesome.

We got back from 3 day hike today. All except Kasey who is fine but she hurt her foot and got picked up in the troopie(4wd) by Miss Von Berky on day 2 =].
It was really tiring and we smelt really bad haha. Hannah and Miss Vicary were carrying Kasey’s pack and almost walked over a snake!
Hannah screamed. Haha

On the first night of campout Freya, Caiti and Teagan had a broken tent and didn’t realize till it was half up and when they got a new tent and pitched it up they went in their tent to find out that they pitched it on and ants nest and had a hole in the bottom of their tent, there was ants all through it.

On the second day of hiking we walked through a paddock to find a cow skeleton scattered everywhere (it was pretty gross).

On the last day of hiking we walked up the last hill and at the beginning of the Mt Binga Rd there was a microwave oven as a letter box.

When we got back Tarryn wrote a song about the hike and all the stuff that happened and everyone was singing it for ages.

By Freya, Caiti, Kasey.

MT BINGA UPDATE By Sarah Day - Start of Week 2 for Year 9B

I popped in for a few hours to see how our campers were going.
Our young ladies were on their way out to the 3 day hike.
They got their shopping bag and headed in to BIG BERTHA for their food.
The girls were in good spirits and looking forward to getting out there.
They had trouble packing their bags, because they’d packed too much!
Then they were UNpacking their bags!
When they were a few kilos lighter, off they went.

Half of your young men were working on their wood chopping skills and baking skills.
The other half were on horses. Working out how to ride the horses around the horse yard was tricky but the boys did a great job and were very responsible.

So, all are having fun.

A few more letters would be great. (That is what I have been told to tell you all. :)
Sarah Day
Youth Worker

Photos from Week 2....enjoy!

Please enjoy these photos from a recent visit to Mt Binga.

Directions for travel to Mt Binga are available from the front desk in the Middle School Office.

Enjoy the drive and the special time, food and sharing the camp area on Family Day this Sunday.

:)