Sunday, April 19, 2009

CanTeen Camp :)

So I have not been away for a long time... about 36 hours in total... but it feels like SO much longer! :) In a good way of course!

So where did I go?, I hear you ask me... what did you do?

Well read on... and I shal tell you :)

Ok so... I guess I should start spilling the story! Hehe

Well yesterday morning (saturday) I left home at 9am, to arrive at CanTeen Vic Headquarters by 0930. I drove in as I have dad's car for the week, and left it in the CanTeen Staff carpark for safe keeping over the weekend. Better than having it on the road (and getting a fine)!
By 0950 all Members were in the bus, and we were starting to chat and get to know each other.
After some formal introductions to the staff, volunteers, and ourselves (just our name, age and school/uni etc) we set off for Queenscliff!

On the bus trip on the way down, we chatted, got to know the people around us, ate muslei bars and apples. We also ordered our lunch which were Rolls. Yummy, Yummy Rolls with whatever you wanted in them.

Once we arrived at our place, which was a huge lodge for everyone. It had 3 rooms with bunk beds... about 16 people per room, 2 extra toilets (as well as the ones in our rooms), and 2 extra showers (ditto as with toilets). It also had 2 lounge rooms, an outside patio/backward, a kitchen, single rooms (for staff, and volunteers) and a huge living area with tables. It sounds larger than it propbably was, but it housed 30 people comfortably for the night, and could probs house more comfortably for longer.
Anyway, back to the story.... So we arrived. We unloaded the bus, and were assigned to our rooms. 1) the boys room, 2) the 16+ girls room, 3) the >16 girls. Once we had dropped off all our belongings, we re-grouped in the lounge room, and headed over the road to the oval for lunch. We got to eat our yummy rolls and continue chatting.
Once we had all finished, we played "get to know you games". They were great. And obviously an awesome way to get to know everyone's names.

Oh did I mention this was a 'New Members Camp'? I probably should have said that before. So yes this was a 'New Members Camp' and none of us had ever met each other before. So we were all feeling anxious about attending, and meeting new people. But as always it was nothing to stress about, as they were all lovely people.

So once lunch and the games were over, we went back into the lodge, to learn all about CanTeen. We watched a small movie created about CanTeen and learnt what it was all about. If you don't know already, CanTeen is a non-for-profit organisation set up for 'All Young Australians Living with Cancer'. Now that maybe as a Patient Member (like me, as in you yourself have had/are going through the cancer), as a Sibling Member (your sister/brother had/has cancer), or as an Offspring Member (your Mum/Dad/Guardian had/has cancer). You can also join as a 'Bareved Member' if you have lost a family member to cancer in the above catagories. All CanTeen members are also between the ages of 12-24. We also learn't about the "CanTeen Values" there are like 17 or something so I won't mention them all :P

After our meeting, we had some 'quiet time' where you could just chill and chat to people, get to know them. Do what you want really. Some people had naps (hence why it had to be quiet), and some played board games. After an hour or so, we all got ready, and rugged up for our Boat Cruise.

Yep that is what was next on our Agenda. :)
We went on the boat cruise at about 1700. We went out for an hour and a half, during the initial stages of the sun setting. It was amazing to see the bay at a time like this. We visited the Seals (more to come) and also some other spots. Then we went for a cruise, past Sorento, and Portsea.

We got back to our lodge about 1830, and we de-rugged ourselves, and setteld in for the night. We had showers, and got into our trackies/pjs. 1930 was Dinner Time. :)
As we were having a "Movie Night" we had pizza/pasta for dinner. We also had "CanTeen Cold Rock" for dessert. YUMMY!!!
Then the actual moving watching was upon us.
We had a democratic vote for the movie, and mojority ruled "BIG" to be played. It had Tom Hanks in it, and was about a boy who wished he was 'big' and turned from a 13yr old to a 30-40 yr old over night. Funny movie I have to say.

2300 was lights out. My room went to sleep the fastest. The little boys and girls stayed up chatting until the wee hours of the morning...

Next thing i knew it was... WAKE UP.. it's 0700!!
Time to have Brekkie, and get ready for our eventful day! :)

ok ok.. can not contain it any more...
WE WENT SWIMMING WITH THE SEALS!!! oh and also went snorkling. :) :) :)

Ok so now that is out.. I will explain.

We went to the Dive Centre, where you could get either Scuba or Snorkling equipment. We got all decked out with our Wet-Suits, Snorkles and Fins.
Once we had all put on our wet-suits (so hard to get on!!!! ARGH!!) we proceeded to get on the bus to head to the cruise boat, and start on our adventure!
We all go on the boat, with all our stuff, we crusied about 15 mins to what i think is called "Pop Eye Point"... (someone can correct me on that if i've got it wrong).
We then learn't how to get off the boat and into the water (mainly for those who did not know already)... we were then separated into 2 groups. The Under 13s/can not swim very well, and The 13+/can swim... guess what group I was in. LOL
Then we proceeded to go snorking! :)

After about 20-30 mins of snorkling, we then got back on the boat. We traveled about another 10-15 mins to where the Seals hang out. They have there own hut in the middle of the sea. We were quickly breifed on the rules of swimming with the seal... you were not allowed to touch them as, seals tend to nip each other (like dogs) when they play, and they could mistake you for another seal if we touched them. Especially as we were all in out wet-suits.

Swimming with the Seals was amazing, to say the least!! They copied everything that you did. If you summersulted, they did to, if you did twists in the water, so did they. SO AMAZING!
We were so close to them. They swam around us, underneath us, and even followed us back to the boat. I can not even describe properally what it was like.

FOR PHOTOS GO CHECK OUT MY ALBUM ON FACEBOOK :)

After we had spent 20-30mins swimming with the seals, we headed back to the boat and returned to the Dive Centre. We then all got changed out of our wet-suits and headed back to the lodge.

Once we got back to the lodge, we packed all our things, and chilled out waiting for lunch.
BBQ lunch was at 1230. It was yummy :)
Once lunch was over and we had all helped clean up the lodge, and made sure that we had all packed. We started playing a few more games. Games are so much fun.

Over the course of the weekend, we each had a "Little Book of Warm & Fuzzies". Everyone could write in each others book, but not read their own. It was for others to write lovely things about you. whether it was just 'it was great to meet you on the trip' to a simple 'you rock' or what ever you wanted. Such a great idea! I belive it should be intorduced into other things! :)

So once we had all packed, cleaned up, played the last of our games, thanked our volunteers and staff. We all packed up the bus and headed home.

So all-in-all it was one amazing trip!! :)

It was so amazing, fab, cool, wicked, whatever you want to use to descirbe it.
I still am living on cloud-9 because of the trip.
Weeeeeeee! I think the highlight of the trip, besides swimming with the seals of course, was just meeting new people, making awesome new friends, and just learning that i am not alone. I knew that before, but meeting people that have been through similar things to me... is just such a great feeling. I can relate to them on a whole new level, and they truely understand how I am feeling. :)

YAY for an awesome weekend! :)

So Until Next Time... Eat Chocolate!!! (you know you can still eat more after Easter!)

~Amelia xox

1 comment:

  1. wow I think you made the world record for longest ever blog post hehe!
    the pictures are amazing!!!

    ReplyDelete