.36 girls + 3 days in the bush!.

First of all...this post is VERY heavy in the photo department. I just couldn't help myself ;)

Last week I was very privileged to spend three days camping with the Young Women (girls aged between 12 and 18) in our church from the northern part of Tasmania. In our church we all have "jobs" (callings) which change from time to time. At the moment my calling is a part of the Stake Young Women Presidency and we get to do fun things like put on camps, dances, conventions and other activities for the girls.
We have been planning our 2010 camp for months and it was very exciting when the time finally came. The girls haven't been "real" tent camping in years so we decided that this year we would rough it a bit and "go bush"! I have mentioned my Pop's river before on my blog and how beautiful it is there. When I was in Young Womens all of our camps were held there and it is a great location to go bush camping as it isn't too far away from civilisation but isolated enough to have it all to ourselves. Lucky for us the new owners were happy for us to use the river for camp this year!

The weather was stinking hot on Monday, which isn't much fun for setting up tents so after our official opening ceremony we decided to forgo our plans for the afternoon and make the most of it being warm enough to go swimming instead!
One of the perks(?!) of being a leader is that the girls think they can play fun tricks on you like pulling you into the river when you least expect it (thankyou Tayla and Morgan!!) We have had some lovely warm days recently so the water temperature was really good, instead of jumping in and freezing after 10 minutes it was easy to stay swimming for half an hour or more.
Since Pop sold the property, the new owners have built a jumping platform on the other side of the river. Everyone was having a great time on it jumping into the water, singing songs and playing games. The girls wanted me to jump with them so I climbed to the top and realised how high up it looked once you were up there! I was so nervous and stood there for about 10 minutes until I finally caved to the peer pressure :) and took the plunge!
Tommy came along to camp with me as I am still feeding him. He is such a little trooper and loved all of the cuddles and attention from the girls. They nicknamed him "The Happiest Baby Ever" because he hardly ever cried and gave them plenty of smiles! He was really easy to have around. I thought it would be easier if he could go "home" to sleep at night so that I could still be involved in our night time activities and not have to sit in a tent with him or worry about him if he was unsettled. After dinner each evening I drove him to Aunty Deidre's house (about 5 minutes away), fed him and put him to bed. The country air must have really exhausted him as he slept for 12 hours each night and I had to wake him up in the morning to get going again!!!The rest of camp was filled with lots of fun activities like skit performances...A hike (yes, that is Kim and I pushing our prams up the rocky, steep hill!!)...Secret Sister pockets (we made up this wall hanging with a pocket for each of the girls and challenged them to put nice notes or treats into each others pockets each day)...
Fun group games like waterbomb volleyball...
Quiet time for scripture reading and journal writing...
Making friendship bracelets (have you made these before? Out of cross-stitch thread - instructions here)...
Morning devotionals...
Listening to Lisa's LOUD and SHINY whistle (the girls just loved this - hehe!)...
And lots of free time to go swimming, chat with friends and chill out.

We finished camp with an awards ceremony where each of the girls were given an award for something that they did on camp. We have seven girls who are going to be turning 18 this year who earned certificates and engraved wooden boxes for completing their Camp Crafter requirements over their six camps. These girls were a lot of fun and such a great help on camp and we are going to really miss them next year!It was such a fun three days, I think everyone was happy to go home and have a hot shower and use a decent toilet but it is always sad when camp is over as the girls and leaders form such strong friendships and connections with one another.