The Human Body by Izzy

Self Esteem by Isabella

Raft building at Camp Adair

"This is freezing!" I said, as we pulled our raft down the icy river. My shoes were already filling up with water making them squelchy and heavy. We had just spent the last half-hour making a raft from four plastic barrels, twelve bumpy bamboo poles and long lengths of rope. The finished product was quite good, and looked something like this:

Since the point of a raft is to keep people afloat, we were going to be trying it out. Once the raft was far enough in the water (and we were knee deep) Martin (our instructor) told us to hop on. After some commotion everyone was settled on different points on the raft and Martin grabbed a long bit of the rope attached to a pole of bamboo. 'Camp Adair is great!' I thought to myself as Martin began to guide the raft down the river. 'I'm so glad I came!' 

As we travelled along, ice cold water gushed around our legs. Then we came to a stop. "See that tree over there?" Martin called to us. "I have a leaf collection and I need one from that tree to complete it. So far I haven't been able to get one. Can you?"

Everyone started to kick in the opposite direction of the tree, propelling us closer to the tree. Once we reached it, Jana grabbed a leaf and exclaimed "got one!" Martin started to walk backward, hauling the raft with him. But it wouldn't move any farther than five metres. "We're stuck!" Someone shouted. "Then you guys will have to hop off here" Martin said, hauling the raft sideways toward the bank. We clambered up the grassy surface and helped him drag the raft out of the river. After thanking him, we trudged back to camp, the thought of dry clothes and warm milo in our heads.

By Grace