This year, the Grade 6's were notably absent on St George's day!  This was because they were away at their annual camp from the 9th until the 11th April.  It was decided to break with tradition and instead of going to Waterberg as they always do, they went to Langstrand, a resort halfway between Swakopmund and Walvis Bay.  After making an early start on Monday morning, they eventually arrived at about midday.  A lot of creative thought went to erecting the tents but luckily the day was saved by the experts, Mr Galloway and Mr Penderis were on hand to sort out some of the more ingenious creations.  After that it was fun and games on the beach until sundown! The levels of energy still were extremely high even after supper, so it was decided by the accompanying teachers Miss Stafford Evans and Mrs Mendelson, that a night hike on the beach might just help to reduce these.  This however didn't seem to make much difference, so the hike was extended to climbing sandunes in the dark!  Despite all this exercise everyone was up bright and early the following day.  After some very unusual breakfast concoctions, a race was on to see who would be first up Dune 7!  From there, more dune climbing on a lesser scale to do  some sand boarding.  Much fun was had by all as they were split up into teams to do a bit of relay racing up and down the dune, most ended up a few kilos heavier after a considerable amount of sand was ingested and removed from the dune in places like  ear holes!  A swim in the sea was a necessitated, the subzero temperatures of the  water doing nothing to deter the children.  After that, more fun and games on the beach.  Tug of war, sand castle  building competitions and the impossible task of digging holes along the water line.  Another cleansing swim was in order, and as the sun set, roars like those heard only at Ratunga Junction could be heard  coming from the tidal pool.  Cookery skills were put to the test that evening when everyone was responsible for making their own braai and pot brood with a pudding of marshmallows and 'Marie Biscuits'!  It was a very subdued Gr 6 class which then collapsed in their tents for some well  earned sleep!  The last day dawned much later than the first and after playing 'find the correct parts for the accompanying tents' the Grade 6 's sadly took their leave of Langstrand wishing only that the camp had been a bit longer!

What the children said:

• Chere-Lee              What I enjoyed doing was the activities like tug-o-war.  We beat the boys twice in it.  The second thing I liked was when we braaied stok brood and meat.  My meat fell on to the ground.  We also braaied marshmallows.  It was the best activity I ever had. 

• Kathryn                  We camped in tents, but the boys mucked them up – they filled it with sand.  We went dune boarding, which was too great for words.  We also climbed Dune 7.   Stephie and I climbed to the very top of the range.  On Wednesday we had to braai our own food - Wors and a funny dough bread thing.  We were allowed to swim and played team-building games.

• Andrei                    The best thing I enjoyed was the braai.  We were making some kind of bread which I rally enjoyed.  The meat was also nice and it was really cool to make all the food by yourself. 

• Jessica                    It was really fun and we got sand everywhere from sand boarding.  I really got tired from climbing Dune 7.  It was the best – I would have wanted it for another day. 

• Alex                        We went sand boarding.  My team was not a good team, but it was exciting.  We went very fast and we could have come second, but our team was too slow. 

• Mary                       We went dune boarding on the second day.  We climbed the dune to the top where they put us into groups.  We had to board down the other side.  We first had fifteen minutes practice and then we all had to dune board and come up.  The first group to finish won.

• Emma                     Dune boarding was my favourite because we all went flying down the dunes.  Sleeping was fun because we did not go to sleep and it was like a challenge. 

• Hanna                     I liked the beach as we got really messy.  The dune boarding got a lot of sand in my face.  At the braai we had chops, “boeroewors” and something called “stock broed”. 

• Shikongo                The braai was good because we got to cook our own food – so nobody could complain about their food because they are the ones who cooked it. 

• Christoff                Dune boarding was the best of everything we did.  The part I liked best was the speed that the board went.   Stok brood was also fun.  We had to braai it so that it got warm and nicer.  I filled mine with syrup.

• Megan                    On Tuesday night we had to braai our chops and wors.  We also had to make “stoke brot”. 

• Sophie                    We had to make stokbrood.  What we did was we had a stick and we had to put on dough.  We put it on the braai until it was golden brown and then we put on butter and syrup. 

• Kyle                        Well, dune boarding was my favourite part of the outing.  I remember it like yesterday.  I was going a 70 kph and Malcolm was in the way.  I shouted “hey, Malcolm!”, and sand went into my mouth and then I fell off the board.

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