UPDATE: campers arrived! now day 4 first session!

oh my goodness. The campers are here!!!

They arrived on sunday after lunch and since then it has been pretty FULL ON. I came into this not knowing at all what to expect - from the camp, the campers and myself - but let me tell you one thing: it. has. been. incredible.

Seriously, there are some of the most amazing kids here and i've only known them for four days! I am in the Buckskin (Bucks) cabin with Caitlin, who is my co-counsellor (and the best person i could ask for :P), and 13 campers, aged 11-12 yrs. I am also teaching a riding group called the Haflingers, which has six riders in it.

I have already taught 5 lessons so far, and am learning as i go along, but we seem to be progressing well and i'm really impressed with how they are going. Most of them have either never or only a couple of times been on a horse so it is the real fundamentals of riding which i am enjoying teaching.


I don't really know how to explain it, but being here is just the most amazing feeling... it's like being in the middle of the "real", natural world, surrounded by people and "little adults" who just plain want to enjoy life and have a good time. Although it is a lot of hard work, and even a little stressful at times, i am constantly staying energetic and positive in order to keep up with the kids, and it just makes for such a great experience. Although i often think of all my loved ones at home and do miss you all, i am not feeling homesick as i simply don't have enough time to think about being homesick!

So far this week we have had Opening Campfire on Sunday night where all the counsellors from different villages in camp  peform a skit from each village and sing songs (much fun).
On Monday night we had Ranch Campfire. This was amazing and involved walking on a solo 2-3km hike through the woods following lit torches and the sound of a distant "Ba-dah" drumbeat to get to the ranch fire site at the top of the mountain above the horse pastures.

We also had Spirit Fest on tuesday, which is basically a night of singing songs loudly and cheering for 2 hours with the entire camp... They also had all the international staff come up and all say the word "banana" in the different accents, one at a time, and whoever recieved the most cheering won. I am proud to say that my good ol' eloquent Aussie "banana" won, which was a huge confidence boost too. It was a crazy night!

Tonight is the Ranch Dance which all my campers were excitedly dressing up in tie-dye and bright socks to have an awesome night.

what else, what else...

first day welcoming party... Julie, Allison, Katie, Me, Caitlin L (Maverick), Sarah (maverick), Alana, Emma

My bed. :)