We arrived at the Groynes and we jumped out of the bus. Sitting on a pole waiting for the instructions I pushed Zee off the post. The walk was short to the meeting spot then when we arrived there were lots of inner tubes of tires, sticks and lots of rope. Everyone got into a group and then we started building, we thought our raft was sturdy but when we lifted it it was all wobbly. Now the raft was in the water and everyone hopped on.
Building the raft was fun, everyone including Izzy, Hannah, Hope, Mila, Ava and myself were all working together really well. I felt like everyone had a job and everything was going to plan until… we realized the raft was very loose and the knots weren’t tight enough, so some people in the group undid the knots then re-did them tighter.
Coolish, refreshing, clean, the water was as clear as glass. Floating down the river on our raft was sooo cool. Everyone’s butts got very wet because the raft was slightly in the water. When we were floating down the river it felt like Jurassic world but with no scary dinosaurs. The trees and bushes were draping like a birthday banner over the crystal clear river. There were dirt banks on either side of us in the river Hannah went through a prickle bush when we were floating.
We ate lunch and then everybody learnt about safety if we were on a hike and we were crossing a big river. Also learning how to hold people when crossing the river. Wading through the clear water waist high, the cold wrapped around my waist.
Now onto the pack raft. Going with the current is important, it’s most likely the current will take you to dry land. Our backpacks got wet. It was a hot day so it was great to be in the water. The river was too shallow because it hadn’t rained for a while. In some parts it was only ankle deep so not deep enough to float. We got to the slalom course and threw our bags off and had a river party and we swam for a while until it was time to get out.
Me, Hannah and Zee all went to the far end changing rooms the furthest one away because we thought it would be quieter which it was but of course Zee took a really long time. By the time us three had finished getting changed we realized the rest of the pod was not there. We were all in bare feet and ran across the prickly, dry grass. We asked someone and they said “go around the corner and they should be there” so we ran around the corner and there was the rest of the group we thought they had left without us.
Overall we all had a great day at the Groynes. Building rafts, wading through water and pack floating. We got back to school around 3:00 and went home and relaxed after a big day full of water play.
By Sylvie Meyer (H4)
