Australia Day and Youth Camp

Our last week of holidays was another jam-packed week. On Tuesday was Australia Day and we celebrated in Baldivis style. We had our annual Breakfast and Boating day, with lots of good food, fun and fellowship before most of us headed down to the beach for a day of boating. The weather was beautiful and the boats and jetskis kept everyone well entertained for hours.
That evening we went to Grandma and Grandads to watch the Australia Day fireworks, as well as to farewell them. The next day they left for a 6 month trip around Australia.

The next day was our first ever Baldivis Younger Youth Camp. Dave and I were 2 of the camp leaders along with Graham and Marion, Hendrik and Jackie, and Keith and Alice. We had 32 kids to keep entertained for 3 nights and we did our best! We left for Busselton at lunch time, had enough time to set up and go for a swim before our Mexican evening began. We all had a great evening eating Mexican food, listening to Mexican music and playing Mexican games. The pinata was a great hit.
The next day we went to the Giant's cave and took the kids through in 2 groups. They all did it, even though some were worried or scared. What an adventure. In the middle of the cave our group turned off all their torches and we played a game of finding eachother in the pitch black. We ended up forming a circle with no one missing. It's quite something to experience such pitch black darkness! After caving we took the kids to Margaret River and after lunch we split them into 4 groups to play Bigger and Better. Each team was given a coloured paperclip and were told to go through town and trade for something bigger and better. The kids had a great time while us leaders relaxed over a coffee. After 2 hours we all met back again to see the bargains each team had received. Wow, what a surprise! One group ended up with an $80 coffee plunger and some coffee to go with it as well as a handful of other things. The other teams came back with jewellery, t-shirts, notepads and all sorts of things, even a tire!!
That evening, after a delicious dinner of fish and chips thanks to Keith and Alice, Rev Hart entertained the kids with a movie on persecution and then a related activity. We were split into several churches, and some were government police who handed us notes to eg. hand over our pastor, give names of our church members etc, and we had to decide what to do. In the end I think most of our churches had been killed for their faith. It was a real eye-opener for all of us because there wasn't always a right or wrong way to do things and sometimes, no matter what, your loved ones were killed.
Friday was our boating day. We took all the kids to Molloy Island and spent a full day behind and in the boats. Everyone had a blast. After a late dinner, we took the kids to the beach to play a number of games. Another fantastic day.
Saturday was pack up time, and free time before we headed back home.
Hopefully I'll add some photos later.... need to some scrounging around for some.