Welcome to
Westman's Camp Site
This story contains a full personal recount of my year 9 camp which I went to in November 1997.
(Excuse the language, but I wrote the story in 1997 and it helps add to the emotion, like in the movies. Plus, Brendon was twice as worse then me)
Below is the Story
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Year 9 Camp Nudgee College November 1997 By Sean
The
following is a recount of year 9 camp including Greg (Jonesy),
Brendon (Turtle), Jeffrey (Natex) and myself one year in 1997. Hope
you enjoy reading it, because we sure enjoyed the camp. Enjoy.
Well the first part of the camp was just like any other. Catch the bus there, unload everything, have a briefing etc. That's when we found out we were doing the actual camping first then the easy part second. (Tuchekoi) We didn't mind, despite the fact that it was raining! When we arrived at our main campsite (known as base), we couldn't do anything. The rain just kept coming on and off. So the whole group of us decided to take a walk along (the famous) Borumba dam (not). Nothing much happened, except that we started throwing rocks and Jeff got busted for it. Not forgetting; we saw a couple of bush turkey's.
So we got back, and still there was rain. So Jones, Turtle (Brendon) and I wandered off and went for a walk. We decided to go and have a look into this bush. We wandered aimlessly passed this 'Do Not Enter' sign, then snuck around the place and found ourselves looking at all this heavy machinery and all the work they were doing to fix the dam. We jumped into a couple of parked bulldozers and then wandered around more. While walking along a road we suddenly heard something coming around the corner. Straight away we sprinted for the bushes and just as the truck came around the corner we dove into the bushes (commando style). Close call. We decided to return to base.
We got back
and the rain started up again. The supervisors began setting up
large tarps for us to sleep under. Because we couldn't pitch
tents on flooded ground. It really was looking shit. But
fortunately the rain stopped and yes, after a while we did pitch
our tents up. Our group consisted of Jonesy (Greg), Turtle (Brendon), Natex (Jeffrey ) and of course myself
(Westman). That night, we got a pretty shit dinner. We were given
a box of food for the duration of the camp. After dinner, we had
so much cut up onion left, it wasn't funny. There was also a bush
turkey wandering around our campsite. Jonesy and I decided to tip
the left over onion into Travis M's tent before we went to sleep.
I wandered how they would sleep that night (especially with a
hungry bush turkey wandering about). After lights out, Jonesy and
Turtle decided to sneak out and pull the pegs out of Shaun O's, Matthew B's, Francis M's and Jay C's tent.
They did it well too. Not one peg missed. Our tent was producing
so much gas (farting), it wasn't funny. (Probably the onion)
'Onion cannon charging' we'd say, to warn each other.
The next day was half over-cast. Today was the moment of truth. The big test. Little did we know what was ahead of us. Every group was split up and given a compass and a map. Our mission was to find our way to the fire tower, not forgetting to pass though the checkpoint. The other half of the groups had to canoe up and find their way down the next day. But our job was to find our way up and canoe down. Our group drew the shit (short) straw and had to leave last. Every 10 minutes a group left into the wilderness. Well not surprisingly (or should I say surprisingly) I was appointed navigator. I didn't mind. Besides I knew how to use a compass and map. (Thanks to Scouts in PNG) Then finally, when no one was left but a supervisor and us we set off into the wilderness.
190 was the
coordinate for the checkpoint. I had already planned our route
and the first 10 minutes was quite easy, I must admit. Then
Turtle and Jones said to me "Let's bush bash."
"Okay" I said. Besides it was better then going around
all the shit, and I was monitoring our position quite well. So
there we were. All four of us, bush bashing our way through the
bush. After about an hour or two we came to this shitty hill.
"Where to now Westman?"
"This is it" I replied.
"What?"
"This is 190. The checkpoint" I said.
"Fuck off, give me the map" said Turtle.
"Ahh don't worry," I said. So I tried to backtrack and
find our way out, to regain our position. But no. That's right.
No. I stuffed up. We were ere… lost? Some navigator I was.
Turtle told me, or tried to tell me how to navigate. No. Not
good.
"Fuck this" Turtle said, "lets go this way".
I offered Turtle the map and compass. He replied " I don't
need no fucking map or compass." Okay then. Great attitude
(or not). So we followed him.
After another hour or two, we still were nowhere. Natex was
contemplating whether to blow the rescue whistle or not. I told
him no, not yet anyway. We stopped and had a bit of a snack, then
decided to do a bit more bush bashing. Where were we? Nowhere.
That's where. We saw some red marks up on some trees. So we
followed the marked trees. After a while we figured out that the
trees were marked by some logging company. (Were we becoming
desperate?) We then decided to follow the roads and tracks (too
late, I think). But still, nowhere we were. Turtle and Natex
told Jonesy and I to wait while they checked out a track. Good
because I was getting tired. 5 minutes passed.
Ohh shit I thought (that's the right word). I needed to hang a
number 2 (a crap). So Jonesy gave me the shovel and roll and I
stumbled off into the bush. I then tried to dig a hole. Even
though there had been quite a bit of rain, the ground was still
as hard as fucking titanium! Damn I thought. So I didn't bother
digging a hole. When I got back to Jonesy I warned him not to go
into the bush. After a while, Ngatia and Turtle returned.
Nothing. So we followed the road and searched for tracks and
peaks but ended up with shit all.
We stopped for a
drink break. Well… well… well… Where's my water
bottle? Yep, I lost it. But really, at the time I couldn't give
two-shits about it. So we split into two groups again and begun
searching for tracks, mountain peaks, roads, signs etc. While
walking along the road, I saw something blue on the side of the
road. It was my water bottle! Thank God. I would really need that
water. After a while we met up again with nothing. So we decided
to sit down and have a chat. Natex had already begun blowing the
rescue whistle hours before. We thought we did hear people at
some time, blew the whistle, but there was no response. "Man
I never thought we would get lost," said Natex.
"Neither did I" I said. So we sat there for hours
talking (around 2 hours). We didn't know what else to do. Plus we
weren't too worried (I think).
"Holy Shit! It's 5 o'clock"
" Fuck! Let's get moving," Turtle said. We didn't have
much time left (even though it was nearly summer). Turtle had a
hunch. He told us to follow him. I don't know why we did. But we
did. (Probably because there was nothing else left to do). So
there we were, following Turtle. He thought that the fire tower
was on this mountain we saw earlier. The first part of the climb
was easy. But gradually it got harder, and harder, and harder.
Natex and I took it in steps. 'Level 1,2,3 etc'. Run up one
level, then have a rest, then run up the next etc. I think we
counted around 30 levels. Natex and I began falling behind
Turtle and Jonesy. The mountain then became more flat and easier
to climb.
Then came the
killer. First of all we had to go under a fence. A Fence?
"Why in the world would you build a fence up here?" I
said to Natex. So, we began the climb. For fucks sake, the
mountain was 90 degrees steep. And the backpacks didn't help.
Natex and I had to grab onto grass and little trees to stop
ourselves from falling. I must admit, we both nearly fell a
number of times. About two thirds of the way up I heard that
Jonesy and Turtle had reached the top. "Anything?" I
yelled. Then came the reply…
"No, Nothing!" Fuck me dead I thought. It was 6.13pm,
the sun had gone down, there was very little light, and I was
standing halfway up an 80-degree steep mountain in the middle of
the bush. Wonderful. But Natex and I staggered on (even though
the incentive was gone). I remember saying to Natex "my
parents are probably watching the news right now." We began
to sing again. I also said to Natex that all this would be worth
it in the end. I don't think he believed me, at the time. Jonesy
then told Natex to come around the mountain. It was less steep
that way, but the catch was that it was way longer. Natex
instinctively turned and headed around the mountain. I looked up.
Through the dim light I could see the top. Fuck the other way I
thought. I'm going straight up. So I charged up the mountain.
Then rested. Then charged up again. I charged about 4 times
commando style then finally reached the top. Immediately I
dropped onto my back and just lay there. Bloody backpacks! (I
think they were made of lead). I regained my breath and had a
look around. No Bullshit. There was nothing but an empty space of
grass, rocks and trees.
So then and there,
we decided to pitch our tent. But to make matters fucking worse,
my torch didn't work. "You're kidding," said Turtle. No
I wasn't. It was the most powerful torch there to. We set up our
tent like a cave (with only one entrance). It was hard to find
suitable ground for our tent. But we picked the best spot. It
only took us around 15 minutes to set up our (weird looking)
tent. We all slept vertically (if you look at the tent
horizontally.) Turtle slept at the entrance followed by Natex
then Jones and not forgetting myself, right down the end. The
tent seemed to slant to my side. But what do you expect? We were
on top of a mountain. I took one look out at the lights in the
distance and thought to myself, we must be miles away from the
fire tower and base camp. Now it was time to check our supplies.
Not good. Not much food left and very little water. We decided to
climb into our tent and have dinner. We had wholemeal bread and
dry biscuits with Vegimite and Jam. And I don't know how to say
this, but it tasted beautiful at the time. It tasted great,
despite the fact that I hated wholemeal bread. The most suprising
thing was how thirsty we were. Nobody wanted to drink the dam
water. I don't know how but Jonesy produced about 2 litres of
good water from his pack. (fuck he must of had trouble carrying
the extra weight up the mountain). At one time we thought we
heard a car drive by. But there's not much you can do when you're
up on a mountain.
We didn't talk very much that night. We hit the sack around 8pm.
I slept quite good that night, even though the ground was as hard
as rock. It rained a couple of times throughout the night. I only
woke up once I was having a wonderful dream, a great dream, when
I woke up and found myself staring up at the stars as well as the
clouds quickly blowing across the sky. My side of the tent had
blown off. I must admit, that night was a lot more windy then
rainy. I sat up and looked at the time. It was 3.30am. Apparently
Jonesy woke up as well. I said to him, "the side of the
tents blown down the mountain".
"Shit" he replied. I searched for the canvas with my
hands and seconds later I found it. "Oh hang on, here it
is". So I connected up the side of the tent then went back
to sleep. Thank God for those rocks.
We awoke around
6am the next morning. When we woke up, we found that our feet
were soaked to the bone. So our tent wasn't fully waterproof
after all. Turtle went down the other side of the mountain to
have a look. The mountain did look a lot different (better
actually) in the day compared to the previous night. Supplies
were very low. My water bottle was empty now. Turtle returned
from below and said that he saw some sort of tarp that was set up
below. He thought that it was setup by one of the camp
supervisors. We had very little for breakfast. So we packed up
and begun sliding down the other side of the mountain. It was
very steep and there were no trees or rocks to hang on to (only
dirt and rocks). It was a wonder how Turtle got back up. But at
least we were going down. We checked out the orange tarp
supposedly set up for us. Thank God we didn't sleep in it. It was
covered in red ants. We all agreed that we should drop our packs
next to the tarp. We figured that the supervisor would find it
some time. Other reasons included that the bastards were too
heavy and that we had run out of food and water.
Anyway we
decided to follow the road which went past the tarp. I really
don't know how Turtle worked out which way to go. Probably
instincts, or was it another hunch? Natex took his water bottle.
Natex was the only one left with water. Yes, it was much easier
to walk, now that the packs were gone. While we were walking
along the road, in the distance we saw the fire tower. Relief, we
were heading in the right direction. It would only take time.
That's all. We knew we weren't lost anymore. We thought about
cutting through the thick bush. But we figured that was enough
bush bashing for now. (Lucky) I don't want to think about what
would have happened if we did cut through the bush. So we
followed the road. Again, even without the packs, Natex and I
began falling behind. Pretty soon we lost sight of Jonesy and
Turtle. We didn't give two-shits really. 'Follow the road'.
That's all we had to do. After a while I got thirsty, so Natex
gave me some of his water. "Aahh! Shit!" The water
tasted like chlorine and some other chemicals. Bloody Borumba Dam
water! So, instead, I wandered off to the side of the road and
began licking the water off the leaves (fresh rainwater). I got
this idea from 'The Gods Must Be Crazy.' Natex asked, "What
are you doing? Drink this."
"Get stuffed" I replied. So we continued on. Jonesy and
Turtle were probably around 700 metres to 1 kilometre in front of
us. After a while, around 8.30am, I heard something. " I
think I heard a car door slam," I said. Then about a minute
later, a car came around the corner. Inside it I saw Mr. Beautel
driving and saw Jonesy in the passenger seat. The adventure was
over. Yes!! I thought. Oh yes!! We climbed aboard.
So
we drove back down to the tarp and backpacks (the checkpoint).
Yeah, that's right, The Checkpoint. We camped and slept above the
thing without even knowing it. Worse was yet to be discovered. So
we drove back up the road, because we wanted to see the fire
tower. "Nothing much, really" said Beautel. We drove
past the second group. They were walking down in one straight
line following the supervisor. Weren't they meant to go alone?
That's right, we fucked it up for the second group because of our
foolish bush bashing. No navigator, just follow the supervisor
back down to base. And yes, we were meant to be canoeing down
right now as well. In actual fact, the supervisors stayed up to
12 am looking for us the night before. They awoke at 4 am to
continue their search for us. We reached the top, where the fire
tower was situated. Shithole is all I could say. It was a
shithole. So Beautel drove us back down to base. The other
supervisors were contacted. The search was over. We thought we
were going to be in deep shit!! The head arrived. "Oh,
oh."
"Are you blokes alright?" he asked.
"Yeah, we're fine" we replied.
"Get some food into ya. Have some soup, relax, your okay
now."
What? Okay then. Let's eat. Another thing we discovered was that
the checkpoint co-ordinates were 425. NOT 190.
"Francis!!!" we all said aloud. 190 was actually the
practice co-ordinate. All at once, the second group began
arriving. We thought they were going to give us shit because we
fucked it up for them. But they were more curious then mad.
Actually 'they weren't mad at us, they were even beloved for us'.
Then, finally, out on the lake, we could see the canoe's coming
in from the distance. As the canoes got closer, you could count
them. 2 of them were being towed (they were ours). Francis was
towing one of them. Good, I thought. That'll teach him to give me
the wrong co-ordinates. I was right after all. I didn't screw it
up for my group. Thank God.
Apparently every one got it wrong. Everyone had
190 as the co-ordinate. (Sorry Francis) Then how did everyone
else make it? I later found out that everyone else ignored the
compass and map and followed the roads and signs. So much for
bush bashing. The supervisors did head off to 190 to intercept
everyone going the wrong way, but somehow they missed us. I think
we were too quick for them. One thing mentioned was that some
people climbed the fire tower the previous night and claimed to
see 3 dim lights in the distance that looked like torches. (Would
have been 4 if it wasn't for my unreliable torch)
Shaun O. later said to us that they had planned to get
revenge on us and rip out our tent pegs. But they couldn't,
because we got lost.
One thing that was pissing me off was that I couldn't find any
decent water to drink. (Bless that Tuchekoi water, Borumba Sux)
So we shut up shop and began cleaning up as well as packing, then
headed back to Tuchekoi (the easier part of camp). We were glad
to get out of there. But after reading this encounter of year 9
camp again, I sort of miss it.
Our group survived well, I reckon. Well I heard that in Francis'
group, that for a minute or two they thought they were lost and a
guy called Jay started crying. "Oh nooo, we're lost!! What
are we going to do… aahhhh!!!!" (Glad he wasn't in our
group) There was another story about a teacher called Dash who
fell down the mountain. But we won't get into that right now.
I think that music kept our music spirits up. We sung many songs
old and new (at the time). MatchBox 20 was a favourite. Every time
I here one of their songs it reminds me of the week myself and 3
friends got lost in the bush. Previous Nudgee record for being
lost on camp: 8 hours. New record: 20 hours. We smashed it by 12
hours. In actual fact my parents got a phone call at 11pm that
night by the school, to say that I was lost.
I remember saying to Ngatia that it would be all worth it in the
end. And it was. On the bus trip back to Nudgee I slept all the
way. And that Friday afternoon I slept all the way until late
Saturday morning. Out of all the camps I've been too, this one
has stolen 1st place.
Well, thats our camp summed up just above. To tell you the truth, it completely sucked. But looking back on it now, I beg to differ. It was an adventure which 4 guys had over 24 hours. And I'm sure we had more fun then everyone else did. One more hour and they would of sent the SES (helicopters and rescue teams) in after us. You know, I kind of wish they did.
Well, I don't know if you've even bothered to come down here or even read the whole story. But if you want more, click below
Pictures Of The Camp
(New pics added - 2nd December 2000)
