What a beautiful trip we had last week at Toonallook. We left in the early morning on the 28th of October 2019 and were thrilled that the bus trip was 4 hours and that we could chat and eat lollies for the whole ride there. We made funny re makes of songs like Moana and watched films on the tv. We also saw wildlife, we saw things Like alpacas, sheep, cattle and goats on our way there.

After what felt like the best bus trip ever, in my whole life, in the whole world and in the whole universe, we had made it. We stopped outside to feel the exquisite serenity of the eastern Gippsland breeze and headed into Toonallook camp. 

When we arrived to the main entrance we were greeted by a young man by the name of josh and he was our main host for camp. The hosts and staff were wearing Carey clothes and then I remember, Carey had a private area all to themselves. We had our own beach area, eating hall, kayaks and even our own cabins with all our friends in them since we got the option to make our preferences for our cabins back at Kew campus. 

Two year 11 girls also came on the trip with us, there names were Jazz (Jasmine) and Coco. There were super grateful and delightful to all the year fives. They also were nice enough to give up there time, so much in fact that they were even doing their school work on the bus. I’m very grateful for what they did and we enjoyed there company so very much.

We had the best food on the first night. I’ll give you a clue they were wrapped in bread with mayonnaise and lettuce along with cheese and tomatoes. They were the famous, scrumptious and delicious burritos. To top it off for dessert we had apple crumble with 1-2 scoops of vanilla ice cream. The food just followed along with other delicious meals like lasagne and jelly cups with ice cream. I think that’s enough talk about food.

On the third day we went kayaking and bike riding. What standard out for me was the kayaking since we kayaked to the other side of the beach and played in the water down there. We capsized on purpose and the water was deep, around four meters at the deepest point to be precise. We then had to get a little warmer so we stepped out side and went through the bush to reach a small area where we explained  a few highlights and the gratitude we had towards coming to Toonallook.

Our bike ride that day was just exploring around and looking at the serenity of the eastern Gippsland. We made it to a beach on that hot spring day to cool of and ride around on the sand (which was hard to do). I then saw that there were rocks inside the ocean and it was just shallow enough to ride there so I did, and guess what, I didn’t even fall down. We  had a great time doing that and then we had the best sandwiches and lunch filled with meat and carrot along with amazing mayonnaise.

Our cabins were very reserved and new but they had no electricity. We had to use our torches and try not to get in trouble at night when we couldn’t see because mr Nichols was walking around on the gravel and whoever was ruining everybody else’s sleep would get into trouble, so we didn’t bother to do anything. 

Here is a funny story. On the first night I wasn’t able to sleep, I could Definitely tell that it was late since Mr Nicholas had gone back to the toona lodge (his cabin/house area) were he slept. After what felt like many hours I feel asleep, and then the worst thing you could imagine happened, I had to go to the bathroom so I woke up and had to wake up someone to take me, not to mention that everyone was sound asleep I ended up waking up most of the cabin. I made a puppet show with my luminous torch and said these exact words “could bunny please get someone to take him to the toilet?” Almost everyone replayed with, No! After a few tries I stopped and held it in. I went to the toilet the next morning.

We went koala spotting around Raymond Island and we took a ferry across the small narrow lagoon. The fun thing about this is that the fairy was also taking cars on it, I found that really funny and it was a great experience to have. When we arrived at Raymond Island we went on our bike ride (a second one for the whole trip away). We saw many many koalas and enjoyed our trip so much.

I most definitely enjoyed camp Toonallook and I’m so looking forward to next year in May when we get to go again. Thanks for reading