Last week was a normal school week. Footie practice on Tuesday and Thursday and normal school days every day. I saw Avengers on Friday night and did homework throughout the weekend when I wasn’t hanging out with friends. It was nice to have a chill out and relax weekend that wasn’t packed with activities.
On Monday and Tuesday of this week I went to my regular classes and kept practicing footie. Wednesday was the practice day for next week’s year 10 rock climbing trip. The group of seven boys and I went to a place called the “Punchbowl,” which is near the Launceston Gorge. There were a couple of small walls we learned to climb and we also learned how to belay out our partner. I tried abseiling for the first time down a rock wall to the bank of a river. By the end of the day my hands were black from the ropes and rocks—and I was really keen for the trip with the cool guys in my group.
Thursday was packing day to prepare our gear for the actual trip. I borrowed a hiking backpack, thermals, and rain gear from my dorm parent. That morning I brought everything to school in my giant backpack. We put our gear into huge garbage bags inside of our backpacks to waterproof them. Scotch Oakburn has a giant shed that is almost exactly the same size as Athenian’s AWE barn. For the entire day we practiced using climbing gear and gathered all of the necessary supplies for the week, from toiletries to cooking gear to food.
On Friday I had a normal school day until right before lunch, when I took a taxi with my friend Jye to go back to the boarding house. We grabbed our bags that we packed last night for a weekend trip up to Jye’s house in the North-West of Tasmania. We got on the early bus that travels across Tasmania to go to Marrawah, the town where Jye lives. We arrived at around 7pm, had a snack at a quick restaurant type of place, and then went grocery shopping for that night’s dinner.
On Saturday and Sunday it poured rain and even hailed a bit. We spent most of the time inside messing around, but we also visited the beach in between rain sessions. Jye’s mum made us cheesecake and other snacks for the boarding house, which we quickly devoured upon arriving home.
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