A Day At MERC

The excitement I held inside me  built up and instinctively I knew it would soon burst out. Leanne led the group of year 8’s to the wetsuit room and gave everyone the size she thought would fit them. “When you have been given your wetsuit, please go to the toilets, get changed and meet us outside,” yelled Leanne as her voice trailed off into the distance. The Year 8’s gathered together, and each grabbed a paddle, and followed Vicky and Leanne to the edge of the water. “So your right hand is glued to the paddle and the left hand flicks back.”

As Leanne explained, everyone followed. When we had learnt this technique, everyone picked a kayak to use and put their paddle in. Agnes and I carried our Kayaks to the edge of the water and put it into the shallow part, waiting for Leanne and Vicky to let us start our session. The cold water trickled down the back of my legs, as my kayak laid on top of the waters surface. I squealed in excitement and waited as the rest of the group led the their kayaks into the water.

“If you want, you can try and kneel in your kayak” said Vicky. Obviously I didn’t want to fall out of my kayak, so I decided to just sit. The peaceful sound of chattering and laughs was soon ruined by a terrible scream. I turned to see Asia standing in the water, attempting to hop back in her boat. To make things worse, people kept shouting out “Stingray!”. After many attempts I decided she needed help so I made my way to her kayak and held one side down on the water, while she jumped on from the opposite side. “Thank you Darrelle” Asia replied, as the salt water dripped down her face.

By now I was very sure everyone was tired and hungry. By the time we had put the paddles and kayaks back on shore, it was time for morning tea. We spent the rest of the day shooting colourful balloons and stepping on ticklish seaweed. As the the sun slowly hid behind the clouds, the intermediate students from Saint Patrick’s school had finished their enjoyable day at MERC Camp.