Camp Journal
Montreux Jazz Festival and Banana Boating Bonanza
6th July 2012
Another tremendous day in Camp Suisse involved the white and yellow group visiting the beautiful lake of Geneva to ride the Banana Boat. Once again, our campers demonstrated their adventurous tenacity and although the rain threatened to rear its ugly head, our campers enjoyed a fun spirited afternoon.
At the end of the day, the White and Yellow group went to see the famous Montreux jazz festival where they enjoyed shopping and the vibrant ambience surrounding the beautiful city.
Green Group
The Green group awoke early to a cold and rainy day at camp. Campers filled themselves with a good breakfast to prepare for the day ahead. First stop languages or sport; today we played hockey and climbed on the indoor climbing wall. This was greatly enjoyed by all and gave campers the opportunity to build their confidence and skill before facing the afternoon climb. In language classes all campers are working hard to learn new vocabulary to show off to their parents at the end of the session.
Lunch time! Campers were treated to a lunch of fish finger sandwiches with chips and salad, much needed after a busy week. After lunch it was time to climb, campers caught mini-buses down the mountain to enjoy an afternoon climb (in the rain). This was great fun and all campers challenged themselves to climb higher and higher. After a small, rainy wait for mini-buses to take us back to camp we enjoyed dinner of lasagne or roast vegetable curry.
It was now time for the fun to begin. Children played Olympic scrabble, a twist on a classic encouraging children to run about and have some fun. After an active and energetic afternoon and evening, children were glad to see their beds to rest their heads in preparation for another action-packed day at Camp Suisse.
Greens Put To Work Their Best Bow Hand In Archery
5th July 2012
Yesterday we started the day bright and early, as the children were awoken at 7.30 to make sure they were all prepared and well equipped for the day ahead! We started with a yummy breakfast before heading to either their language lessons or sporting activities which was the choice between football and tennis. During the sports, all children were interacting and taking part in all the different games such as team building and skill improvements. All children had great smiles on their faces whilst they played with their new friends.
We headed back for lunch, which was a wonderful healthy jacket potato with the choice of different toppings and salad bar. Once everyone was quite satisfied, it was time to head to the Green group meeting point so that we could start our afternoon activities.
Archery and climbing were on the agenda and we presented our best bow hand in the face of the challenged to hit the bull’s eye. Many games were played and the campers’ favourite required us to hit the balloon on the target. The green group headed onto the climbing wall where they had the opportunity to try all different levels of climbing routes. Some of the group scaled all the way to the top even while blind folded! The group expanded their horizons and learned of many talents and skills they never knew they had.
Once shower hour had taken place, all children headed for dinner. For dinner, there were two choices of either a vegetable bolognaise or sweet and sour chicken, which left the children were racing for seconds! Finally, before bedtime all children had another opportunity to tackle more fun activities.
Husky Dogs To Geneva Lake – Red Group
Hearing the excited bark of a pack of huskie dogs, we knew that the 6am breakfast had been worth it as we eagerly anticipated our ride on the sledge. Today, we ventured up thousands of metres to the bizarre sensation of stepping foot on snow during July. In fact, for some of our campers, this was the first time they had ever seen snow! We had wrapped up so warm that even the extreme cold and a little rain could not deter us from exploring the perfect white landscape as we travel the wilderness by huskies.After we had reached
our destination, we rewarded the dogs with plenty of love and attention before heading back into the warm for a well-earned packed lunch.
Next, Lake Geneva was calling our name. We descended the mountain by ski lift and two cable cars to find that , in the valley, the sun had come out. We all grabbed our swimsuits and jumped in to the pool. The bravest of us took on the challenge of the diving boards into the lake to find the pontoons a perfect place to dry off…or get soaked again by the boys’ water guns.
A few hours and ice-creams later we boarded the coach for the last time today. We were glad of a refreshing shower and a rest on our return. We experienced an internationally diverse cuisine for dinner, which presented us with Bruschetta for starters, Sweet and Sour Chicken or Veggie Bolognaise for main and a taste of ol’ Blighty for desert with Bread and Butter pudding. Yum – thanks chef Dean!Evening entertainment included some amazing card tricks from one of the campers along with the chance to learn some camping songs in preparation for next week. Can’t wait for orienteering tomorrow.
Ghyll Scrambling Adventure – Blue Group
After a break yesterday the children were keen to get back to their language classes.Basketball followed where they definitely worked up an appetite. The jacket potatoes were greatly enjoyed with the majority going back for seconds! The fun-filled afternoon kicked off with some navigation skills inside while the rain passed, then it was off to the woods for the monkey game! In teams they all set off in
various directions with the challenge to find the hidden monkeys.Following afternoon tea back at the centre we excitedly made our way to the river. When scrambling up the river there was a sense of nervousness, which on the way back down had completely disappeared, and was replaced with exhilarated children. ‘I feel so alive’ was my favourite quote from a 10 year old boy after having crawled through a tyre on the river.A nice warm shower was hugely appreciated, and after dinner it was laundry time and maybe a little bit more karaoke!
Yellow Group And Their Extreme Thursday Biking Adventure
Let’s get the wheels in motion! It’s mountain biking time and after the usual morning of language lessons and sport it was time for the Yellow group to dust off the cobwebs, strap on a helmet, pick up a bike and tear up the trails of Torgon! Once everyone was fitted to their own bike, it was time for some skills tests in the PDC arena, where some campers were seen to be very skilled on a bike. There was just time to put these new skills into action on the custom made Camp Suisse downhill trails sporting challenges including rollers, boxes and burms. Once confident on these it was time to up the stakes and move on to some more difficult trails on the way back to centre. After well needed showers it was time for another delicious dinner followed by karaoke time!!! This included some excellent covers and some that were not so excellent, but most importantly fun was had by all! Roll on tomorrow and more mayhem in the mountains.
White Mountain Top Excursion
A change of scenery was experienced today for the White group as we headed up to the snow-capped mountains for a ride with the husky sledding. An earlier 6 am breakfast meant campers were fuelled up and ready to head to the mountains where campers were surprised to experience the sudden change in climate from warm, sunny days at Torgon to snowy, wintry weather at Glacier 3000 – our Brazilian campers seemed the most shocked by the snow! However, undeterred by the colder weather, our campers were greeted by a pack of very excited huskies and campers even got the chance to pet the dogs followed by a thrilling ride on the sled. Campers then enjoyed a well-deserved packed lunch and once we all had refuelled we headed down to the picturesque Lake Geneva for swimming. Our braver members of camp ventured to the highest diving board, while others spectated at the side lines with an ice-cream.
Tennis With Oli And The Whites Go Mountain Biking
4th July 2012
After a couple of cloudy wet days, we were all thankful to be awoken by the rays of light flooding through the mountainous valleys. With a flawless blue sky in existence, we sat in the dining room, devoured our breakfast banquet that comprised of a selection of cereals, fruit, yoghurt, toast and eggs. At 9am, the Green and White groups chose either to shot some hoops in basketball or ace their peers off the court in tennis during their first sport session. My tennis group, comprising of 25 tennis ace wannabes participated in some warm-up games and then we had a lesson in how to accurately hit a backhand. All 25 Roger Federers to be mastered this with supreme precision and then were able to show off their tremendous dexterity in a game of ‘pressure doubles’ followed by ‘around the world’ – where the player must hit a backhanded shot over the net and run to the other side to receive the opponent’s shot.
At 10.45 the campers reconvened at Camp Suisse central to take part in their various language classes. A lunch of fresh salad, pasta and couscous t followed before the white group, led by Oli, Aimee and Noelia, ventured up the mountain to Plan de Croix for a 4 hour mountain biking session. The campers were split in to 3 groups, who then took part in various levels of the mountain bike tracks. Our instruction focused on various skills and we even tackled some jumps before riding down the mountain and back to Camp Suisse headquarters to tuck in to chicken curry or vegetable lasagne followed by fruit salad. Currently, the campers are taking part in the infamous ‘Torgonahunt’ or casino night and will no doubt collapse in to their beds at 9.30pm after such a day of activity. They had better rest up well, because tomorrow promises to deliver a busy day with a 5 am wake up. The White and Red group aim to redress for an early morning trip to Glacier 3000 followed by a relaxing dip in the stunning Villeneuve swimming pool.
Glacier To The Lake – Blue Group
Wakey wakey, rise and shine! There were plenty of sleepy faces when the Blue group were up bright and early for a 5.30 am start ready for a day at the glacier! After a relatively quiet 6am breakfast, it was off on the coach to Glacier 3000, which for some of the group would be the first time they had ever seen snow! Most of the Blues caught some Zzzzzzs on the hour and a half coach journey so that when we arrived we were raring to go. Wearing mismatched combo of sunglasses and warm jackets we climbed aboard the cable cars that took us to the summit. Everyone enjoyed the ride, especially one camper who got the chance to help drive the cable car! At the top, we were not only treated to a magnificent view and fascinating talk from the activities leader Rosie, but we also got the chance to get a chairlift and go down for some husky dog sledding. Despite barking and howling with excitement, the huskies were super friendly and tirelessly gave all the campers a memorable trip on the snow!
Later, it was back on the coach to head to Villeneuve for diving and swimming with the stunning mountain back drop that frames Lake Geneva. Everyone enjoyed splashing around and although going from the snow to the beach presented a real juxtaposition we all adapted pretty quickly basking in the sunshine and enjoying the return of the warm weather. It was a brilliant day for all the Blues, which finished with the Camp Suisse casino opening its doors for some giant games and roulette fun.
Yet another perfect day, who could believe we still have 9 days left!
Red Group Make ‘Pizza’ With Their Archery Skills
Red Group – Archery & Climbing Wall! With the Blue Group out at the glacier, there were just nine campers in the younger half of the camp. After plenty of toast, Nutella, cereal, fruit and eggs we headed to our language classes of French, English, German, Spanish and Italian. We then hit the tennis courts to practise our ball skills with Rosie and Oli who are both fantastic tennis players from the Camp Suisse Staff.
It was then back to the dinner hall for our campers to discover the wondrous delights that lunch had to offer our hungry stomachs. Delicious tortellini and cheese toasties with Caesar salad was on the menu. After lunch, we gathered next to the water trough; filled our bottles and then followed Sarah, one of the activity team, to the Archery Field where we were first given a briefing about Archery and then a demonstration. Many of the campers’ shots hit right on target too! “Pizza Making” was our favourite game, where each colour of the target represented a different part of a pizza – yellow represented cheese, white was the base, while red symbolised the tomato sauce… I ended up with a “pizza” of 2 bases, olives and chicken!
The climbing wall session began at 15.30 where we had great fun scaling up and down the wall. Due to the small group, everyone had plenty of opportunity to get involved and make use of the 7 different automatic belays so we all had lots of fun and there was hardly any waiting around time! For dinner there was a choice between Camp Suisse Chicken Curry or Roast Vegetable Lasagne with breaded mushrooms for starter, the usual unlimited salad bar and fruit salad with cream to complete the meal. The great variety of choice ensures that nobody ever goes hungry, for there will always be some gastronomic delight to tantalise the taste buds of all our campers! 🙂
The evening activity tonight was Casino, where we had a few table of games like Roulette and Blackjack, then there were other fun games to play like Jenga, Twister and Snap! Everyone enjoyed themselves after an action packed day! Roll on the Glacier tomorrow!
