One compulsory part of camp, is camping. Okay, so I guess that’s a given considering it’s “Camp” but generally we’re in cabins or dorms, not actually camping.
Anyway, part of our pre-camp training was to go to the Outback, a big open field in the middle of the woods a few miles out of camp, to pitch up for the night, build a fire, cook and get eaten to death by bugs.
Outback was pretty fun to be honest. We all grabbed our things and hopped onto the people mover, singing camp songs the whole way. Everything from “Tongo!” to “Baby Bunblebee”. God, I miss camp sing songs. 
As soon as we arrived it was time to pitch the tents. Snapple gave a demonstration. Yup, that’s right; for some of the counsellors a demonstration was needed – they had never pitched a tent before! Ducky and I got ours up in no time and went to assist Dotty and Rue who were having a slight bit of difficulty…
Then, the cooking began, followed by chats and bonding around the camp fire. As cringey and cliched as this sounds it was truly amazing. We were under the stars with no artificial lighting anywhere and went on a late night hike in the forest. I just love the trees and grass and all things nature. It was so so beautiful. 
One slightly less beautiful thing? The toilets. Or latrines as they were called. Essentially a 15 foot deep hole in the ground with a wooden toilet seat that was surrounded by a nest of baby wolf spiders. Delightful.
Despite that, the outback was such a fun experience and I’m sad I only did it once; my other opportunity was snatched from me due to the monsoon-like weather that hit Texas and caused Veggie and I to hydroplane (freakin scary) along the track road near camp – not safe to send the campers out.
I love camping so this was a epic part of camp and I can’t wait to go camping again sometime soon!
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Stateside Sarah 