Thank you to all our wonderful members, staff, volunteers, and the Sydney Academy of Sport and Recreation for making Winter Camp 2024 a magical experience. 

Friday 

The UP! Clubbers arrived at the Sydney Academy of Sport and Recreation, Narrabeen, at 4 PM on Friday afternoon. Everyone was excited to see their friends and get ready for a big weekend. 

In the dining hall, the lovely Craig from Sydney Academy warmly welcomed us and gave everyone a briefing on the camp rules and safety. Following that, Krystal introduced the staff, volunteers, peer mentors, UP! Club group rules, and the exciting room allocations. Each room had one key, and the roommates decided who would be responsible for it. 

We then settled into our big, comfy rooms (thank you, Sydney Academy) before coming together for a nice pasta dinner. 

After dinner, the peer mentors assisted the staff in presenting everyone with their new Winter Camp 2024 t-shirts! We put on our pajamas, UP! Club t-shirts, and slippers, grabbed hot chocolate and biscuits, and watched the Super Mario Brothers movie. 

After the movie, it was lights out for a good night's sleep before the big Saturday! 

Saturday 

The UP! Clubbers were up bright and early on Saturday morning for yoga and fitness at 7:30 AM. The session brought us all together to stretch, breathe, and warm up before breakfast and a big day of activities. 

The weather was crisp but bright and sunny, enabling us to enjoy the great outdoors of Narrabeen with an initiative challenge course, archery tag, and sports drills. 

Indoors, we kept warm by watching movies, playing board games, dressing up and acting in a drama play co-written by our UP! Club member, Belinda Sewell, and engaging in plenty of arts and crafts.

Saturday night kicked off with the infamous Saturday disco, the superhero-theme was a hit! The UP! Club camp crew truly embraced the theme and truly stepped-up to the dancing. 

Sunday 

We were surprised to see our UP! Clubbers up and ready so early in the morning after a big night of dancing at the disco. They simply could not miss another yoga session with volunteer Britney. 

Following packing and breakfast, we spent time filming camp videos and working on our Winter Camp journals, filling in our camp goals, learnings, and challenges, and sharing what we love about our peers. 

Sadly, camp was ending, but we had one more thing to do: camp graduation! Our staff and volunteers collaborated on awards for each participant, celebrating their strengths and achievements from the camp. Everyone cheered and supported each other on their accomplishments, and some participants delivered speeches, thanking their peers, staff, volunteers, peer mentors, and the venue. 

It was then time to say goodbye. 

Our hearts are full from all the old and new friendships that camp brought us. We are so appreciative of the respect and joy that our members embraced over the weekend.