Date: 17/11/2008 - 19/11/2008
Participants: All except Wei Xuan
Day 1
We arrived at Pulau Ubin and and gathered at the basketball court near the jetty for attendance taking. After that, we took a long walk to the campsite where we were divided into our groups from 1 to 5. We were introduced to our Group CIs (Cadet Inspectors) and they led us around the campsite, familiarizing ourselves with the surroundings that we will be living in for the next few days.
After lunch, which was instant noodles prepared by ourselves and can food, we played ice breaking games to allow us to be more familiar with our group mates. After knowing who our tent mates will be, we started tent-pitching. Using our campcraft skills, we managed to pitch up our tents.
After dinner, we were given an orienteering lesson by group CIs. From the lesson, we learnt the way to use the compass as well as map-reading skills. After that, we had a mock campfire. During this session, we were led by the song leaders to say various cheers and campfire songs that were going to be used for the actual campfire. We said cheers like ‘flea fly’, ‘gako the frog’ and ‘Titanic’.
After about one hour of cheering, we returned to out groups and were debriefed by our group CI, before going to sleep.
Day 2
In the morning at about 6am, we had our flag raising ceremony. Following that was morning PT. We did push-ups, sit-ups, jumping jacks and a few other types of exercises.
Then, we ate our breakfast.
Next the various groups went to carry out various activities. My group started with a crash course on outdoor training. This course involves three activities which are namely fire building, shelter building and water confidence course. From the fire building course, we learnt two things that are required for a fire besides oxygen. They are namely tinder, easily combustible material, and kindling, material needed to sustain a fire. Thus, a good campfire requires a good mix of tinder and kindling. For my group, we did not have shelter building as the station for this activity was not set up yet. Instead, we had a tour around the old part of the NPCC campsite which was unknown to most of us. The last activity to build up our water confidence was jetty jump. We were required to jump from a platform 3m above the sea. This was the most enjoyable activity to most of us.
After we had lunch, my group went for ‘treasure hunt’ which was actually a modified version of a land expedition. Our starting point was the basketball court where we gathered for attendance taking. From there, we were given clues to our next check point. The ending point was the campsite and we managed to complete it earlier than expected. We had a group discussion for our campfire item after that.
Next we had dinner. Following that was the campfire where we cheered throughout the night. After that, we had a mass debrief, a group debrief and a unit debrief. After washing up, we went back to our tents and sleep.
Day 3
In the morning, we had a fire drill. After that, we attended the flag raising ceremony, had our morning PT and ate our breakfast . Then, we unpitched our tents, cleaned the area and went for the debriefing session. During the debriefing session, they announced the prize winners for the best campers, best groups and best campfire performances and best CIs. Then, we walked back to jetty and took the boat back to Singapore.
*For Day 2 activities, do edit according to your sequence of events.
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