My Crazy Camp Adventures

This is going to be a little different to what I'd typically post, mostly because this is going to be about my real life. (What!? Katrina has a life outside the internet? Believe me, I'm shocked, too)
Last week, I went on school camp to a little town right next to the ocean. And don't let the location mislead you, because we didn't go tanning and swimming all day... Just read on :)

On the first day, we drove to a little caravan park and had lunch, then we were dropped off at the entrance to a 27km track through the rainforest (no!). And to top it all off, most of us had backpacks weighing about 13kg (NO!). It was okay though, because we only walked 8km on relatively flat ground. (Actually, don't tell anyone but I pretty much died, shh) But in reality, the whole walk was much easier than what everyone made it out to be.

The next day, we got up at 5:30am, packed up our entire camp and left by 7am. In my opinion, this was by far the hardest day for the whole camp, mostly because there were So. Many. Hills! I was a bit sick, but I was still pretty happy with the speed I walked at - And I think some expert deep heat massages helped everyone's muscles to feel a lot better ;) -

The last day of the walk!!!! Today was basically just 4km's of going up one massive hill, before nearly tripping down the other (very steep) side. Also, our "parkour" (jumping over rocks with our backpacks on) helped pass the time. After we finished, we all went back to the caravan park and showered (finally!), then went into town and ate our way through McDonald's - hey, I'd just gone through 2 days of eating nothing but muesli bars!

The next day, we left our trek bags at the caravan park and swapped them with smaller backpacks because... we were going to an island! And instead of travelling there on a boat like normal people, we kayaked about 5km to get to the island. It was super fun, but my shoulders are still sunburnt :(. That afternoon, we had heaps of fun burying people in sand/coral, and just hanging out on the beach in general. It would have been nice if we stayed for longer, but we still had to go home the next day (I still loved it and had so much fun!).

On the way back from the island, I made a terrible decision by convincing myself that I'd be able to steer the kayak. After getting a little too close to everyone else, some of my friends thought it would be funny to flip up our steering thing (yeah, I forgot the name), causing us to go backwards for a while until I realised what was wrong. After this, I decided to keep well away from everyone else - and ended up bumping into a stationary yacht with 200m left to paddle. Yeah yeah, laugh all you want - but it's hard to steer with your feet! (Oh, and we saw a dolphin about 10m from our boat - seriously!)

Sadly, this isn't my photography... but this view is amazing!

Aaaaand that was my week! If I had the chance, I would live it over again because I had so much fun and I absolutely loved it! :) - I know I've left some inside jokes in this post, but I know a few of my friends read this blog. - The things I'll remember the most about the camp include...
- One of my friends running down the street with a McDonald's bag on his head :')
- Watching massage trains :')
- Finishing the hike without any scratches or sprains
If you liked this week's post and want to hear more about my "adventures" and whatnot, leave a comment! Other than that, that's all from me for now and I'll talk to you next time, bye xx

Next Week: Getting Motivated. You can do it!

The Adventures of an Athlete

When I use the word "athlete," I generally use it as a loose term. In my eyes, an athlete is someone who loves sport and can even be a little bit competitive. So basically, I think everyone is an athlete at heart.
This week, I wanted to talk about my crazy "adventures" with sport, while also mentioning a few lessons that have helped me along the way, to help you get motivated.

Ever since I was little, I've loved to run. I remember winning my first cross country race back when I was in grade 1 (I think it was about 1.2km - intense stuff for a 6 year old), and realising that I actually wasn't too bad when it came to middle-distance running. Ever since then, I've taken running pretty seriously, but didn't start to properly train until I was 13. Also, I never really believed I was good enough for the district cross country team, until this year when I tried out and got in straight away! That taught me a pretty important lesson: You'll never know if you don't try.

Since I wasn't properly training until a few years ago, I wasn't doing any sport for a number of years - and this didn't make my parents too happy. In this time, I played basketball for a year (and hated it), was part of an athletics club for 2-3 years (and liked it, but ended up quitting because I didn't have a lot of friends there - another thing to remember is Don't let other people drive you away from something you love), and I nearly joined netball. This problem ended ended in grade 8, when I signed up for soccer because some of my friends were also playing. It took me a while to get used to it, especially when you have to alter your technique whenever you change the position you're playing. I'm so glad I signed up though, because I absolutely love it, and I've continued to play ever since.

If you're looking to get more serious about sport, one thing I cannot stress enough about is to take it easy when you're training! About 2 months ago, I was training for an event (that got postponed anyway) with so much intensity that I actually ended up tearing a muscle. Luckily, my school holidays allowed me to relax while I (rather impatiently) waited for it to heal. Which brings me to my next point...

When I haven't ran for about a week, I literally go crazy. Oh, my bedroom's just down the hall? Better sprint. I'm guessing half of you are thinking that I'm really weird right now, but I promise you I'm not. I mean,  being unable do what you love would probably make everyone go just a little crazy.

My advice when it comes to sport? Try a bit of everything to see what you enjoy, or you're good at. After that, join your local team and don't look back!



Everyone knows that regular exercise will cause you to look and feel healthy, but did you know that it can also make you happy? When you exercise, your brain releases feel-good hormones that can quickly improve your mood.

Okay everyone, that's all from me this week! If you have a question or suggestion about any of my posts, feel free to leave me a comment. Bye! xx

Next Week: August Favourites!