Zip it!

Shoot through the trees, and enjoy the view of the ground.   Lots of girls had a blast trying what the Zip it courses had to offer.  At the beginning of the session, girls were given instructions and an initiation course on how to work their harnesses, then they were sent off to conquer the courses.  



Zip it offered 3-4 different courses.  They were labelled with different colours.  Blue being the course with a few good zips and the most challenging for most.  Mama Lynn and others stood on the ground encouraging the girls to finish, even if they were scared. 


In the evenings, staff had a chance to go and try to conquer these wonderful structures.  After I saw a couple of the bruises that some had, I opted not to do it. I already had a few from tripping of the post that was beside the tent. 

Zip It had a wonderful turn out, the staff team worked very well together. I heard nothing but good things from the girls that had a chance to do it. 

Good job Zip it team

Who wants to play some Boda Borg?

Excitement, team work, and cheers! Who doesnt enjoy that? Every girl and most staff members gave a go at one of the activities Lough Key activity park had to offer: The Boda Borg. A unique challenge that originated in Sweden. It is a gym size room seperated with 47 different rooms and 15 quests. Rooms are labelled with a name and a colour. A green door meant the puzzles inside were mental. A red door meant the puzzles inside were physical and mental. A black door meant that the puzzles inside were physical and a bit tougher to complete. In teams of 3-5 people the girls took on one room of their choice at a time. The fun part: you never knew what you were going to walk into. Once the door closed you have 2 minutes to complete the challenge with no instructions. If a green light showed above the door, girls were able to move through the door leading to the next challenge. When you reached the end of the quest without any mistakes, you get to stamp your card to say its done. However, if you do something wrong, you must leave and start at the beginning of the quest again. So how many people have actually accomplished the whole Boda Borg? When we arrived we were told that only 23 teams have completed the entire thing. After camp 101, I believe the number has gone up to at least 26, maybe more. Our Canadian group attempted the Boda Borg, the day we arrived. We did well for a first try , but a lack of sleep due to jet lag did not help by any means. My team had fun doing the farm, when you had to warm up the chicken eggs As well, as crawling under lasers. The best, the Ropes quest! We never figured it out! Trying to lay on the ropes while climbing through them did not work out very well. The girls had a blast completing these challenges and quests. Everytime I asked a Guide this was one of their favourite activities.

Opening Ceremonies

The moment that we were all waiting for: Camp 101 to be offically open. Groups arrived earlier in the day to set up camp and meet new camping friends. Staff worked together to prepare for the ceremonies and set up the rest of camp, along with a couple of trainings. My first job at camp was sanitizing the water hose for water bottles. Yuck! But, I got to see the entire campsite.

After dinner, there was lots of press and photographers getting ready for the big event. Our Ranger group got our picture taken with two Irish girls. Guess what! The last day of camp, there was a souvenir portion in the newspaper, and our photo was in it.

Everybody filed it, and got ready for the big event. While getting everybody seated, a group of girls sang: I want to camp with you. This was the moment where it actually hit me. "OMG, its true, and not a dream. I'm in Ireland." When the ceremony began, each country brought down their flag. 12 countries attended Camp 101. Various speeches were presented by Chief Commisioners,the Roscommon Mayor, and of course the Camp Chief Maria Kindlay.

You can not forget the Irish dance! Dancers danced around the cauldron with 8 different coloured ribbons to represent each Global Action Theme. Afterwards, the crowd stood up to sing "together we can the world" our camp song for the week. It was amazing seeing everybody do the same actions at the same time.

Next up, a band named Cadence came on stage to play a few songs for us. We were all so excited, we ran up to the stage (even though we were told not to, we did anyway. While playing some amazing songs, everybody was jumping and cheering. Some of weren't even jumping, and we were bouncing up and down. I walked out in the middle of a song for only a minute. The next thing I know it, everybody is coming out of the marquis. The amount of pressure and bouncing on the floor, caused it to cave in and break in several spots. No one let it damper there night. Instead, we sat outside and listened to a few more songs while enjoying the beautiful sunset over the lake. The floor guys arrived to fix the floor, around the time everybody headed to bed. Hammering was heard across the camp til about 3am in the morning, but I think most of us slept through it.

The nights events were a great way to kick off, the great week that was ahead of us

The Adventures and Tales of the "Good" Ole Irish Weather

It’s for sure that all the international contingents have endured a lot of rain while they were in Ireland. During our visit, we had to expect at least one rain shower every day. Before anyone arrived at camp, the weather was so horrible that they had to move the campsites around three times before they found decent ground. Our group ended up at camp a day early in the down pouring rain. Of course we had to put up our tent up in it. (That never fails) It took six Canadian Rangers and three Irish to put up our tent. I didn’t think it would be rocket science until I realized that the fly had to go first. Then, the pods where you sleep connect from the inside of the fly and then a tarp goes on the group so the floor wouldn’t get soaked. With only 2 hours of sleep on the plane we never thought to put the tarp and pods inside the fly. Therefore they had a good soak before we realized they were sitting in the rain.

Overcast over the lake Due the incorporate weather and the lack of room in our tent three of decided to create a mountain of luggage after we tripled checked again absolutely everything in our suitcase was in a plastic bag. It gave us extra room to get in and out of the tent and we were able to throw a huge tarp over our bags to make sure puddles didn’t form on the outside of the suitcases. However, every time someone needed to get into their suitcase things got really messy. The weather got better throughout the week. It still rained of, but we got so used to it, none of us realized it.

Never went every where without a rain jacket. This was visitors day. It started off nice, then rainy and then COLD! Ireland just doesn’t get rain showers! We experienced sun showers a few times too. The sun would be shining with a few clouds and then all of the sudden it would just pour rain. The last day of camp, a few of us ran out in it and played on the equipment. Our bums got wet from sitting on the equipment.

Our group woke up to sun and not a cloud in the sky one morning after camp. A leader woke us up yelling; “FIRE DRILL, FIRE DRILL” to get us out of bed and made sure we all saw the beautiful weather. Somebody didn’t want to get out of bed, so they dragged her outside in her sleeping bag. A leader took out her pad of paper and asked everybody to give her a penny and an estimate on what time it would rain. Guess what everybody? It rained!

double rainbow Despite the daily rain forecasts everyone was still very happy and continued with the program. I and sure of lots of others can now say we are pro campers in the rain

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