Lighting Ridge

In the second week of the term 3 holidays, we went on a week-long diving camp to Lighting Ridge. Lighting Ridge is a town in the middle of nowhere. It is about 8 hours North of Sydney and is known for its Opal mines. We had an amazing time there and made a lot of memories and amazing friendships. Plus, we learned many new dives that we can use for our next competitions. 

We trained 3 hours in the morning and 3 hours in the afternoon in the pool each day and then during the middle, we had fun with dry training and having free time. In addition to water training, we would get to go on the trampoline where we would play for ages and go on the dry board. Everyday we would go down to the IGA for our casual walk and to get bottles of water as the water there didn't taste good.

The last day we had a synchronised competition. This was separated into two groups of ten. We dived as a St Andrews pair and placed 5th. 

One of our favourite memories was from the first day. We went next door from where we were staying where there was a water park and pool. With our friends, we went into the wave pool and spent at least an hour playing and having a chicken fight. The first time we went to the hot springs, we all gathered around and played truth or dare and slowly tried to go deeper into the hot spring only to jump out a few minutes later from the heat and smell of it. Some days we had a party of our own doing thing like playing hide and seek in the dark and chasing each other around.

Every day was fun and a great experience. Overall we loved this experience and would definitely do this again. 

Claire De Vos and Rachael Griffiths