There are two things that the Sydney Human Towers – Kangaroos master; one is obviously building jaw dropping Towers and the second one is organising unforgettable Camps.
This time we headed to wine region of the Hunter Valley. Why? It’s simple, we all wanted to learn how to make wine to celebrate the achievements of a great Human Tower Seasons with our own-made Kangaroo’s 2.5 years Reserve Wine.
A whole Youth Hostel facility was booked in Nulkaba for a weekend full of activities and surprises including a non-human appearance. Yes, you read it right. Oh my God!
Meanwhile the organizers finished to prepare the first games, the bbq’s got turn on and everyone enjoyed a good meal whilst getting ready for the “Get to Know everyone” games of the night. Sat in a big circle the night went on playing some classic games like “The Peg” and some new ones like the “Bench” where all Castellers have to order by age or alphabetical order without falling from the longest bench you’d have ever seen.
The schedule for the weekend was explained and some went to sleep to be 100% ready for a packed with fun Saturday. Some others kept the night and the good vibes going on for a bit longer trying to gain more knowledge around How to make / drink wine techniques.
Saturday started with music waking up the Colla at 8 o clock and an energetic breakfast -no grape fruit this time- being served ahead of the coolest Human tower rehearsal / friendly competition. Two of the youngest talents of the Kangaroos -Elsa and Ainhoa- became the captains of the ephemeral colles of “The Yellow Grapes” and the “Sydney Yellow Sharks” to participate on a tight competition where both groups demonstrated their best skills.
In the amidst of laughter and banter the Kangaroos build 5 levels towers easily and the winner got decided in the fastest race of pillars of the world. “The Greapes” took victory home and the classic “We are the Greapest…” anthem by Greappy Mercury was heard so loud throughout the Valley that even someone in the God’s Olympus might have heard it?
Also Saturday saw the start of the “Kiss Killer” where everyone can get killed with a soft but deadly kiss…
A delicious Fideua was the best dish to recover some energy back and get our minds and bodies prepped for the afternoon activities when out of the sudden…Dionysus, yes Dionysus, itself came to visit us, no jokes. We are still shocked as even if “We touch the sky downunder” most of us have never seen a God before but he was in need of a favor and the Kangaroos winemakers were ready to give him a hand.
Gods had no more wine left in the Olympus and Dionysus needed help to be able to produce some for them. In a matter of minutes the organizers shifted all the plans to create the WineMaker’s Gymkhana where 6 groups had to go through all sorts of tests to gain drops of the precious liquid and fill bottles with it for Dionysus the God of wine– who surprisingly enough looked a bit alike the Infamous Hugo Verdugo from previous Summercamps.
Sometimes Summercamps are surrounded by mystery…
The Teams gave it all; from harvesting the grapes around the hostel facilities to stepping on the grapes using sack races techniques the Kangaroos demonstrated the power of Teamwork at its best achieving a decent amount of red liquid to help Dionysus.
Winemaking it’s not easy so the troops had a break to enjoy a delicious rice after a very productive bottling afternoon.Everyone was feeling great for having helped Dionysus when MISTERIOUSLY AND SHOKING news came to our end:
DIONYSUS HAD BEEN MURDERED.
The kangaroos didn’t hesitate and got organized in groups again to help solve the mysterious murder and help getting Dionysus back to life. Strange things happened in the dark: a Jealous and powerful young Landlord, a Cuban rum lover and a really distressed cleaner made it hard for the Colla to solve the mystery. However, the Kangaroos put all the pieces of the puzzle together and managed to bring the God of Wine back to life! The Roo’s were so happy that everyone celebrated all night long in honor of Dionysus.
Sunday was a day to gain back some normality. Some tired faces after a long wine fermenting night helped to clean and we left the Hunter Valley towards Caves Beach for an ocean swim before heading back to Sydney.As always, one of the cars broke down -apparently they filled the fuel tank with wine- but everyone made it safe to the Beach where we enjoyed some well deserved rest. Lunch was served and the Classic Triki Traka was the icing of the cake to a memorable SummerCamp.
Once again, thanks to the Organisers. What a great job!
