Saturday had been very relaxed, with the Questers having lots of time to recover after pushing ourselves on the benchmark tests. With dinner finished, the boys were enjoying their free time; some were playing table tennis, some reading and some getting ready for bed.
Then the Gong rang.
The yell of "PARADE!". The rush of footsteps. And rapid, but silent, assembly in our parade order.
We were greeted by Jim, telling us that we had fifteen minutes (rather than the normal 30) to pack our overnight bags and return to our positions. Another flurry of footsteps. Clothes and bags flying everywhere, and the boys still barely made 20 minutes.
Since Groups 3 and 4 were staying at Bush Camp this week, they couldn't pack their bags and so were told to wait in the bus. The leaders of Groups 1, 2 and 5 were given directions, and so they headed out to their sleeping locations.
To Group 1, 2 and 5’s surprise and confusion, the boys staying at Bush Camp would not be joining them, sleeping out under the stars. Instead, they had a malicious task: poaching the other Groups' equipment while they slept.
Joe Edwards ('Innocent')
My group, Group 2, was given our map and, to our dismay, we saw that our destination on Saturday evening was over WTF and 500 meters across a series of bushes and dunes.
We arrived there and almost instantly fell asleep. Most of us sleep well in the soft sand, only slightly uncomfortable due to the occasion ocean wind. However our sleep was interrupted when two of our boys noticed that their bags were missing. Not thinking anything of it, other than it being a case of misplacement we went back to sleep.
When a third bag went missing we knew something was up and then we caught one of the thieves and forced him to confess his plans. He told us just enough that we were able piece together what was happening.
Having secured the remaining bags to our bodies, we slept the remaining hours until first light. And being mildly irritated at losing our equipment, we decided to split up and reclaim some of our belongings from Bush Camp before setting off back to Quest.
We ended up claiming one of our original bags that had been stolen. However as a form of taxation we also took 2 pairs of shoes and a day pack that belonged to the Bush Camp boys.
Overall we learnt a valuable lesson about taking care of our possessions and sweet revenge.
Alex Holme ('Raider')
Keagan, Matthieu and I approached the furthest checkpoint with no light, the wind was loud, covering for any mistakes on our part. We found the first three targets in the bushes, leaning in and taking our time we extracted all three of the bags.
Keagan went back with one to call the rest for collection. Matthieu and I then went to the nearest large tree, we got to work on releasing the bags from the hammocks and stealing their shoes. I heard a faint voice from behind me ‘who's that?’, I replied calmly with my name and convinced Oscar-Brett that we were staying the night. He fell asleep and Matthieu and I crept off, we collected the bags, using their torches for light. We were ecstatic and still buzzing with adrenaline.
Michael MacFarlane ('Raider')
Given nothing but a map and limited details as to what actually to do, the bush camp group Golf, was handed the task of hiking and stealing as much gear from the three other allocated groups sleeping somewhere outside the 1500 hectares farm Quest is based on. The event went on for hours into the night, having hiked to the three different locations and finding the best strategies to best sneak up on and take what we can without getting noticed. However, the boys know not everything always goes to plan, with other groups getting caught and battling to see who came out on top. The epic event was one to remember with new lessons learnt and fun had.
Jared Nicolle ('Raider')
The night started off well enough. After a short movie, we all headed back to Bush Camp to strategize for the night ahead. At midnight, we set off in search of our bounties: our fellow Questers' most vital equipment. Unbeknown to the groups camped out on the farm, four groups of four were to pillage and plunder their gear in the early hours of the morning.
After hiking up hills and dunes in the abyss of night, our group stumbled across the sleeping bodies scattered among the brush in the given location.
With the utmost stealth (admittedly, some more stealthy than others), bags and shoes silently disappeared into the blackness, silhouettes and footprints being the only proof of the encounter.
All in all, we did well, and after a brief tally and securing of the 'stolen goods', fatigue set in as the 'raiders' retired for a few much-needed hours of sleep, broken only by the shouts of boys realizing the 'crimes' of the night.
Seb Prevost ('Innocent')
It’s1:30 am and I hear a little rustle from my rain jacket. I tilted my head back to see a human in Quest gear who I instantly thought it was one of my teammates packing their things to walk back. I checked my watch. Realizing something was wrong, I sat up in my sleeping bag, I knew my shoes were loose and they were messing with my bag so I asked if they stole my shoes. After a brief excuse, they shook my hand and walked off like nothing happened.
The next few minutes I checked the camp. Shoes were gone and 3 of the seven bags were missing. I knew exactly what was up. The guys at bush camp were told to steal our bags. I checked the time and knew they would be back in about an hour. They were. We saw them crawling towards us and jumped out of our sleeping bags and shone our torches, yelling. After a few long seconds, with them looking akin to deer in headlights, they bolted.
In a final attempt to steal more gear, they came back at 3am and just ran straight at us with their headlamps.
After a 'crushing defeat' - we were prepared - the retreat was sounded, with nothing but one sleeping bag cover. After letting our 'captive' go, he ran away with his tail between his legs.
In the end, everyone thought we were crazy because we couldn’t stop laughing, but we all thought the game was just so much fun. The only thoughts going through our minds while walking home barefoot, was that we can’t wait to be thieves!
