September 2025
In July, for the first time since Covid came, we flew out of the country with 33 of our young NSW Police Legatees, and eight young AFP Legatees. For some of our kids it was their first time out of the country, and for four of our campers it was their first NSW Police Legacy camp, so as you can imagine, the excitement levels were high!
The next six days were spent in a whirlwind of activities throughout the North Island of Aotearoa New Zealand. Arriving in Auckland, the group had a short taste of city life before heading out to stay at the Te Whetu Marae in Tauranga for two nights. Here the group learned about Māori culture, history, traditions and language, including the Haka and Poi.
Next stop was Rotorua, where the group spent two jampacked days and nights. Included on the exhaustive (but never exhausting!) list of activities was bungy swinging, simulated skydiving, pedal-powered monorail, zorbing, ziplining, gondola riding and the luge. (Editor’s note: we don’t know what half those words mean either, but the kids assure us that they were excellent.) Also on offer in this spectacular part of the world was a hike through a geothermal park near the lakeside town of Taupo, and a walk through the Redwood Forest.
As always, there was the bittersweet moment of farewell from the “graduating” group – those who are about to finish high school and will no longer be eligible to join in with the kids’ camps. It was a large group this time, with 12 campers leaving us, and all of them gave deeply felt thanks and goodbyes to the rest of the group, and to NSW Police Legacy for the opportunity over the years. It’s a moment that the camp supervisors have come to treasure.
