Leavers Recap

When I heard that Green Team was coming back this year I wanted to do it but I also knew there would
be a few hurdles. For starters I need my sleep (regardless of how limited that may be), I also doubted I could handle the zone at night especially as there's often flashing lights which can affect my dizziness, also I work so I needed to make sure I could take time off from work and finally my health issues aren't exactly straight forward. 

I went to the launch and found out we would be handling the ticket sales during the day. I could handle that, plus I know my way round an eftpos machine. I then approached my boss and I asked (but I was prepared to beg) if I could have the time off, I assured him that I would have content scheduled while I was away and would still be accessible. He not only approved it no questioned asked, but wanted to come except he couldn't due to the hard boarder issue though he is keen for next year. I then spoke to my doctor and asked for his approval and he gave it on the condition I would take time out if needed and would be careful with driving. So I had no reason not to go and I signed up. I should add that the head of Green Team was aware of my health issues and if I did need to take down time I would've been allowed. 

I had a great time and while it was a different experience that's for sure but one I loved just as much as previous years. I am hoping that next year I will have some friends joining me as it's such a fun experience.

Here's how my week went down:

Saturday - I left home just after 8.00am and took two stops on the way down. I arrived just before lunch time at the campsite we were staying at for one night as due to a booking issue the one we thought we would be staying at at wasn't available until the next day. I grabbed my 2 shirts, jacket and hat before going to the campsite one door down to get lunch for meat and salad rolls. We then drove to the first wristband sale site. Site 1 was located on the foreshore in a small town that is known for being the party town during Leavers, it was demountable near a carpark with a café up the road where we had a tab where we could order coffees/drink throughout the week. We had a walk through and got told the basics about the queuing system, before drove to the other wristband sale site. Site 2 was located in a bigger town near a jetty and was in actual building that contained the youth center and surf life saving club with a few meeting rooms and a kitchen, there was a coffee van where there was also a tab getting run so we could grab coffee/drinks throughout the week. We also met with the police who were heading up the app we would be using on the iPads and talked through the ID checking requirements and what to do if there was any glitches such as someone coming up as unvaccinated but they were. We headed back for dinner where I was surprised to see some familiar faces from my church who were helping cater this week. This couple are known for catering our church camps and the food is always amazing plus they are both so lovely so I was thrilled to see them. We were told to have an early night as breakfast was at 5.45am as we needed to be at the sites by 7.00am at the latest. A group of us sat around and chatted and we soon got texted where we would be located for the next day. A joke was made by the site 2 leader that he got all the trouble makers and wasn't sure how he would cope.

Sunday - I was at site 2 and after we packed our rooms and had breakfast we carpooled in groups of two
and were in for a big shock when we arrived. We did expect there to be a few people waiting but there was already a massive line and it was only 7.00am, with teens lining up since 11.30pm the night before. None of us were prepared for this and it was all hands on deck doing the final set up, logging into iPads and eftpos machines and preparing for the crowds. In order to get a wristband the leavers had to upload proof of Covid vaccine and their personal details and they would then get a QR code which we would scan before checking their details on their photo ID and proof of schooling (this could've been anything from a report to a statement signed by the school or graduation certificate). As nothing is ever straightforward we had quite a few glitches and the app crashed so many times, so  between both sites we only got through 600 in the morning. Thankfully in the afternoon glitches seemed to settle down and we go through an extra 5000. This meant we had sold over half the four day wristbands that were available. I think I only got 20 minutes worth of breaks (including lunch) and I was a lucky one. We all got back to the campsite and settled into our rooms for the week before dinner where we shared war stories. 

Monday - it was announced we would be at the same sites that we were at before for consistency the night before and we didn't need to arrive to them until 7.30am so breakfast was at 6.30am. The morning was crazy but we thankfully had no glitches and the crowds soon slowed down. It was announced at lunch time that we had reached 10,000 registrations on the app so weren't allowed to serve anyone unless they had a QR code and they were calling a meeting at 5.00pm at site 1 to see if they could somehow increase registrations. It was announced after the meeting that we couldn't accept any new wristbands and the registrations couldn't be increased. From then on we couldn't reissue a new wristband unless we had both a receipt and the broken band. This was because teens like to sell them on the black market and the bands weren't easy to be removed. Over the coming days we heard all sorts of excuses from they jumped off the jetty and it fell off or it fell off in the shower or that it was cut off and disappeared. The thing was that all volunteers were required to have a wristband (but in a different colour) and none of us were loosing ours despite swimming and showering. It became a bit of joke among us all and we often joked about there being wristband eating sharks and stingrays out there or that wristbands would start washing up on the beach soon. Of course we had a couple of cases where people were cornered for their bands and they submitted a police report so we were able to reissue them a new band. Site 2 was meant to stay open until 9.00pm on the Monday but by 6.30pm the bulk of us were sent home as it was so quiet.

Tuesday - half of those on Green Team left as they only signed up to volunteer until Monday. So out of those of us who were left only a few of us were required at the wristband sites. With the rest of us being required to help with a version of the Amazing Race along the foreshore near site 2. This meant we had a later start of 11.00am so I did some work at the campsite before I went into town and did some window shopping beforehand. The amazing race wasn't that amazing and there was a lot of glitches in that no one had a list of the locations or what clues lead where so that lead to a lot of confusion. I also managed to get a bit sun burnt as of course I didn't put on sunscreen perfectly on my arms ooops! It was quite a short day as afterwards we were told we could go back to the campsite. I went for a walk along the beach and collected some shells and put my feet in the water which was cold but nice. 

Wednesday - I was volunteered to help out on the Red Frogs Hotline with another Green Teamer so we
had to get there at 8.00am so we had an early start. We were kinda thrown in the deep end a bit but my customer service experience came right back. This is a hotline where leavers can ring up with any concerns they might have after each call we had to log them in and they would be put in various categories and if needed referred to volunteers out in the field. In the two hours I was there I experienced the following: my friend is sunburnt what should I do - get her in a lukewarm shower, apply aloe vera gel (this information later turned out not to be right but more on that later) and call healthline (a free phone health service). My friends car is dead in the middle of *town* where can I get jumper cables from - try the petrol station or call roadside assistance. We spilt a *premixed vodka drink* on the carpet and it's left a white stain what do we do - try stain remover from the grocery store otherwise it's bleached and you're mostly likely in trouble. What time does the bus come - check the leavers app. Where is the nearest bus stop to me - after looking at the map and figuring out where she was located I found the stop 200 meters from her. Plus the usual requests for pancakes, wristband issues (yes I am sure you can't get a replacement if you have lost it, I'm one of the people selling them!) and general random calls. It was a full on two hours to say the least, of course the person I was volunteering with had no strange calls only me! Those who weren't at the wristband sale sites were sent down to the beach party happening as extra people to help but we weren't needed so afterwards we went to Site 2 before going to Site 1 to relieve the current two volunteers for a bit.

Afterwards I had a walk along the beach and read my book to winddown. I was surprised to see a small stingray really close to shore who didn't seem to be scared of any one. Of course one of the green teamers who was in the water swimming jokingly called out to me and said that the stingray ate their wristband and he was going to fight the stingray for it. That nigh when we were discussing the calls with the other green teamers one of them mentioned that aloe vera shouldn't be used on burns as his wife is a burn nurse, so he proceeded to ring her up and put her on speaker and she educated us - apparently aloe vera can react with the burn so plain Sorbolene is actually best (the more you know!). 

Thursday - I was down at site 2 for the final day and to make things
interesting we had a competition with site 1 to see who would sell the most wristbands. In the end we beat them 33 to 19 so that was good. As we had periods of no people I was able to walk up to the jetty and I looked in the giftshop for a bit and in the museum that was attached. I also had my laptop and used my phone as a hotspot and tried to get some work done which didn't go as planned as I kept getting distracted. We packed up everything and loaded it between 3 cars (one of those cars was a smart car). We had been given the opportunity to head out of the zone the past couple of nights and as this was the last night a few more people were going and I decided I would go for a bit. It was fun but honestly the lights and people really didn't help my dizziness at all so I knew I wouldn't have coped if we had been running the zone this year. Afterwards I helped removed the sim cards from the iPads and chatted with some of the other green teamers. 

Friday - I packed up and decided as Jocelyn was on night shift starting that night and I was already
down south I would take a detour through a couple of country towns for some retail therapy and to unwind. I started driving back at 1.00pm and I made the mistake of driving 2.5 hours straight and needing to stop at a petrol station 30 minutes from home as I wasn't coping. This wasn't one of my wisest moves I must admit and I should've stopped before. But I thought I would be fine as it was in a straight line and wasn't a difficult drive. I got home at 4.30pm and began the pile of laundry that comes with going away for a week. 

My dizziness was the usual throughout the week and it didn't hurt that I was sitting down and had down time. Driving wasn't as big an issue as I thought but I would be reluctant to drive for more than an hour - an hour and a half without a break as was noticed on Friday. I will say my anxiety levels were high from Saturday - Tuesday but that's to be expected and everyone was on edge on both the Sunday and Monday due to the lines and issues we had. 

I was able to get some work done and was regularly checking my work emails along with checking in with my colleagues and boss. I was told that I as I had enough hours banked I didn't really need to work (plus it counted as part PD) but I needed to polish up some posts so I did use my phone as a hotspot a few times and did some work. I did tell my colleagues and boss not to contact me on the Monday and to call me if there was a pressing matter throughout the week but thankfully nothing went wrong. 

It was a great week and while I am exhausted I learnt a lot and I am planning on being back for next year everything going well.