2018 Year 7 Melbourne Tour

  After several days of blue skies and crisp air, we were due a cold, overcast day and that day was today! After a slightly later start (half an hour more sleep - yay!), Ray drove us the 45 minutes out of town to Werribee Zoo, where we were greeted with a very brisk 11 degrees (but ‘feels like 6 degrees’) and the threat of rain.  With jackets and scarves on, and rain jackets in backpacks at the ready, we threw ourselves in with the animals. It was a quiet day at the zoo so students had a chance to see the animals up close and personal, including the newly opened Australian Trail where kangaroos, emus and other wildlife roamed free amongst the visitors. We had booked a safari tour through the plains of the zoo where we were loaded into open air safari Jeep buses and driven out amongst the giraffes, rhino and other amazing creatures.  It was incredible to get to see the animals roaming around rather than behind glass or a fence! Next up, we were glad to be

Another bright and early start so that we could make our 1.5 hour journey up to Ballarat, to visit Sovereign Hill for the day. This town is frozen in time, set following the discovery of gold in 1851. We started our day with gold pouring demonstration, where we were able to draw on our Term 1 Science unit of separating mixtures to understand how gold is removed from quartz using mercury, and then separated from the mercury to purify it. We had molten gold heated at 1200 degrees poured into a bullion mould in front of us and then cooled in cold water. The resulting gold 24k bar weighed 3kg and was worth $165000 (and was therefore instantly transferred to a safe after the demonstration). From here we were off to the ‘Secret Chamber’ tour, where we were taken in an inclined train 20 metres underground in pitch darkness to adjust our eyes to the lantern lit mining corridors.  We were guided through the chilly, underground set of chambers to see what gold and quartz

Our second day started out bright and early with a 6am start - the teachers were super impressed with the total lack of complaining about the early rise and everyone up and ready to go on time! A sign of excitement for the full day ahead.  After  breakfast in the hotel, we were off on foot again, amongst the bustle of a pre-work CBD. A brisk 10 degrees greeted us so the first stop for the day was Starbucks, where Miss Kybus treated the kids to a hot chocolate complete with whipped cream and marshmallows. This was a new experience even for the Starbucks staff who had to learn how to input ‘39 hot chocolates’ to the register and then move into a hot chocolate making super team. We took our lovely warm beverages past Federation Square, for a visit to another quintessential part of Melbourne culture - the graffiti lanes. We started in Hosier Lane where we got to witness a work in progress, complete with crane for the large scale work. We then moved onto AC/DC La

After months of counting down and planning, the big day had finally arrived. 39 super excited students and 4 almost-as-excited teachers met at Townsville airport to begin our adventure to Melbourne! After saying goodbye to mums and dads, and a quick stop via the gift stop to purchase the all-important plane snacks, we embarked on our first of two flights to Brisbane. Sadly, with a change in departure time, our ability to keep Krispy Kreme flourishing was compromised and we were straight onto our flight to Melbourne.  Upon arriving we were thrown into touring - by meeting our trusty bus driver for the next five days, Ray, and heading directly to Old Melbourne Gaol. Here the students were given personal tours of the prison cells and heard lots of historical stories of Melbourne in the 1800 to early 1900s, where the favourites were the ghost stories and tales of great escape. Somewhat morbidly, we visited the place of the infamous Ned Kelly’s execution