Melbourne Day 5 – All good things must come to an end!

Etihad Stadium!

With a slightly later start today, we were up and at 'em ready to take on our final day. A final post-brekkie walk to Starbucks in the middle of CBD brought smiles to faces, and we were blessed with a crisp but stunning, clear blue day.

Time to check out, put bags into Ray's care and head off to Docklands for some ice skating. We were provided a quick ice skating lesson by Lloyd, a national speed skating champion, who covered the basics of gliding, falling and safely standing back up. Then off the tourists went for a solid hour of free skating, with some electing to use the training penguins to glide around. Hardly any falls spotted at all - we have ourselves some gifted, athletic students in Year 7!

Next up was the Melbourne Star Observation wheel, where we took in the sights and view of Melbourne and the CBD skyscrapers. As per usual, we kept the gift shops of Melbourne in business by stocking up on memorabilia, before having lunch and heading over to Etihad stadium for our VIP tour.

The Melbourne Star observation wheel

We were lucky enough to visit all facets of the incredible stadium - from the corporate boxes which cost $10000 a game, to the interchange bench on the field, the media room, the coaches boxes and their perfect view of the field, down to the players change rooms, ice baths and lockers rooms. Compared to 1300 Smiles stadium, this place was mind-blowing and made us even more excited for the potential super stadium back home.

VIP Tour of Etihad Stadium

And finally it was time to bid Melbourne adieu and head back to the airport, with a little free time to hit some shops and snacks (Krispy Kreme has done very well by us this trip!) before boarding our flight home.

We have had a massively jam packed five days full of fun, educational and cultural activities. We have been incredibly proud of our students throughout the trip. They were so well-mannered and considerate of other people and each other ... Whether their interests lay in shopping, museums, history or culture, they showed patience with each other (such as when waiting for the girls to frantically finish shopping or for students who wanted a little more time in museums to keep learning) and respected each others' differences.

On behalf of the students, a thank you to parents for the sacrifice that occurs in order to send them along on this amazing trip. I know that every single student has experienced many new and different things, and had an absolute ball.

And a very big thank you to Mr Franich and Mrs Kybus for their time, energy, positivity and care of our touring kids. How lucky all of us are to be involved in such an incredible holistic education experience (and how lucky we are to have a Principal who supports such endeavours - thank you very much Mr Fairley!).

Happy holidays to all our tourists - you have earned your sleep in tomorrow!

Karyn Kybus

Yr 7 Co-Ordinator

Melbourne Day 4 - Zoo Safari, Street Art, Luna Park and WINTER

Another early rise and this time off to Werribee Zoo. Today was absolutely freezing - around 8 degrees with an icy wind and very ominous, overcast skies.

Despite this, our group of brave tourists layered up and plowed onward for a morning with the animals. The safari tour in a jeep train through the savanna was an absolute highlight - students were able to see up close and personal camels (inquisitive enough to come right up to our open carriage), giraffes, rhino, zebra, ostrich, an antelope and her one day old baby, hippo, bison, long horn cattle, the list goes on.

We also had a serval demonstration - this remarkable cat showed her clever jumping and hunting skills. We then went to see the lions and watched a presentation. Hearing the two males roar and rumble at each other to establish their territory was impressive, and we were lucky enough to have the lioness come down to the fence for a milk bottle treat.

Some respite from the cold in our bus to head back to the CBD for our Graffiti Street Art Tour. Our tour guide Chris is a renowned Melbourne street artist who collaborates frequently with a group of highly diverse, talented and successful artists. We began at Federation Square and made our way through the lanes of the CBD inspecting various forms of street art and gaining a different perspective on graffiti as an art form.

Our tour culminated in the Blended art studio where the students were given a snack and saw where the artists base themselves from. The vibrant colours, creative pieces of art and their associated political and social commentary was a fascinating way to spend the afternoon.

From here Ray took us on a seaside tour of Melbourne, along the Formula Grand Prix home stretch and pit lanes to our final destination for the day – St Kilda. The wide grin of Luna Park stretched before us, holding promise to several hours or fun (and fear, for some). Students were given their unlimited pass bands and off they went on ghost trains, vertical drops, being flung upside down, spinning all over the place, bumper cars, 100 year old carousels … you name it. The shrill screams emanating from the rides (actually that was mostly Mr Franich when Miss Kybus made him go on some rides) were mostly of delight and the students had a blast, despite the icy temperatures.

Off to dinner across the street at McDonald’s (maybe not the most highbrow of restaurants but warm and delicious) before our weary bodies were taken back to the hotel for hot shower, PJs and packing to depart the next day.

Despite the at times uncomfortable cold, it had originally predicted a 90% chance of rain over the previous two days and we didn’t get wet at all – we are all very, very grateful to the weather gods for holding back on the rain for us!

Melbourne Day 3 - Eureka!!!!

This morning brought many grumbles and groans for the bright and early 6.30am start (that one was tough for the teachers too) in order to make the trip out to Ballarat. The 1.5 hour trip through the spectacular, green Victorian countryside passed surprisingly quickly, and before we knew it we had arrived at Sovereign Hill.

We started in the Gold Museum, learning about the history and significance of the discovery of gold in Australia. We then entered the olden time township of Sovereign Hill. Everything about this place, from the dusty streets, to heritage buildings and employees dressed up in 1800s clothing made us feel as though we were back in time to the gold rushes of Australia.

We began with a 'Secret Chamber' tour ... Our touring party was placed into a train inclined to around 45 degrees, which plunged us into pitch blackness while descending to around 25 metres underground. Here, our tour guide took us through the dimly lit mine shafts and explained how gold was mined. Halfway through our tour we entered a chamber and watched an animated story which was projected onto a rock wall, and was told from the perspective of two Chinese brothers in the 1850s. It was quite incredible.

Students then had free time to explore the township for lunch and other goodies, with most opting to sample the award winning pies and sausage rolls.

Next up was a gold pouring demonstration. It was fascinating to watch and learn about the process of separating gold from quartz. We could feel the 1000 degree heat radiating off the liquid gold, and were surprised at how quickly placing it into water cooled it into a solid ingot. Being so close to a $170k bar of gold was pretty amazing.

After departing the gold pouring shed we could hear marching and drums, and were lucky enough to watch some red coats march through the town, give a declaration to the townspeople (us) and fire off their incredibly loud guns! A super fun and interactive experience.

Making the most of our day, our next session was ominously titled 'Hunters of the Sky'. There were two native birds of prey for the show; "Jedda" the Nanking Kestrel and "Pickle" the Australian Hobby. Jedda happily flew from her trainer to members of the crowd, where she confused Mr Franich, Lachlan and Lily for tree stumps - they did remarkably well to play host to a tiny taloned terror of the sky. Pickle, one of the fastest birds of prey, played fetch with a lure on a rope showing her remarkable aerial agility.

Our very brave 'tree', Lily!

It was then time to get creative where we were first shown the craft of candle making and heard about candle making over the ages. We later had the chance for students to dip their own candles in coloured wax to take home as a souvenir.

Immediately following this we watched the traditional style of making hard candy - with a cooking demonstration of making raspberry drops which were delicious!

Off to another mine shaft - this time descending by foot and following the order of our lead miner as we made our way through the tight mine shafts, seeing another projected story of how the 'Welcome Nugget', a 69kg gold rock was found.

Finally, it was time to try our own hand at panning for gold - and Eureka! Darcy, Mitch and Alex all managed to find themselves a speck of gold!

Mitch's speck of gold

Back to Ray, our trusty bus driver, and the return trip to Melbourne. Despite the predicted 90% chance of rain, we were blessed with blue skies for nearly the entire day.

To end a lovely day, and given the unexpectedly clear night, we made the post-dinner walk through the bustling Saturday night CBD for a highly demanded supper treat - Starbucks hot chocolate!

Melbourne Day 2 - Fun AND Learning!

A 7am wake up greeted our bleary eyed tourists on our first full day in Melbourne, however a buffet breakfast, as well as a refreshing walk through the beautiful Carlton Gardens and coffee/hot chocolate stop, helped us to refuel before we walked toward our first activity of the day - Melbourne Museum.

Here, the students took part in a one hour education program putting their knowledge from their archaeology unit in History earlier this year to good use. Students looked at real artefacts found from cesspits in Melbourne, and made assumptions about what the object was used for, and what it told us about life back then.


We then had some free time to look through the Museum, starting with the Melbourne Story and ending with the animal exhibitions. Our very knowledgeable bus driver Ray took us on an hour driving tour around Melbourne, explaining the history and significance of the buildings and sites, including Captain Cook's cottage and the Shrine of Remembrance.

Shrine of Remembrance

Next up was ScienceWorks - we started in the planetarium and only one describes this experience ... WOW!!!! Lying in a blackened room in seats that recline almost completely back under a domed ceiling, we flew through the universe looking at galaxies and solar systems, and how with technology we are discovering more and more. The show ended with the dome opening to show what the sky above the planetarium looked like at night (both with and without the Melbourne city lights). Our guide pointed out how to find prominent objects in our solar system while star gazing, and showed us how the sky filled with astrology signs might look. It was an incredible show! We then looked through the remainder of the exhibitions and played on all the interactive science activities.

No rest for the weary on this tour! Back into the CBD we went and directly to Melbourne Central where we counteracted all our learning and museums with some good old fashioned retail therapy - more Yu-Gi-Oh items, clothing, perfume ... The list goes on! Students were able to select a dinner of their choice from the food court before we went into Hoyt's to enjoy a relaxed cinematic experience with "Pete's Dragon" - complete with candy bar INSIDE the cinema! Fancy!

We walked back to the hotel with the intention of having a shower and earlier night before our early start tomorrow morning. However, the clash of the Cowboys v Broncos game struck and the screams emanating from the Kybus room sent kids running from their beds. In the end we had a very packed hotel room to cheer the Cowboys to an extra time win. What an exciting, and anxiety inducing, way to end such a wonderful day!

Goodbye Townsville, Hello Melbourne!

After months of planning and counting down, the day had finally arrived - Day 1 of Melbourne Tour!

The Year 7 students, teachers and parents alike were buzzing as we met at Townsville Airport earlier yesterday morning. For some students this would be their first time to Melbourne and for the majority their first time flying without their parents - what an exciting adventure!

After a lunch and sushi/red rooster stop in Brisbane, we found ourselves landing in a very chilly and rainy Melbourne. With temperatures this week ranging from 8-18 degrees, we have been anticipating a belated winter experience and we certainly have it!

A delayed flight from Brisbane meant we had a very quick and efficient check in process to our hotel, before racing (very safely, parents) across the road to our tour of Old Melbourne Gaol. Our tour guide Troy was one of the most entertaining tour guides we've all ever had - he kept the students totally absorbed with tales of what prison life was really like back in the 1800s, including the prison wide and city-wide "pee and poo disposal" problem (cue lots of giggling), the effects of the gold rush and of course the infamy of Ned Kelly, who spent just one hour in the prison before meeting his death.

We had a little free time in our rooms to unpack and freshen up before it was time for dinner. All that hard work sitting on a plane had obviously taken its toll as we were ravenous! Pizza, chips and salad overload made for some very happy tourists!

Ahead was a night walk of the CBD. This involved seeing the lights and sights of the city, a quick shop for all tourists at H&M in its spectacular heritage building (where, with only a small window of time, the girls literally ran through finding things to buy in something impressively reminiscent of the Amazing Race), a Yu-Gi-Oh card stock up - with a very excited Daniel Lee who finally got some highly coveted cards - a frantic jump on to busy trams for a ride down to Federation Square and past Flinders Station, and at long last the much anticipated Krispy Kreme donut pit stop.

Well and truly past most bedtimes, we meandered back through the city (with some kids heard exclaiming "gee it's busy for a Thursday night!") to our hotel, where the students, of course, immediately went to sleep in preparation for our first full day in Melbourne - watch this space to read all about it!!!

The Countdown begins!

We are now officially on countdown until the 2016 Year 7 Melbourne Tour departs - two weeks (or ten school days) to go!

Packing lists, updated itineraries and information have now been sent home (along with tour shirts and jackets) and also placed on Moodle,

Watch this space during the tour for daily updates to follow our fantastically fun adventures!