2019 Melbourne Experience
Melbourne Experience - Day 1
Today, the year 7s and 8s going on the 2019 Melbourne trip arrived at the airport very early in the morning and boarded the plane to Melbourne. We set off at 8:10 and arrived in Melbourne at around 9:00. When we were landing, my ears were hurting really badly and I could not hear for a few minutes after we landed. We then boarded a bus that took us to the hotel and where we dropped off our luggage and then went to the food court for lunch.
By Mini
Today, the year 7s and 8s arrived at Melbourne my favorite part of the day was definitely going up the tower but I will not talk about that because it was a horrible experience because I'm scared of heights. But the food court was like mama mia. It made my eyes water with happiness because I ate two spring rolls and a small bao bun, after that we went to the tower *skips* then we walked down over a bridge under the train station to the tram. But we missed the tram because it was full so we walked back to our apartment to unpack and chill.
By Freddie
Today as we stepped out of the food court we were guided to a small bench. As we all gathered around Mrs Cowell started to explain the Eureka Tower and the frightening challenge called 'The Edge'. She told us that is was a big box like room which rolled out of the side of the 88th floor on the Eureka Tower. As we gathered in all the information we started to wonder whether we wanted to do it or not, however we kept listening. After the room has rolled out the floor starts to clear up and before you know it, there was nothing beneath you but a sheet of glass and 300 metres of free falling. As we walked into the bottom floor of the Eureka I could feel a swarm of butterflies start to form in my stomach. We entered the lift and flew up to the 88th floor at 9m / sec! As I stepped out of the lift my stomach dropped. After taking many photos of the beautiful views we entered 'The Edge'. Suddenly we felt ourselves rolling out of the side of the Eureka. Suddenly the floor started to clear up and there was nothing but a sheet of glass and 300 metres of free falling, just like we had been told! To be continued.....
By Awana
Melbourne Experience - Day 2
On 31st September, we went on a trip to Sovereign Hill - A famous place where gold miners get gold. On the day, we visited many places throughout Sovereign Hill- including the most attractive options - Gold Panning. Gold panning is done by digging up some rocks from a stream (that of course, is rich in gold), and then shaking it, removing the large pieces and then extracting the gold.
It was a slow but exciting experience that took a long time, but needed extreme perseverance. Some of us gave up straight away, but some students kept on going and eventually received a lot of gold. Also, many other places were spectacular, such as going down into an old reinforced mine where we were guided on a tour by a voice of an old miner. Once we finished, we witnessed a blacksmith purify some gold and convert it from molten gold to a gold block worth $220,000, and it weighed 3kg.
Overall the experience was great and we had a really good time at Sovereign Hill.
By Jian, Ryan and Jonny
Melbourne Experience - Day 3
Today we went to Science Works, a place where we experienced new types of technology and we learnt about the solar system, as well as looking after our earth. At Science Works, there were lots of interactive activities such as testing body limits, experiencing futuristic technology and much much more.
After going to Science Works, we went to the Kokoda Trail, which had amazing views. It is a special walk the remembers the Austaralian soldiers who died in an uprising in PNG. The walk was very steep and narrow and it was 3 kilometres. We definitely found it hard but we ended up being proud of ourselves because we persevered to the very end.
Today was a great day and we're glad we had a balance of education and physical activity.
By Cathy, Scarlett and Cynthia
MELBOURNE EXPERIENCE - DAY 4
Yesterday, we went to the Puffing Billy Train Railway Experience. It was fun as we had never experienced a train of such age. The Puffing Billy Train is 119 years old and with the immense age of it, there was a large amount of smoke that poured out from the train.
After the train ride we took a long bus trip to the Healesville Sanctuary. We saw many unique animals which we would never dream of seeing in New Zealand. At 2:30, we travelled to a flight arena within the sanctuary and witnessed the flight of many amazing birds like raptors, barn owl and the biggest flying bird of prey, the wedge-tailed eagle.
Following our amazing experience at the Healesville Sanctuary, we returned to our hotel and prepared to go to the Crown Towers to eat dinner. There were lots of different options to eat and we were given $30 to choose our option of choice. Then Awana and Rio watched the All Blacks thrash Canada with Mr. Taylor and Mr. Helm. Everyone else went back to the hotel because they are unloyal fans.
By Rio, Angus and Randal
MELBOURNE EXPERIENCE - DAY 5
Yesterday we had travelled to a number of places. We first went to the Victoria Market and had bought a variety of things to bring back home as souvenirs, such as hoodies, jewellery and glass sculptures. After that we had decided to go on the tram but Won, Mini Q, Awana, Randal and Freddie got on a different tram and the doors shut before they could get out! They were now stuck on a tram but they called the teachers and they got off at the next stop and Mr Taylor came to get them.
Then we went to the botanical gardens there we had a welcoming ceremony and learnt about the Abiorigional culture; we had to put down a leaf into a fire and walked around the smoke so that we can cleanse our spirit and take away the bad omens. After we learnt about their history and how they learnt to set traps and adapt to the environment around them, we made indigenous paintings made out of dirt paste (ground ochre). Sadly we cannot take it back but we took some pictures to show you what we had made.
Next we went to the Old Melbourne Gaol that was a jail used in the 18th century. It is Melbourne's oldest jail and was 150 years old. We learnt about how the prisoners lived and how they got to jail and were executed.
Finally we went to the Emporium for dinner and had a variety of food with different cultures and some of us went shopping and got some candy from the confectionery shop. That concludes our day and everything we did we think it was a fun experience and would do it again if we could!
By Emily, Won and Sofie K
MELBOURNE EXPERIENCE - DAY 6
On the last full day we went to the Phillip Island chocolate factory. We got to experience the process of manufacturing and transporting chocolate, we also made are own chocolate with whacky combinations like WASABI.
After that we went surfing at Smiths Beach and we caught many waves. The sea water was cold and at first it was freezing but luckily we had thick wetsuits. Afterwards, we got changed and hopped back on the bus, bound for the Koala Conservation Centre where we spotted some adorable little koalas. We also learnt that koala spend only 2 hours a day awake, so we were very lucky to see two awake and feeding.
Then we went for dinner where we ate some pizza and pasta. Finally as the sun was setting we made our way to the penguin parade where we watched penguins waddle in from the sea. Overall it was an incredible day and one that we thoroughly enjoyed.
By George, Harry, Charlotte, and Cora.
