Thursday 25th October 2007

We began our day with a visit to the High Court – the pinnacle of the Australian judicial system.

Adjacent to the High Court was the National Gallery where we saw the latest Aboriginal display. Blue Poles was a feature and there was a painting called “Water Lilies” by Monet. The students were fascinated by the plain white canvas worth over 1 million dollars.

Questacon followed. There were 6 Galleries with 150 interactive exhibits. Everyone had fun for over 3 hours. It was a fantastic way to end the Tour. The highlights were the Roller Coaster simulator and the Free Fall drop.

In the evening we had our Talent Quest. The winner was Mikaela with her rendition of "Somewhere over the Rainbow", and second place was Luke with his acrobatics. The cabin of male "models" was hilarious.

Student Reflections

Questacon was the best. So much fun – the best was the free fall. I did it 12 times. Steph

Questacon was fun. There were free fall, earthquake, and roller coaster simulators. Manny

Questa con was the best place we have visited. I especially liked the free fall because I am afraid of heights. I was so pleased I was able to face my fear. Karissa

We went to the National Gallery and I especially liked the Aboriginal dot paintings. Natalie

Wednesday 24th October 2007

After breakfast we split into three groups.

Students who visited the Electoral Education Centre learnt about the Federal Election process through an audiovisual display, an interactive problem solving room and running their own polling booth. Students voted for their fruit candidate of choice, counted the votes using the preferential system and finally decided that "Peach" was the winner. Other groups decided "Apple" was a better candidate.

The Australian War Memorial, especially the wall of remembrance, was a moving experience for all. There were feature presentations entitled, "Sydney struck at night" and another about submarines. Students took time to sit and listen to stories from survivors in interactive presentations and gained a little insight to the sacrifices the service men made.

Other groups went to Parliament House. This is a real highlight of the tour, with students very interested and excited to be in the political centre of Australia.

Other attractions on Wednesday were a visit to the Australian National Museum and a trip to the top of mountain to capture the magnificent Canberra view.

At the end of the day - Students visited the Telstra Tower to view the night lights of Canberra.

Student Reflections

Tatum – Yesterdays trip to parliament house was the best. I learnt and saw things that I haven’t learnt before. The highlight of the day was going to see the very front of Parliament House. It was a fantastic day.

Chris G – Every part of the day was enjoyable like going to see the athletes in the (AIS) Australian Institute of Sport, the mint and last but not least, parliament house. It was a big tiring day. As soon as I got home I flaked it and slept early.

Peter S – Yesterday was tiring. AIS was good.

Kate – Yesterday was really fun at the AIS. It was tiring but I enjoyed it.

Debbie – Yesterday was tiring but fun. AIS was awesome and parliament house was really cool – good day.

Mitch – Yesterday we went to AIS. It was cool. The mint was cool too.

Mikaela – It has been cool.

Danny – I enjoyed the parliament house and also the war memorial too. They were great.

Natasha – The AIS was really interesting and it was good to see all that stuff at Parliament House.

Weena – Parliament House was really good – The view from the Mountain was great.

Rachel – It was fun.

Antonia – Fun, tiring, good museum. Love you mum. LOL

Priscilla – Its been a fun camp especially being able to spend so much time with friends.

Bec- Having fun with my friends. Keep smiling.

Kate – Today has been fun but really tiring.

Tanya – Today I had fun and I enjoyed the museum. It was great.

Natalie – The old parliament house was really fun and much better than the new one. All the boys are annoying on the bus.

Tuesday 23rd October 2007

We were all woken at 6am for a 7am breakfast of bacon and eggs. The fun began at the Australian Institute of Sport where we broke into three groups to play Soccer, handball, wrestling and dodge ball. A tour of the facilities was undertaken followed by 30 min in the interactive sports room.

Students were fascinated by the mint – some expecting to find lollies were surprised that they made money there. The National Capital Planning display followed with a light display and a very interesting presentation about the history of Canberra.

Some students went on to Parliament House for a tour while others did a tour down Embassy Drive.