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DAY 5: The Docklands Experience

Our final day has arrived in what seems like a blink of an eye. After breakfast the students went for a walk to Queen Victoria Markets, a couple of blocks up the road. After a short exploration of the famous stalls, we loaded the bus with our noticeably heavier bags and took off to begin the big day with the Docklands experience. Our first stop was the O’Brien Icehouse Complex which was built in 2010 at a cost of $16M. It features two Olympic-sized rinks, one of which has been fitted for viewing ice hockey. We arrived to see what can only be described as champions of the future, the junior state ice hockey team, who were participating in a boot camp on the ice. These boys and girls were about 10-12 years old and where practising drills and defensive moves on the ice (much to the disbelief of the students who were just hoping to remain upright). We assembled for a coaching lesson by professional coaches and then skills were tested on the Bradbury ice rink (named after Australia
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DAY 4: Experiencing Williamstown

Clip ‘n’ Climb was our first stop today. Students had free rein of climbing on any of the vertical obstacles, and their seemingly fearless attitudes was impressive to watch as they spent a couple of hours scrambling up walls like nimble little monkeys. Most impressive were those who took the 'leap of faith' - climbing up to a high platform and then jumping in hopes of catching the bag set some distance away. Miss Ohlin was a first-timer filled with trepidation to conquer the leap. On the other hand, Miss Preston backed up from last year, determined that the Leap of Faith would not defeat her. (There was a fingernail in it, Miss Preston!) Lunch was in western Melbourne for fish and chips at Williamstown. Here, we had a fabulous view over the harbour and Melbourne city skyline as we walked down Gem Wharf. Next up was exploration at Scienceworks, where students navigated the different activities that reinforce various scientific concepts from the physics of movemen

DAY 3: Animals in the wild and wild rides!

It was a beautiful sunny day at Werribee Zoo and so incredible to see animals roaming around during our open air safari bus ride. The wildlife decided we were an interesting species and decided to get up close and personal.  Mr Franich received a surprise visit from two of his graduating IB stdents, Stephanie Kim and Max Tory. Walking around the zoo, many of the captive animals were out sunning themselves. The kids were really excited to observe so many animals at close range. Many photos were taken! Some of the viewing favourites were the lions, hippos, silverback gorillas and the really cute meerkats. Miss Ohlin really wanted to take one home for a pet. After lunch, with bellies full and a spot of shopping in the wonderful gift shop completed, it was off to Luna Park in the seaside suburb of St Kilda. The kids braced themselves against the cold wind off the ocean, secured wristbands for unlimited rides, and were off for three hours of fun and thrills!   Our very accom

DAY 2.5: Touring by tram 🚃

First time seeing a tram for many of us... Saturday evening view of the city in a cosy infamous Melbourne tram where we looped around the CBD. It felt like we were the only people on the tram - welcome aboard the "Townsville Tram"!

DAY 2: Ye Olde Gold Mining Town

We arrived at the home of the Eureka Stockade, Ballarat, to a chilly and rainy morning which climbed to a maximum of 9 degrees.  This town is frozen in time, set following the discovery of gold in 1851. Talking about frozen… we experienced a quick rain shower which was actual hailstones. Sovereign Hill still turned on its historical charm and with the rain gone before our activities began, we knew we were in for a great day. We headed to a 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. Molten gold was 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 $220 000. Some of the special tours we encountered included the ‘Secret Chamber’ tour, where we were taken in an inclined train 20 metres underground in pitch dar