Stage 3 visits Canberra
On Wednesday 26 April, Stage 3 students and teachers went to Canberra for three days and two nights. On the first day, we all went to Parliament House. We split into groups and had a tour of the Senate and House of Representatives. We also had a look at portraits of all the Prime Ministers and took part in role plays to see what it was like being politicians.
When we had finished, we went to the National Museum of Australia, just across Lake Burley Griffin. We learnt about many things from Australia’s history. We split up into more groups. We then scaled most of the floors. Our tour leader told us about a few exhibits then asked us to go and find several of them. A few of the exhibits that we had to find were oddities such as a pig with two bodies and one head, a pack of male dingos hanging by their hind legs and Captain Cook’s spyglass!
After a busy day we finally went to our accommodation. We put all our baggage in one corner then sat down on the mat. We heard about all the rules and we were given our cabin groups. We then got time to settle in our rooms. We made our beds (sort of), sorted out our suitcases, then walked across the veranda and into the dining room for dinner. We had pasta and meat for dinner. It tasted really good.
After dinner, we went back to our rooms, had showers and cleaned our teeth. We then met up in the group area and the bi-annual Stage 3 Talent/ No Talent Show began!! About half of the students participated. We did solos, duets and group acts. Everyone did really well. The night was really excellent! The judges narrowed it down to 6 groups or solo acts. In the end Toby A got 6th, Lilly D got 5th, Ameliese C and Amelia L got 4th, Amelia B and Charlie G got 3rd, Azriel M got 2nd and Abi W and Aleah G got 1st!!!!!!!!!
After a tiring day the teachers, parents and students all hopped into bed. The next day we went to learn about voting at the Electoral Office. We took part in elections and saw how our system of preferential voting works, first hand!
Old Parliament House was our next stop. Highlights included sitting in the politicians’ comfy leather chairs and working in teams to learn how democracy works in different countries.
The National Portrait Gallery was our next destination. We did some drawing and learnt about some of the interesting paintings. One thing that most people found interesting was the death mask of Ned Kelly. After that we gobbled down lunch and went to the War Memorial.
We all walked around in different groups and learned about things such as the First and Second World Wars. We took part in a special wreath laying ceremony with a veteran from one of the armed forces. The lady was American and had been a combat nurse in the air force. She had some very interesting stories to share with us. D-Zone was popular with the students as we could dress up as soldiers, sailors and nurses.
After the big day, we went back to our accommodation. We munched our way through dinner and then drove to Questacon. I think everyone had fun in the first room. Most people had a go on the vertical drop slide. We had to wear jump-suit like things to go on it. There were heaps of other levels which helped us discover more about Science. Later in the night, we went back to our cabins to get a good rest for the next day.
On Friday, after a delicious hot breakfast, we packed the bus and left for our last two stops before we headed home. First we went to the A.I.S. (Australian Institute of Sport). We had a tour, then went into a games room where we could do stuff like the real sports stars of Australia. We got to go and see a swimming pool that can shorten itself, and we got to see athletes lift heavy weights, gymnasts tumbling and the Australian ladies water polo team training!
After a great couple of hours at the A.I.S. we drove to see the many embassies in Canberra. We saw so many different countries represented. An embassy is where if you are from a different country and you need help you can go and get help at these places. America had the biggest embassy.
The last attraction was the Canberra exhibition, which helped us learn how the city had grown from being sheep paddocks only about a hundred years ago, to being the great capital city it is today. We used lego to build new designs for buildings in Canberra. After a great last lunch and free time at the park it was time to head for home. Stuart our bus driver drove us to Nowra via Braidwood. Some of us enjoyed the movies being shown, whilst others talked or slept.
