Year 5/6 Canberra Camp 

Day 1, Written by Eliza Thomson

We left Kyabram at 7:00 am. Our first stop was Chilten for 15-20mins. We drove for another two hours and stopped at Jugiong for lunch. We reached Canberra around 2pm. We arrived at the Australia Institute of Sport at 2:30 pm and spent two hours there. We went to the game room in the AIS. We also saw the volleyball courts, gym/work out-area, gymnast room and the amazing swimming pool. We arrived at Leumaeh Lodge around 4:00 pm. 

We unpacked the bus and went to our cabins. We got to hang out in the rec room and then had dinner. We had pasta, bolognas and hotdogs. For dessert we had jelly and peach, pear and mandarin.

Day 2, Written by Paige Berner

Despise the weather not being the sunniest day, we were able to arrive at Parliament House early in the morning. Upon entering Parliament House, group 1 did a role play while group 2 went to explore. Group 1’s role play was about when and what happens in the house of representatives. During our visit, we were able to see all the prime ministers before Anthony Albanese, including the only girl prime minister ever in history, Julia Eileen Gillard. In Parliament, we were fortunate enough to sit in seats above the senate and house of representatives while our tour guide explained what goes on in both houses. After that point, we went for a little walk around Parliament, then gathered all the information we learnt and headed off to the Australian war Memorial. To start off, we went around to ancient pieces used in multiple wars, and learnt about their backstory’s. After wards, we headed over to the Memorial Wall where they display all the names who have died in war, we placed a few poppies to show our respect.

Moving onto the Museum of Democracy, where we had to put gloves on to protect the old and special building. Then, we did an activity where we picked groups of 3 and got a key, to use that key to access an iPad which gives questions about Parliament, moving from one iPad to another answering as much as possible.

For the last activity of the day, we headed to the electoral office where we did a similar activity but a different topic. We also watched a cool video about Parliament. 

At the end of the day, bus 2 played mini golf and after a LONG day, we FINALLY got to SLEEP.

Day 3, Macy O’Dwyer

Day 3 was an exciting day! Today was the day that we were going to see Mr Ross’s family! We were heading to the dinosaur museum! We saw dinosaurs from 3 periods of time. We even saw Sid the sloth from ice age. He is much bigger in real life! Afterward, we travelled into Canberra, that’s when we realised… “ where is Mr Ross?!” we had left him there! They saw him walking around and thought one of the fossils had come back to life!! Nah! I’m kidding!

Next, we went to old parliament house, also known as the Museum of Australian democracy. We had to wear special white gloves and we got to do a scavenger hunt and some trivia! 

After, we went to Questacon! It’s a nerd’s dream! We went to 8 different spaces in one of them, there was the earthquake room! Some kids went down a huge slide. Afterwards, we headed back to Leumeah Lodge. We had dinner which was carbonara and pasta, nachos and chicken. Then bus 1 had mini golf and bus 2 had game night. We then settled down for our last night at Leumeah Lodge!

Day 4, Mia Thomson

On Thursday the 1st of August, our camp was sadly coming to an end. We did however start the day off with some delicious pancakes and maple syrup, with yummy juice to wash it all down.

To start the day, we went to the National Abortorium and did orienteering. At the start, no one knew what this was and either did Mr Ross! It is a place where national trees are planted from around the world, and we did some orienteering there. We had to split into small groups, got given a map and we had to find check points. We then had to clip our map with unique pins on them with the corresponding checkpoint. It was so windy and cold, but we had a lot of fun and the view was amazing of the hills and the city.

We then had a fruit break and boarded the bus for the long trip home. During the ride we had various stops for the toilets and to eat. We were expected to get home at 6:30 pm, but were early and got home at 6:00 pm and most parents didn’t turn up until 6:15 pm.

Camp Summary by Mr Mellington

As a college we are extremely proud of the 5/6 Learning Community for their efforts on Canberra Camp. The students were able to experience numerous special places in our Australian Capital and have left with a wealth of knowledge about our amazing history of important events in Australian History. 

A special mention must be made to the incredible staff and parents who attended the camp to support our students, especially Greg Ross who was our camp organiser. 

Mr Ross ensured the students had an exceptional experience that created memories to last a lifetime! A massive thank you also to Walters Passenger Service for their organisation and our two bus drivers Charlie and Linda.

Thank you

The 5/6 Teachers