The Sparkling City- Alice Meyer

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! The alarm clock rang in my ears. I groaned, rolled over, then sat up quickly. I had just remembered why my alarm was going off so early. I had to be at school by 6:00am to get on the bus, ready to go on my first Brisbane excursion. All 43 students and 6 teachers, dreary eyed and freezing, loaded onto the bus for a packed three-day excursion (with lots of traffic).

Animals and Games

We were all keen to get off and stretch our legs when we saw the huge sign on the side of the road that spelt out “Darling Downs Zoo, open every day”. When we got off we had morning tea and a visit from a surprising scaly friend. A baby alligator. We wandered around the zoo for about an hour, looking at giant tortoises, spotted giraffes, wild monkeys, fierce lions and so many other amazing animals. The monkeys could be heard from outer space, screeching and bellowing at us as we walked past. The cheetah was as lazy as my own cat, with the sweltering heat beating down on us. And it was a bit of a coincidence that the deer were just across the path from the tigers, considering that the tigers main source of food was deer.

After we got to Brisbane we settled in at our hostel, but there was no waiting around because we were already off. We parked the bus at the shopping centre, and quickly got to our destination, HIJINX. We quickly got into groups of 5 and went through the doors into the game room section. There were two corridors with red carpets and odd photos on the walls. There were lots of different doors along the hallway, and each one had a different game inside. My favourite game was one called “poka-dot walls". Inside, there were lots of coloured buttons lining the walls. When they lit up you had to press them before they went dull again. It was so adrenaline pumping and full of excitement.

For dinner we had delicious pizza from HIJINX and after that we played a friendly game of put-put. Each hole was so exciting. There was a pirate ship, a barber shop, a scene from outer space, a checkers board, and even a record player. It was such a fun night and we ended it all with a late night to bed.

Outer Space and a Fun Surprise

The next morning, we woke up early for a filling breakfast of pancakes and cream. We quickly got on the bus to head to the Brisbane Planetarium. It was a long bus ride getting through the traffic, but once we got there we had a walk around the botanical gardens before the planetarium opened. The trees and flowers were all beautiful, but my favorite part was when we got to the top of the hill and there was a balcony that had the most perfect view of the sparkling skyscrapers towering through the city. We quickly walked back down through the rainforest section towards the planetarium, ready for our show. Once we were in there, we were ushered into a door and shown where to sit. We laid our chairs back, looking up at the dome ceiling, while a man explained to us about the atmosphere around Earth and how there is a giant star about 20x bigger than the sun that is going to explode. Fortunately it is too far away to hurt us but when it does eventually burst, we will be able to see it from Earth in broad daylight.

Afterwards, we went to Brisbane Parliament house. They told us that the gold around the edges of the pillars and walls is actually a 24-carat gold leaf. We acted out a debate in the chamber and afterwards we got changed into our swimmers. We headed to Streets beach at South bank and the water was so nice that I jumped straight in. Then after half an hour swimming, we all turned to see Mrs Chard and Mrs Fletcher walking towards us holding a tray of icecreams. We all got straight out of the pool and tucked in to our delicious surprise.

Science Wonders and Relaxation

The next day we headed straight to the museum. On the first floor of the museum was a place called Sparklab. Sparklab was a hands-on science lab. There were little trays that made the light turn on if you plugged in the right things, a wall that left your shadow printed on the screen when the timer got to zero, and a pulley where you sat in the chair and had to pull yourself up to make the fans turn. After looking around ourselves, we were called over to the science bar. At the science bar, a man gave us a show on pressure. He put tea leaves and cold water into a jar and sucked all of the air out of it to make it boil and steam. But there was one problem. When the cup of tea came out, it wasn’t hot at all! Then he did the same thing with a marshmallow. It grew super large and fluffy, but then it compressed into a chewy little marshmallow about the size of a strawberry.

Afterwards we went to the fourth floor of the museum called “the discovery floor”. This floor had taxidermy animals, pickled snakes, preserved eggs, and some real life animals too. There was a green tree snake that coiled around the branch like a vine on a tree trunk. A lizard that was camouflaged so well that we were looking right at him and didn’t even notice, and two stick insects that wanted to stand out like stage performers.

Sadly, after a massive 3-day excursion full of exciting activities, it was finally time to go home. On the bus ride home we were all tired but were too busy to sleep. We chatted about our favourite things, and funny sites all the way home. As we came into Glen Innes we saw the familiar buildings and houses that we know. We parked in front of the school and saw all of our parents waving to us from the path. We raced off the bus and hugged our parents until they couldn’t breathe. When we went to bed that night, I don’t think anyone had a hard time sleeping.

Camp by Josh Pietsch

At the crack of dawn 43 students and 6 teachers boarded the bus headed for Brisbane . As the engine rumbled we waved our last goodbyes heading for the big smoke for 3 days .

Driving to Brisbane the engine roared with sheer grit and power . Stopping at Wallangarra you could see the excitement on everyone's faces . 3 DAYS AWAY FROM OUR PARENTS !!! YAY!! As I stepped out of the bus the breeze ruffled my hair . The class had a snack then the boys played footy . We boarded the bus again headed for darling downs zoo . The trip was crazy, we all had fun then finally we made it to darling downs zoo .

We had some lunch at the zoo then we had a baby crocodile visit . After that we went for a walk around the zoo. It was amazing . There were giraffes , zebras, lions , snakes , cheetahs , penguins and even monkeys that sang their own song and they had a scream in it which made everyone laugh . Driving into Brisbane we were counting down the numbers till we got there till we were there at QCCC Brookfield. We had a delicious brownie for afternoon tea .

Then we got back on the bus headed for Westfield Chermside . We got into groups. My group was Sam B , Jimmy , Charlie , Max , Kash and I . We absolutely demolished every game and our teamwork was insane . Sam B was hitting baskets after baskets in the basketball hoops game . After that we had pizza and then we played some putt putt on the way home. Everyone was happy and filled with joy we got into bed. My roommate was Max .

In the morning was the best breakfast I have ever had and also the unhealthiest breakfast I had ever had . We got on the bus and headed for the Sir Thomas Planetarium. We saw lots of cool things but the best thing was the roof display. It was cool .

Then we headed for parliament house pulling up at the Brisbane Botanic Gardens. It brought back so many memories because before my grandmother got the worst dementia they used to live there just across the road every day since I was 3 I would go over there and play at the park that was there we nearly got lost around the garden looking for the toilets even though I knew where they were but I didn't disrupt .

We then split up into 2 groups and went to Parliament house while the others stayed at the gardens . When we were at the parliament house it was a sitting day which means they were discussing making a new law .

After Parliament House we got back into our group and walked to Southbank beach. After that we got ice cream. I had cookies and cream. It was delicious .We also saw 2 furries . We then walked back to the bus then we drove back to QCCC . We had butter chicken for dinner but I don't like curry so I just have the veg , rice and naan bread . Then we had some trivia and then went to bed .

Last morning we had eggs , bacon and toast for breakfast, then we got on the bus headed for the museum . For morning tea we had banana yum. Then

we went into sparklab which was really cool and there was even an experiment there which was cool . Then we had lunch then we went into the museum and saw so many cool dinosaurs and much more . Then GOODOO (Max) went to his aunt's place because he was staying in Brisbane . Then we drove home apart from the girls trying to make me Barbie. It was a good bus ride .

Pulling into Glen Innes the excitement in the bus was monstrous. Everyone was so excited to go home to their family after a massive three days . Pulling up getting my stuff and hopping into the car I smelt the fresh scent of fish and chips that felt more like home and I was happy for that .

Excursion Recount by Zara Correy

We started our trip early in the morning and my alarm clock goes off. 43 students and 6 teachers boarded the bus ready for our 3 day camp. We're on our way to the scorching heat of Brisbane sunshine.

Day 1:

We finally made it to our first stop at Wallangarra. We played on the park and had some fruit and food to eat. Then we continued on until we finally made it to Darling Down zoo where we had lunch. One of the workers came over to us and told us the rules, then a guy brought over a baby crocodile for us to pat. My thought at first was he dead because crocodiles can lay very still then he moved.

After patting the crocodile we had a look around the park. First we saw the koalas and a quokka. I'd never seen a quokka before. The best part was we did this talk where some of the workers took us around to see the animals up close and tell us about them. They would come up to us because there was food. We saw ourselves in the zoo Lucy the lion or lama, Tilly billy goat, Hallie the hippo sadly she didn't come we were all sad that Hallie didn't come. Then we saw myself Zara the zebra.

After we saw every animal we worked our way back to where we started and along the way we saw the crocodile we patted. When we got back to where we started we got to pat a python called Lily. Apparently she has been there since she was born and has never bitten anyone in her lifetime of 18 years. She was smooth on the bottom and bumpy on the top. Then we went straight to Brisbane no stop.

Finally we had made it to where we were staying i was in a room with Hallie, Lucy, Tilly M, Maggie and Felicity moved in with us witch was awesome we had the best room, unit 2. Then we grabbed our jumpers and went into the city. We had to squish up so we didn't get lost. We saw a guy hit another guy but the teacher told us to just keep walking.

Then we arrived at Holey Moley and went up stairs to Hijinx and we started in the best room. It had donuts on the wall and a slide into a ball pit. We didnt know what to do at first but it turns out we had to get points by throwing balls into the donuts. We did like 19 more rooms after that. Then we went back down to Holey Moley and had pizza and chips for dinner, it took a while until we got water. We then finish 4 jugs of water. After that we went putting but weren't allowed to go into number 9 cause we would then lose the ball.

Day 2:

We started by walking to breakfast were they had pancakes and sprinkles. After that we went to the planetarium and walked around before we entered a dark room and learnt lots about space, the moon and the sun. Then we went to parliament house and walked around and did a role play i was the person who counts up all the people for i’s. Then we went to see a real parliamentary discussion then had to leave because they were saying that a guy hit an innocent woman in the face and that was too violent for us to hear.

Then we walked to the south bank and went swimming, Mrs Chard went and got us ice cream. Then we headed back to our accommodation where we had butter chicken and nam bread for dinner. Charlotte's birthday was today so we had cake and played trivia while some people went back to have showers after south bank. I didn't go to bed until 12:00 because I had a panic attack.

Day 3:

Miss Marshall had to wake us up at 6:00 to start packing our things up and getting ready for breakfast. We had toast, eggs and bacon. Well, I had just toast. We got to spark lab a bit early so we decided to go to south bank park for a bit we got banned from the hamster wheel because Josh stuck to the edge and fell from the top he was alright but we were no longer allowed on it. Then we walked back to spark lab and saw this lizard we saw yesterday we thought the lizard we stroking us. When we got to spark lab we had lunch and had a look around play and testing this then we went up to the museum part of

spark lab.

Finally we boarded the bus leaving Brisbane. Then on the way home we had a quick stop and had lunch. When we went across the border we yelled 67 as our trip had ended. We didn't get home until 7:00, My parents got me and we had Thai for dinner. It was the best food I had had in 2 days. The pizza was so good.

This Fortnight in Pictures