So as I am in 1A we are always the first group to go on expo, so on Monday morning we took off to go on our 3 day expo. My role for the day was Team Manager so I had to keep the day running smoothly. We left the Snowy River Campus at 10:30 and walked from the campus to Marlo’s Angling club to pick up our canoes and then go over to The Slips to stay the night at a camp ground there. It was a really nice place and it was so peaceful, as we were doing our daily reflection we were watching the fishermen feed the pelican which was really cool. I slept in a 3 man tent with Holly and Sara this time which was so funny but what happened in the tent stays in the tent …

The next morning we got woken up at 6:30 so we all got up had breakfast then packed up our tents and packed our packs ready to get going again. My role for today was Navigator, my goal was to not get us lost and I’m glad I succeeded with that goal otherwise I would have had some unhappy team members. So when we were all ready we all got in our canoes and took off with a whole day of canoeing ahead of us. My canoeing partner was Jaimee and we worked pretty well together. After a really long day of canoeing we stayed the night in a paddock full of cows which was loud, but interesting…

Again we got waken up early but on the 3rd morning it was 6:00 and I was time keeper for the day so I got woken up and then had to wake up everybody else. We canoed for about 4km until we got to Lake Curlip and today my canoeing partner was Tiger. Once we got out of our canoes we changed our shoes and started our hike up to the top of Mount Raymond. We reached the top of Mount Raymond at 4:00 then had to walk 1km to get to the car!

The car was in our sights so Josie and I screamed as loud as we could and were so excited just to get back and have a really nice shower.

Madison - Bellarine SC

Today I had a rest day. It was really fun. I went on a bike ride which Tiger set up, it took us about an hour which our goal was to ride to the post office of Marlo.

So we had our usual head count and after head count we were getting an idea of how many people were going. There was movie which got 23, bike ride 6 & beach 3. The beach plans didn’t go ahead so the people that were riding bikes went to the table in front of the office’s desk because Mr. Morton asked to meet us their the time then was 1:45.

We went down to the bike shed and got our bikes, we got out bikes and but then we had ten people counting the teachers. So we got our bikes and checked the suspension, brakes, gears, chain and the pedals, so basically everything. After that we got our helmets, vest and gloves and rode off.

We were heading to Marlo so we took the road heading in to Marlo like half 20 minutes in we decided to take the dirt track which went on for a while, we had to do a lot of sharp turns and we also had to go down and up some stairs. On that track you could see a perfect view of the ocean and the Snowy River. We had to move off the road when we got back on it as there were a lot of cars as it is a highway or Autobahn in German. We reached the post office and stopped there we worked out where we were going to go. Mr. den Otter said “Did you know that post offices are used to mark the middle of town?”. We went like 200 meters up the road and stopped at the park to fill up on water. On the way back we took the same track and we were going pretty fast down their actually and to prove that, we were going around this tight corner which ended in another tight corner in the opposite direction and Alan didn’t turn properly and he came off the bike and landed in the grass. It would have been funny to see and he said it was cool and would have been the best and only crash of the day and it was. So after we got Alan up we kept riding back to school we eventually had to go back on the road and we had a lot of cars pass us and there was about 10 different types of cars that passed. So we kept riding, it got to the stage were people were falling back but we slowed down so they could catch up. So finally we reached the driveway of the school and we were going to have a race at the gate. I was first for a while until it came to the second bend and Mr. den Otter and Tiger passed me and I in the end came third. After that we cleaned the bikes and put the bikes away.

Kai - North Geelong SC

Yesterday Teagan and I were the student leaders, we introduced the leadership alliance which is a group of student leaders over the next week, we created community goals and they were respect the student leaders, clean up your plates properly after meals, be in your own rooms by 9pm and to pick each other up like giving people complements and encouraging them. We as an alliance made sure that everyone knew what they were for and how to do them.

On Friday the 5th of March James Stevens and Teagan Barry where student leaders for the second time and this is what they thought of it we had an amazing day as student leaders everyone in the community got in and had a go at the game we set up for the alliance and people didn’t really want to play a community game of knock out but they did and they enjoyed it and it was so unforgettable having people come up to us after the game and telling us about how much they enjoyed themselves and saying thank you. It was so nice to be able to just rely on everyone to be on time and not having to tell them one million times to go to head count. Well done everyone in the community on your great effort to make this community work.

Teagan and James - Timboon P-12

Today I was Student Leader with Ethan. Ethan is in 2B and I am in 1A. This was my second time being Student Leader and this is my second blog. We had a really good day and I had CLP 4 and Passport 5 so I worked on the "create" parts of my Passport because I have already finished all the criteria.

In CLP 4, our group of 4 girls from Bellarine Secondary College worked on our CLP which is to raise money to purchase a beach wheelchair and some rash vests for the DSAA. The DSAA is the Disabled Surfing Association of Australia and we have contacted the Ocean Grove branch to see if we can help them in any way. They said they are trying to purchase a ‘Sand Piper’ which is a beach wheelchair and they have already raised $2000 towards it.

In total, Sand Pipers cost around $4,200 so the DSAA would love our help to raise around $2,200 to contribute to buying it.

We are all very excited about our CLP and can’t wait to start the fundraisers and working on it when we get back home. We originally were going to do our CLP for the children at the Geelong Hospital in the Children’s Ward but it backfired so we had to think of another CLP. This one is awesome though, it’s achievable and exactly what we were hoping to do!

In our Passport class we were allowed to go and work in our rooms but I decided to stay out in the Common Room with Brianna.

I started pasting things into my Passport book and made it look pretty. I am really happy with what it looks like now and can’t wait to finish it and take it home!

It was great being Student Leader today because we were the first to talk about the Leadership Alliance which is where the Student Leaders from Friday to Saturday come together and make up 4 rule type things to keep the campus running smoothly. We came up with:

• Do you know where your washing is?
• Getting to headcounts, class and duties on time.
• Are you wearing your right shoes?
• Is the last door you walked through shut?

Everyone around the campus is respecting these 4 questions and everyone seems a lot happier because there is less dirt when we sweep the Common Room and it’s not ‘fly central’ now. I really liked being Student Leader today, it was really fun.

Katie- Bellarine SC

First off, we hosted the morning headcount and afterwards we linked up with Gnurad Gundidj. The final rest day the sports committee organised an event for all students to participate in. It was a beach carnival at Cape Conran. There were events such as wade, swim and sprint. Everyone was split up into 3 groups of fifteen and we competed against others in our own group. We believe everyone had a great time and we would also like to thank the sports committee for putting this on for our enjoyment.

When we got back to school at 1:30, most people wanted to work on their passport so it was very quiet throughout the campus. It was good though as we thought everyone advanced a lot on their passports and got that little inch closer to completing them. It also helped us with our community goal which was for everyone to have a productive day and complete more work on their passports.

The evening class was called the battle of the quadrants. It was run by 2B who did a fantastic job. This was basically a debate of which quadrant of the brain was better. The quadrants of the brain are; blue (rational), green (safekeeping), red (feeling) and yellow (experimental). So, the four teams had a representative to answer questions about their quadrants. At the end, the most popular quadrant was the red quadrant.

We both believe that we did a good job throughout the day and we both had a lot of fun.

Nick- Colac SC & Elvin- North Geelong SC

Today our expo group 1A, had Enviro Bikes. We had to ride 30 km from the Logging Coupe at Cabbage Tree Palms to SRC.

At the logging coupe we discussed how logging can affect the environment and the habitat around it, but the benefits that come from logging. It was interesting to see the regrowth from the area that had been logged 5 years ago. We learnt a lot about sustainability of the earth resources. An interesting fact we also learnt today was that most of the trees we saw that were untouched by the loggers had been around for over 100 years. After we explored the area we hopped on our bikes and headed off on our journey back to campus. The sun was pounding down on us as we pedalled our hearts out along the roads. There were times when we all felt like giving up but we all pulled through and encouraged each other along the way. Overall it was a really fun day and we can’t wait to start riding when we get back home.

Sara and Andrew- Kew HS

Today was a rest day. In the morning I got up and had Special K, it was delicious. After breakfast and headcount I got my gear ready for surfing. After 9:00am headcount we headed for East Cape.

When we got there we took all the surfboards, sports equipment, leg ropes and helmets down to the beach. Down on the beach when we were ready we were split up into two groups. One group had to wait on the sand while the other group was in the water. We were surfing for 35 minutes. I was in the first group so I got to go out first. I caught a few gnarly pounders and stood up a fair bit. After our time was up I went and had some morning tea, Saladas and they were ok.

After that my group played fox holes. To prepare for fox holes we dug some trenches. After we dug the trenches we lined up and Miss Merritt had to catch us out. She would put her hand up and when she closed her fist she was about to turn around and you had to hide in the trenches. The objective of the game was to try to get the drink bottle behind Miss Merritt without getting seen. After a few rounds of that we all got to go for a swim together and it was so much fun.

By Shaun - Timboon P-12

Last Friday Core 2 had caving. It was an hour and a half drive to the caves and we had One Direction on really loud the whole way and we all sang along, it was really fun.

When we arrived at the caves we split into our Expo groups and 2A went to the wild caves and 2B went to the show caves. The show caves were really pretty and I loved seeing all the stalagmites and stalactites. I now know which stalagmites are and what stalactites are. Stalagmites might reach the ceiling one day and stalactites are hanging on tight to the roof. After the show cave 2B cooked a barbeque lunch for everyone. After lunch the groups swapped over and I went to the wild cave.

For the wild cave we had to wear helmets with lights and CFA uniforms. The opening to the cave was really small and it was funny to see the tall guys in our group; Harry, Jammo and Hayden fit through the hole. The wild cave was really fun and I did a lot better than I thought I would. It was really fun and I would definitely do it again.

On the way home we sang One Direction again. Jammo and James sang it at the top of their lungs and by the end of the bus trip Jammo had lost his voice. It was a great day out of campus with Core 2.

By Georgia - Oberon

On Monday the 4th of March my expo team, 1A, left the campus at 10:30, we hiked along tracks avoiding the main road because of traffic and headed towards Marlo. When we got there we picked up canoes from the angling club and travelled across the Mouth Of The Snowy to the Slips where we stayed night one. We went for a swim and cooked our own dinners before going to the beach for some star gazing. It was a great first day and it was the start of a great expo.

After waking up in the morning, having breakfast and packing up the campsite we got back in our canoes and travelled past the First and Second islands, then began our journey up the Brodribb river, the current was in our favour so we ended up floating about half the way along it, it sounds like a relaxing journey but with our group it was always filled with laughing and singing as we travelled to our destination. We took a creek and set up camp in a paddock where we made a fence to keep out the cows. Again we took a swim in the creek but this time there was a very strong current and you couldn’t touch the bottom, no matter how hard you tried.

On the final day we got in our canoes for the last time, however since the next group would be using our canoes we had to take an extra one with us so two people single paddled a canoe each, I gave it a go and it was an interesting experience but I kept up and we made it there in the end. The place where we parked our canoes was Lake Curlip. We then put our packs on and began the walk up to Mt Raymond, we reached the summit and had a look at the huge radio tower built at the top, we then began our descent down the other side. One moment we are all walking down the path and the next the people at the front are screaming because they saw the car, I don’t think it was because they didn’t enjoy expo, I think it was more of the fact they hadn’t had a shower in three days.

Well that’s how our expo ended, one of the best experiences I have had here but hopefully not the last.

Tiger - Kew HS

Yesterday was a rest day. Everyone did something different yesterday but I went surfing. We went in the morning and caught some waves. The waves weren’t that big but we still had fun, joking around when we waited for the next big wave and then laughing and congratulating each other when we felt the thrill of standing up and riding it to the sand. I stood up a couple of times, and ran into Jammo and Josie more than once. Although I have had 2 out of the 3 surfing lessons that we get here, I still think that it’s awesome that I can stand up on the board now. I’m nearly able to turn as well, which is the criteria to get certificate 2 in surfing. Everyone has certificate 1, because we all have had a go. We put our boards on the beach, had morning tea then raced back into the water as we were allowed to have a swim before we headed back to campus. Abbey and I swam together, laughing when either one of us or someone else got dumped by a wave.

Surfing was so much fun, and it really makes me wish I lived closer to the beach so I can do more of it.

In the afternoon, we watched Finding Nemo. Yes, this is a kid’s movie. No, we don’t care. We all cried when coral died and when merlin lost Nemo, laughed when the seagulls went “mine” and cheered when Nemo got back to his dad and when the fish got out of the tank and into the harbour. This has to be the greatest movie of my childhood, I love it so much.
For night class, 2A ran a disco. It was so much fun and we played party games like “bobs and statues” and limbo, we dance to our favourite songs and even had a dance circle. But one of the cheesiest things that happened was 2A had organised a slow dance, and somehow managed to get everyone to participate. A lot of the girls had to teach their partners how to dance, but we didn’t mind. It was a great night class and 2A did a fantastic job.

By Brianna- Mullanuna College

Hello website bloggy thing, my name is Mikka and I come from East Doncaster Secondary College in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne. My fellow leader was Brianna from Mullauna College. I was student leader on the 9th of March and it was hard for the reason being that when I woke up I was getting a migraine. I went to sleep for an hour and a half but when I woke up I missed out on the important announcements which I found out at dinner. It was a rest day and we decided to watch Finding Nemo after lunch and we tried to get everyone energised for Sunday. A lot of people got some passport work done. I tried to get everyone to have a productive day and for them to enjoy it. There was surfing and bike riding as activities. At the night class 2A had a disco installed for us and everyone was excited for the fun action night. The day was a great time for people to relax and catch up on work.

By Mikka - East Doncaster