It was good to get back after the second expo, even though it was heaps of fun. Just to reconnect with the people at school – its really starting to seem that we don’t have much more time here. Everybody is getting kind of freaked out by that, and the fact that they won’t see some people - pretty much - ever again. It’s funny, I can’t really remember home as being home anymore, it’s sort of here now, and the people here are pretty important.

On Monday 2B had raft building down at Corringle Slips. In the morning we were told to dress up as pirates, which was pretty funny. The trailer was packed the day before so after 9 am headcount we got in the bus and headed off.

On the 5th of September I woke up to a very significant day; I woke up to Community Learning Project (CLP) presentations day. Not only was it CLP day, but it was a day where I was also student leader for the day.

After having a quick shower and having some breakfast, Tamara and I did a headcount to ensure everybody was here, and so some announcements could be made. The first part of the day, from 9 till 11, was about cleaning up the SRC. It was a very well done task, and everybody put a lot of effort into doing so; the boy’s laundry actually looked clean! We swept the courtyards, tidied our rooms to the extent that there was hardly any oxygen left. When the place was spotless, the common room was changed for lunch time, so we all arranged the tables into the appropriate setting, but we had to do a few trips to the gear shed and back to get some extra tables.

Hey everyone.
Back on the 31st August,  core 2 (2A and 2B) had caving at the Buchan Caves.

We split into 2 groups and first up my group went to the Adventure Caves. It was awesome fun, we got to go exploring all through the caves. We had to wear funny yellow suits while going through Adventure Caves.

On the 18th of August 2009 team 2A set off for a 26km bike ride.

On the way we learnt about the environment and what impacts it like logging coupes, we were asked to explore the logging coupe and express our feelings after wards.

Today’s class was Water watch, and I was very eager to see what it was all about. For my blog entry, I shall focus on what I have learnt in a different way...

I close my eyes and I visualise the magnificent Snowy River as it was, 60 years ago: its huge gush of water powering down the river, cursing the rocks as it ever so gradually smooths them over with its sheer strength; the sound of all the wildlife surrounds the place in healthy trees which are home to many; the snow melting at the top of Mt. Kosciusko and gradually winding down the 2200 meters towards sea level, gaining momentum as it goes further down the decline; adventure hungry men, canoeing down the mighty river when they could cap size and no longer be.

Wow what an amazing week we have had up here at the SRC (Snowy River Campus). The hype had been building due to an extensive period indoors and finally we were into it; a full 7 days of outdoor adventure.

It all started with freezing cold surf at Cape Conran, and when I say freezing I mean it; my hands were purple, bordering black even when I made it back to the shower at SRC. That’s not to say we didn’t enjoy ourselves, indeed even when we were all shivering back on the beach we were all gunning to get another shot at the ultimate goal: standing up on a surfboard.

After waking up to a cooked breakfast of bacon and eggs, I thought to myself today is going to very interesting and new to me.

I downed my bacon and egg sandwich, and looked at the duty roster and was so thankful to not be on wash-up, as the dish load would be massive. To the left of that glanced at the timetable, and saw that 2A had their Personal Progress Interviews (PPI’s) for Core 1 and the Indigenous Walk for Core 2.

At the end of the 9 o’clock head count, 2A had a 10 minute preparation for our PPI and we were really stressing at how it was going to go. After Carlie had her PPI, it was my turn, and I was thinking “Can I really babble on for 30 minutes?”

On Thursday and Friday 2B went on their first expo.
We left the campus at 8.40am, and made our way to the beach. We stopped a few times along the way for rest, snack and lunch breaks. We walked along the ocean up to Salmon rocks, where we spent a while climbing and exploring. It was great to have our packs off for a bit.

Then we headed up the nature trail all the way to Cape Conran. Our campsite wasn’t far down the track from here; our days work was nearly over.

Hi my name is Sheydin and I’m from Tyrrell College, which is in Sea Lake.

On the first day when I arrived at the Snowy River Campus I was very nervous of what the next 9 weeks was going to bring. I had all sorts of emotions going through my head. I felt excited, anxious and of course, happy. I didn’t know anyone except for the people in my CLP team so it was very nerve racking. We also found out who we would be sharing most of our classes with and who we would be going on expo with. We are with Brunswick.

Interview:
Q: Did you enjoy expo?
Ingrid: Yes, it was fantastic fun and I learnt so much about myself and our team. The fun things we did definitely outweighed the hard stuff.
Megan: Expo was heaps of fun and I would definitely do it again because it was a blast. The people that I went with were amazing and they made the experience all that more better.

Q: What was the hardest part about expo?
Megan: When everyone got really tired and you started to notice how heavy your pack actually was. That was the worst because everyone’s energy levels were dropping and we couldn’t stop because we needed to get to the campsite before dark.
Ingrid: Similar to Megan, I, and I think most of our group, found the pack really heavy towards the end of the day. We’d been walking for so long and my muscles really started to hurt and that made walking really difficult.

Today we had our first canoeing lesson to teach us all the skills that we will need for our second expedition. We started off the day learning our basic strokes and having races to practice them. 

After a while we went back to the riverbank to have lunch and a quick rest. After lunch we set off on a journey through the rain forest. The start was easy until we got to our first obstacle which was a big bridge. I had to squeeze into the front of my canoe so we could fit under it. From then on the obstacles got much harder!As the river ran slowly into a small stream and we were forced to paddle through over hanging branches.

Hi everyone,
Today my expo team 2A went on expo skills. We are from Werrimull P-12 and Fitzroy HS. It is basically a mini expo so we have a rough idea of what the real expo is going to be like. We all had to take on different roles in the team. I was the group orgainser so I had to make sure everyone stuck to the tasks they had to do. For example, the time keeper had to tell us how much time we had to have lunch or to get back to the campus. If there was a decision that had to be made I would have to do a vote to see which way we would go, either the short or the long way. We decided the short way since we have had a pretty active week already and we were all feeling a little tired. We had to choose a campsite where we were going to set up our tents so when we got our real campsite on expo we would know what to do. We put them up, it was easier than we all thought it would be. We all had a really good time and thought it was a good experience and can’t wait to the actual exp. It will be a challenge but a challenge worth doing if you ask me.

By Carlie, Werrimull P-12   

 Hey,
Today we had a rest day, this is where it’s up to the students as to what they want to do. These activities might include a range of different things throughout the day but what I did today was in the morning. A large group of us travelled to Orbost and played a game of netball and football. It was a lot of fun and we all enjoyed it. Then in the afternoon I went with a smaller group to the Bemm River Reserve and we did the Mckenzie rainforest walk. I thought it was amazing! It was streaming with ferns and native trees and the ground was covered in green. There were also two bridges we crossed overlooking small creeks, it was really pretty. We took real notice of what we were walking through as we are using the Bemm River Reserve as a topic to teach the Orbost primary kids as part of our Local Learning Project (L.L.P). I had a great day and can’t wait to go on another walk through a rainforest.
Susan- Werrimull

 I woke up at 6:30 pumped and ready to go surfing. I leapt out of bed and walked out into the common room and sat in front of the fire.

Eventually it was breaky, and boy was I hungry. Seven weet-bix later we went outside to load the surfboards on to the trailer, got our wet suits and helmets and came back inside.

Ahhh! I didn’t want to get up this morning; my bed was too comfy! But I ended up hauling myself out for the day ahead of me.
After the 7:30 headcount, we were notified of the day’s activities. Today everybody had the coastal challenge and the Curlip tour. For the coastal challenge, we were shown some pictures of places around Marlo.

Today 2B- Red Cliffs and Gladstone Park had canoeing all day. We all piled into the party bus and went down to Yeerung River. First we went through how to get in and out of the canoes. Once we were in the water we did all the basics like turning, going forwards and backward and rafting together.  After we got the hang of it we went for a paddle up to river for about an hour.  Ryan and I were canoeing partners, we kept crashing into all the trees and the bank but it was heaps of fun!
After lunch we had to practice capsizing. We all rafted together then one after the other a group would go out and capsize their canoe, swim it back to our raft and we would all put it up the right way for them again. I was looking forward to this part, then I felt the water... it was freezing! We went second and the worst bit was tipping yourself out of your canoe, but it wasn’t to long before we were dry and warm again. I’m looking forward to the canoeing expo but hoping I don’t fall out!
Kate-Red Cliffs

Hey I’m Gina (second left) from Princes Hill Secondary College and I got selected to come to SRC.

Before I arrived at the campus I had so many doubts about how I would fit in but those soon left me because now I’ve got lots of friends who I know I will have forever.

One of my biggest worries was that I would miss my family and friends a lot but the staff and kids here become your family. The activities and classes we have done so far have been so much fun, my favourite though are the rest days because you can do whatever you want;  fishing, swimming, bike riding…anything nearly.

For the people reading this and wanting to come…you won’t regret it! It’s definitely a life changing experience.

In this photo: Seb, Me, Kate, Shaun and Emre, taken on the NAIDOC walk in Orbost.

By Gina, Princes Hill SC

Hey! Siobhan and Emma here. Today was rest day and we volunteered to participate in a bike ride into Marlo.

Hey guys Sarah here.

Today was an awesome day. We got to represent the Snowy River Campus in the NAIDOC walk.

This is a walk that happens one week every year. It is a week that is set so we Australians can show our respect to the indigenous people around Australia. Each year they prepare a different theme. The theme this year was ‘Respecting Our Elders and Nurturing Our Youth’.

So today my expo team (1B) went on this massive, huge, exhausting walk a whole 4km!!! It was pretty fun though and we learnt a whole heap about the environment and about things we need to know about camping in the bush and how to look after ourselves.

Today 1B (Princes Hill SC and Echuca High School) had the bridge building class.

At the beginning of the day, we were all very excited because we had heard that bridge building is lots of fun. After packing all our gear and loading the bus, we headed off to Orbost Angling Club to start the class.

Today 1B (Princes Hill SC and Echuca High School) had the bridge building class.

At the beginning of the day, we were all very excited because we had heard that bridge building is lots of fun. After packing all our gear and loading the bus, we headed off to Orbost Angling Club to start the class.

As our first rest day it was a bit rocky, we had only one activity proposal go through, which was for fishing. I was going to go on a bush walk in Mt McKenzie, but the person who wrote the proposal forgot to put it in so we had a day around the campus.

Even when you have to stay on campus it’s always fun, because there is heaps to do. Many students, such as me, like to get out and do activities such as basketball, ping pong, a little bit of footy, also people were doing things such as flash on their laptops, an array of board games were being used as well. 

One real good highlight was when some of the students got out their drums, guitars and bass, the people who were playing had some serious talent. So today, due to the fact we were stuck on campus, went extremely well, though next time I’m going out swimming.

Clay, Gladstone Park

Today 2A had a class in the afternoon called ‘Intro to Bikes’.  The name says it all, it was an introduction to the bikes and paths at the Snowy River Campus.

First of all we were shown where all the equipment was kept and then how to put the helmet on then adjust them so they fit. Once we got all the safety stuff out of the way we had a slow race (a race were the last person wins). Then we had to demonstrate that we had the skills to ride a bike well in all kind of situations and scenarios some of these were turning in tight corners, riding over a log, weaving through obstacles and riding over a see-saw.

After we had all shown the teachers we could do these skills we jumped back on our bikes and headed off on to the bike track through the scrub. Some of the track was a bit hairy but we only had one person fall over which was a plus. It was a great day and it was enjoyed by all.

Scott C, Werrimul