Last week all the groups had expo, my group 2b went last. My expo group is Braybrook and Timboon. We are a really good group, we all get along and we all got to know each other more on expo. When walking on the beach I got to know more about everyone. I talked to most people when walking up the beach and I got to know more about their school and their life in the country. Our expo group is friendly and no one is excluded with anything and none of us argue.

When we got to the camp site that day we had to set-up camp , then everyone went for a swim at Dock Inlet. It was really cold but once you went to the middle of the lake it was really warm. After we all got changed and got dry we all went to the beach to do reflection. We had to answer questions and then we had to stand in two lines facing each other and one by one we would walk down it with our eyes closed and if people wanted to give us a complement they would come up to us and saw it to us. All up expo was really good. The next day there were lots of hills but everyone got over them with no complaining. Yay to 2B

Lauren - Braybook College

On the first of November the cooking committee organised a Halloween dinner. It took a lot of planning and a lot of effort from everyone. We had to plan the menu and we had to organise who was doing what for the night. Laura and I were on desserts so we made mud cake muffins and we decorated them with different coloured icings. They looked really sweet, which they were, but they tasted really good!

The common room was set up with the tables in two longs rows. Also instead of going up to get our own food we had waiters and waitresses. It was really cool and it gave the night a really awesome vibe. After dinner 1A had to run a student LED night. We had very short notice, but considering it was Halloween night we decided to do a variety of fun games. We started off with musical chairs then the mummy race, fear factor, limbo then we finished with bust a move. It was so much fun and it was good to be able to dress up. For the last 10 minutes we had free dance which was also really funny! Some people have some pretty unique dance moves…!

The cooking committee did very well at organising the night and it was definitely worth it!!

Stacey’s Blog- Portland SC

Recently we had Barry Heard come visit Snowy. He has written two bestselling books about his time in the Vietnamese war and the after effect of war on not only himself but his family and friends. He has really inspired all the students about no matter how many rough patches you go through you can always bounce back with twice the amount of courage. He told us about the troubles in war and after war. Some of those troubles were really disgraceful considering those veterans represented Australia to fight for the freedom we have, as Australian citizens have today. He told his stories in a very unique way which intrigued all of us to listen in closely. He made sure that everyone was awake during the talk with some really horrible but somewhat funny grandad jokes. Overall everyone gave him the respect that he deserves for representing our country in the Vietnamese war. We are all super proud of those men and we all have a new found respect for them.

Xavier- Victoria University SC and Amy- Timboon P-12

My expo group is 1B and we had intro to canoes in week 3. We had a lot of fun with this activity, even though the weather wasn’t the best. We canoed along the Yeerung River and Miss Patterson said that the river was at the lowest she’s ever seen it! When we started, I was in a canoe with James. We started by canoeing up river towards the Yeerung Bridge. On our way up, a lot of people got stuck under the bridge on bits of concrete or under the fallen tree we went under because the river was so low. We saw some amazing flora and fauna and even saw some azure King Fishers!! On the way back James and I fell into a really good rhythm and had a very smooth run back. We pushed the canoes back onto shore and went off to have lunch.

After lunch we were planning to do capsize drills but unfortunately it started raining. We all piled into the bus and ate our lunch in there. After about half an hour the teachers decided that anyone who still wanted to capsize in the rain could and two hands shot straight up; Tom’s and mine! So we got our life vests back on, hopped in a canoe and started towards the middle of the river. Because of the rain, there was now a bit of a current so we had to paddle upstream a bit but after positioning ourselves, with everyone else watching from shore, we capsized! It wasn’t as cold as I’d expected but it was pretty hard to push the canoe to the bank with the current. After we’d got the canoe to the bank, we tipped all the water out and flipped it over… Capsize done!!! Once we were out, Tom and I went to get warm and dry while the others in the group kindly packed the canoes away for us. When we were in the bus headed home, a thunderstorm hit, lightning and all, talk about perfect timing. All in all it was a fun day, and I think the rain just made it all the better.

By Kendra