Who on earth gets to school at 5am??? Year 6 had the delightful experience to rise early on a wintery, dark and cold morning on either the Monday or the Wednesday of Week 1, Term 3- headed to Canberra, dressed in our formal uniforms, ready to learn all about our Australian Capital City, in particular, how our government system works.

Once we loaded the bus with our bags and waved a sleepy ‘bye’ to our parents, we were off to Brisbane airport full of excitement for what lay ahead. Checking in our bags (each group of 60 students) went without a hitch, much to our teachers’ great surprise, as did the flight to Canberra. But what we stepped out to on that cold but sunny Canberra tarmac took us all by surprise – IT! WAS! FREEZING!

Over the three days, we had many wonderful and memorable experiences. The bus and our bus driver (Mark) were great and the karaoke was super fun on the bus (go DJ Fraze-dog!) For one of the groups, one song in particular was a favourite…..Year 6……… “Tell Me Why?”……

Throughout the trip, our favourite five places were Questacon because of the inventions activities and freedom; the AIS with its brilliant activities - especially the Sportex and having the freedom to explore all of them by choice; Government house was truly unique and an eye-opener, because of what we saw inside and outside the magnificent house and from what we learned about the role of our Governor General; the War Memorial was a huge highlight because of the interesting facts and learning opportunities given to us of Australia’s war history; and of course, Parliament House because we learnt how Parliament works here in Australia.

Breakfast and dinner were great, lunch was okay and the morning and afternoon teas were also fine – there was no shortage of food, that’s for sure! It kept us all warm and energised to keep everyone going on our very long days.

The accommodation was comfortable, warm and toasty, although some people had squeaky doors and beds. However, we all had enough space for three or four people in each room with our own bathroom – absolute LUXURY!

Though we could have wished for more free time, we were very busy learning, eating, looking out for each other and having a great time. There was not a second to miss our families and before we knew it, we were back on that plane, then bus heading home.

We would like to thank our families for allowing us to go, thank the staff and tour guides who helped us everywhere throughout our trip, and the biggest shout-out of all AND a HUGE THANK YOU must go to the College staff who gave up time away from their own families to look after us for those three days.

Written by Jess H, Gemma J, Oscar M and Rorke R