During Term 3 Year 9 students from the Morwell Campus and Churchill Campus attended their retrospective Melbourne Discovery Camps.
Morwell Campus
Monday 25th - Wednesday 27th July
Forty Year 9 students from the Morwell Campus recently embarked on their three-day Melbourne Discovery Camp.
After travelling down on the V-Line train to Melbourne, the students arrived at Southern Cross Station. The students headed straight to O’Brien Icehouse over on the Docklands where they partook in a 30-minute introductory skating and then had an hour of free skating time to refine and show off their skills. Walking down to Southbank the students had their lunch before making their way and settling into their accommodation at Urban Camp.
Up bright and early the students set out for another action pack day. Heading to the Melbourne Aquarium for their first stop of the day, the students embarked on a self-guided tour which allowed them to visit the different marine exhibits at their own pace.
A river cruise up the Yarra River took them to Scienceworks where the students explored the Sportsworks and Think Ahead exhibitions before travelling back along the river and then taking the tram back to their accommodation for dinner. Setting out for a guided night tour the students got to experience the zoo in the dark.
For their final day in Melbourne the students visited the southern hemisphere’s highest observation deck, the Melbourne Skydeck. Taking in the city views from nearly 300 metres high some students even braved going out on the Edge which is a transparent glass cube that projects out from Melbourne Skydeck, leaving them suspended nearly 300 metres above the streets of Melbourne.
In the afternoon, the students visited ArtVo, an immersive art gallery that currently features a fantasy theme, allowing the students to explore and interact with the ocean, polar ice caps, space and the forest exhibits.
The students departed Melboune on a VLine Bus back to make their journey back to the valley.
Churchill Campus
Tuesday 2nd - Friday 5th August
Forty-five Year 9 students from the Churchill Campus recently embarked on their four-day Melbourne City Exploration Camp.
Embarking from the Morwell train station to travel down on the V-Line train to Melbourne, the students arrived at Flinders Street Station. Making way to catch a tram they headed straight to their accommodation at Hotel Clairemont in South Yarra. The students offloaded their luggage before heading back into the city to visit the southern hemisphere’s highest observation deck, the Melbourne Skydeck. Taking in the city views from nearly 300 metres high some students even braved going out on the Edge which is a transparent glass cube that projects out from Melbourne Skydeck, leaving them suspended nearly 300 metres above the streets of Melbourne.
Lunch was enjoyed in Melbourne Central, before the students embarked on a cruise down the Yarra River. Students then participated in an amazing race around the city before making transit to the iconic Royal Melbourne Hotel for dinner. The hotel was built in 1889 and located on the former site of Melbourne’s Bourke Street-West Police Station and incorporates both historical features & modern architecture.
Up bright and early the students set out for another action pack day. Heading to the Melbourne Goal for their first stop of the day, the students embarked on a guided tour which educated them of the of the time between 1842 and its closure in 1929 where the gaol was the scene of 133 hangings including Australia’s most infamous citizen, the bushranger Ned Kelly. The students gained an insight into what life was like for the men and women who lived and died there all those years ago.
Stopping next at the Queen Victoria markets, a vibrant and bustling inner-city market consisting of over 600 small businesses, the students were given a couple of hours to grab some lunch and visit the various stalls consisting of everything from Australian fruit and vegetables, local and imported gourmet foods, clothing, and souvenirs.
The afternoon was spent leisurely traversing around the Melbourne Zoo visiting the various habitats and enclosures.
Heading to Chapel Street back in South Yarra, the students dined at the Soda Rock Diner, feasting on hot dogs, burgers and milkshakes in the American style diner featuring vintage booths and an Elvis statue.
Before heading back to the accommodation, the students headed to the Jam Factory Village Cinemas and watched Thor: Love and Thunder.
Day 3 commenced with the students heading to the Melbourne Museum where the students visited the First Peoples exhibition, at Bunjilaka Aboriginal Cultural Centre. The exhibit enabled students to enrichen their understanding and knowledge about Aboriginal culture. Triceratops: Fate of the Dinosaurs was the second exhibit students explored, which encompassed an immersive voyage into a lost world, where they had the opportunity to explore the landscapes of the Cretaceous and get to know the creatures that thrived there.
In the afternoon, the students visited ArtVo, an immersive art gallery that currently features a fantasy theme, allowing the students to explore and interact with the ocean, polar ice caps, space, and the forest exhibits.
Dinner was enjoyed along the promenade of the docklands at the Berth Restaurant, with a selection of Mediterranean dishes on offer. For their evening activity the students then headed to O’Brien Icehouse Docklands where they partook in a 30-minute introductory skating and then had an hour of free skating time to refine and show off their skills.
On the students’ final day, after enjoying breakfast in South Yarra at the SOS Café, the students caught a tram back into Melbourne, and departed from Flinders Street Station on the VLine train where they arrived back in the valley by mid-afternoon.
