The Moore River by Bryan Lee

We had a hearty brekkie of hot drinks, cereal, fish fingers, scrambled eggs, hash browns, baked beans and toast. After brekkie, we set out for Moore River for lunch. Mr. Phil Cook, our tour guide, brought us to the sand bar. The temperature was very low and the wind was strong due to the rains. Mr. Cook said that during winter, the 'natural dam' of sand would allow the water level in the estuary to rise. 

One type of fish found in the river is their black bream which is most hunted by fishermen. There are different types of birds found near the river. The Estuary eco system is an intricate web. The trash that humans leave around, be it at the beach or inland, can find their way into the river system. This would cause the river to be polluted, harming fishes in the pond. 

On the drive back, we also saw various animals like the emu, al pacas, cattle and horse. We also did a pit-stop at the Gin Gin park where there was a water wheel, a pond and ducks, and a playground! Most of us played on the swing while some of us went to the pond to chase the ducks around. There were about ten ducks! 

After that, we made our way back to the farm. What a wonderful day!

Pictures of Accomdation @ Orchard Glory Farm

Day 2 At Orchard Glory Farm (By Chester Chiow) - Team building activities

It was a treasure hunt and we were given  tasks to complete. Upon completion of the tasks, the winning group would get a big box of treasures! To add on to our excitement, it was boys vs girls.

Our first task was to build two towers using a packet of balloons and a packet of straws. We had to work as a team. There were many ideas sprouting from every member of the team. We could not decide which idea to use. Hence, we decided to just do it! As we continued building the tower, more ideas were contributed and soon we were working as a team. Voila! We, the boys, managed to make two structures before the girls.

The next task was to build a structure to protect the egg from breaking when thrown from a chair. The materials given was again straws. We tried so many times. On our first attempt, the egg came out of the protective layer. We rebuilt the structure and tried again. This time, the egg broke. We added more layers and finally on our third attempt, the egg didn't break! We did it!

It was a great team bonding session! 

Accommodation at Orchard Glory Farm by Nyi Htet

We arrived at Orchard Glory Farm after the morning's Millennium Kids Programme on the first day. The chalet was very nice-looking. There were 6 beds, 3 bedrooms and 2 toilets in each chalet. We were supposed to switch off the lights and go to bed by 9.30p.m. in the first night. Before going to bed, we showered and did our reflections. When it was 9.30p.m., we went to bed. Since it was freezing and winter season, there was an electric blanket on each bed. The blanket heated our beds and made it very warm. We fell asleep almost immediately, as soon as our heads touched the pillows. Thankfully, we were allowed to sleep for 9 hours and were very refreshed when we woke up!

Yummy food.... Day 1 and Day 2 ( By Megan Poh)

Day 1
Breakfast
We had a good breakfast at Mcdonalds. We could either choose Hotcakes( pancakes) or McMuffin. For drinks the choices were coffee, tea or orange juice. We actually made our order at Changi Airport before we departed. I enjoyed this breakfast the most as I thought the Hotcakes were very soft and easy to eat.

Lunch
We had a rubbish-free lunch, which we had to make ourselves in the kitchen. We had to cut tomatoes, avocados, slice ham etc. For some of us, this was the first time using a knife. Our teachers were there to make sure we were careful and not hurt ourselves. We had  great fun making sandwiches.We made a tasty sandwich and apples. Inside our sandwich was fresh  lettuce, tomatoes, ham cheese, carrots and avocados.

Dinner
We had a delicious home-cooked BBQ dinner. This was cooked by the owner of Orchard Glory Farm.  The dinner  included juicy chicken wings, lamb chops,  beef sausages, salad and crispy potatoes. We had  orange chocolate ice cream for the dessert. This was my favourite meal as I loved meat and it was a good BBQ.

Day 2
Breakfast
We  had a yummy breakfast with toast, baked beans, fried fish fingers and hashbrown We could  choose to drink full cream milk, Milo, or orange juice. ns.
Lunch
We had a nice lunch that consisted of juicy chicken, beef sausages, lettuce, tomatoes, potato salad,  and cold salad before heading off to Moore River for sight seeing.
Dinner
We had an Italian dinner cooked by the owner of the farm. For appetizers  were salad and garlic bread. For the main meal we had delicious tomato pasta. For dessert we had Cadbury chip ice cream.

We are definitely looking forward to our meals for the rest of the week!

Tin Tin vs Gin Gin

Today I learnt something from our knowledgeable driver, Grandfather Gordon. He's been giving nuggets of information and history of the places we drive through and he explains them in such precise and concise terms! What a treat! 

Today it is Gin Gin, an almost forgotten railway town that is getting popular again. The aborigines repeat a word when there are many of the same item. In this case, Gin refers to spear-headed sticks and Gin Gin just means many spear-headed sticks! 

We also spotted yellow melon-shaped produce in the fields and Grandfather Gordon traced its origin to the 1850s when the Afghanistan farmers brought camels and bags of seed to Australia. As the camels could not digest the seeds well, they left fertile seeds in the soil everywhere they trotted. Hence the melons sprouted wherever the camels trotted. 

Pictures of activities at Civic Centre