Graces Blog

4 Oct
Home

To My Friends
 
We arrived in Port Stephens where my best friends live.  First we saw our friends we spent 3 whole days there together.  First day we went to the beach had hot chips and went back to their house.  Dad said wash yourself of with the hose and come back inside but we forgot our towels so we had to dry of on the trampoline.  The next day we went to the beach again the water was clearer this time, but colder.       We made a water feature and built some sand castles.  That night we had a sleepover and we stayed up until 9 o'clock, because we were tied.  The next day we packed up and left.

We are back in Canberra.  When we got back we had some of our favourite dinners.  Nanny and Poppy was here to meet us.  The next day we unpacked mostly everything.  The best bit about being away was up in Cairns and going to the Great Barrier Reef and seeing all the coral.  I will be back at school on monday.  I am looking forward to going back to school.

The best thing about being home is my room.

From Grace







Lightning Ridge
 25 September

To Unit 6

Now I am in Lightning Ridge.  First day we got here we listened to some music in the camp kitchen and a big big storm came.  We had to run back to our caravan and get prepared.  We took down our TV signal , packed up our camp chairs we zippered up our windows.  Lightning Ridge is a good place for Opals. The first day we went fossicking then we went to the carvings.  First we had a mine tour and went back up to the carvings.  The carvings where amazing we saw lots of different things like the invisible man, the mummies, cheetah's and other animals, famous people.  The carvings where in the mine under the ground.  My Favourite was the animals.

 We first did the Bottle House.  The Bottle House was , all these bottles where stuck to the walls.  This man put them in there an turned it into a museum.  But there was not much there.

Then we went to Amigo's castle he had lots of cats there.  Then we did some noodling.  Noodling is where you look for Oplas.  We found a few.  In the afternoon we went to the Artesen Bathes .  This is like a big pool but all the hot water rises up from the bottom of the earth.  It was very hot.




The next day we packed up and went to Gilganda .  I am waiting for my cousins, uncle and aunty to come up as they have a mine near Lightning Ridge.






Carnarvon Gorge

21st September

To Unit 6

Today we went to Carvarvon Gorge, we went on a 14km walk. We first saw the Art Gallery, there was aboriginal paintings, they have been there for 3-4 thousands years. The paintings were of boomerangs, hands, nets and goannas. Then we walked down to wards gorge, this was a big canyon with fresh water running through it. I filled up my drink bottle from the fresh water creek.

We then went to the amphitheatre, it was very quiet and was very big after walking through the gorge that was very tight and narrow which then opened up to be very a very big hole in the sky.

Then we went to the moss garden, the moss gardens had little water falls and moss growing on the rocks. The moss is made by water flowing through the cracks in the gorge and then meeting sandstone (shale) where it turns to moss. We then walked back across stepping stones in the creek every now and then.

I enjoyed seeing wards gorge as it was very high walls and skinny to walk through and was cold. Please see photos.

When we got back to the carpark we got a ice-cream and put our feet in some cold water as my feet were very sore.

The next day we walked up the bloom bluff gorge which had 937 steps all up hill through the gorge. When we got up to the top we got to see a great view. We stayed up there for a while and had morning tea and then went back down. When we got back down I was really thirsty as we ran out of water.

This aboriginal man told us before we left that if you got thirsty you could eat this type of grass root on the track which produced water. It tasted like sugar cane.

Then we went to the rock pools to cool off, the water was a bit cold and deep. Daddy had friend swim by him, guess what it was. It was a snake, I did not hope back in the water again.

Back at the park we saw a platypus, he was only 40cms long. There was also an echidnas, kangaroos, and kookaburras.

The next day we left for Roma, please see below some of our photos


See you all soon in 2 weeks, happy holidays to you all.

Grace

         

Lake Maraboon/Emerald

!3 July

To Unit 6

Then we went to Lake Maraboon we set up like every other day.  I did 2 beds, 2 legs, the water pipe, and the roof and the awning. 

The next day we did some fossicking.  We did the fossicking at Pats Gems at Sapphire.  What we had to do , buy a bucket.  Then dig up some dirt called wash unitl our bucket was full.  Then we poured some into our sieve and then sieved all the dust and dirt out.  Once we have done that we got all the rocky pieces out.  Then we washed it and we flip it over and looked for some Sapphires.  At the end I found one cut sapphire and a couple of party rocks and some sapphires.  I enjoyed this activity. 

Then we went down a real mine. We went down a special lift it was 40 feet deep.  It looked like mouse holes but bigger.  They used lots of machines.  In the mine we  they were going to put a bed and a workshop down there.  The lift has a special machine that carries you up and down.  I didn’t want to go down at first but I’m  glad I did, because it was cool how there was lots of  rabbit holes everywhere.

Is any of the class going anywhere for holidays?

See you soon Grace

9 July
Longreach

To Unit 6
I went to longreach   first we went to the Qantas museum it had a big airplane at the front.  We had to wear a special wrist band to get in.  I flew a flight simulator I had to use a control thing , I did well the first time but I didn't do well the second time.  I hopped in a plane , that didn't have seat belts.  The word Qantas represents Queensland and Northern Territory Air Service.  You got to listen to video's on headphones and you got to try to move the wings around and that was hard as well.

Then we went into the hangar that was the original.   In the hanger there was an airplane called the moth  it was old.

We went out for diner at the RSL I had calamari and chips.

The next day we went to the Stockmans hall of Fame.  First we watched a show and a man cracked the whip on the horse. Then there was so much dirt in its hooves so he had to have a makeover.   Then he brought out another horse that was good for rounding up cattle.   It was called a stock horse.  Next he brought out another horse that was good for travelling  he is called a pack horse.  Next we saw 3 dogs round up sheep.   Inside of the museum we saw the Royal Flying Doctor Service.  I watched the video's of it and did you know it used to be a show.  They usually help people on stations that are farms but way bigger.  Then we went to the pioneers  in the pioneers we saw all the old wagons .

Next we went to School of Long Distance Education.  Kids out on stations are to far away from school so they have to do school of the air.  School of the Air is something where they go on a microphone and they speak to they teachers on Skype.  In this case they use post , phones and computers.  They only get to see their friends 1 week a year  at school.  We donated $20 to buy 2 beds for the children to use when hey come to school.  There is a postcard coming your way.  School of the Air I think would be hard to learn.





7 Sept
Winton

To Unit 6

Did you know the Qantas plane was born in Winton then moved to Longreach.  First we went to the Waltzing Matilda Museum where Waltzing Matilda was written and first sung.  There was swagmans , jumbacks that are sheep and trains and a shearers shed.  We saw all the tools and pictures of funny things like Emu's crossing the airport runway.  We watched a show that sung the Waltzing Matilda.  I didn't know that there where different types of waltzing Matilda's it has changed over the years.

Next day we went to the Age of the Dinosaurs that had real Dinosaur bones.  I touched a real dinosaur. it was a claw.  Then we went onto the next room ,the lab, to see how they get all the dirt away.  They use special machines it takes to get all the dirt and dust and stuff off takes a very very long time.  They found out a new species that I didn't know of its a swimming dinosaur and its head is 3 metres long.








6 Sept
Cloncurry
To Unit 6

Now I am at the Lava Tubes at Undara it took 3 hours to get here, when we got here it was very hot.  We set up and jumped in the pool.  The pool was cold but I jumped in anyway.  The next day we went for our tour.  It took 18 minutes to get to the LavaTubes on a bus.  When we got there we went on a walk on a board walk and that took us to the Lava Tube.  When we got there it was very very windy.  When we went in the Lava Tube it's like a tube made of rock. It was cold inside and dark. We saw three but went in two Lava Tubes.

Lava Tube

Me outside Lava Tube

Sunset over the Gulf Karumba

Next we went to karumba  it was windy and hot.  The first night we went to a Pub to watch the sunset go over the ocean.   karumba is the outback by the sea.  In the morning we cracked open a coconut and got it out , then later we brought our dinner up and I drunked the coconut watching the sun go down.   If you do not like fishing do not go to Karumba.   We went to a Barramundi farm and we got to pat the Barramundi.

There is a post card coming your way.

From Grace





1 Sept
Atherton

To Unit 6
We have been to Cooktown it was very windy.  This is where Captain Cooks boat broke down it landed on the Great Barrier Reef.  His boat was called the Endeavour. I know this because I went to the Captain Cook museum.  There was a huge big anchor from the endeavour.  I didn't know that the anchor was so big.  We stayed at Cooktown for 3 nights.  On the way to Cooktyown we drove past the Black Mountain people say that who ever goes in does not come out.  It is believed that there has been spottings of the Queensland Tiger but we did not see it.  The next day we went to the Lions Den that is a Pub.  We had lunch there, I had wedges with sour cream and sweet chilli sauce.  At the Lions Den pub you could write on the walls, we put our red elephant sticker on the wall. After lunch we went down to the creek and saw a big goanna and we swam and made some oaka and then I painted myself with it.

Black Mountain

Captain Cook

The next day we went to Atherton and stayed in the Big 4, on the first day we went to the markets and they had some nice things there. We then went to a coffee farm and found out that coffee grows on trees and once they pick the coffee they drag there feet through the coffee to turn the beans over ready roasting. When they pick the coffee beans they are red. In the afternoon we went to crystal caves which was about gems, rocks and fossils. We had to wear helmets with lights and go through caves to see different gems and you could touch them. The biggest amethyst purple gem in the world was there.

I brought some different rocks and gems because I like collecting them. After the crystal caves we waked up a big big mountain which was very steep and hilly. When we got up to the top we realised that we did not have our camera, the view was really good.

The next day we saw a big fig tree and looked for tree kangaroos in which we saw two. We then went to Nerada Tea factory to see how tea was made. I had a peppermint tea, a chic chip biscuit and a scone with cream and jam, it was very yummy. In the afternoon we went and discovered these great waterfalls. On the third day we meant to leave but we decided we should have another day here, we then found a big volcano crater, it was as big as the oval at school. On the way home we saw thousands of ducks flying through the air.

Tomorrow we are going to Undara Lave tubes, please watch the nexted blog to find out more.

Hi Ruby, Zoe, Amber, Miss Skinna and Unit 6.








25 August
Cooktown

To Unit 6

We went to the Daintree and saw a Cassowary .  He was crossing the road and we took a really good picture.  It is rare to see a Cassowary and he has a big knob on his head.  The Daintree is the oldest rainforest in the world.  It was very green and it was very interesting because we had a thing we had to put to our era to listen to.   We saw lots of butterflies, but we didn't see many animals.  To get there we crossed the Daintree River on a barge in our car.

Then we went to Mossman Gorge and walked along a board walk, you could swim in a waterhole but we didn't.  Mossman Gorge is a mountain of rainforest.  Then we saw some waterfalls.  MOssman Gorge is rainforest is well the trees were really really big.

Now we are in Cooktown then we are going to go to the Atherton Tablelands.  I will tell you about Cooktown in the next post.

Hello Unit 6

We are in Cairns right now and  got picked up by a mini bus  and went up the mountain in a train and went back down in the Skyrail.  The train went through 15 tunnels , it had 15 carriages.

 The next day we went to the Great Barrier Reef it took us a hour and a half to get there,  When we got there , we got our flippers and snorkels, then we hoped in the water.  It felt strange at first and  then we saw a big fish about a metre and a half long.  We  where on the reef for 5 hours and they served us lunch, afternoon tea and morning tea.  WE saw the fish being feed there was big fish and small fish.

Then the next day we went to a aboriginal place.  Are you still learning about Art?  Because they had all different types of art there.   I got to paint a story rock my story rock was a platypus crossing the water.  I got to learn how to throw a boomerang.  I learned how to spear and I learned how to weave like in the Torres Strait Islands.  We watched a show  they did special culture dance.  We had a didgerido lesson, that was hard.  And had a dancing lesson that was easy, we danced like a Kangaroo, Cassowari and a Brolga.

What did you do for bookweek?

Next I am going to the Daintree.

From Grace

Hi Unit 6

Have a look at the Caravan set up post to see how we put up our caravan.
From Grace

17 August Cairns
to Unit 6
We drove to Townsville I don't think you will remember but Polly will, Owen and Olivia Yates lives there. We slept over with them there. And played with them for two days.  While they where at school we went to Magnetic Island and went on a boat.  The boat was really rocky over there and we had a drink on the way back over. When we where there we hired a Barbie car and we went for a walk and we saw two Koala's.  Then we went back and I had ginger beer on the boat.

Koala Bear at Magnetic Island

With our friends Owen and Olivia

Barbie Car at Magnetic Island

Then we went to Mission Beach  that comes into Cassowary territory, we only stayed there one night.

Then we went to Paronella Park.  Then we meet up with Owen and Olivia again and spent the night there. We went on a tour it was about a story of  Paronella Park and its old ruins.  We went on alight tour too and the ruins got lighted up.

Ruins at Paronella Park

Mena Falls Paronella Park

Now we are in Cairns I'm going to be doing a Crocodile farm, Skyrail and Train and Jeremy I am going to be doing the Great Barrier Reef.

Bye from Grace









10th August  Bowen


To Unit 6
Its a good time to catch up with you and so far since I last talked to you I have been to Sarina and Cape Hillsborough and now Bowen.

In Sarina we went to a Sugar Cane factory and looked around and ate some fairy floss.  I learnt there are 180 types of sugar cane.  Then we went out to a big Coal Port where they load all the big ships with coal, did you know that the trains are 2 kilometres long.

My Coconut family

Ticket to Sugar Shed, Sarina

Then we went to Cape Hillsborough and saw possums , kangaroos and lots of kookaburras.  We did a walk and it went over a mountain and onto an island.  We saw a turtle from Turtle lookout.  We watched 2 movies at night outside on the big screen. We collected coconuts and made a coconut family.

Wedge Island, Cape Hillsborough

Sea Cucumber Bowen

Starfish we found walking to lighthouse island Bowen

water park @ Bowen

Today we went to Bowen we walked out to a lighthouse island.  It was the lowest tide of the year, we saw lots of big starfish, and a sea urchin and  lots of black sea cucumbers.  I picked up a crab it was as big as my hand.  Then we played at a water park it had a really big slide.

How are you Amber,Ruby,Zoe and Ashlyn.?







3rd August Emu Park near Rockhampton
To Unit 6

 Last place I told you was Rainbow Beach.  Since then I hvebeen to Bundaberg, thats where the Ginger Beer factory is.  Its the big Barrel this is where all the ginger beer and other flavours of soft drink is made.  We go in and went in room number 1 this includes touch screens then we moved on it was a smelling test, we had to squeeze the bottles an guess the smell. Room number 3 we had to try to make bubbles and try to crack the code for the safe, but we couldn't do it. Then we watched a 3d movie that went for 10 minutes.  Then we went into taste test, we tasted all the flavours, my favourite was ginger beer.  Then we got to and pick our own flavours for ourselves.

Bundaberg Barrell

Next we went to 1770 there wasn't much to do there but walks.  This is where Luitenent James Cook first landed in Queensland.  This is a very good place to watch the sun go down over the water, we watched it every afternoon.  When we went fishing there Daddy had a new friend that was a Pelican, every time Daddy reeled a fish in the Pelican snatched it of.  We went on a walk that had thousands of blue butterflies.

Daddy and his friend Mr Pelican

Sunset at 1770

Then we came up to Rockhampton.  Fisrt night we came we went to watch Bull Riders, we sat there having dinner out and watching at he same time.

Bull Riding Arena Rockhampton

25 July Elliot Heads just south of Bundaberg

To Unit 6
my friends back at home especially Zoe I have something to tell you, I know you like animals so I thought I would tell you about this.  I went to Australia Zoo I think it is the best Zoo in the world.  First we fed a Red Panda that went for 15 minutes.  I fed them tiny pieces of chopped up fruit and vegetables.   Then we had a look around the zoo.  Did you know the show of Bindi's Bootcamp  is actually in the zoo? You get to have a go at everything in the bootcamp.  Then we went to the Crocoseum we saw some bird go crazy and swoop the crowd like mad.  The we saw the crocs they where so big.  We saw lots more animals.  The next day we went to Rainbow Beach and went sand duning , I went head first at the bottom and I stuck my head in the sand like an ostrich.

troop carrier to Fraser Island

Crocodile at Australia Zoo

Then we got up at 6.50 in the morning and fed some wild dolphins.  Then the next day we went to Fraser Island. We had to catch the troop carrier at 7.40 in the morning.  We saw a wild dingo on the beach .  I went for a swim at Eli Creek, it was clear freshwater.  We walked around Lake McKenzie , we even got morning tea and lunch served for us.  We had to go a barge to get across to the island and we where there all day.

Sand Duning at Rainbow Beach

Now we are at Elliot Heads and already we caught 3 fish.  We have seen lots of sugar cane out the car window and we are starting to get sand flies.

Wild Dingo at Fraser Island

Barge to Fraser Island

I am always going to write on friday so you can look on mondays.

Good bye Mr Nicho.  Unit 6 can you write back and tell mew hats happened at school.

bye from Grace



To unit 6 - 20/07/14

Today I went to Under water world which is in Mooloolaba on the sunshine coast. First we looked at some star fish and sea horses and got to touch them. Then there was a seal show and two volunteer girls, one of them got to feed the seal and the other one got pushed into the water by the seal.

After the seals we went to the otter show, then we went through these glass tunnels and saw lots of sting rays, sharks and a saw fish, turtles, other fish and a sea horse. We saw Nemo and Dori and big manta rays.

We even sore some frogs, and a goanna.

Then we saw a big barramundi which looked to be about 1 and a half meters long, we then went to jelly fish kingdom and sore different types of jelly fish.

My favourite part was going through the glass tunnels and seeing the sharks.

Here are some photos from today.

To Unit 6
So far i have been to Port Stephens, Bonny Hills (Port Mcquarie),Bellinger River (Coffs Harbour), now  I am in Yamba.  In Coffs harbour I went to Dolphin Marine Magic first I kissed a Seal and then a Dolphin, then there was a Dolphin and a Seal Show. Then I had my experience with a Dolphin, I had to wear a wetsuit

Then I got to play with the Dolphin and look at its teeth and tongue.  I felt its tongue it felt like bubble gum.  The water was so cold.  My Dolphin's name was Calamity.  Then we watched the show again.  We feed some reef fish and went up to feed the Penguins.  In Coffs Harbour we went to the Big Banana we went on a tour and ate a banana and ate frozen banana coated with chocolate and hundreds and thousands.  In Yamba we where walking and some Pelicans started chasing us.  It was not funny!  We had to run for our lives.







This is the page that Grace will be blogging on. It will be interesting hear her views and what Graces highlights of our adventure will be................................................................................................. What I will be looking forward to the most is..Seaworld because I will see lots of cool things. I will look forward to seeing my best friends Madi and Indi. Also I will look forward to the most is going to all different towns and I will get some souvenirs while I am there. look at the rainbow over our caravan I made this passport to put stamps in from everywhere we go

25 jUNE

this is my pack of my bears surtcases I pack:

 a ball

biscuits

hony

hair ties

notbooks

3 bears