Ballarat Grammar

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After a long bus journey from adelaide we arrived into ballarat and caught another bus out to the Ballarat grammar school. upon our arrival we were greeted by our host "Peter" and shown around our lodgings. From our previous conversations with peter we'd figured he was a nice guy but the warmth and welcome we received from him and the entire school was amazing, for the duration of our stay we had a small flat to ourselves which gave us the chance to settle down with a few home comforts.
In our first few days at ballarat we were introduced to the class we'd be taking on camp and sat in on a few of their lessons which helped us get to know them and pick up a few names,we were also introduced to so many staff and shook soo many hands it was hard to remember all the names!! Peter also took us to a few of the projects he's involved with like a local youth club (just the same organised chaos as back home) and we helped out on a pool session for some students practiscing rolling. On saturday we went out to Torquay with those same students for some surf kayaking, it was about 10deg and raining but the surf was up and it was awesome. They had a few different boats including sit on tops and a big 2 person inflatable which was a riot!!!!
Sunday/Monday was spent warming up and packing for camp as well as sitting in on a few more lessons.Then tues we left for camp in the rain, it took us about 2hrs to get to the grampians where we were introduced to our outdoor ed staff for the week and set up camp in between showers. Despite the rain the students climbed for around 4hrs without too much complaint.The next day we did a 6-7hr rock journey around hollow mountain and mount Stapylton the weather had cleared up and we were treated to a beautiful sunny day and fine views over the surrounding country.On Thurs both our groups packed up camp and donned their full packs for the walk to Roses gap, it was again a fine day and the students were still in good spirits they did the navigation for the day and enjoyed the thick bushbashing which the bearings led us through. As it was our last night on camp we had a fire and sat chatting around it for a good while before heading to bed.On our last day of camp we walked to bee-hive falls and then onto a few more highpoints to take in the scenery and have our "bucket luch".
We really enjoyed our time on camp with the ballarat students, they really got stuck into it and were always friendly,We had some good chats and debriefs which gave us a chance to understand australia abit more and get a feel for their culture whilst having abit of fun too.They all worked together well and made us feel welcome and appreciated.The camp gave us a chance to see another area of australia which we would have struggled to see in such depth on our own.
After recovering for a day the school also organized a trip to sovereign hill for us which is a living museum based in the 1850's. It was a good day out and we even went panning for gold..............................
and found some!!!! although it was only a speck or two.
Tomorrow we'll be leaving Ballarat for our next leg along the great ocean road to melbourne. Our thanks go out to all those who made us feel welcome within the school and made our time in ballarat a fun and enjoyable stay. the memories will stay with us and we hope to see you again.
Cheers!
Paul and Helly :-)

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Photos

Pauls group
Storming back into camp at 6kph!!!!!

Helly's group
descending to beehive falls!

Comments

[Michelle]

hey!
Looks like you guys are still having fun!

[moof]

snow camp
yeah i remember you guys on our year 10 snow camp at mt stirling. you wernt in my group but i remember seeing you around. anyway it was a sweet camp thanks and catch ya later