Year 6 Trip to Canberra – Day 1

We had a great drive up to Canberra today – singing karaoke, listening to music and doing trivia and riddles. We had a great view of Lake Georgie and learned some interesting facts about the lake! We made it to the zoo and then had a picnic lunch and self guided tour before meeting our guide who spoke to us about endangered animals. We learned there are over 200 marsupials in Australia and that even though the zoo isn’t the ideal place for animals, the animals within it are mostly those rescued who couldn’t survive in the wild for various reasons.

After the zoo we attended the War Memorial Last Post Ceremony with Arkie and the director of the War Memorial laying the wreath in remembrance. It was a very sombre experience for staff and students.

We then made our way to the lodge, where we checked in, made beds and had dinner before heading out to the observatory. The observatory was absolutely spectacular- we got to see a Nobel Prize, learn about gravity, space time, the planets, telescopes, astrobiology, supernovas and everything from extraterrestrials to theories of the multiverse, wormholes and quantum physics. The questions from the students were endless and the whole ride back to the lodge was filled with non-stop talk about these topics. We got to see the Wombat XL which is used to create a vacuum that emulates space and is used to test the endurance and quality of manufactured technology for space. The three university students that led the talks and activities were all studying various topics related to astronomy at ANU and were inspirational to our students in future career possibilities. They brought an incredible passion and professionalism to the evening as we did some hands-on activities and toured the many buildings used for research.

Finally, after a busy first day, students and staff drifted off to sleep (probably with dreams of space) in preparation for an early day tomorrow.