After a long bus ride, we had finally made it to Australia’s capital, Canberra. We were all extremely excited for our excursion! We began our day at The National Museum of Democracy, which was once Parliament House from 1927-1988. Two friendly staff guided through the museum. We were separated into groups and explored a room, learning about the past Prime Ministers of Australia.

Our next destination was the National Museum of Australia. We learnt about Australian animals and history. After this, we visited the Australian War Memorial. This was quite an interesting place. There were countless exhibitions of real aircraft and other war vehicles. There was even a movie explaining what happened in the battles of World War 1 and 2.  We also got to see the Poppy Wall, which had a list of all the soldiers who fought and died for our country in the war. A memorable building was the tomb of the Unknown Soldier, a resting place for the unknown soldier who died in the war. Then, we visited the New Parliament House. It was greater in size than the previous one. We got to see the two chambers (the Senate and House of Representatives), which is where the debates happen.

We later drove to our accommodation, Ibis Styles Eaglehawk, where we had dinner. We then went to FlipOut, where we jumped around on trampolines. 

On Friday morning, we set off for the AIS, the Australian Institute of Sport. We had a friendly greeting by two coordinators who led us through to Sportex. Sportex was an interactive sporting area which gave us a proper insight into athletic sports. It involved a considerable amount of technology which kept us entertained. We were also given the opportunity to participate in a range of different activities such as the Paralympians in a race but it was very safe and a great learning experience.  There was an area where you could play soccer against a touch screen sensor. We also had a tour around the Olympic swimming pool, gymnasium, volleyball court and a few other athletic areas. Here we saw professional athletes at work. Once the tour was over we were given a chance to purchase items from the gift store.

We then headed off for our second destination, the Electoral Education Office located in Old Parliament House. We watched a video about the requirements for voting and how being a democracy has given us these rights, to have a say. Next, we participated in our own election! We were given options to vote for our favourite fruits and then the votes were counted. Our guide drew up a graph teaching us how options that weren’t voted for were eliminated. This is called preferential voting.

Next, we went to Questacon. It was an amazing experience in the view of science and technology. It was interactive and there were many stations to explore. A few levels focused on the Earth, natural disasters, energy, robotics, physics and so much more! The majority of Year 6 also participated in the Giant Drop and it was a thrilling experience.

Afterwards, we headed home.

6 Blue and 6 Green had a brilliant time on our Canberra Excursion and a big thank you to the teachers who took their time out to supervise us all the way to the Nation’s Capital and back.

By Sneha S & Sebastian O