Wednesday 21 February 2018

Hello everyone

This is our last day in Townsville and also our last blog post. Today we had a trip to Magnetic Island planned. Everyone had slept in their host families, so we met each other again back at school. The day started good for Nienke, who forgot her bikini and towel.

We drove our little bus to the terminal where we took the ferry to Maggies. When we arrived at the island we first made a toilet stop. Then we went to the beach, but the sun wasn’t really shining so it was a little bit too cold to go for a swim and we just went in with our feet.

At 12 o’clock we had an appointment at the wildlife park. We’ve held some lizards, turtles, snakes and parrots. We could touch a koala, some of us even held a koala. 

After this we went to the beach to have lunch. We missed our bus, but luckily there was another bus with a lovely man who drove us to the forts. We walked up to the fort, and we even saw some koala’s on our way. At the top there was an amazing view. We also met some other Belgian people.

Ode recited her poem to us. But then Ms Tytgat received a phone call from the mainland warning us about some bad weather, so we quickly went down the hill again. Some of us were a bit scared for the storm that was coming, because last night’s storm had been bad taking out electricity in some of the houses. We hoped that the ferry could take us back to Townsville.

Unfortunately, the barbecue  was cancelled and everyone was disappointed. We had to get back to our host families.

When Emma and I got back at Lily’s place, we went for a horseback ride. After that we played clue because her little sister loves it. We ended our day with a barbecue. Hoping that the others had a great day as well!

Tuesday 20 February 2018

Hello everyone

Another day has passed by. After a good night’s sleep at out host families we had to go to the breakfast at 7:30 am. It was a delicious and various breakfast. When the bell rang we all separated and followed our host.

Suddenly it started to rain and there was thunder and lightning. Because of that the electricity didn’t work anymore. 

My first real class was 2 hours of maths, Bo and Julie were also there.

After those 2 hours we had lunch, while we were eating we watched a volleyball game. A lot of people were very enthousiastic about the game. 

Instead of following Italian class and a study hour, Chayenne, Emma and I could go to physical education class. First we got the theoritic part, then we could play volleyball.

Then we had another break. At 2:10 PM I had legal class until 3:10pm.

The feeling when the last bell rings is still the same. 

On our way home we got an iced drink. When we got home we watched a movie, it’s called “blended”. Bonnie and I laughed at it a lot!

After The movie we baked muffins with chocolate chips. We licked the leftovers out of the bowl, it tasted really good. The result was also delicious! While we were eating we had a nice talk and it seems that Bonnie and I aren't that different from each other.

We had little selfmade pizza’s for dinner. After a refreshing shower we played monopoly. When we finished the game we went to bed.

Good night everyone!

Ode

Monday 19 February 2018

Hi everyone, today we got up at 5 in the morning for our final destination: Townsville. The minibus was really quiet as all the students had decided to catch up on their sleep. And even in the plane almost everyone fell asleep, it was very funny to see.

And then we finally arrived here in Townsville. Hot, smoldering Townsville. So we all began tio sweat. On our way to the city we saw THE thing we were all waiting for: KFC. Almost everyone chose a mega pack because we thought it was for 3 people. Actually, it was for 5 people so we regretted our choice and ate way too much.

And then it was up to the war memorial. I read out my poem and we even listened to the last post being played from a box next to the memorial.

By then everyone was so hot it was time to cool down, so we walked down the Strand towards a water playhouse. Without hesitation we threw off our shoes and jumped in. After our splash moment we went to the museum. After this little pitt stop we went to Reef HQ. First we saw some fish and crocodile feeding and then Jo took us to the turtle hospital. We saw four sick turtles there and they were so cute. Jo explained their stories and problems. She also showed us the rest of the animals, and we were even allowed to touch a sea cucumber, a sea star and even a real shark egg (yes, a tiger shark lays eggs!).

But then THE biggest moment that we had all waited for was... going to the school for our guests. The bus changed into the stress bus, because everyone was stressed but when we arrived it was just amazing. 

By Annaïgue

When we arrived at Ryan College, the billets were already waiting for us and soon everyone was on their way to their guest families. And we were left with an empty bus...

We wish them lots of fun and an interesting and educational stay with the families. And we'll see them again tomorrow morning for breakfast at the school.

                                                                                   By Mariska and Ilse

Sunday 18 February 2018

Today we've sung almost every minute of the day. I think maybe the teachers are getting annoyed of our lovely songs but the music brings us a nice atmosphere. 

Our day started with a cosy breakfast in the car on our way to the harbour. For the first time this trip, we were 30 minutes early, so we had to wait. Some of us decided to stay in the saunabus. 

At 9 o'clock we could board the boat. We had an amazing day on the boat and in the ocean. On our way to Moreton island we saw dolphins, sea turtles and many fish. We snorkelled between old relics of boats where we saw many fish and enjoyed the sunshine. I'm afraid everyone is now a little sunburnt. We even had a delicious lunch in the boat: we ate vegetables with prawns. 

 After the trip we went back at the hotel tonrefresh and to wash our salty hair. I think the aftersun is empty after today. For dinner we wanted to go to the kfc but on our way we found a lovely kebab that was staring at us...
Elena

Saturday 17 February 2018

This morning we started our day at 9am. Because we couldn’t eat at the hotel, we ate at a shopping hall near the hotel. After our breakfast we went to mount Cootha, a view of Brisbane which was very wonderful. There I read the poem about the soldiers in the war. 

After the view we went to the planetarium. Because the employers had made a mistake and almost booked us in forforthe kiddies show, we changed plans and first ate lunch and then we went to watch the presentation. We saw a presentation about the stars and the planets. It was in a room with a dome where the stars were projected. The position of the stars were very different than in Belgium. For example the Australians don’t have the big bear. 

Later we did a guided tour around the city. They split the group in 2 smaller groups. And we learned more about the history of the city. We saw many old buildings. But I think the tour was a bit too long because it was hard to walk 2 hours in the full sun. Next we had free time so we went shopping and we had much fun trying on some clothes. Elena styled all of us which was so much fun. After the end of our free time, we had pasta, pizza... at Vapiano. It was a weird way of taking orders. When everyone was done, we walked back to the hotel and we talked a little. That was our day in Brisbane.
By Nienke

Friday 16 February 2018

Our day started early at 5AM , we were getting ready for our flight to Brisbane. We checked-in at 7AM and grabbed some breakfast at the AirPort.  Our flight, of 1,5 hours, departed at 8AM.

 We arrived at 8:50 AM ( Brisbane is 9 hours earlier ). When we stepped on the tarmact we were overwhelmed by the heat and humidity. It is much worse than in Sydney. We drove to the hotel with our karaoke car to drop the luggage. Unfortunately Brisbane is the worst for parking so it took a long while to find a place to drop the car.  

Today at lunchtime we all ate a lovely salad. While we were eating, there were 2 Chinese purple Dragons dancing around for Chinese New Year. 

After lunch, we went to the ANZAC ( Australian and New-Zealand Army Corps) war memorial, where we learned some more about the memorial and some soldiers. We also saw the eternal flame. But we quickly went out of the sun and on to the hotel.

Before we went to fort lytton , we had some free time: we showered , went to the pool and gym room. At 16:50 PM we departed to fort lytton, where Zoé and Daley were waiting for us. We received some gifts , cookies and water. We also had to protect us against the insects. We started our tour at a room where Zoé was standing and motivating us to be a part of the Great War. We followed them on a journey in the time of the Great War. They told us that the fort was actually a training camp for younger soldiers to prepare them to fight for their country . Their slogan was “ we make it and we break it”. In the fort, ammunition was stored to protect Brisbane from a possible Russian invasion. They told us a lot about the war ( and Australia ) and showed us some pictures. It was a whole interactive show , we all loved it very much. Before we went back to the hotel , we grabbed some diner at a Mexican restaurant. We all are very tired and will sleep immediately.
By Emma

Thursday 15 February 2018

Hello everyone

It was already our last day in Sydney, but we were lucky. After the three exhausting days, we could sleep a long time (except for Chayenne who went downstairs incredibly early to watch the basketball game.) We were supposed to be ready at 10:30 am. But of course we already had to have eaten, and we had to prepare our luggage because tonight we are coming back to the hotel late and tomorrow we’re leaving very early for Brisbane.

At 10:30 we went downstairs but  the car wasn’t there yet, so we had to wait until 11:00 and then we went to the beach. We stopped on our way to pick up a little lunch, and we saw an amazing deal on Fila clothing so we begged the teachers to let us buy some stuff.

After the relaxing moment at the sea, our guides Tim and Grant took us on the aboriginal tour. It was really great, we learned a lot and Tim told us something more about their lives. He also let us taste some things, like jam that was made of hibiscus flowers and the lilipilitree, the leaves of the healthiest tree and some more. He also scared Annaïgue buy pointing out a huge spider! Fortunately the spider wasn’t dangerous and after some calming down, Annaïgue could continue. Tim also made soap with leaves. After the long walk we had the chance to paint our own boomerangs and after that we had a nice ride on our way home with a lot of music and singing.

We had an hour to freshen up and then we went on a surprise dinner. When we arrived we knew immediately where we were, at bondi beach! We had a nice dinner in a beach bar with a view on Bondi Beach. Now it’s time to sleep because tomorrow we need to wake up early because we have our flight to Brisbane at 8.00.

by Bo