We survived the long overnight trip and could not believe how warm the weather was at Dubbo - we walked around the Zoo in T – Shirts. The students learnt some amazing facts about a variety of animals. Hippos for example can run about 40 km per hour and can stay under water for up to three hours.

The zoo also presented some great photo opportunities. Our favourite photo moment was catching the reaction of the students after lining them up in front of the bus for a group shot and then letting the drivers rip with a few blasts of the air horn!

We arrived in Canberra by about 6:00 pm and by the time we got there we had some very tired students and teachers!!!!

Unfortunately parliament was not in session but we have a few future leaders in the groups who excelled in their role play acts. Watch out Kevin Rudd!! Bill greeted us as a representative from Warren Truss’s office and passed on some interesting information about the workings of parliament house. We were all amazed that up to 8000 people work in parliament house when parliament is in session.

The War Memorial was once again a very moving experience for all. The check point tours with the guides were amazing and they always have so much to pass onto the kids. We also had the chance to explore the Discovery Zone where the students could interact with displays covering the Vietnam War, World War One and World War Two. Check out just a couple of the costume shots!

We were taken on a tour around the facilities at the AIS by an swimmer, netballer and basketballer. The students were able to see the state volleyballers during their training session and some of the swimmers going through their paces in the pool. We had a look at the enormous strength and conditioning gym and visited the gymnasium where elite athletes as young as seven train many hours day.

The Sportex section of the AIS is an interactive area where the students can shoot hoops, score penalty goals, race each other on stationary bikes and rowing machine as well as participate in a huge variety of other activities. Some great competitions between the students took place. The teachers also didn’t miss out. Unfortunately Mrs Hart proved to be a better downhill skier than Mr Luhrs and Mrs Parnell and Mrs Whittaker revelled in the attention on the gold medal podium!