Melbourne Day 2 - Fun AND Learning!

A 7am wake up greeted our bleary eyed tourists on our first full day in Melbourne, however a buffet breakfast, as well as a refreshing walk through the beautiful Carlton Gardens and coffee/hot chocolate stop, helped us to refuel before we walked toward our first activity of the day - Melbourne Museum.

Here, the students took part in a one hour education program putting their knowledge from their archaeology unit in History earlier this year to good use. Students looked at real artefacts found from cesspits in Melbourne, and made assumptions about what the object was used for, and what it told us about life back then.


We then had some free time to look through the Museum, starting with the Melbourne Story and ending with the animal exhibitions. Our very knowledgeable bus driver Ray took us on an hour driving tour around Melbourne, explaining the history and significance of the buildings and sites, including Captain Cook's cottage and the Shrine of Remembrance.

Shrine of Remembrance

Next up was ScienceWorks - we started in the planetarium and only one describes this experience ... WOW!!!! Lying in a blackened room in seats that recline almost completely back under a domed ceiling, we flew through the universe looking at galaxies and solar systems, and how with technology we are discovering more and more. The show ended with the dome opening to show what the sky above the planetarium looked like at night (both with and without the Melbourne city lights). Our guide pointed out how to find prominent objects in our solar system while star gazing, and showed us how the sky filled with astrology signs might look. It was an incredible show! We then looked through the remainder of the exhibitions and played on all the interactive science activities.

No rest for the weary on this tour! Back into the CBD we went and directly to Melbourne Central where we counteracted all our learning and museums with some good old fashioned retail therapy - more Yu-Gi-Oh items, clothing, perfume ... The list goes on! Students were able to select a dinner of their choice from the food court before we went into Hoyt's to enjoy a relaxed cinematic experience with "Pete's Dragon" - complete with candy bar INSIDE the cinema! Fancy!

We walked back to the hotel with the intention of having a shower and earlier night before our early start tomorrow morning. However, the clash of the Cowboys v Broncos game struck and the screams emanating from the Kybus room sent kids running from their beds. In the end we had a very packed hotel room to cheer the Cowboys to an extra time win. What an exciting, and anxiety inducing, way to end such a wonderful day!