EllenW

Realise

Week 1:

We arrived at Wambana on Monday and we took a tour around the campus and got to know the area. We got to know our Chill out spots and we learnt the routine of each day. Our first shopping trip was on Tuesday and we had planned our meals and written our lists the night before. It was fairly hectic and the locals were quite shocked at the number of people in the supermarket in Yorketown. On Wednesday we visited the op shop in Maitland (again, I think the locals were very shocked!) and went to the Moonta Mining Museum and the Kadina Farming Museum. On Thursday we left on the bus for Innes National Park. We had to pack all our food for the night and next day. Thursday we spent pulling out weeds in the park and cleaning the beach. We then went back to campsite to put up tents and get ready. We then travelled to a restricted area of the park and saw a salt water stretch. It was very beautiful. After dinner, we went looking for Tamar wallabies. Friday we pulled out weeds and cleaned up rubbish again. When we got home on Friday we made pizza dough and had a pizza night. Saturday we went shopping again for the next week's food. Then after lunch we played beach games. Sunday we had our first snorkelling trip. It was very cold but still enjoyable.

Week 2:

Week two began with the Wardli bake-off. We created a starfish but it didn't win. :( Tuesday was spent snorkelling in the morning which was the coldest of all trips. Then in the afternoon we visited the Pt Pearce Aboriginal School. That was an extremely rewarding experience and I loved playing and interacting with all the children. Wednesday we went snorkelling for the last time. We went to a place called Annie's nursery, which was a large rockpool but the waves were two large for snorkelling so we travelled just down the road to another bay where the water was clear and we saw fish, starfish and abalone. Thursday was spent doing classwork and mulching the garden. Friday was much the same but instead we planted trees and made the mosaic on the bench. It is Saturday and we are currently in the classroom, about to begin some schoolwork.

Saturday week 2:

This morning was spent doing some school work. After that we had lunch and a dog from one of the neighbours turned up here. He's really cute and friendly. After that we did some mosiac on one of the seats around the fireplace. It is also Emily's (one of the teachers) birthday and some one made her cakes and we all sang Happy Birthday to her! Also, one of the Wardli's had to sleep outside due to a messy house :)

Sunday week 2:

Today we had a sleep in and after breakfast we had a scavenger hunt all throughout Pt Turton. We didn't win but it was still pretty fun. After lunch we swapped between doing some work and continuing the mosiac (which is getting to be almost finished). I made the pilaf for dinner tonight and it was very tasty. We are now in the classroom and in about 10 mins we are going outside with the Ipads and using a stargazing app and looking at the stars. Ms Cochrane came down last night too. We played a prank on her by distracting her by Lili fake vomiting and people hiding in her room and scaring her when she went back to her room. It worked very well and it was extremely funny.

Monday Week 3:

Today we woke up at 7 for a 3.4km run (which we have every second day) at 7 15. After that we had breakfast and got ready for our day in Hardwicke Bay. Whilst there we helped to clear weeds and plant trees in the local community. We also tended to the Wildy garden that the students made last year. We also had lunch there. When we got back to Wambana some people did some work and others finished the mosiac (which looks really good!). We had roast chicken for dinner which was really good.

Tuesday Week 3:

Today we woke up at 7 for a game of what's the time mr wolf and after that we had breakfast. We did some school work in the morning and I finished most of my work. After a quick lunch we all piled onto the bus and went to Berry Bay for surfing. The day was so beautiful and the water was so clear and blue. I couldn't really stand up but I half got up and it was still great fun. After that we came home for chill out and dinner. After that we came back to the classroom and watched some surfing videos, blogged and did work.

Wednesday Week 3:

Today we had no fitness because we left early for surfing. It was great fun and I finally was able to stand up. I really enjoyed surfing and would love to do it again sometime. After that we had lunch and then after that we watched a movie (Blue Crush) during the afternoon.

Thursday Week 3:

Today we woke up at 7 for a run and I beat my time and my final time was 18:50. After that we had breakfast but we didn't have very much food left :). After that we got ready to go surfing, however once we got there the conditions were not good for surfing and we had to go home. On the way home we stopped at a service station and Kim bought us all hot chips :) Once we got home we had lunch and other people from other Wardli's had to give us food as we didn't have very much left at all. We also started our cleaning to get ready to leave. We had to have chill out inside because it was rainy and windy. After that we headed to the teacher's wardli for a shared dinner. We are now in the class room and we are going to write each other messages about things that they did well on Realise. We also get to write messages in a Realise scrap book. It feels quite sad to be leaving Wambana tomorrow and it will be strange being back home again. I have learnt so much over my time here and I will always remember it.