Australia Day 2009 Fireworks Finale

Hello 5th Graders!

On Australia Day, January 26th, we all went out to eat at Darling Harbor's Blackbird Café . Right after we had dinner, Sydney had a fireworks display right outside the window of where we ate in honor of Australia Day (the equivalent to the 4th of July in the United States)! It was amazing. I was able to capture most of the finale on my digital camera.

Here it is! I hope that you will all enjoy it!




Good luck with the rest of your Australia unit in Social Studies and enjoy the rest of the school year! It was a pleasure to show you our experiences in "The Land Down Under"!

Until we meet, take care!

-Val

Dreamtime 2009 Student Artwork

We have begun the part of the project where we write our own stories using a traditional way of story telling used by indigenous Australians.

Last Day in Australia!!!

Tomorrow is going to be our last day in Sydney. Luckily it's Australian Day here which is similar to July 4th back home. There are going to be lots of festivals, live music and fireworks to end the night. We've had an excellent time here in Australia and look forward to returning again hopefully sometime soon. We look forward to seeing you when we get back and uploading more pictures and videos for you to see. Hopefully you've enjoyed reading our posts because we enjoyed keeping you informed.

Cheers!

Big D, Mike and Lil D

Cricket Game

Yesterday Drew and I got to go to our first Cricket game! Cricket is a very popular sport in Australia. We watched Australia vs. South Africa in a game that we thought would last a few hours, but it ended up taking 8 hours to complete! It reminded us of a high-scoring and faster paced baseball game. Some quick tid bits; the stadium holds 40,000 plus people and when purchasing tickets, the higher up tickets cost more because you can see more of the game and how it all plays out. Also we found it interesting that you are able to legally bet on the game in the stadium prior to the game starting. Growing up in the U.S., we idol football, basketball, baseball, etc. players as compared to here where kids grow up idolizing cricket players. It was an excellent experience getting to see such a popular sport over here in action! We had a blast! Hope all is well back home.

Cheers!

Drew and Mike

A Walking Tour of Sydney (Continued)

Hello 5th graders! On our walking tour through Sydney, Australia Adrian also talked to us about the Sydney Opera House. According to Adrian, it took 15 years to construct and it cost 102 million Australian dollars! (By today's standards, it would have been 2.2 billion Australian dollars!). The design of the building was actually decided through a contest. Architects from all over the world submitted their ideas and Danish architect, Jorn Utzon, won! (They had a total of 250 entries submitted for the contest). These are the words of the winner regarding his unique design:

"I imagined peeling an orange and putting it back together."

The Sydney Opera House was one of the very first major buildings in the world that used computers to aid in the design process. The first year that the Sydney Opera House opened was in 1973.

Koala Bear

We saw a Koala bear at the Wildlife Center. They actually are not bears but a marsupial. They eat eucalyptus leaves which are actually poisonous! They can eat them because they have very strong livers in their body to break down the poison! They are very slow moving animals and sleep about 20 hours a day! We even got to pet it! Click on the link to see a video and learn more. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgHB6ZAE7kc Enjoy! Lacy

A Walking Tour of Sydney

Hello 5th graders!

Wow, we have been so incredibly busy the past couple of days! So much has happened and we are all dying to share our experiences in Sydney with you all! Anyway, on January 18th we had a walking tour of Sydney, Australia. This is Adrian, our tour guide for the morning:

He is a student at New South Wales University and has been a resident of Australia his entire life! He is majoring in History. Anyway, he provided us with some extensively informative information about the Sydney Bridge.

The Sydney Bridge was constructed during the Great Depression from 1824 to 1832. According to Adrian, 16 people died during this construction of the bridge and it cost the country 14 million English Pounds! It was originally painted gray because gray was a cheap color (of course because it was the era of the Great Depression) and was finally paid off by the city in 1980. Another half million (Australian dollars) was spent later for the additional framing later. What we mean by that is the stone pillars on each side of the bridge. From the flag on top of the bridge to the water is 150 meters, but from the top of the stone pillars to the water is only 95 meters high.

Fact: Did you ever watch the movie Crocodile Dundee? The main actor, Paul Hogan, was a painter of the bridge before he became a famous movie actor!

Did you know that people can actually walk on top of the bridge? It costs $150 to $200 Australian dollars to walk on top of the bridge. They do this in groups of 10 to 14 people at a time. Can you spot some walkers in the picture above?

Hey kids! Sorry it's been a while since we've really wrote to you. We've been so busy exploring Sydney and meeting new people. Sydney is amazing though, it's like New York with all the skyscrapers and people but it is so warm! yesterday a few of us went to the Sydney wild life exhibit and aquarium where we saw and got to touch koala bears and a blue tongue lizard. We also got to walk through an under water tunnel which was filled with beautiful brightly colored fish, the biggest sting rays we've ever seen and scary sharks! It was an experience which us girls will never forget, we'll be putting pictures up soon! In the harbor near our hotel we crossed a bridge and there were thousands of jellyfish in large groups which was an incredible sight! We have to take the transit system to get around here and at first we all had troubles finding what bus and train to take, but after being here for a couple of days we all have become more comfortable with it. One thing that I highly suggest you all do is try as many types of food that are offered to you. We have all tried so many different/weird types of foods that many of us being back in the states may have not been open to trying. Such foods include calamari(squid), kangaroo, croc, muscles, snow crab, baramundi, salmon, waddleseed shortbread and
prawns(not shrimp because thats what they feed the fish). For the next few days we are volunteering with two organizations. One deals with kids with dissabilities and the other with troubled teens called Tednoffs. A few of us were able to meet with some of the teens who were really nice and welcoming. We'll let you know how that goes as we are all excited for it!

Cheers,
Phyllisa and Jordyn

Bondi Public School

Today we went to Bondi Public School located next to Bondi Beach! We had a blast! For a few hours during the day we got to interact with kids roughly the same age as you! We mainly did a lot of outdoor activities and even got to learn the game of Cricket which is very popular over here. One thing we noticed is that the teachers walk around with sunscreen and make all the kids put it on everytime they go outside. Another thing that we noticed was that all the kids have to wear hats outside, otherwise they aren't allowed out. The reasons for both of these precautions is because the sun is so hot here during their summer season. It was hard for Drew and I to adjust to the heat, but the kids seemed to be doing just fine. I bet they probably couldn't handle the cold back home though like us Wisconsinites can!!! Today really reminded us of you guys and we hope you're having a good time back home!

Cheers!

Drew and Mike

Greetings from Sydney

Hey kids! Yesterday we had our first free day in Sydney! We decided to try to see as much as we could in one day starting with the Harbor Bridge. It's the largest steel arch bridge in the World! Drew and I went inside one of the limestone pylons which was 95 meters above sea level. The view of the city was spectacular! After this we traveled through an area of Sydney called the Rocks. There were many stands with local artists and plenty of retail shops. Since we aren't the biggest shoppers, we decided to head over to Bondi Beach and catch some rays! The water was crystal clear, but we shared it with thousands of people. This is one of the most World renowned beaches and at first glance you could tell why. After we were nice and crispy, we decided to head back and get our favorite snack here, a kabob. A kabob is the same as a gyro except it is Turkish. Throughout the entire day there wasn't a cloud in the sky which helped make the day a complete success. Hope all is well and hopefully you recieve our box of sunshine!

Cheers!

Drew and Mike

Hello children! Today a small group of us went out to the reef again to snorkel. We liked it so much last time that we needed to go again. Dru and Mike already told you that we say a bunch of jellyfish. Most of them were Moon jellyfish can be found in very large numbers in one place. I saw four at a time surrounding me! I was scared at first to get stung! Then we talked to the lifeguard and he picked it up! He told us that the sting is so mild that most people can’t feel it at all. Many people can handle this jellyfish without feeling a sting. So we all touched it! Guess what it felt like?? Jelly! We will actually be posting a video of us holding it! Exciting! Talk to you soon!! Lacy

This is a few of us before we entered the Rainorest. George our tour guide who is an Aboriginie person explained to us how he had to clap his hands while walking through the forest to let his ancestors know that he was coming and as a sign of respect and to let them know he was one of them.

Here is Mike, Brenda, Phyllisa, Jordyn, and Drew at the front of the Ocean Spirit. Checking out the endless view of the ocean, everytime you see it it takes your breath away.

Cheers Bri, Jordyn, and Phyllisa

We were thinking about you while playing in the sand. Hope all is well back at home!

Here is a video of the crocodile that we saw. Our tour guide told us that it is a female because more females are born because of the temperature of the environment. Look at it move! guess how fast they can react? twice as fast as a rattle snake! cheers Lacy

This was the racing the river that we had to use the bridge to cross. When people are not being safe and fall into the river the divers check one of the larger rocks that has a cave underneath it.

Jordyn and Phyllisa

Green Island

Today a few of the group members went out on to boat called the Ocean Spirt. We got to go snorkling on the Great Barrier Reef one more time before we left Carins. We got to walk on a beach on Green island the funny thing was that the beach we were walking on had no sand, it was actually broken up pieces of the reef that were washed up together to form an island. The pieces were flat and stuck to your skin unlike sand. It was really interesting to find this out after we were on our way back from the island.

Cheers Bri Phyllisa and Jordyn

This is a beautiful beach picture from our ravel to the reef today! There were so many jellyfish in the water today and we were actually able to hold some of them without being stung! We have a bunch of really neat videos that we are waiting to add because we need an adaptor to add them. But as soon as we are able to get one we will add them as soon as possible!

Cheers

Jordyn and Phyllisa

Australia Weather

Dear Cassie,

To let you know about the weather here it has been great the past three days. It's been sunny and the temperature has been in the 90's every day! Prior to that it was cloudy and there was a lot of rain, but anything is better than snow. It's hard to find time to pick up a book because we are always out and about whether it involves learning about Australian culture or hanging out with friends and doing independent studies. Hope this letter warms you up!

Cheers!

Mike and Drew

Hey kids!

These bumps in the road are speed bumps in the Rainforest! They were so much fun to ride over! They were different frm speed bumps back home as they shook the entire bus as we road over them!

Jordyn Phyllisa and Bri

Second day on the Great Barrier Reef!!!

Today we went out again on the Great Barrier Reef! Now that the rain stopped, we thought it would be a great opportunity to see the coral and sea life in the bright sun. How wrong we were. The weather might have been beautiful, but the water was the complete opposite. We had a hard time seeing a lot of the wildlife due to a lot of rain the last couple of days. The rainfall caused a large amount of sediment runoff into the ocean causing the clear water to become murky. We didn't let this stop us from having a great time though! We were able to see tons of different types of jellyfish! We also got to spend some time on Green Island which had an amazing beach and also lots of lizards and birds as well! Despite the murky water, we still had a blast!

A Final Look at Cairns

Hello 5th Graders!

Wow, we can't believe that this is our last day in Cairns, Australia! Tomorrow morning we will be leaving at 3 AM to catch our flight to Sydney; hopefully the 2 and a 1/2 hour flight (1,504 miles) will go fast! Considering that this is our last day here, we thought that it would be appropriate to teach you guys about the actual city of Cairns. Cairns is a city located in Far North Queensland (a state in Australia) and is on the Cape York Peninsula. As of 2006, the population of the city was just over 122,731 and has developed into quite the tourist-like city. This tourism factor is a major revenue maker for Cairns! (Many of us see the city as the "Wisconsin Dells" of Australia!). It is known to have a tropical climate and have a monsoon season--it actually started when we were here! If only you guys could have seen it pour those first few days we were here! It was like as if we weren't going to get any sunshine! Luckily that changed a few days ago.

Anyway, the pictures that were taken were today, January 15th. There are a number of photos depicting the beauty that we were able to bask in the past week! The one picture of all of the computers is of an Internet cafe! The class has been utilizing these cafes in order to post information on the blog! We hope that you enjoy it!

Val, Melissa, Ashley, Brittney & Derek

Well, we'll talk to you soon!

Snow is getting deep here! - from Cassie

This is me in my classroom by the window where the snow is growing taller than the window! Yikes!

I cant believe that the trip was 2 hours long. The most I have been on a trip was about 2-3 hours because I moved from Janesville to Whitelaw. I took a long time. We had no games to play unless we took a book or something before we left. I wish I was there so I could see how beautiful it is. It is really cold here right now it is -20 degrees. Tomorrow it is -40 degrees! We might not have school even though I want school.

January 14, 2009 12:53 PM

Cassie!

Yes we love traveling! The trip here was quit long-2 full days. The weather here is beautiful and warm, however; the first few days there was quit some rain. There have been areas where flooding has occured and shops and restaurants have been closed because of it. There are certain areas where we are not allowed to swim because there are jelly fish and crocs in the water. It is jelly fish season right now so we have to be extra careful. Lucky for us right next to the ocean there is a large pool! We did get to swim in the ocean off the Great Barrier Reef and layed on the beach which was a bird sanctuary and BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!!!!

Jordyn and Phyllisa

Brandon J.

Yes we saw many snakes while on our crocs adventure! Jordyn spotted a brown python in the trees hanging out by the water and the tour guide pointed out two smaller snakes on the branches extremely close to our boat! We will most likely see more snakes when we arrive to Sydeny in a zoo, but the snakes try to stay away from humans. If you are walking and they feel your vibration they normally scurry away! We have seen many large spiders though...some larger than your hand strectched out in the rainforest... creepy!


Phyllisa and Jordyn

Dear Samantha,

This trip has been amazing so far! We have done so many incredible things including seeing the Rainforest and Great Barrier Reef along with experiencing the Australian culture. There are so many different foods here from all over the world which we all have been trying to experience and try as well. The animals are different here, as we are sitting here typing to you there are lizzards running all over the windows in the internet cafe. We have also seen wild crocs and pythons which were incredible to see first hand and outside of a zoo in their natural habitat. We leave for Sydney Friday morning at 3 am and look forward to the excursions awaiting us including walking the largest bridge in the world!

Cheers!
Jordyn and Phyllisa

Great Barrier Reef

Hey 5th Graders!!

We sure hope you are all having fun back in Wisconsin! Our trip to the Great Barrier Reef was amazing. Here are a few of the great pictures we took while on our cruise! Check out how cool we all look suited up in our wetsuits! We also had a great time hanging out with the Ocean Spirit crew! If you look close in the underwater reef pictures you can see a lot of zebra fish swimming around! We hope you enjoy them! Ask ?'s if you have any!

Ashley, Val, Melissa, & Brittany

Great Barrier Reef Video

G'day! On Sunday January 11th, we ventured out to the Great Barrier Reef and got to snorkel, scuba dive, and learn a lot about the biggest living organism in the world. The Great Barrier Reef is one of the 7 wonders of the world and we got to experience it up close and personal!! This video was taken on an underwater glass boat and if you look closely you can see a lot of fish swimming around! We also saw a sea turtle while we were down there, unfortunately he was too quick for me to catch on the video camera! Hopefully this will at least give you a little bit of insight as to the amazing experience that we had on our trip out to the reef, and maybe one day it will be around for you to explore yourselves!!

Ashley, Mel, Brittany, & Val

Cape Tribulation Excursion

Hey Kids! Here are some pretty sweet pictures from our excursion into the rainforest! The first one is with our awesome tour guide George! He told us some great stories about creation and Dreamtime! These pictures are all very beautiful and hopefully you can see the beauty that we got to experience first hand!!

Ashley, Brittany, Val, and Mel

Croc Snap Video Link!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWY2Nu5NehQ

Hey Kids!! If you click on this link it will take you to a cool video of a crocodile snapping at the camera while we were visiting the Daintree Wildlife Sanctuary on our Cape Tribulation Excursion into the rainforest on Saturday January 10th!! Hope you enjoy it!

From your Aussie Friends!

Kangaroo Feeding Video!

G'day Mates! Hope you all enjoy this video of Melissa and I petting and feeding kangaroos at the Australia Zoo! We came 3 weeks earlier than the rest of the group and this is just one of the fun activities that we got to enjoy that we think you'd really like to see! The kangaroos were very friendly, as long as you didn't try to take their food away!! We actually saw a younger girl get punched in the face by one of the roos!! Hope you enjoy this video as much as we enjoyed playing with the kangaroos!!

Ash & Mel

Here is another picture taken while in the submarine underwater at the Great Barrier Reef. This is the coral that is dying mostly because of global warming and human interference.

Here is a picture of Jelly fish. I took this picture while underwater in a submarine at the Great Barrier Reef. You can see three big jellyfish and all the little bubble-looking things around them are also jellyfish, just small ones.

Here is a Golden Bushtail Possum. Such a cute little furry creature, don't you think? They are nocturnal animals which is the reason they're sleeping in this picture. We went to the zoo during the day when they where sleeping, therefore being nocturnal means they are awake at night.

Here is a picture of me posing next to a Wallaby at the zoo. As I kneeled down to take the picture it kept looking at me like it wanted to eat me so I kept my distance. Just joking! It looks like a Kangaroo because it is related but they are not the same. Like Kangaroos, Wallabies are marsipials which means the embryos develop outside the body inside their pouch.

Crocodile

At the zoo we also saw little crocodiles. Here the zoo keeper was throwing out food and the little crocs were fighting eachother for it. There was alot of food to go around but that didn't stop them from fighting!

Crocodile

This is a picture of one of the crocodiles we saw at the Zoo. The zoo keeper was waving a towel and hitting a bucket against the fence to get the croc to come out of the water. Once out of the water, the towel was still being waved around so the croc kept its mouth open thinking it was food. Extremely amazing to watch the croc's jaws especially to see them shut with such force.

This is me actaully in the Royal Flying Doctor airplane. According to the tour guide, it took several years after designing the first plane to be able to build a plane big enough to fit a gurnie into it.

Brittany, Andi, and Victoria

This is our group posing in front of one of the planes that has been flown in contribution to the Royal Flying Doctors.
Brittany, Andi, and Victoria

Courtney playing the Didgeridoo

This is our faculty leader Courtney playing the didgeridoo froma local tourist shop in Cairns. According to the shop keeper he did not do too bad.

Brittany, Andi, and Victoria

Snake Bite!

This is a video that we took of a few students with Courtney reinacting the Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia. As you can plainly see, Mike is desperately trying to save Drew while he is on the airplane. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pSuNgROfXA

If you look closely you can see that there are two different flush buttons. The one on the right is a full shaded circle which one would use a full flush and the one on the left is used for a half flush.... can you figure out which one you would use for what?! It is used to conserve water because in Australia they are in a water shortage.

Phyllisa and Jordyn

This is a gecko the girls found in their room. They wanted to keep it as a pet, but decided to set him free. Jordyn found a big ugly beatle in her bed and flushed it down the toilet while screaming!

Phyllisa and Jordyn

This is a mangosteen which is only found in tropical countires and is called the queen of fruits and is the most exotic fruit in the world. We tried a bunch of them and everyone fell in love with them! The inside taste like ice cream. Wish we could bring you some home, however; they do not do well and you are not allowed to bring fresh flowers fruits and veggies over seas.

The picture on the left is a group picture which we took in a store by a mom and baby stuffed koala. After we arrived we shopped around and came across this in a store called done. Everyone bought a kangaroo t-shirt and we are hoping to see real live ones soon!

Sincerely,

Jordyn and Phyllisa

The aussie gang in aussie! Jordyn and Phyllisa

This is near the ocean. People are asked not to swim in the ocean because there are crocs and other dangerous things. They have a public swimming pool which allows people to cool off. It over looks the ocean.

Jordyn and Phyllisa

This is a picture of us coming into Aussie after a 20 hour plane ride!

Jordyn and Phyllisa

Finally "Down Under!"

Hello Michicot 5th Graders!
Today we visited The Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia. This service is free to all Australians. They have many different bases and planes which fly to the different areas to help people in need. Since much of Australia is considered desert or "outback" there are not hospitals that are easy to reach. This company was started in 1928 and celebrated its 80 year anniversary last year. The reason this service is free to Australians is because the government funds 80% of the fees and the rest is private donations.