Fun in any weather

Fun in any weather

After a warm and sunshine filled weekend, Monday morning held only a few hours of sunshine left before Winter was going to roll straight off the beach and into Cottage. So we made the most of it and had a large game of dye dodge ball before heading for a swim with some fun swell out the back of Cottage. With wild winds and pouring rain, the children and teachers were relieved to head back inside to warm up with our new warm wetsuit showers and then walk into their dorms on to find our volunteer made knitted goods to help them brace for the wintery weather.

Over the course of the first two days, the children took the weather in their stride, and adventured indoors learning the importance of teamwork, communication and problem solving through initiative games. With some imagination and inspiration, the kids worked together to pass through fields of lava on magic carpets, rescued bird eggs to safely roll them down back into their nests. They ran around, on and under waves of colour with our giant parachute. Initial frustrations were soon overcome and each of the group’s goals were achieved through learning the art of patience and cooperation.

Each group managed to venture out to the Marine and Freshwater Discovery Centre where children’s mouths dropped in awe as they said “wow we’ve never seen these marine animals before.” Many of the students were impressed by our local Port Phillip Bay male seahorses being the parent who carries around the eggs.

On their final day, the clouds cleared and the sunshine returned as we warmed up for the day playing on the Bellarine’s many adventure playgrounds. Back on the buses, it was off to explore the Barwon Heads rock pools. Children were amazed to see some of the creatures found at the Marine and Freshwater Discovery Centre out in the wild with frequent sightings of elephant snails, sea stars, baby eels and a monster of a blue swimmer crab. Then after a final lunch, it was time to wave and say goodbye for the trip back to school.