News & Articles
Stories From Camp Fun times to end the year
Our final camp of the year meant it was time to see our mentors for one last time for 2021. The lucky mentors had a choice between spending time at the cottage or sitting on a yacht in the Gippsland lakes. Tuesday morning came and all three buses went out to pick up the excited […]
Stories From Camp The wind in our sails
The Gippsland Lakes is a perfect destination to spend time on the water, it is known for being one of the largest inland waterways in the southern hemisphere, and it may even be one of Australia’s best spot for recreational boating. How lucky are we to have experienced this? In the four days, we were able […]
Stories From Camp Dolphins!
It’s not often we have the chance to yell out dolphins on camp. They are usually very hard to spot in the bay but this weekend they were being kind to us. The REEFies arrived on Friday afternoon and one of the first things we spotted from the top story was dolphins! We quickly grabbed […]
Stories From Camp Wish come true
It’s not very often we welcome back the same children to Cottage by the Sea on our Take a Break programs with exception from only a few agencies who join us every year. This week we welcomed children from The Mirabel Foundation who provide support for children who no longer live with their biological parents. […]
Stories From Camp Stormy morning
What a way to wake up, flashing lightning and loud thunder woke the cottage on Thursday morning of camp. We knew there were storms forecasted for the day but were not expecting them to be so loud and ferocious. The first hour of the day we spent playing some indoor games and waited for the […]
Stories From Camp A Buchan good week!
Another amazing group of children from the regions impacted by bushfire in the summer 2019/20. The town of Buchan, located inland East Gippsland, is very small with just over 20 students at the local primary school. On the long journey from Buchan to Queenscliff the children were bursting with excitement and enthusiasm. They had plenty […]
Newsletters 2022 Summer Newsletter
Through another challenging year, we are delighted that we could mobilise quickly to host children on site at every opportunity. When it was not safe to hold camps, our innovative team implemented ‘off-site day camps’ which took Cottage programs to the children.
Stories From Camp Boats, boats and more boats!
It is always a special week here at Cottage by the Sea when we welcome schools from the regions devastated by Black Summer bushfires. This week was no different and we had plenty of special activities on the program. Each day we had a group out on the beautiful Port Phillip Bay, our first boat […]
Stories From Camp Our first camp in forever!
Written for us by one of the children. This week we were so excited to be going on camp to Cottage by the Sea, we couldn’t wait to get out of school and Bendigo as it felt like our first camp in forever! The big bus arrived at school and we jumped on full of […]
News Updates Why donate to a charity?
Ever thought you would like to donate to a charity? You are wondering which is the best charity to donate to. Why am I donating to charity? Who benefits What’s in it for me? And … How do I donate to a charity? Let’s start with ‘Why?’ Many people choose a charity they can relate […]
Annual Reports 2021 Annual Report
Welcome to our Annual Report for the Financial Year ended June 30, 2021. Thank you to everyone who has contributed to the success of the Cottage over the past year. Over the coming year we have plans in place to address the additional need for Cottage programs. Looking forward, we will continue to create more […]
News Updates 131st Annual General Meeting – rescheduled
Due to unprecedented storms on Friday 29th October, our 131st Annual General Meeting was postponed. The Cottage by the Sea Board of Directors now invites you to attend our rescheduled 131st Annual General Meeting. The COVID-19 pandemic has thrown up so many challenges to the way we provide services to children. With each new hurdle, our […]
Stories From Camp Boy eats carrot
It’s all the little things that can change how a child grows. We currently have a young boy on camp who has not eaten a fruit or vegetable in an extremely long time. Mum had placed a warning on his enrolment form, to let us know that he would probably live off bread or toast […]
Stories From Camp Pushing The Limits!
It was the second day of our sports themed camp and we were ready for a big day full of physical activities! We smashed down some breakfast, cleaned up the dishes and packed our bags ready to go do some water aerobics at Leisure link swimming centre. Evan was keen to get a good workout […]
Stories From Camp Fun at Jirrahlinga Wildlife Sanctuary!
Jirrahlinga is such a special place in our community, they help injured and abandoned wildlife become healthy and release them back into the wild. As well as being an animal hospital, they also have a sanctuary full of Australian wildlife. Our camp group from the Western English Language School (WELS) are mostly all new arrivals […]
Stories From Camp Farmer Phil’s Farm
This week we focused on one of our E’s in REEF* – ‘Environment’. We participated in something a little different to what our REEFies are used to. We spent the afternoon with Farmer Phil on his farm in Freshwater Creek to learn how he lives using the environment. Phil drove us around his farm on […]
Stories From Camp Mullet Mayhem
This week on camp we welcomed children from a rural primary school just out of Bendigo. Along with the rural schools comes plenty of alternative hairstyles. The most popular this week being the infamous mullet. Mullets are well and truly back! Watching AFL, every team has at least four players with the mighty mullet. This […]
Stories From Camp It’s cold, but so much fun!
Cottage welcomed 21 students for a short, but busy 2-day camp. A quick tour and lunch, then it was time to tackle our afternoon activity. There were squeals of excitement as the children learned they’d be heading down to the beach for a swim and play. We popped on our wetsuits and ran down to […]
