The full Cottage by the SEA experience

The full Cottage by the SEA experience

WOW what a week! The children at Bruthen Primary School had the full seaside experience. Being from a small country town, the children don’t often get to the beach so we decided to jam pack the week in with water activities. Right from the first morning the girls were off on the Gone Fishing charter to catch some slippery whiting for a morning tea feast.

In the afternoon we jumped on the bus for a short drive to Ocean Grove for a swim in the waves.

Wednesday was the highlight of the week for most, we spent the morning on the Sea All Dolphin Swim charter. Almost all of the group had never worn snorkels before so this was an experience in itself. We had the opportunity to snorkel around Portsea Pier where we spotted not one but two weedy sea dragons hiding away in the sea grass. But of course the favourite destination of the trip was Chinaman’s Hut where a colony of Australian Fur Seals lives.  The children couldn’t believe that they could splash around and swim with the seals, we were also spooked by a giant sting ray that decided to swim right underneath us.

The last day of camp we didn’t slow down, the boys were up at the crack of down to try and out-fish the girls catch. We all heard about it, the boys were victorious with their hall of flat head and pinkys (snapper). That afternoon we were again back into wetsuits and off to Ocean Grove for a surfing session. Just about everyone stood up on the boards and all had a great time. Thank you to our donors for their support of such an amazing week for Bruthen Primary School and all the other children we will welcome from Bushfire effected areas.