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Australia Adventure

The Rainy Rainforest

Thursday, May 28, 2009

I'm here with my four students and we are going to share with you all about our wonderful day in the rainy- rainforest!

Duggan- The Aboriginals used to make axes and shields out of blackwood. I thought it was cool how they would put it in a fork of a tree branch and would wrap it with use thin tree bark as string to tie it up. They did this so the ax would be secured to the handle. They also made plaster out of shells and tree sap to secure the handle in place. I learned that you can drink the rain water and water from the creek. We got to taste it, and it was way better than our water in California. When we got to the rainforest, we planted two trees: Mertle Beach and Mountain Ash. The Mertle Beach was around when the dinosaurs were here! The Mountain Ash will be the world's tallest tree.

Alec- Peter, our guide, told us that the Mountain Ash will be the tallest tree in the world. (Right now, the California Sequoia is the tallest!) The Otway Fly is 47 meters tall and when they built it they had to remove all the small plants on the forest floor. This was 5 years ago, and now- you can't even tell that the plants are fairly new. We planted Mountain Ash and Mertle Beach trees. We saw a lot of rainbows today. The Ocean Road was a great view to the ocean. Australia was discovered in the 1840's and today, you can STILL find Aboriginal tools laying in the forest! The air in the forest was very fresh, clean and new!

Kennedy- Today was a beautiful day. We planted two trees today: The Mertle Beach and The Mountain Ash. We got our hands dirty!!! After we planted our trees we took a very long walk into the rainforest. We learned about all different types of trees and how they grow and form. When we got deeper into the forest we went up the Otway Fly about 47 meters above forest level. (That's about 155 feet.) That was a scary part for me because the kids were shaking the bridge and I almost cried ... many times! The hike was long, but it was nice. It was very soothing and relaxing. I learned that moss only grows on the south side of the tree because it doesn't like direct sun light. The Mountain Ash will soon be the tallest tree in the world.

Tyanna- I was in the Otway Rainforest and it was the first rainforest I've ever been in. We went on a high bridge (almost 155 feet tall) and we saw the second tallest tree in the world. We learned that the Aboriginals used the rainforst for their medicine, protection, and food. They have trees in the rainforest that curved like boomerangs because of the conflict between trees trying to find the sun light. We planted two trees: Mertle Beach and Mountain Ash. They said that when we are 99 years old and come back to Australia we would have a really tall tree! I really liked the moss on the trees. It grows on the south side of the tree because it doesn't like direct sun light. The conflict between endangered frogs and humans is that humans are destroying the environment from climate change. The frogs are dying because of climate change and their natrual habitats being taken away. We drank from a river. It was so clean and fresh! It was WAY better than the water we get from the grocery store! It was kind of sweet!

Mrs. McGuire- The day started with a very long drive up Ocean Road. It probably would not have been quite so long a drive, but before we hit the ocean, we hit the candy store. Now, I haven't had candy is a while... and (yes, I admit) I ate more candy than I should have. And when we hit the windy road... I lost it all! The Aussies said that I had a "liquid laugh"... all right... but it WASN'T funny at all! We actually saw Koalas in the trees along the ocean! What a view! Ocean Road is one of the 10 most beautiful drives in the world!
The Rainforest was amazing! First, it RAINED! Imagine that! This time, we were prepared with rain jackets! We saw so many rainbows in the past few days!
The kids all planted trees and we took a VERY cool hike on the Otway Fly! Holy Smokes! It was so high! And when we got to the end, the kids had fun shaking the bridge! It freaked out some of the girls, but we all survived!
I'm waiting for my Blackberry to be fixed. Until then, I have limited access to you all! I can't wait to get my phone fixed so we can keep in touch!
Tonight we had dinner at Observation Deck in Melbourne! I took some really cool photos of the city! We lucked out and got a very clear night, despite the heavy rain today!
We'll write again tomorrow! For now, we're all exhausted, but will sleep with smiles on our faces remembering a very exciting day!

Hugs,
Mrs. McGuire

16 comments:

Unknown said...

Hi Everyone,
Wow, what an amazing trip you had yesterday! Shannon and I will fill the kids in on your adventure, as we head out this morning to Big Rock Creek. The Otway Fly sounds fantastic, and drinking from a river, that's great. Yes, it is amazing that water is truly sweet! Tyanna, Duggan and Kennedy, your descriptions of everything are so clear and vivid, I felt as though I was almost there with you!
We had our homeroom go on the blog page yesterday during class, and several did send messages.
We await your every word.
Carol Anne, I hope your Blackberry is up and working. I must say, I do like the term, "liquid laugh"!
Continue having a wonderful time.
Ms. Carolyn

7th Grade World Geography said...

Hello to all of you who are "Down Under." I am a World Geography teacher in Nashville, Tennessee and am following your journey with tremendous interest and excitement. Keep the information and photos coming so that those of us who are left behind here can take a "virtual trip" along with you. Rita Cochrane

Duggan's Dad said...

This is great! I love hearing about all you guys did and that the boys shook the walkway and scared the girls - you gotta love boys!!

What a wonderful trip, we love seeing the photos and tweets and blogs.

Love,
Duggan's Dad

The Pedwells said...

Hi Carol Anne
sounds like you have had a great start to the trip - sorry to hear about your liquid laugh

cheers
D&W

BOB said...

TWEET! TWEET! TWEET! TWEET!

BOB said...

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTWWWWWWWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEETTTTTTTTTTTT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

boob said...

hi boob

BOB said...

TWEET!

boob said...

shut up sam

finger said...

NICE ADVENTURE...Trip thingy

sam said...

penis

JOHN said...

HI! What is wrong with these weird people?

Anonymous said...

i hate my life my name is booby

JOHN said...

YOUR NAME IS JOHN!!!!

Anonymous said...

no it isent

Anonymous said...

i love viginas

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