Our time here at the Snowy River Campus has been one of the most enjoyable experiences that any of us have done. We have had so many new opportunities and have had to face many challenges that range from everyday life challenges like washing our own clothes to the physical components of EXPO and canoeing, to rooming with a complete stranger.

When we arrived here at SRC we didn’t really have the chance to be shy and secluded, we just had to jump straight into it and we all did that easily and from that have made the best of friends.

We have had a wide range of classes here that include values and beliefs, yoga, thinking and learning, passport, intro to canoes, and intro to bikes. We don’t have the normal classes like maths and english, but we learn lots of new skills that have helped us to broaden our learning and our leadership skills.

Living here at SRC has been amazing. It’s hard to write just how much happens and how much you like living here, but to us this is home. We have a good schedule here which is pretty basic. Get up at 6.30, breakfast at 7.00, head count at 7.30, class at 9.00, morning tea at 10.30, class resumes at 11.00, lunch at 12.30, new class at 1.30, afternoon tea at 4.00, DEARR at 5.00, dinner at 6.00, evening class at 7.30, get ready for bed at 9.00, between the sheets at 9.15.

A few of our one off classes have been canoeing, bridge building and surfing. In canoeing we paddled up the Yeerung River and then had to authorize a capsize which was a great experience. In Bridge Building we had to use logs of wood and rope and we had to make three tri-pods and bridges that would get us across a section of water to a canoe that held a bag and each person had to retrieve an item from the bag. In surfing we pretty much spent a total of 10 minutes learning how to get up on the board and then we were all out there in the water having a go at surfing. That was a great day and we all stood up a couple of times.

Mortlake College and Lakes Entrance were paired up for all classes, and we went on an EXPO together that went for three days that consisted of hiking, canoeing and camping. We had to hike a fair way on the first day, down Mount Raymond, then we canoed about 4km over choppy water that was white peaked which is dangerous for inexperienced people, so it was a bit dangerous for us, but we all managed really well. We slept in a paddock the first night and woke to cows right in front of our tents because they had breached our fence. The second day was mainly canoeing, having us canoe 12km which was a tad tiring, but we all felt very proud when we finished. We made it to Corringle early in the afternoon and had a lot of free time so we went fishing but unfortunately didn’t catch anything. That night we went for a night walk which was the highlight for nearly everyone. It was so beautiful. We had all of our torches off and were just walking. The sky was full of stars and we were all so mesmerised. It really was amazing. The third day was about an 8km walk, which I think we all thought would be difficult but it was a very casual and easy walk. We walked along the Estuary through Marlo and then moved to the beach and walked along there for a while and we had to hike up big sand dunes, which are difficult without anything on our backs, but we had 15kg expo packs on, but it was another moment where we felt so proud when we reached the top.  We sang '99 bottles of beer on the wall about four times and that was the song that brought us back into the campus on the third and final day.

We would all like to thank Anthea Good and Anne DeManser for organising everything and helping us begin our time and our parents for allowing us to come because without them we would never have been able to come here and have our time here at SRC  
By Breanna Kirkwood