Hello I am Michael – Gabrielle’s son.
Last week from the 10th of august to the 17th I was away on a school trip to Canberra with the rest of my yr 7 buddies. We did all sorts of things and I will tell you some of the things.
Note I don’t have pictures of every thing on the trip – sorry.
First of all we got on the coach on Saturday for an overnight express bus trip to Dubbo. I had a really bad night and I couldn’t sleep for most of the night. I only got 3 hours of sleep.
The next day we went to Dubbo Taronga Western plains zoo.
We saw all sorts of animals from Lemurs to Rhinos, Hippos and Giraffes.
My favorite was the Giraffe because it was so curious and kind.
Then we departed Taronga Western Plains zoo for The Dish at Parkes CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization).
We watched a 3d movie about Mars and its moons. I took an awesome photo of The Dish (see below) and we had a lot of fun with the activities.
Then after a long drive, we finally got to Canberra and the accommodation – Bush Capital Lodge O’Connor. We had dinner and went to bed.
The next day we then visited the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) and also the Royal Australian Mint (RAM) and a hands on science exhibition called Questacon.
A couple of days later we went to new Parliament House. We saw the House of Representatives and the Senate.
We also went to the War Memorial and saw a lot of planes, including the P40 Warhawk, the Mosquito, A6m Zero, P51, and the Super-Marine Spitfire. That was only some of the aircraft. There were also tanks, AA guns, cars and more.
I was truly amazed when I saw this car (above)
After we visited the War Memorial we then went to see the Telstra Tower. We were about 800m up above sea level, but that was nothing compared to the next day!
The next day we went from Canberra to Jindabyne to collect snow gear for a day trip to Smiggin Holes (about 2km above sea level). We were off for a fun time in the snow.
It was so amazing for me because it was my first snow I have seen in my life. After that we had a hot chocolate. We then went back to the accommodation for an early night.
The next day we left the accommodation for Sydney. We saw loads of cool and weird things, including the Sydney Opera House, the Harbour Bridge, and Manly.
Afterwards, we departed Manly for an overnight express bus trip back to Bundaberg.
The next day at about 11:30am we arrived back at school and unloaded the coaches.
Mum and dad were so happy to see me and they were so proud.
I really enjoyed my trip to Canberra but I was really glad to get home to my own bed.
Goodbye
Gabe Feathers McGee 
Glad you had a great time. You are a great photographer. Even happier you are back home safe and sound my wonderful nephew 🙂 xoxoxo
Brilliant blog! So glad you enjoyed it!
This filled me with joy Gabe!
What a great blog Michael. I can’t believe how much you crammed into 7 days. Wow. I certainly hope you saw some of the politicians and gave them some pointers on running this fine country of ours. Wonderful read Michael. Thanks for sharing your trip with us.
What an interesting trip, Michael. Love your photos, especially The Dish, the view from the tower, the giraffe – they have such beautiful, long eyelashes – and the hippo. When I still lived in Africa, I worked for a man who was attacked and bitten in the stomache by a hippo – he was lucky to have survived. I know what you mean about being glad to get home to your own bed. Travelling’s fun, but it’s great to get home at the end of it all. Thanks for sharing your travelogue 😀
A very fine journal of your trip Michael. Thought you did an excellent job with your photos…thanks for sharing your trip with us. Cheers!
Hi Michael, thanks for sharing your recent school trip. I have been to Dubbo Zoo, and the Dish but I haven’t as yet been to Canberra. So you have now given me some wonderful sights to put in my itinerary when I do get there. Love the photos, especially of the giraffe.
Hi Michael, good to meet you!
Wonderful trip, and I’m glad you were able to document it so well for us.
What a great trip, Michael. And your story was really well told. Thanks for sharing.
Bravo! Excellent piece of writing with pictures. Even tho’ you may not have gotten all the pics you wanted, it still has a photojournalistic feel that’s quite mature for such a young person. And I totally enjoyed seeing the trip from your perspective. Especially about the snow, and that made me wonder what it would be like if I’d never seen snow before, because I see it every winter—too much in fact haha. But I shall appreciate it in a new way after reading this. Good job!
HI Michael,
Love your giraffe photo. Thanks for the guided tour.
Fun times!
Hi Michael, What a fantastic trip you had. I cannot believe you did all of those adventures in the one week! You write about them very well & you have taken some great photos. Thanks for sharing.
welcome back Michael, I am also so glad to sleep in my own bed when I am coming back.
I wish I could discover snow as you did, because having to cope with it every winter is no more fun, just the hot chocolate is, 🙂
thank you for your beautiful photos and telling us about your trip.
Wow, that was quite an itinerary, Michael! It sounds like an amazing trip which has given you experiences you will never forget. So pleased you had a nice time.
Michael wants me to pass on his thanks to everybody for your lovely comments 🙂 he is very chuffed with what you had to say. He is a bit sick this week with a post flu asthma thing, so he won’t be able to respond individually. Thankyou
What an amazing trip, so many fabulous things that you’ve seen, and I feel like I traveled along a little too in imagination. Thank you for sharing the story of your school trip!
You are quite the photographer, Michael. Thank you for taking me along on your trip.
Glad you enjoyed your time in Canberra, Michael, thank you for sharing.
Hi Michael im glad you enjoyed your time down here in Canberra i was born here and lived here most of my life. I have been having the pleasure of enjoying your part of the world up there in the last 12 months in 2 trips. I have a daughter that lives in Mundubbera and hadnt seen her for 6 years when she left home at 18, i was never in the position to get up there untill last year. My youngest daughter are becoming quite the travellers now. May last year we made our first trip up there we flew Canberra to Sydney then on to Hervey Bay then rented a car and drove out to Mundubbera it was my first time in QLD. Our last trip in May we decided we wanted to see more of the area so planned to do the same trip but have a night at Baraga first and have a look around Bundaberg. Our trip didnt go to plan as the day we were to fly out happened to be the biggest fog in Sydney so we didnt get there till mid afternoon. I was drawn to North Bundaberg after the floods earlier in the year and i could not believe the devastation that was still in the area …. was soooo sad 😦 after sitting for awhile and taking in what we were seeing it was late afternoon so we headed to Bargara for a lil beach time before dark. Next morning we headed of early as i wanted to go to the reptile park at Childers…. mind you i have the biggest fear of snakes but i wanted to hold one and try and overcome my fear…. i got to hold one and no it didnt overcome my fear im even more scared of them now ewwwww !! But holding a croc was cool. hen it was onto Mundubbera. We are going back up in November but this time flying into Bundaberg so we can do the things we wanted to last time …. love the area up there 🙂