Monday 24 of October, 2022
Thirty-four year 5 and 6 students along with Mr. Jenkins, Mrs. Clarke and Miss Shallcross set off for the biennial camp to Konomie Island Environmental Education Centre, up until previously known as North Keppel Environmental Education Centre.
The students spent their first day setting up their cabins, completing group initiatives and working as a team to do the low ropes courses. They then got to complete an intertidal walk where they saw all sorts of different things from crabs, to sea cucumbers to different corals washed up and even a vicious cone shell! That night there was a storm on the mainland so students got to go for a beach walk and sit and admire the lightning from afar.
Tuesday
Students went for a highly awaited snorkel. Some groups were lucky enough to see lots of different types of coral, stingrays, fish, sea cucumbers and even a turtle! The students got to go for a walk to Mazie Bay and learn about the Indigenous history, visit the museum and pick up the artefacts. A big highlight of the day was dissecting a fish and learning all about its adaptations. The students got to swim at the beach in the afternoon and then in the evening set out buckets to catch ghost crabs! The students had to test a prediction, where they could choose from testing different size buckets, different location of the buckets or different colour of the buckets.
Wednesday
In the morning students got up early to check their ghost crab buckets with only a few groups being successful in catching any! They then went outrigging to Consodine Island and did a mangrove study there. They learnt about the milky mangrove leaves and blind your eye leaves. After having morning tea there they took the Gundoo Spirit boat across to Conical Island where they got to take a walk up to the summit and admire the views, along with the millions of mosquitoes. In the afternoon students got to go for a walk up to Keppel Bay lookout and learn more about the history or go to the dam and study macroinvertebrates. They then got to do a plankton trawl which formed the basis of their lesson for that night, learning all about plankton and looking at them under the microscopes. Students were intrigued learning about the zooplankton and phytoplankton and how these provide enormous amounts of oxygen for humans.
Thursday
The students got to do the other rotation they didn’t get to do on Wednesday and then everyone learnt about the harmful impact marine debris and microplastics have on the environment and animals. The students walked Mazie Bay and picked up rubbish. They had some interesting finds from plastic bottles with bite marks, to thongs, rope, a water bottle, wood and hundreds of tiny pieces of plastic. After lunch the students went photo orienteering around the island and screen printed bags to keep as a memento with the wonderful Mrs. Clarke! That night students reflected about their experiences at camp around a campfire. The students told jokes and made damper twisties.
Friday
Students packed up and then were treated with a fishing adventure. The students got to have a go fishing off of the boat and casting hand lines from the beach. Jordan and Tom landed a beauty of a trigger fish! Students farewelled the staff of Konomie and headed back to Monto, full of new learnings, new skills and wonderful memories.