Bathurst Gold Fields Camp.

• Vincent He, Grade 6
• Short Story
• 2015

We all arrived at school around 7:00am with our teacher already there. Peter, our bus driver, put our luggage under the bus, including our bags with our lunch and recess. We departed around 7:30am. Halfway through the trip Miss Mahoney told us an Aboriginal legend about the Three Sisters.
When we arrived at Scenic World the first thing I saw was a clock. When I went outside it was freezing. First we had our recess, and during that I read the sign on the clock that said how it worked. Also, it blew out steam every ten minutes by having steam from the work shop travelling 70 metres at 15 PSI. Just as the class finished recess the clock spewed out steam and whistled. We went through the group entrance, past the toilets, into the gift shop and out to the Scenic Railway. When we went on, all of us were excited and it was very loud because most of the class screamed when the railway went 52°down. After it was over we went on the walkway which had signs telling us facts about the plants. Here’s a fact: there is a vine which grows on other plants acting like armour. Later we got on to a sky lift going back to the top. We saw the Three Sisters and took a photo of the class in the sky lift. When we got to the gift shop most of the class wanted to buy a gift, and Miss Mahoney said “You have ten minutes” but I doubt it was ten minutes because it felt longer. We got onto the bus and we were back on the road.
When we were in Bathurst we had lunch at Machatti Park and played some games. After we got on the coach (the type of bus we had) we went to mount Panorama past the racing track. When the bus stopped at the replica of the gold field, our teacher told us to put our luggage and bags near the front of the visitors centre. Our guide’s name was Merv and he gave us a tour. He told us the types of tools that were used, how to tell the time using a candle, the types of mine shafts and how people dressed on the gold fields. We saw how people got water and rocks and gold from underground by horses, but in this case we used humans (AKA us). We saw a steam powered pulveriser and cart, then blacksmithing, and lastly gold panning. After that we had afternoon tea which was sultana bread with strawberry icing, water and cordial. The entire class went to put their luggage in their cabins then came out to have dinner, which was vegetables, mashed potatoes and meat pie. I had tomato sauce with it. Then we went to a camp fire. After that I had a shower and went to sleep.
In the morning, I think I woke up at 6:50am. I did the usual stuff in the morning, then had breakfast and (again) put our luggage into the bottom of the bus and people went to the gift shop. After that Fiona showed us how life as a child was like by dividing us into groups. I first played games, then made damper, then lastly learned how to make mud bricks. After that, we went on the bus. An hour later the bus stopped and we had our lunch at a park. When we finished we went back on the bus and went on. After two hours we had arrived back to our familiar school.