Hume Program Week Four

We started off week four of the program by dropping into the Roxburgh Park Youth Centre to visit Johnny again. This time we were able to get out the bongo drums and have a go at making our own beat. All of the students worked together well to form a few different beats and have a go at making different sounds. We also had time to fit in a few games of pool and table tennis before heading to our afternoon activity.

Last week our students had researched the Eastern Barred Bandicoot at the hume library, and today they were able to use the information they learnt when we visited the Woodlands Historic Park. We met Travis who is the grassland officer at the park, who told us all about the Bandicoot and the different breeding programs across Victoria. We were able to see the habitat in which they live as well as get our hands dirty making bait balls for the next time they catch bandicoots for health checks.

Thursday and Friday was spent down in Breamlea at Bancoora Beach for our surf camp. While the water was a little cold and the weather wet and windy on Thursday, it was great to see all the students jump in without a complaint and give surfing a go. We had a two hour session with Kev from Torquay Surf Academy who taught us the basics. Everyone tried really hard and it was great to see the determination in the students to work through the steps and get up on the board. After some hot showers we headed into Torquay to visit the surf museum and check out the surf shops, before coming back to cook a big dinner together.

Friday morning we had another surf lesson, and it was wonderful to see everyone stand up at least once during the two days. Surfing is really challenging and requires a huge amount of concentration and patience, and the students were rewarded for how they stuck to it with some great successes. Everyone stayed out in the water for the whole morning session which was great to see. We finished off the week with a shared lunch before heading back to Melbourne for an early finish.