Trip to the Antarctic Centre || Recount

On Friday the 4th of September 2020, the Year 10 ESOL class went on a class trip to the Antarctic Centre with Ms Briggs, Mrs Flores and Mrs Handley by taxi van. We went on a trip as is part of our Antarctic Exploration studies, the trip helped us to learn and know more about Antarctica. When we arrived we met our educator named Jane.

After we met Jane, she introduced herself to our group and then took us upstairs and started the workshop. Jane told us many facts about Antarctica like the race of the two-man; Amundsen and Scott to the South Pole and we learnt the two explorers have two different ways of reaching the South Pole as Amundsen team took huskies to pull their sleds while on the other side Scott team took ponies and few dogs and made people pull his sleds. In the end, Amundsen wins the race as he is the first one to reach the pole. This is one of the facts that I learned from the workshops.

After the workshop, Jane took us outside and we saw this vehicle called 'Hagglund'. We were separated into two groups as there were two Hagglunds that we could ride and she introduced us to our driver. While we were enjoying the ride, the person who was driving the Hagglund told us many things about the vehicle but no one was listening to him as we kept screaming inside. It was an astonishing ride and thrilling because there would be a hill where we would go up and suddenly go down. I didn't expect that it was going to be a bumpy but enjoyable ride. I also learnt that Hagglund can float in water. The cost of Hagglund is $250,000 if it's brand new and if it's old it only costs between $30,000 to $100,000. Probably the reason why Hagglund cost a lot is because it's warm inside and the vehicle is very sturdy. Right after we got back to the main entrance of the centre, Jane took us to the penguins. I saw five penguins called Little blue penguins. Out of the five penguins, there was a Little Blue Penguin that has bad eyesight. We watched them getting fed for breakfast by the keeper. As she was feeding the penguins she told us that the oldest little blue penguin that ever lives in the International Antarctic Centre was 25 years old, four times the average lifespan of Little Blue Penguins.

Next, we went to the 4D room to watch a movie called Ice Voyage. The movie was about a journey to Antarctica and species living in Antarctica. In the movie, we saw seals and penguins, we saw different kinds of penguins like the Emperor, King and Gentoo. The 4D movie was really fun, we felt like we were really in the ship, we felt the shakiness of the boat as our seat was also shaking, ice water would release out of nowhere every time the cold water of the ocean splashes in the ship.

By 11 o'clock, we had free time, during this time my friends and I took 20 minutes of our 40 minutes of our break time to go around the centre, as we were wandering around the centre we were looking for the huskies but sadly they were no huskies because of the pandemic hence we decided that we'll just be going to take a rest and eat our lunch. While we were eating our lunch we also answered some questions in our booklet.

After our free time, the Y10 ESOL class went to the storm room. Jane told us some rules like we are not allowed to go on some part of the storm room. Before we entered the room, we were told to wear a shoe cover so we won't slip as the ground is slippery and icy. As we entered the storm room, the coldness welcomed us. After 7 minutes of wandering around the room, the room started to get dark and the wind started to get stronger. When the storm started, cold winds touched our skins. The wind is different from the wind that welcomes us, it's strong and I could hear the blow of the wind. The storm lasted for 8 minutes and the maximum wind speed was 42km/h and the wind chill was -18, to stay warm many boys went inside the igloo to make themselves warm while my friends and I gathered together like a penguin to stay at least warm. As time passed, I could hardly feel my nose and my hands were starting to get numb because of the cold and my knees were starting to ache because of the cold.

Lastly, we went to the Exploration room. There I saw a lot of facts about Antarctica that would help me to finish the questions in my Booklet. Other than finding out the answer I also saw an artificial penguin of Emperors, King and Gentoo. There was also a huge solar system that we could spin and you could see what month it would be winter, summer, autumn or spring in Antarctica and you can also see the sunlight would reflect in the Antarctic when it's summer. Other students are focusing on their booklet whilst some students took pictures. To spend the rest of my time in the exploration room I took pictures of the facts so I can just write it down when we get to school.

At 12:45 pm, the taxi van arrives to fetch us and bring us back to school. At that time I felt sad and thought that the trip was too short as I still wanted to ride the Hagglund again and went to the storm room. Even though I felt sad I enjoyed the trip because it was my first time going to the International Antarctic Centre. By 1 o'clock we are already at school and that's where our trip ends.