14 April 2011
From 4-8 April, Fahan Year 10 students hosted Year 10 students from The Fintona Girls’ School in Melbourne, for a Tasmanian outdoor adventure at Fortescue Bay.
The Fintona students were the girls our Year 10s had stayed with during the Year 9 trip to Melbourne in 2010.
The girls spent Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday at Fortescue Bay on the Tasman Peninsula where they camped, canoed and bushwalked.
Luckily, the girls experienced warm, sunny autumn weather, which contributed to the fantastic experience of the camp.
The students were divided in to three groups and each group spent time on a different activity during each day of the camp.
The first activity was the bushwalk to Canoe Bay, which the girls enjoyed greatly, despite having to traipse through “substantial amounts of mud!”
The second activity was water based with girls being able to try their hand in canoes, kayaks and rafts. Apparently the “on raft wrestling” was an extra activity that provided entertainment for all involved.
The third activity was a forest education tour where the girls learnt, amongst other things, about the different ecosystems of the forest.
On the Wednesday afternoon the Fintona students toured the Port Arthur site and stayed there overnight, while the Fahan girls returned to Hobart.
Fintona students enjoyed their ghost tour of Port Arthur as well as seeing the Tasman Arch and Devil’s Kitchen.
Caroline and John Hamilton kindly welcomed the Fintona girls to their Devil Conservation Park on the Thursday morning where the students were provided with breakfast before going on a tour of the park.
For many of the Fintona girls, this was a highlight of their trip to Tasmania.
On the Thursday night, Fahan girls hosted the Fintona girls in their homes before they caught their plane back to Melbourne early on Friday morning.
Fahan’s Year 9 students are currently preparing for their trip to Melbourne in Term Two, where Year 9 Fintona girls will host them for five days as part of Fahan’s Year 9 Gateway Program.
The success of this annual exchange with Fintona is evident in the experiences that the girls receive and in the friendships that are fostered between the two schools.
To view more photos please view the photo gallery by clicking here.
