1981 School Magazine

Year 12 Biology Camp The l4th and I 5th May saw the mass exodus ol the majority o1'Year l2 students. 'fhe occasion was the Year 12 Biology Camp. The morning olthe l4th arrived and we all turned up bright and early, slightly bleary-eyed, but all eagerly looking lbrward to a break lrorn school work. Here the group was split up. Some went to Mt. Giorious, some to Southport and the others went to Cunningham's Gap. The first day was spent with the usual Biol. Camp activities - nreasuring the transpiration ol leaves, soil testing and con- ditioning worms and insects to perform tricks for us. (The more adventurous of us even went as far as attempting to teach a cockroach to roll over and "play dead"). The highpoint, in more ways than one, of the day, was our lbur km. trek up and down "The Pinnacle", at Cunningham's Gap. Needless to say, the numbers of girls gradually dwindl- ed towards the top, the more intelligent of the group opting to retreat, until only a handful of girls, and Mr. Nicolosi, rernained to see the magnificant view of the "Gap". Thankiully, we had been prepared lor the low temperature at night, so most ol us went to bed looking a bit like frost-bitten Eskimos. But the medal of bravery, or perhaps a better word would be insanity, must go to the few girls who instead chose to "rough it" and sleep outside under the stars, only to be driven back inside in the early hours of the morning by rain. The next day we were dragged out ol our nice warm beds at about 7 :rm to listen to the early morning bird chorus. For about one hour we sat around trying to distinguish diflerent bird calls. Alter breirklast we made a very interesting ciis- covery. Our bus driver had driven Mr. Dale on a Northern Territory trip some years back, and so we were entertained by his stories on Mr. Dale's lirst impromptu "how to stay on a moving camel" lesson. Overall, the camp was very enjoyable, but credit must go to the Science teachers who put up with us and at the same time gave us some freedom to do our experiments the way we wanted to. Karen Angel

Biology Camp at Camp Constable, Mt. Glorious

The Grade I I Biology students left school at the end of August and headed oflin dilferent direction, all with the same purpose - to further our knowledge of biology, and to have lun. Our group arrived at Camp Constable, and quickly settl- ed into our temporary homes - either Adam or Eve. Alter an introductory walk through the National Park, and some lunch, we forged our way through the undergrowth to spend the next lew hours measuring, counting, estimating, guesstimating, and inventing details about the rain forest. Spotlighting that night was fun, observing animals such as the pademelon, which some of us had never seen before. The next morning the intrepid (foolish?) amongst us arose to a windy 4o dawn for quantitative bird watching, which was lollowed alter breakfast by more detailed studies. Reports written, we piled on the bus, only to lind that it wouldn't start, but a few hearty pushes from the mighty Grammar girls has us on our way. Alas, however, the accelerator cable broke, and we ground to a halt, but alter repairs, it was back to school. The Camp of l98l will never be forgotten by those who par- ticipated. The surroundings were beautilul, and the teachers and students were friendly, co-operative and happy together. We hope that it will be repeated next year, although there is a unanimous call for a reduction in the workload!

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