The Zoo - by Destiny Reigh

I thought Tuesday was going to be another average day but instead we went to the zoo. After hopping off the motorway and turning onto the road the zoo was on, we couldn’t find a parking until what seemed like a whole day. We got a good parking spot, right across the road. As fate would have it these holidays, it had been raining and fortunately today was one of the first sunny days. However, despite the sun, it was still chilly.

After we paid and walked through the entrance, a worker asked if we wanted to take a free photo.  It really turned out to be a trick question - a gimmick!  Oh yes we got free photos taken but then, can you believe it, we had to buy it! Anyway, off we went to explore..

First we went to see the water dragons. They looked like lizards with wings and scaly skin, but then we got bored because they didn’t move a muscle. Next we went to see the red panda but despite closely scanning the entire setting, but we couldn’t find it.  After approximately two minutes we were about to give up when a rustling noise alerted us and at that point we spotted it high up in the tree.  The giant saucer  eyes of the Panda looked down at us, the kind of stare that you can feel when you walk away. Next we went to see the meerkats. The design for viewing these interesting creatures was formed by concrete tunnels where people were able to pop their heads up and get a closer look of the meerkats in their natural habitat - or at least one that had been constructed to represent that.  Seeing them munch away at the nibbles they found, was enough to remind us that  we had not eaten lunch.  Some hot chips, sandwiches and some treats soon provided us with the energy needed to continue our zoo adventure.

After lunch we went back to the entry and followed the path leading off in the opposite direction to the one we had already been. It was very different.  One foot in front of the other, with both excitement and some hesitance, we went to see the wild animals, like lions, giraffes, hippos and more. Exploring and looking at all the wild animals was like being in the wilderness. The giraffes were really tall, they ate green leaves from a towering tree. The lions lazed about like someone sun bathing in the sun this was certainly not like the tigers we saw, they were in walking around like they were guarding a chamber of gold. Entering the elephant house, I was a bit disappointed to find the enclosure empty, we couldn’t spot any elephants but we saw it come out to take it’s daily exercise. My dad bought us some ice creams to watch the show. I got plain chocolate, my favourite.

We visited the rest of the animals. After visiting the kiwi’s, we met with the elephant who was going for it’s walk. Everyone took photos while it stopped to eat. A few other animals we saw were tortoises and alligators. The last thing we went to see were the spiders. There were two big ones and I couldn’t imagine what would happen if they got out of their glass cases. We took my little brother to the park and then we were off. My dad decided to buy the photo of us.

Marshmallow challenge

Mrs Dines had prepared a challenge for us all, a marshmallow challenge. We got into our kidpreneur groups and waited for the timer to start. I was with Asia, Carlos, Benjamin and Jarrod. The challenge was to see who could build the most highest tower out of spaghetti sticks with the help of tape and string and the marshmallow was to be placed on top. We all wanted to make the highest tower but the thing was, it had to be stable and stay in place. The timer was pressed and it was game on.

We were all shouting and we didn’t know how we could make it stand. At first my group tried to make it as tall as possible by making it stand up straight and adding more sticks by taping them together. That didn’t work so we tried another way. We decided to make a tripod and that worked much better. The only thing holding us back was because of a person in our group, he was messing around. It was nearly time up and we kept adding more sticks until we thought it was tall enough. But when we let it go it collapsed.

The time was up and we didn’t know what else to do but it was worth a try. The winners were the group that were making cards, the second group was the people making broaches and loom bands and third place was the group making hair accessories. The group making photo frames would have come first but their one didn’t turn out either, it stood for a few seconds then it collapsed. We all tried our very best and were all rewarded with a marshmallow. It was a challenging challenge.

The rain and hail.

“Goodnight everyone”, I said as I made my way to bed. It was raining really hard and there was hail. The hailstones were pattering against our window and it made it hard to get to sleep. I thought I’d skip through channels on T.V and see what was on. After about half an hour, I finally drifted off to sleep.

I awoke with a start because I could feel wet drips on my head. There was pitch black around me and it was cold. As I hopped off the uncomfortable mattress, I could see nothing but I managed to escape the empty room without falling. I carefully went down the stairs. There were leaks in the roof and it was raining really hard. There was something weird about the rain but I couldn't quite figure it out. Maybe that was the reason no one was around. I was outside and it was dark, but I quickly went into the big apartment because it was pouring down. I felt dizzy, a hailstone must have knocked me unconscious. I could just see a figure of ice the size of a tennis ball.

I woke up in a much more different place. This place was a bit cosier, with a fireplace and more light. I could still hear the pattering of raindrops outside. ‘Why was it always raining’, I thought to myself. There was still no sign of anyone and I wondered why I was here. There was dripping in the bathroom. At first I was scared but then I just remembered that it was raining. I went to the door and finally saw a light, it must have been a car. The light got really bright, my eyes felt like they were burning. Suddenly, it all stopped and I woke up.

It was all a dream. It was pouring with rain outside and my head was a little sore. I must have hit it on the wall, maybe that was why a big hailstone had knocked me unconscious in my dream. And my sister had turned the light on and it was shining bright on my face. It was time to get read for school ‘What a dream’, I thought to myself. It felt real and everything that had happened in real life was put into a dream. Hmm weird!