Leeming Senior High School Final Student Blogs

Days 13 – 15. I have to apologise for the last few days. It's been very full on and we've gotten back to the hotels roughly at 10:30, meaning we've had very little time to blog. Although, this just means that I have a lot more to write today. We have gone through quite a bit in the last few days and are now in relaxation mode.

Day 13 was by far one of the worst days we had the entire trip. Not long after starting, we started to experience a little problem. We could see dust storms in the background and there was very little sun to keep the car moving. This was very disappointing for most of us, as we had woken up very early in Coober Pedy to drive 60km to our ending point from the day before.

The night in Coober Pedy was an interesting one. We stayed in a place called the Dugout Motel. Basically, it was a whole underground back packers motel. The guys stayed in an area called "The Dungeon" while the girls were in "The Digger's Cave". It was very interesting, as we had to bring all our own sleeping bags and a pillow. This meant that at first, all you could see were these bunk beds without bedding, surrounded by rock.

Later that night, we all went across the road to a Pizza Restaurant. Yes, I said restaurant. It was all very nice and the pizzas were massive, but people quickly forgot that they were in fact in a restaurant. The teachers did as well, so it's not really a problem for anyone. Everyone got stuck into the pizza, and we held a competition to see who could eat the most. The most was by Trent Rule and I, who both ate seven slices.

When we were arriving in Port Augusta, the dust storms continued and were fiercer than before. It reminded most of us of the Apocalypse, as cliché as that sounds. Since there was so much dust in the sky, and it was also raining, there was mud rain falling from the sky. It turned our car and other vehicles completely brown. The drivers of the solar car were steering with one hand and holding the roof down with the other! We just couldn't drive in that weather, so we were forced to trailer the car.

We arrived in a smaller township, looking for a place to stay. Unfortunately, there were two major weddings on at the time. We were forced to move onto Adelaide. We left the township at 5, and didn't get into Adelaide until like 10. Everyone was completely shattered and pretty much unable to speak LOTG (Languages Other Than Gibberish). Once we all found our hotels, we all went out and grabbed Hungry Jacks or McDonalds.

Adelaide was full of partying and emos. It was very similar to Northbridge at night. This wasn't exactly a good welcoming for us, and we all thought Adelaide was a little bit dodgy… But the next few days in Adelaide really proved us wrong.

Day 14. After the first night spent in Adelaide, we were all ready to get up and escape the Shakespeare hotel. We were split up into two hotels, because they had to accommodate Willetton in one of them as well. It was a bit of a rude awakening, as we were all kicked out of bed by Mr Morgan. We simply moved to the other hotel, which was called the Blue Galah. It had Foxtel and a pool table, so that kept a lot of us entertained.

Later that morning, we went down to a car park where we were storing all our vehicles, and removed the solar car from the trailer. We charged it up and got it ready to cross the finish line. The rest of us all went to the finish line, eagerly awaiting the arrival of our pride and joy, the Hammerhead. Unfortunately, Willetton went before us, so it felt like they beat us despite the fact we drove further than them. When our car did arrive, we were all very loud though, and we managed to get the support of a lot of other teams as well. There were cameras for BTN there, as well as all of the officials.

After all the cars had been brought in, they were all set up on display. The cars from Greenfleet through to the cars from both solar classes were all there. They all had to go undercover though, as there were rain clouds rolling in from all directions. While all the cars were being scrutinised (by the public this time), there was two other challenges going on; the mini solar cars and solar boats. These were both very exciting, and drew very large crowds.

Later on that night, we all went to the official ceremony of the 2007 Panasonic World Solar Challenge. Here, the awards were presented and the teams were all given recognition for partaking in the event. Before this, everyone stayed down in the lobby and took part in another (unofficial) ceremony; shirt swapping. Basically, you take a few clean shirts and can trade them with other teams, so you can remember the occasion and whoever else was there.

The awards went on for a little too long, and finished up with a very corny song… Walking On Sunshine. It was a very good ceremony, however, and all the teams who won all of the awards were very deserving. For instance, the award for the Environment went to the Welsh team, which were a family of 5. They had a very low budget, much like ours; although they made our budget look like Michigan's.

Solar Car Blog Day 15 and 16.

These days were days of relaxation. That is the simplest way to sum it up. It consisted of us going into Adelaide city, Rundle Mall to be precise, and going shopping. Well, that was for HALF of us. The other half of us had to go back down to the park and retrieve the vehicles, so that we could get them washed. After a few hours in the dust storms around Port Augusta, our cars were looking a little on the dirty side.

The group that went down to the car wash were getting a bit irritated, waiting to get the support vehicles in, as they had to wait behind one tow truck which had been in there for about an hour. We did EVENTUALLY get in though, and hilarity ensued. When we weren't accidentally (I'm being serious) wetting each other, we were accidentally wetting Mr Sheppard. He wasn't too impressed, but he did realise it was an accident, so we lived to see another day.

After all the vehicles had been cleaned, we returned them back to the park with all the other cars, and just headed back to the hostel. We spent about an hour there having lunch, and then returned to the park. The next job was to simply clean the INSIDE of the vehicles, so that they were ready to return to the rental company. It was a fairly simple job, and it didn't take too long, but we somehow still managed to have fun doing it… And doing it properly!

The rest of the evening was really just slacking. Mr Morgan and Mr Sheppard cooked us all dinner, which was chicken with vegetables (such as coleslaw). We all gathered around the pool table and had a few games, which was a good throw back to the Alatai in Darwin. Once again, Mr Morgan and Mr Beattie cleaned us all up.

The next day, however, was slightly different… We were heading back to Perth. This just meant that we had to return all of the vehicles today and pack up our stuff. This was NOT exciting. Unfortunately, I ended up being the only one to stack it the entire trip. I tried to jump a fence and tripped, ending up on my behind. It was good comic value, and the only thing that was bruised was my ego.

When we got to the airport, it was pretty much exactly the same as when we got to the airport in Perth. We hung around for a bit and just waited. The plane trip wasn't very exciting either. Die Hard 4.0 was on, people slept and everyone chilled. We were all very tired, and most of us still are… As you may be able to tell.

The end of a fantastic trip, which a lot of us hope to do again in 2009. It's a pity it had to come to an end like it did, but that's the way the cookie crumbles.

P.S: Thanks for all the positive feedback I've been receiving on my blogs; I hope you've enjoyed reading them as much as I've enjoyed writing them.


Written by Curtis Brand (Year 11)

Going Home.

Well we're on the plane, heading back from Adelaide to Perth. It's an enjoyable finish to an enjoyable trip; although a very stressful one as well. We're all very excited to be on the plane, to head back to Perth where all our families will be waiting for us. That is, unless they really enjoyed us being away.

Although we beat our old record, had two weeks away from school and had a lot of fun on the trip… I don't feel these things were the best things out of it. Students from year 10, 11 and 12 went on this trip. We all knew each other prior to this, although we weren't all friends. You wouldn't think that people from a range of years would be able to become such a close group, but the trip did strange things.

We grew to like each other, as we got to know each other. Of course, there were always our little arguments, as we did have to spend 15 days with each other, but these just made us grow closer in the end. Anyone who says that they did not make a new friend on this trip is clearly lying. We even became better friends with the people we were already friends with.

Finally, we got an understanding of how the teachers were involved in this. The emotions they felt when we had troubles with the car, to the joy they felt when we managed to get it working again. Our emotions tended to mirror whatever they were feeling at the time. It was full of great life lessons for all of us, and I know that I for one would do it all over again.

I enjoyed writing the blogs, and I hope you enjoyed reading them.

Thank you.

Written by Curtis Brand.