Are we there yet?

As a part of the Geography Unit and writing lessons, we collected research about famous Australian landmarks that were visited by the characters in Alison Lester's book, "Are we there yet?".  We used this research to write information reports. Here are some of the things that the students have learnt about some of Australia's most famous landmarks.

Zach and Nash learnt that the Great Australian Bight  is located along the coast of South Australia and Western Australia.  It is 918km west of the city of Adelaide. It is a very y long cliff face and has lots of surf beaches along it. It is a Marine national park and it is close to the Nullabor Plain. It was first discovered in 1627 by a Dutch seaman whose name was Pieter Nuyts. The Great Australian Bight is a great place to watch whales. 

Taylia  leant that the Sydney Opera House is located on the edge of Sydney Harbour, at Benelong Point. It is one of the most famous buildings in the world. It was designed by Jorn Utzon. Parts of the building look like sails on a boat. It cost $102 million to build.

Adrian and Jack learnt that the Three Sisters are located in Katoomba, in the Blue Mountains, in New South Wales. They are a sandstone rock formation. The largest sister is 922m high and the other two are 918m and 906m high. Their aboriginal names are Meehni, Gunnedoo and Wimlah.

Benita and Esha learnt that the Bungle Bungles are  located in the north east of Western Australia. The Bungle Bungles are made of sandstone towers and cones. They have horizontal stripes of iron oxide which makes them look orange.

Christian and Vance learnt that Uluru is located near the city of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory. It is a large sandstone rock formation. Lots of Uluru is hidden underground. Uluru appears to change colour at different times of the day.

Charli and Aleah learnt that the Daintree Rainforest is  located in the north east corner of Australia, along the coast of Queensland. It is the oldest surviving tropical rainforest in the world. More than 400000 visitors go there each year from all around the world and within Australia. 

Cade and Xander  learned that Wave Rock is located near Hyden in Western Australia. Wave rock is 15m high and it is a sandstone rock formation which has been eroded away by wind and rain. 

Ethan and Cruz learnt that the Sydney Harbour Bridge  is located in the middle of Sydney. It is a bridge which is 34metres tall. It is a steel arch and weighs 39000 tonnes. Cars, trains and pedestrians can travel across the bridge. 

People can climb right to the top of the bridge.  Sometimes it is called the “coat hanger”. 

Nathaniel and Thomas learnt that Katherine Gorge is located in the Northern Territory. It is a national park, 244km south east of Darwin. Katherine Gorge is a valley, with steep rocky walls. It was made when the Katherine River carved a pathway through the sandstone. Katherine Gorge is part of Kakadu National park and has many rapids and waterfalls. It is home to many freshwater crocodiles.

Ella and Brooke learnt that the Great Barrier Reef is located near Cairns, at the top end of Queensland. The Great Barrier Reef is a huge coral reef. It is the home to many beautiful fish and sea creatures.  The Great Barrier reef is larger than the entire country of Italy put together. Astronauts can see the Great Barrier Reef from space! 

Ryan and Bailey learnt that the Coorong is located at the end of the Murray River in South Australia. It is a river and a lagoon area with lots of beaches. It is very windy.

It is 152km south east of Adelaide and 61km from Meningie. It covers 50000 hectares of land. The movie “Storm Boy” was filmed there.

Sophia and Sienna learnt that Monkey Mia is located in Western Australia. It is a beach on the edge of Australia and is a part of the Shark Bay World Heritage area. Monkey Mia is famous because wild dolphins visit this beach every day.

Jemma and Charlotte learnt that Cradle Mountain is located in Tasmania. It is Tasmania’s tallest mountain.  Cradle Mountain is a national park made up of many types of rock, soil, pants and animals. Cradle Mountain is the home to the Tasmanian Devil. Lots of people go bush walking at Cradle Mountain. 

We then created a video using the green screen and an app called Green Screen by Do Ink, where the students read their research out and we created a background using the landmark they had researched so it looked like the students were actually telling us all about the land mark from the place they had learnt so much about!