On Wednesday instead of having a Community Living session a local community member came into our house and taught us how to cook one of their specialties. In house 10 Joyce cooked a zucchini loaf, a meatloaf and a chocolate pudding. She brought in the recipes and showed us all the steps. We talked about our project and what sort of things we have being up to here in Clunes. Later that night we reheated the meals just after fitness and running and had it for dinner. It was delicious and something that not many of us had tried before. It was a fun morning and was enjoyed by all.

Every Monday and Wednesday there is football training for the boys that want to get ready for preseason. On Monday the U18’s train and on Wednesday the U15’s train. We go to football training after our 5K run that we do on Monday Wednesday and Friday.

Last Saturday and Sunday was the first visiting weekend. People were picked up at 4.00 on Saturday afternoon so they could spend the night with their parents somewhere. Others that did not spend the night with their parents but were going to see them were picked up at 10.00 in the morning and spent the Sunday with their families. We had to be back by 6.00pm so that we were in time for dinner and movie night.

Last Monday two of the three teams went down to the community centre to run around and play all types of strange games, like throwing a Frisbee into a basket-ball hoop. If we hit the back board we got 1 point, if we hit the black box we got 3 points and if we got it in the hoop we would get 10 points. The Blue cluster team won the first game. We then played a game called ‘Ring of Death’. The object of the game is to pass a ring up the court and then throw it to the end person so he or she can catch it on the stick and that counts as a goal. Blue also won that game. We then played a basket ball game called ‘Around the World’. There were three spots, one on the left of the goal, one in front of the goal and one on the right. There were three spots on those stations, one got one point, one got two points and the other got three points. Green was in the lead for the whole game until one of the Blue members sunk a three pointer, which got Blue over line with 10 seconds to go.

In self class we have been looking at how to become a man, and what we want to become when we are a man. We talk about how we can accomplish this and when we can accomplish it. We also talk about what has happened in our lives so far and what is going on in our lives now. We are camping out on Friday the 26th of February, with our fathers or men that could also be family friends or uncles. We will be asking them questions about how to become a man and what it feels like. We will then go and sit around a fire talking and bonding with our men that have come down to see us.

With a slow start to the night both Clusters arrived to the Jube to find that neither cluster were able to score any points for arriving on time. Even with this unfortunate start, once both groups arrived there was a great energy and everyone could tell that neither team was going to be letting the other team win easily. The evening started with the teams needing to walk down into town silently playing a game similar to follow the leader: whatever the front person did the rest of the group needed to follow. When both teams arrived into the sports centre the first thing that needed to be done was to create a team chant that involved stomping in one way or another. Next the leaders tallied up all the points gained from dressing in your Cluster colours. The games started off with a game of Rebound Ball then carried into a game of Frisbee golf, around the world then ended with a game of pirates. The night was filled with a lot of competition but most of all great sportsmanlike behaviour. By the end of the night Green managed to come out on top and also push their ranking from third place to second in the race to be the winning Cluster overall.

The girls’ Self class usually happens every Thursdays and is created to give girls a chance to stick together and learn that you can always count on your girls for support and advice. Each class so far has involved a circle of trust and friendship. This class allows people to open up and share stories that you may otherwise not tell anyone. Last class all the girls were told to write a letter to a parent or significant elder explaining why they are important in their life and how much they appreciate everything they have done for them over the years. They were also instructed to read this letter to the group before it is mailed to this significant person. Through this activity all they girls have been able to open up and trust in one and other more and know they are accepted in their circle of trust. This class is a way to show that everyone’s life’s outline is the same: there are highs and lows in everyone’s life and everyone needs to know they have friends who are there to help.

On Saturday, we had the morning inspection. House 11 passed with flying colours. We then joined up with house 10 and 13 in travelling to nearby town Creswick. All the houses went straight to the community tennis courts, where we finally had a hit of the tennis ball. Following the games, we went to see the Creswick main street, and we managed the first hot chips in a long, long time. Saturday was an extremely fun day, and I hope there are more like it.

On Monday, the running crew completed their first five kilometre run. The group runs as a group for about a kilometre, to get to the start point. Once the start point is reached, people can run at their own pace for the five kilometre circuit. Once you completed the run, double back to the last person, where we run as a group back to the campus, so in the end, it’s actually a lot longer than five kilometres that has to be run. Straight after the run, the football team goes and trains with the Clunes under 18 squad. This particular training was circle work, followed by and end to end kicking race.

On Tuesday the group of people in the prehistory class went to the Ballarat Wildlife Park to meet some of the Australian mega fauna’s relatives. We arrived just on 10:40 so we were able to look around for a bit before our tour of the park. Most of the group went to the kangaroo and emu paddock where we could pat the animals. At about five to eleven we made our way to the spot where our tour began. The man that took us for the tour had tattoos of lizards on his shins which suggested he was really passionate about his job as an animal keeper. After the tour we sat under some trees to have some lunch. After lunch we were told by our teacher we would have an assignment and we had forty minutes to complete. So we all raced off to finish it in the time frame we had. The day at the wild life park ended at 1:30 when it was time to get back on the bus to Clunes!