REGIONAL TOUR BLOG
Blog 8
8: Travel day
Today we checked out of our motel rooms at 8am and made our way to the bus that was going to take us to Glenden Recreation Centre. Our bus ride from Moranbah to Glenden involved taking a ‘scenic’ route which we were told was quicker. It did mean though, that we had to travel via dirt road which for a lot of us was something we had never experienced. Throughout the bus drive we drove past a lot of dry river beds, red soil and mines.
After the two-hour-long very bumpy bus ride, we arrived in Glenden. We were all quite amazed at how small Glenden was and after a quick search on the Australian Bureau of Statistics we found out that the population of Glenden was a small 620 people. When we arrived, our hard-working stage manager Noel had already set up our percussion, risers, music stands and chairs. This meant that it was time for a morning tea break! On the menu was cut up oranges and fruit plus muesli bars and muffins. After our much-needed morning tea break we then had a short rehearsal.
It was then time for our educational concert for local school students. Once again the children were enthralled by our performance with Nina and her princess-like singing stealing the show. Three students were even lucky enough to get to conduct us! One thing that did take us by surprise was how knowledgeable the students were when we asked them questions about music. When we had finished our set we were told by the local teachers that the students had learnt a song to sing with us. So together the orchestra and students sang and played I still call Australia home.
After we had packed up the hall we all loaded ourselves onto the bus ready 5 hours of travel. The first part of our bus ride was a very quiet one with most of us taking the opportunity to have a nap. We then made a stop in Bowen to drop two of our musicians off at the train station, Jacob and Renee, and to stop at the local service station to get some snacks for the rest of our trip. The second part of our trip from Bowen to Glenden was definitely sprightlier with all of the junk food we bought to fuel ourselves. We finally arrived at Bowen around 6.45pm and checked into our motel rooms. Once we had done this, we made our way to the Country Ayr Hotel where we were treated to a delicious buffet. During dinner we also made sure to collectively wish our birthday boy a ‘Happy Birthday’. After a great meal and a long day of travelling we all made our way back to our rooms to go to bed.
