Melbourne music trip

On the 5th of July, students of Bayfield High School from Dunedin, New Zealand assembled in their school hall in preparation for the nine-day Melbourne Performing Arts Trip.

Performing arts students packed their bags and experienced an exhausting six-hour bus trip to Christchurch before they boarded a three-and-a-half hour flight to Melbourne, Australia.

The plane touched down about 8am at the Melbourne International Airport. I was excited, as I had never travelled internationally before. I stood still before the immigration before the gates opened and the greeting: "Welcome to Australia" appeared on a big screen.

We all assembled in groups until we realised we were all to be separated as we made our way through customs. I held my breath, terrified as my bag was then scanned in a conveyor machine and checked by an airport customs worker.

We finally reached the observation lounge after two hours of check-in and customs. We all began spending money on our first meal at one of the many cafés or restaurants that the Melbourne International Airport has to offer.

I stood confused as I held my Travelex Cash Passport ATM card as performing arts teacher Philippa Hosken explained how to use the card, and I remained confused until my piano teacher, Jo Dryden, told me to enquire at the Travelex desk to ask how to use it.

I made a $60 withdrawal and bought some lunch from a cafe before I climbed on to the bus which headed into the city of Melbourne.

The city of Melbourne is amazing. The buildings reach to the sky with their colourful varieties of architecture. We explored one of the many large streets. I suddenly felt awake in this stunning city after feeling over-tired because of only two hours worth of sleep during the bus trip to Christchurch.

I gazed up at the buildings ecstatic as the only tall building I had ever seen in my life was the Auckland Sky Tower. Immediately I grabbed my only video recording device, which was my 5th Generation iPod, to capture the hustle and bustle of the streets and the towering buildings.

The tram cars drifted along the roads so quickly, and they were so efficient. It was the most reliable public transport I had ever seen. If only Dunedin had something as reliable as this!

We caught a tram car almost every day. Although they were rather cramped, that was not a problem because the ride would only last about five minutes before we reached each destination.

I found it strange, as I am used to riding buses. I would climb on to the tram without paying the driver, who would sit in his little compartment at the front of the vehicle, and then we would all exit without saying "thank you."

It was all very new to me and to every one of us. Ms Dryden would even flinch as the folding doors would shove open, but of course, the local passengers took no notice of it.

On the first few days of the trip we all indulged ourselves with shopping and exploring the amazing beautiful city. We visited The Melbourne Aquarium and were welcomed by penguins which looked as though they had waddled straight out of the film Happy Feet as they marched along their icy slice of terrain placed behind a big glass wall.

I saw sharks for the first time as they swam over me, as I gazed up the glass dome which held the underwater world over us. I paced along the blue-lit path which was roofed with a glass-shielded underwater world with stingrays flying all over the place.

I shared my fascination with other people at my school, some of whom I had not really known very well before this trip. It was great to be able to make many new and wonderful friends.

As we took on the role of tourist time had flown by, and suddenly we were on a train to a school called Matthews Flinders. We arrived after around 2 hours dressed neatly in our choir suits with our new kowhaiwhai patterned ties which Cheryl Wills had spent hours making for us, and for which we were very grateful.

The ties were a special and unique addition to our choir outfits, and represented our bi-cultural heritage.

Matthews Flinders School is a classic brick constructed all-girls school. After practising a few times we had lunch break and the girls of the school herded into the canteen and lunch area.

I was confused by their uniform, since some girls wore extremely long skirts that dragged along the floor, while some other girls wore moderately normal length skirts, while there were yet others who wore the tiniest skirts imaginable. Certainly, they would not be able to get away with that at Bayfield!

The uniforms of Matthews Flinders varied between different years as well, which further confused me until some friendly girls explained it us.

We taught their performing arts students Mäori songs and dance, and our choir sang, and was then followed by a Kapa Haka performance for their school. We also were involved in a joint school orchestra performance and then their school choir also performed Miley Cyrus' The Climb. We enjoyed their performance and had a lot of fun.

Over the next few days we became tourists again, and enjoyed a boat ride which explored the Yarra River. We were all in awe of the magnificent views of the city sky landscape, the Melbourne Stadium, as well as the contemporary style bridges that looped over the wide river.