Everyone had to be at school by 8.15 because the bus was leaving at 8.30. Unfortunately we left at 8.40 because two people were late. We spent about one and a half hours on the bus. As we crossed the Hawkesbury River we saw many islands and bush. We arrived at Old Sydney Town and had recess. After recess we played on the equipment for 5-10 minutes. Ms Kergis told Haned and me t0o go and get her bottle of water. As we were getting her water Mr Taber (the school master) asked our school to get ready for the tour.

The Year 5's got to go on the tour before the Year 6's. Later Mr Taber must have got someone else to take over because he came and told us to go through the time tunnel. As we were walking through the time tunnel we saw what it was like for the convicts on a ship. The beds were less than one metre long.

The town crier cried out to go to to a place where the Sergeant Major told us that a convict had escaped from jail. After a few minutes the town crier cried out to go to the fiddle sticks to watch the convict get whipped wqith a cat o' nine tails (a whip with nine ropes with little lead balls at the ends.)

Later we went to the shops. There were shops such as Elizabeth Rafferty - Merchant and a whole lot of other shops. The town crier cried out to go to the field where one of the soldiers had gone to get a lady and a man out of their house for some reason. The drummer had to go and get them out. So he went up to the door and knocked on it. After a few seconds pots and pans fell off the wall. He walked around the porch and one of the railings fell off. He knocked on the door again and the lady gave him a bomb. So he walked up to the Sergeant Major with it. The Sergeant Major yelled at him to put it in the house. So he did and the house blew up.

We walked back to the time tunnel where Mr Taber was waiting to take us on our tour. The first place Mr Taber took us was the gravediggers house which was made of bark. As we waled on, Mr Taber took us to a graveyard and showed us how poor people wrote on the headstones.

Mr Taber took us into a church and told us about the female factory and how to get out by getting narried. Mr Taber chose three girls, Haned, Sally and me to be the make-believe female factory workers and he also picked Mouhamad to be the man who was getting married. He also said that the females stank. Mr Taber told Mohumad to hold a handkerchief to his nose (it was soaked in perfume) so he wouldn't smell the females. Mohumad had to drop the handkerchief at the feet of the girl he wanted to marry. Mouhamad chose Sally but she didn't pick it up so they weren't married!

Mr Taber told us to go to the windmill and told Haned and I to lead the way. It really smelt musty. When we got up to the top we ran back down. After that we went to the courthouse and the prison. Mr Taber said that to show that somweone was a thief you have to scar them. He picked Jamal and named him John. He also asked Haned and I to hold his hands while he put a metal stamp the shape of a "T" into red paint and stamped it on Jamal's forehead and on his palms. Jamal couldn't get the paint off. Mr Taber also showed us how to hang someone and how prisoners got chained. He also showed us how girls had to wear spiked collars.

Later Mr Taber showed us the Bond Store where they kept their food and drinks. Mr Taber also showed us how to make a barrel. He told us about how the first lot of barrles got rusted on the ship. After Mrs Brasch took a photo of us in the courthouse we went to a farm where we saw horses and chickens and other farm animals.

After we looked at the farm animals we saw some donkey rides which cost $1. I got a go with my friend. Mine was the last one. At first the second donkey didn't want to. Then when it did get going it was fun. My donkey kept on walking right beside Haned's donkey. When we were near the water the second donkey stopped again, which made all the other donkeys crash into each other. Also near the water my donkey stopped to eat a tuft of grass. That was so much fun.

Later Mr Taber came out of the school and asked the Year 6s to come into the school. He told us to sit up striaght with our hands behind our backs. He then told us that we would get hit with the cane or birch. He wrote on the chalkboard "New Holland is funny." and asled Ms Smith to read aloud what he had written. Ms Smith said, "New Holland is funny." Mr Taber yelled at her and said, "It says New Holland is sunny." The reason for that is because in the olden days "f" is an "s" because the stroke in the "f" didn't go all the way through. He also called Mrs Brasch an ugly girl. We had to write on these things called slates. After that Mr Taber showed us how to curtsey and how to bow.