Day 10 Monday July 29th

The group are down for breakfast by 9:00am. There doesn’t appear to be any loss of appetites and all enjoy a hearty fill. Same as usual for boring old me.

Packing done, all are in reception by 10am. We check out and wait for our buses at 11am. We will be sorry to leave the Twin Waters resort, it has been a great place to stay for the last 3 days.
Our coaches arrive on time. Linda and Troy are our drivers. Linda tells me it’s a 2 hour drive to All Saints so we decide to have an hour stop en route. We stop at midday and ‘hallelujah’ is heard from the students on both buses – there’s a McDonalds AND a KFC! Despite a large breakfast only 3 hours earlier there is still room in most stomachs for either the ‘bargain bucket’ or a ‘mega burger.’

We stop for 45 minutes and are back on the coach at 12:45pm. En route Miss Vaughan organises a second quiz. The competitive nature of our young people was clearly apparent as they needed each question carefully spelt out.

One music question asked about ‘the land down-under’ in the Men at work song.
“Is that Ireland?” enquired Natalie Edwards.

Thankfully our star geographer Brianna Richards was able to tell her it was where we are at present.

Another question asked, ‘What is the colour of the curtain on the stage in the Main Hall at Gowerton School?’
“How do you expect me to know that?” said Natalie, “I never listen in assembly.” Natalie clearly demonstrating the well-known fact that in order to see an object you must use your ears.

Another question asked ‘What is the middle colour of the rainbow?’
“How do we know which is the middle one when there are seven?” asked a puzzled Leah Hyatt.
Clearly the school’s numeracy push still has a long way to go.

Finally, for the question ‘What was the name of the small red dragon in Mulan?’, Adam Williams and Matthew Davies controversially wrote ‘Ffion Morgans.’ Needless to say, Miss Morgans was not impressed. Watch your backs, boys!

We arrive at All Saints Anglican College at just before 2:00pm. It is an impressive school. The school has 1800 pupils aged between 4 and 18. Fees for day students are £13,000 per year and the facilities are fantastic. The sporting facilities are unbelievable and would grace any University never mind school. They have an indoor and outdoor swimming pool. The sports fields cover a large area and include 2 perfectly manicured rugby pitches both of which have a playing surface that is as good as, if not better, than St Helens. They have a team of 10 groundsmen who maintain the area.

The fixtures are all due to start at 3:45pm, but with lessons finishing at 3:25pm, all games start a little later at 4pm. I watch a little of the netball and we are up against it early on and trail 11-1 at the end of the first quarter. At the start of the second quarter Brianna Richards takes a nasty tumble and requires treatment for a few minutes, but she is back on her feet and although a little shaken is brave enough to continue.

I go out to watch the under 18 rugby and just in time to see the hosts cross for the first try of the game which is converted from the touchline. A second score follows five minutes later. The hosts possess a physical advantage at forward and with an Australian U18 international playing at centre and another squad member playing on the wing they carried a significant threat behind.
In trying to stop the second try scrum half Tom Davies had dislocated his little finger. We relocate it and strap it up and Tom is keen to return to the fray, however, the school’s medical officer comes over and advises that he go to hospital to check that there is no break. Brendan Callaghan arranges a car from the school to take us to Robina hospital which is 5 minutes away. The hosts cross for a third try and clearly we are in for a hard time.

While we wait for the car to arrive, Casey Williams is brought over – she’s fallen heavily on her ankle again and we decide she needs to go to hospital for a check.

We arrive at the hospital A and E at just before 5pm. Again, the service is exceptional. After check in and Triage, we are ‘fast tracked.’ Both have x-rays. Tom has chipped a little piece off the bone. The Doctor puts it in a splint and advises Tom not to play for 4-6 weeks. “Will the piece of bone reattach itself?” I ask. “Yes,” the doctor replies. “It will slowly work its way back to the main bone.”
Casey’s x-ray doesn’t indicate a break. It is probably just a sprain that has been re-aggravated. However, the doctor said that with foot injuries there are so many bones that it’s not always possible to see if it’s broken. It should settle down in 3 or 4 days, if it doesn’t it would be best to have another x-ray. The doctor straps the ankle and gives Casey crutches.

We are discharged at 7pm. Tom’s billet comes the hospital to collect him and our ground agent Warwick Melrose collects Casey and I, and takes Casey to her billet before transferring me to the hotel. Good news – no taxi fares.

As we go up the drive of Casey’s billet she goes, “Wow!” It is impressive, a large house with a swimming pool out front. More importantly, Mum comes out to meet Casey. She is concerned for her and keen to know what Casey needed. The warmth of her greeting and concern was clearly evident – Casey was in good hands.

Warwick transfers me to our hotel, we arrive at about 7:30pm. I meet up with the rest of the staff and get reports about the games.

The U18 rugby team had pulled things back in the second half, eventually going down 24-10. The U16s had produced an excellent performance against a bigger team to win 26-15.
The girls found things tough. The hockey game was played on grass and after taking time to adjust, the team had gone down 4-2. The netball team had eventually lost 40-7.
Match reports, photos and videos will be posted separately.

In the hotel, we enjoy a meal and go to bed by 11pm.