The River Day · Gold Coast Hinterland
Educational School Excursions
A staff-led day by the river
A Day Your Group Will Remember
The River Day is an educational school excursion on the Coomera River at Mount Nathan, for primary schools, homeschool groups, and Scouts, Guides and other youth groups. Every group does two base activities, then two hands-on sessions it chooses, each with the curriculum unit it serves printed beneath it.
From the Gold Coast or Brisbane
30 minutes from central Gold Coast, an hour from Brisbane, and a day of 3 hours 15 minutes that keeps coach hire short
Built around your group
Two base activities for every group, then the two sessions that fit your unit
Led by our staff
One Rivermill staff member with every group of up to 25 children, in every session
Adults come free
Every supervising adult, parents included, with no ratio to count
Who comes
Schools, Homeschool Groups and Youth Groups
There is no year or age band. Every session is led for the youngest child in the group, and each session card carries a harder step for the older children in the same block, so the day takes whoever your group brings.
Primary school excursions
A whole cohort of up to 100 children comes on one day and one coach booking, in groups of up to 25. The curriculum unit is printed under every session, and the Australian Curriculum content descriptions come in the paperwork pack with the risk assessment and your quote. A teacher can visit free before booking.
Homeschool excursions
Brothers and sisters of every age come on the same day. A group of 15 children is enough, parents come free, and the curriculum unit under each session can go into your family's own learning records. A Paso horse ride can be added.
Scouts, Guides and youth groups
Outdoor, hands-on work a leader can match to the section's nature and outdoor pathways: a grid-map and compass challenge, a waterbug hunt, weeding and planting a tagged tree, animal care and a horse ride. Leaders come free. The day runs on weekdays in school term, so it suits a pupil-free day or a term-time weekday your members can attend.
Included in every visit
The Base Activities
Every group does both of these. You then choose two sessions from the menu below.
$12 a child · both activities included
The Feed Shed
Science: animal features and needs · Food and fibre · Measuring
Every child feeds the animals. Children read a picture recipe card and measure the feed in pairs, then the group splits into two halves that swap at the rail, so no child stands watching while others feed the goats, sheep and alpacas. The block ends with hands on fleece and wool, and a hand wash.
The River Ecosystem Walk
Science: habitats and food chains · HASS: geography
A guided walk along the river edge with a spotter card: the strangler figs, the she-oaks the black cockatoos feed on, and two silent minutes watching for turtles. The group then builds a food chain standing in a line on the bank.
Choose at booking
Choose Two Sessions
Excursion ideas for the unit you’re teaching: pick the two that match it, or simply the ones your group will love. The curriculum unit under each name says what the session teaches, not who may book it.
$4 a child for each session
Waterbug Hunt
A net in every pair's hands at the property's ponds.
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The Waterbug Hunt puts a net in every pair's hands at the property's ponds. Children sweep for dragonfly nymphs, water boatmen, snails and tadpoles, tip each catch into a white tray, and sort and name it with hand lenses and a picture key; the older children read what their bugs say about the water. Every animal goes back to the pond. Pond dipping is rare on Australian school excursions.
Grid Map Challenge
Six controls found by map and compass.
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The Grid Map Challenge uses the property's own grid map and a compass. Teams find six numbered controls at landmarks around the grounds and answer a question at each from what stands there. The youngest find each control from a picture of its landmark; the older teams navigate by grid reference and bearing and work out how far they walked.
Weed Warriors
Pull the weeds, plant a tagged native tree.
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In Weed Warriors children learn to tell native trees from weeds, pull weed seedlings by hand, and plant or water a native she-oak or bottlebrush on the river bank, tagged with the group's name and the date. Tree planting is rarely part of a school excursion in Australia.
Arrowroot: Root to Flour
Local history made by hand, under cover.
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Arrowroot: Root to Flour tells the story of the arrowroot grown on these river flats and milled here into starch from about 1910. Under the Barn roof children grate a starchy root, wash it through cloth and watch the white flour settle, then sort picture cards into then and now. The session runs under cover, so it holds on a wet day, and no other heritage excursion in the area pairs local history with animals and a river.
Two more sessions join the menu later: Pot a Seedling, and Alpaca Walk and Animal Care.
Add to the Day
Paso Horse Ride
A short led ride on a Peruvian Paso horse, in the lunch break.
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Children can ride a Peruvian Paso horse. The ride is a short led walk around the equestrian area, with a helmet fitted and a handler at the horse's head throughout, run in the lunch break while the others eat and watch the river. It is booked child by child. It is the only school excursion day in the Gold Coast, Logan, eastern Scenic Rim and Tweed area that puts a horse ride in the programme.
Your group names its riders when it books and pays only for them. A parent who declines does not raise the price for anyone else.
Horse Show
The Paso gait, with the whole party together.
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Twenty minutes straight after the break, on the lawn beside the equestrian area. A handler leads in a Paso horse and tells where the breed comes from; a rider shows the walk and then the four-beat Paso gait, which the children count aloud, and carries a full cup of water at the gait without spilling it. The handler then walks the horse along the rope line so every child sees it up close. It is charged for at least 25 children.
Priced for each child
Prices
The base activities
The River Ecosystem Walk and The Feed Shed
Each chosen session
A day takes 2
A child's day
The base activities and 2 chosen sessions
Paso horse ride
Only for the children who ride
Horse show
Charged for at least 25 children
Supervising adults
Every one, with no ratio to count
A child's day with the ride and the show comes to $32. Prices include GST, the quote total is the invoice total, and nothing else is charged.
Good to know
Bring Your Own Lunch
Children bring their own lunch, and no food is sold. It is eaten on the riverside lawns and the Commons, or in the Barn if it rains.
- Closed shoes, a hat, sunscreen and a water bottle
- Tell us of any medical, allergy or support needs before the day
Sent with your quote
The Paperwork Pack
Everything your school's approval needs, sent with the quote.
- Our risk assessment
- Our staffing ratio
- Australian Curriculum content descriptions for the sessions you choose
- A free teacher visit before you book
The shape of the day
How the Day Runs
The day is 3 hours 15 minutes from the coach stopping to the coach leaving: four 35-minute sessions and a picnic break. With riding the day is 3 hours 30 minutes, with the show 3 hours 35 minutes, and with both 3 hours 50 minutes.
Arrive
Welcome on the Commons, toilets, and the party splits into groups of up to 25, each with its own staff member.
Two sessions
Groups rotate through the stations, so no two groups share one at the same time.
Lunch break
Your own lunch and free time on the riverside lawns, with a River Spotting sheet for the teachers. The ride runs here when booked.
Two more sessions
The horse show comes first when booked, with the whole party together.
Depart
Gather at the gate, and the coach leaves.
Booking
Dates, Numbers and Terms
Days
Any weekday in school term, every term week of all four terms.
Numbers
From 15 to 100 children a day, in groups of up to 25. A cohort too large for one day can take two days in one booking, on one invoice.
Booking and payment
Book through the enquiry form below or by phone. $200 paid at booking holds the date, and the balance is paid before or on the day.
Cancellation
Free 48 hours or more before the day, with the sum paid at booking returned. Inside 48 hours, 50 per cent of the booked price is owed, and the sum already paid counts toward it. The same applies child by child, so a child withdrawn late is charged at 50 per cent of that child's price, not of the whole booking.
Weather
Move the date free with one day's notice. In light rain the day runs, with Arrowroot: Root to Flour and the sorting part of the Waterbug Hunt under cover.
The full excursion terms and conditions come with your quote.
Spotting list
Who You Might Meet
Our farm animals, plus the wildlife that lives along this stretch of the Coomera River. How many can your group tick off?
Plan your excursion
Enquire About a River Day
Tell us about your group and what you'd like the children to take away, and we'll send a plan, a quote and the paperwork pack within two business days.