A fun day by the river
Everything an Excursion Needs
A guided day beside the Coomera River, written for Prep to Year 6 and taken by early learning, home school and vacation care groups too.
Easy to get to
30 minutes from the Gold Coast, 1 hour from Brisbane
Hands-on for all
Animal encounters for every age and ability
A guide for every group
One Rivermill guide stays with each group of up to 25, all day
Teachers stay teachers
Your educators come free at your own ratio, and we run the sessions
Lunch sorted
Picnic baskets or café platters, pre-ordered with your booking
What the children actually do
Sessions on the Day
Every visit takes the two sessions below, and your year level chooses the rest at booking, from river science and pond dipping to seed-to-plant growing, hands-on mill history and time with the Peruvian Paso horses.
The Feed Shed
The children mix the feed themselves, weigh it against what a goat or an alpaca really eats in a day, carry it out and tally who ate what.
Every visit · about 35 minutes
The River Ecosystem Walk
A guided survey to the turtle jetty: measuring the strangler figs, tallying bird calls, counting turtles from the rail and mapping the whole property from what each pair found.
Every visit · about 35 minutes
Meet the Peruvian Pasos
Every child grooms one of the herd, with our horse specialist alongside the group. This session is contact and grooming, not riding.
Choose at booking · Prep to Year 9
Riverside Free Time
Six hectares of lawn and shade beside the water, with a discovery-trail sheet and the jetty turtle lookout.
Every visit · about 25 minutes
The shape of the day
How a School Day Runs
About three hours fifty on site. We set the start and finish with you when you book, because your coach window should decide the clock, not ours. On the day the property is yours: no public gates, no other groups.
Arrive
Buses in, toilets, welcome and safety brief, and the class splits into groups of up to twenty-five. About 15 minutes.
Sessions
Four blocks of about 35 minutes, your groups rotating together so nothing waits on anything else. About two and a half hours.
Lunch
At the pavilion picnic tables: picnic baskets, café platters or the lunchboxes your families pack. About 30 minutes.
Riverside time
Free time on the lawns with a discovery-trail sheet and the jetty turtle lookout. About 25 minutes.
Depart
Headcount and load the buses. About 10 minutes.
You choose the sessions
Two sessions come with every visit; your year level picks the others at booking, so they match the unit you are already teaching. A returning class simply chooses differently.
Paperwork arrives with the booking
Risk assessment, insurance certificate, blue-card details, a water-safety statement written for school risk assessments, and the Australian Curriculum v9 descriptions for the sessions you chose.
Weather is planned for
Wet days move under cover in the pavilion, chapel, barn and museum. Hot days follow the shade and an indoor pattern. A booked day runs, and a wet-weather reschedule is free.
Come and see it first
A free teacher familiarisation visit before you book, which doubles as your own site inspection.
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 School or Early Learning Visit
Tell us about your group and what you'd like the children to get out of the day, and we'll put together a plan.