Ninety-eight days. That's how long the Bowen Technology Centre has been shut for, and in that time a lot of things have changed since it shut its doors in March.
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Hands need to be washed at the door every time students enter, there's a limit of 23 people in the centre at a time and - in a much-needed positive boost - there are over a dozen new, shiny computers.
And, the clincher this week which have allowed the doors to be thrown back open - a load of cleaning supplies have also been donated.
The computers were supplied by a $98,000 grant which was announced in March, but the computers only arrived in recent weeks, and doors have only re-opened now the cleaning equipment - supplied by Newcrest - has arrived.
Bowen Technology Centre manager Paula Townsend said the computers and chairs were easier to clean and far higher-quality than those they replaced, and seeing the reaction of children coming into the centre last week was priceless.
"It was lovey, really lovely," she said.
"They've been all over the place on these chairs. They can be cleaned easily."
Mrs Townsend said cleaning was a big part of the new world the centre was re-opening in.
"The computers have to be cleaned every morning, in the afternoon, and if someone leaves it we clean it again," she said
" We can't use water so we've got antibacterial wipes so we're going through triple the amount of cleaning as before.
"I have to keep [the children] safe and they have to keep me safe. It's far too dangerous not to clean.
"You should clean anyway but because I hadn't been able to get any grant funding because there are no grants around this would help."
The centre ran out of computer screen wipes on Monday and ran out of cloth towels on Friday, so Mrs Townsend talking to Newcrest's Melissa O'Brien couldn't have come at a better time.
"I reached out to her and we were talking about her being closed, so I asked her what she needs to reopen," she said.
"She said 'I'll need to be cleaning a lot' so I asked her what she needed.
"It's part of the community support fund which we've been rolling out since March and we're obviously very big supporters of Paula, we love what she does."
A foot-powered hand sanitising station will also be put into place in coming weeks.
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Max Stainkamph
Max joined the CWD in September 2017, leaving the big smoke of Melbourne to come to Orange, where he stayed until 2020.
Max joined the CWD in September 2017, leaving the big smoke of Melbourne to come to Orange, where he stayed until 2020.
