A Pleasant Surprise...

Thoughts of home have been at the forefront of my mind recently. I've been looking forward to little brother's wedding and have been making preparations for my return to school in Nottingham. I've had such a great time here in Australia but I know the dream can't last forever.

I was reminded recently of the fact that I should really be saving some money for all the various expenses involved in coming home. Up to this point the motivation to save was fuelled by the long list of sightseeing destinations on my list.

As I posted recently I’ve mainly been working at a child-care centre. It has been sooooo much fun but unfortunately doesn’t pay very well. So it was a nice surprise to get a phone call at the end of last week telling me that a school need me to work full time for the next five weeks! One of their staff has had to go help at another school and so there is a gap that needs to be filled. Perfect!

From a ‘pay’ point of view its fantastic, but it is a bit of a reality check- getting back into planning and assessment! I suppose it’s a step towards reality. The school is great and the staff have been so welcoming so hopefully the reality check wont be too bad.

Now I just have to go get my head around the Australian curriculum! Oh wait… THERE ISN’T ONE!!!!!!!

The Working Bee

Today I took my favourite photo from my trip so far:

This is a picture of Naomi's dad, Rob. I took it during a working bee at their house today (hence the sweat running down his cheek and dripping from his nose). It was a fun day full of weeding and raking and shovelling etc.

We were all pretty pooped afterwards but spent the evening sitting round a campfire reading Australian poetry. Interestingly a lot of 'classic' Oz literature is better understood when read in an irish accent- due to the fact that it was written by irish immigrants. It starts to get strange when you mix the irish accent with talk of 'boiling billys' and 'roos' and other Aussie colloquialisms. 

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I haven't had a blog update for a while cos life has simply consisted of work work work. School work has really slowed down this term, but thankfully the creche has needed me nearly everyday. 

Photos not working...

I've been trying to update my photos tab but it's not working. Below are links to recent photos:

Camping in The Grampians

Easter Weekend At Melaneisia

Easter Weekend...

After church on Easter Sunday Jared and Naomi (The couple I’m living with these days) and I set off for Melanesia- a small hut owned by Naomi’s relatives that sits on a national park on the coast. The had been talking it up for weeks, telling me weird and wonderful stories about their experiences there so my expectations we high. Thankfully, the reality equalled the expectations. It is a gorgeous little spot hidden away from the world, a stones throw from a secluded beach.

We were joined by two other couples, all relatives of Naomi and Jared. They were great fun. We played heaps of board games, fished on the beach and watched shooting stars. The only thing trying to spoil the fun were the leeches- and they were EVERYWHERE! It was amazing to walk to that car and back and find four climbing up each foot. We had to constantly have salt/matches at the ready after every venture outdoors. I thought it only fair to reward their diligence so rewarded two baby ones with a feast by sticking them to my belly. I think we were all intrigued to see what would happen. The short version is they arrived skinny and departed fat, but thankfully the little blighters didn’t stop the flow of laughter. We all came away relaxed and exhausted all at the same time after two days in the time warp that is Melanesia.

Camping in The Grampians...

A couple of mates and I headed off for a little camping trip last week. After a four hour drive we arrived at the mountains range we wanted to hike in- The Grampians. We chatted to a girl in a local shop who told us he had hiked up to Brigg’s Bluff with a group of school kids and had been attacked by a pack of foxes! That did all returned home safely and she said the view from the top of the bluff was fantastic. Inspired by her adventure, we had no choice but to head straight to Brigg’s Bluff! Armed with ‘fox clobbering sticks’ we set off. (Un)fortunately we saw no foxes but the hike was great and the view fab.


The next day we rose at 5am to hike up to the top of Hollow Mountain in the dark so we could watch the sunrise form the top. The climb up was a lot more fun than the sunrise that awaited us, but we had a good time. It turns out the mountain really is pretty hollow- we spent a while exploring cave all through the inside of the summit. The pic below was taken after walking into a cave in the side of the rock face then climbing up inside the mountain before coming to another cave opening higher up. Sweet! (More photos in the pics tab)

We had a fun time and I was able to add two emus to my Australian wildlife checklist.

Working Over The Hols...

Its school holidays over here so that means no teaching work. After returning from New Zealand broke I’ve been keen to keep earning through the holidays. Thankfully, my teaching registration covers me to work in the child-care centre where my friend Naomi works.


So I’ve spent the past two weeks rocking nappy-clad babies to sleep and cuddling little toddlers all day long. It’s been great fun and is a real change of pace from teaching in primary schools.

Beware The Beast...

Saw my biggest spider yet the other day:

Then went camping and saw another beauty: