So we had a bit of fun experimenting at abseil training this weekend!!!
Sunday, December 7, 2008
A Day in Lieu after SHORE Week
Friday December 5, 2008
A Day In Lieu
Since this job requires us to work a fair amount of odd hours a system has been set in place where we earn “time in lieu” for every night we spend on an out trip or every weekend day we spend on training. I believe it is something like every night we are out we earn half a day off and every weekend day earns us a full day.
I had heard of “Shore Week” very early upon my arrival to Shoalhaven. It is by far the busiest most stressful, anticipated week of the year! Beginning on Sunday, somewhere around 210 students and 25 teachers from Shore Anglican in Sydney arrived at Shoalhaven and the week of fourteen groups began! Numerous “casuals” were called in to work for the week including staff that had worked at Shoalhaven in years past or had worked or were currently working at a different youthworks site.
Since I would be doing two days of hiking on unfamiliar trails I was paired with a guy who had worked at youth works a few years ago. We each had our own group but for the entire out trip part of the camp (the first three days) our groups pretty much operated as one. This was really good as I didn’t have to worry about not knowing where I was going. Not to mention it was nice to have a male leader around, being the only female amongst 30+ guys!
Each of the fourteen groups included one youthworks instructor, one teacher from Shore, 13-15 year eight boys and two year eleven boys who were meant to act as mentors and helpers. As I seem to have a habit of doing, after spending only a few minutes with my group I thought to myself “oh dear!”
In efforts to keep this short I’ll give a quick summary of our week:
Sunday – Tuesday: Out Trip
Sun: 4K / 1 hour Hike
Mon: 8K / 2 hour hike
Tues: 10K / 6 hour hike (Lynches back to Waterslea) With the boys navigating using map and compass between markers. I led a good bit of this hike, giving me experience in navigating the trails and the markers and just managing a group as they navigate through!
Wednesday:
Morning Canoe trip with Ben’s group (about 4K)
Christian Discovery
Caving (using my new head torch!!) Really getting to know the cave and feel perfectly comfortable taking a group through!
Thursday:
Abseiling at the tower
Archery
So although the week may have gotten off to a somewhat roughish start, as seems to be the case with many camps, by the end of the week I was sad to see them go. . .
A Day In Lieu
Since this job requires us to work a fair amount of odd hours a system has been set in place where we earn “time in lieu” for every night we spend on an out trip or every weekend day we spend on training. I believe it is something like every night we are out we earn half a day off and every weekend day earns us a full day.
I had heard of “Shore Week” very early upon my arrival to Shoalhaven. It is by far the busiest most stressful, anticipated week of the year! Beginning on Sunday, somewhere around 210 students and 25 teachers from Shore Anglican in Sydney arrived at Shoalhaven and the week of fourteen groups began! Numerous “casuals” were called in to work for the week including staff that had worked at Shoalhaven in years past or had worked or were currently working at a different youthworks site.
Since I would be doing two days of hiking on unfamiliar trails I was paired with a guy who had worked at youth works a few years ago. We each had our own group but for the entire out trip part of the camp (the first three days) our groups pretty much operated as one. This was really good as I didn’t have to worry about not knowing where I was going. Not to mention it was nice to have a male leader around, being the only female amongst 30+ guys!
Each of the fourteen groups included one youthworks instructor, one teacher from Shore, 13-15 year eight boys and two year eleven boys who were meant to act as mentors and helpers. As I seem to have a habit of doing, after spending only a few minutes with my group I thought to myself “oh dear!”
In efforts to keep this short I’ll give a quick summary of our week:
Sunday – Tuesday: Out Trip
Sun: 4K / 1 hour Hike
Mon: 8K / 2 hour hike
Tues: 10K / 6 hour hike (Lynches back to Waterslea) With the boys navigating using map and compass between markers. I led a good bit of this hike, giving me experience in navigating the trails and the markers and just managing a group as they navigate through!
Wednesday:
Morning Canoe trip with Ben’s group (about 4K)
Christian Discovery
Caving (using my new head torch!!) Really getting to know the cave and feel perfectly comfortable taking a group through!
Thursday:
Abseiling at the tower
Archery
So although the week may have gotten off to a somewhat roughish start, as seems to be the case with many camps, by the end of the week I was sad to see them go. . .
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Thanksgiving Down Unda!
Mel and I had the day off so we spent the afternoon cooking 2 Pecan Pies, Green Bean Cassserol, and sweet potatos with marshmallows!!!
Mel mashing the sweet potatos. Sweet potatos with marshmallows was a very new concept for the Aussies, and one most of them couldn't quite handle!! lol. It didnt' help that their marshmallows are a bit different and denser than ours. Oh well!!
Our green bean casserol (with onion flakes because we couldn't find any fried onions) still tasted alright.
Our two pecan pies turned out pretty good although we had to make the corn syrup from scratch and we apparently used plain flour when we were supposed to use corn flour!
Tim (the boss from PA) carving the bird! It was quite good - very moist!!
Tima nd his wife are in the middle of renovation their kitchen so Naomi went to a friend's house to cook the turkey and we ate off paper plates! :)
Little Johnny got to bite into the huge turkey leg!!
We had six pies of three varieties!! Apple, Pumpkin and Pecan!
The pic didn't turn out so good.
It was a different Thanksgiving but a great one none the less!!!
The pic didn't turn out so good.
It was a different Thanksgiving but a great one none the less!!!
Monday, November 24, 2008
Roller Coaster Week
On Saturday we took a ride out on the Port Hacking River in the Punt boat. WE went out to the sand bar in the middle of the river and played a game of touch footy! i had watched rugby league a lot but had never played it! Fun but sandy - haha.
More Photos to Come!!
Roller Coaster Week
Sunday November 23, 2008 10:30PM
Current . . .
Physical Status: Slightly Tired, the continual ear situation uggg
Emotional Status: Slightly Lonely yet content
Overall Energy: Mostly Rejuvenated and ready for another week
Music Choice: Dedications by Ellen Messerly :)
Where to begin?
Last week: Two separate year 10 groups – one Monday through Wednesday, the other Wednesday through Friday, making Wednesday quite hectic and feeling like Friday and Monday all at the same time. Such is the life as an outdoor educator here at Shoalhaven!
Only a few minutes after the arrival of the camp on Monday I had decided it was going to be a tough two and a half days, especially compared to the dream group of eight girls last week. However, my opinion was soon changed upon meeting my group and beginning our hike out to Bangalee / Scouts camp. The school overall was a bit tough but my group was great! I was partnered with Tim for this camp just to get one more practice with the hike / canoe to / from Bangalee.
Did the whole out trip camping thing Monday night. It was a bit different from last week as it was just two groups there and the other two leaders were guys. So I was in my own tent and their whole take on things was a bit more laid back then the way the girls ran things. Still being the newbie in this situation I didn’t want to take charge too much but I was up like an hour and a half before them in the morning and took care of making sure the students were up getting packed and getting breakky.
We did abseiling on cliffs at scout camp so that was neat and different scenery. We canoed back in time for lunch and had caving up the hill in the afternoon. Julz came up with us in order to access Tim. Kind of strange that my house mate who is a year younger than me will soon be coming to my sessions to assess me. But it’s not that strange cause she is awesome and when it comes to knowledge and experience in outdoor education and how things are run here she totally has authority!
Caving went well. Julz went in with the first group and I went in with the second. I was glad to get the chance to go through again since I had only been through once before, a month or so a ago, and I would be leading a group through later in the week.
I already eluded to Wednesday as being a crazy, hectic, physically and emotionally draining day; Doing an activity with my first group then being pulled to the new group, which arrived an hour early, to help entertain them on the sports field (oval) until their lunch was ready. Slipping in “goodbyes” to my first group while gearing up for “hellos” to my new group.
Well, if I had a bad feeling on Monday in terms of group difficulty, man oh man was I feeling it on Wednesday. However this time it proved to be truer than it did on Monday. And for this group I was completely on my own. Lets just say the second half of Wednesday was rough. I had just shipped off a group and it sure felt like I was due for a weekend but, quite the opposite to a weekend, I was starting a fresh with a group that was proving to be more difficult than my last!
Before I even met my group the head teacher informed me that I had a “tough group” and that one of my boys had actually been suspended from school that morning but had been spoken to and was being aloud on camp but if I had any troubles to let him know. Oh boy!
Canoeing was our first activity and it was allotted for two hours as opposed to the usual hour and a half. I used this extra time to sit them down in the grass in a circle to do introductions, lay down the ground rules / expectations, and explain our full value contract and challenge by choice. They received it fairly well and the teacher was a helpful support. I also took the opportunity to mention my pet-peeve about inappropriate language and comments. Enough cannot be said for setting out guidelines and expectations from the start. It is so much easier to discipline by enforcing a rule already stated then it is to just discipline off the cuff with no prior grounds / warning . . . Especially with this age group where they are looking for every opportunity to “muck around.”
The canoeing session was stressful but I supposed a fraction improved from my last double canoe session, where neither of us had run a canoe session before. This time the other group leader was Al. We talked before and decided it would be best just to go our separate ways. So we briefed separately and when I set my group in the water we headed the opposite direction to her group. The start of the session was okay as we rafted up and did the stand up sit down drill then all stood and did the YMCA. It was when I set them off for some free paddle that things went out of control and capsizes did not seize.
I think the key to canoeing is having a game plan, keeping it organized and moving. At least with the older groups, the more freedom given, the more likely occurrence of goofing off and capsizing, which takes lots of effort to right. Uggh.
So I left canoeing a bit frustrated and was not looking forward to Billy carting. I had never run a session where they had to construct the billy carts so it didn’t help that I didn’t know what they were doing!! They had instructions so it wasn’t too bad but one group took ages and stripped a screw and Pete had to fix it . . . . It worked out okay but just meant everyone only got one go in the billy carts – which was fine with me.
So after that Wednesday you can imagine I wasn’t too excited for Thursday and was just feeling totally drained and unenthusiastic come Thursday morning. Really a shame for the second group of the week. However, the day turned out to be really great!! We had caving in the morning. PG came to observe me and I got lots of positive feedback from him. The group was actually helping and encouraging each other in the cave. I had a good chat / talk to them in the cave relating to our faith in things unseen and how God is always with us even in the dark when we don’t think he is there or when we aren’t looking for him. Also had a really good debrief at the end with the whole group as we talked about the experience then I read Isaiah 14:2 (I think) about how God will never leave us and guides the blind over rough surfaces, making them smooth . . . Perfect verse for caving debrief!!!
Stayed up the hill to eat our packed lunch before going to abseiling. I briefed on the equipment and Jess, who was up there as abseil extra, did the demo . . . I belayed on the 10m cliff.
Back down for an archery session to end the day. Mel came along and observed. Apparently I’m meant to be observed in every activity before I’m assessed. I felt like I had already been observed in archery several times but I guess it was never official. Whatever – lol. So that went fine. We debriefed by talking about what we were focused on in archery and what are focus is in life, which tied in well with our Christian Discovery from the morning where we discussed priorities; what influences them and how we decide on them . . . Such a good job!! I get to be outside and with kids (or teenagers, which I am slowly coming to appreciate) and talk, teach, discuss with them things that I really believe in and am passionate about and can make a difference in their lives – yay.
So that’s how my week was sort of like a roller coaster – up and down. My teacher was really great. She added good comments to the debriefings and enforced that the group would pray at the end of activity, which thought was overkill at first but came o appreciate and really like! Before they left on Friday she came up to thank me and said how the group was meant to be one of the worst and how none of the teachers wanted to be with it . . . but how it turned out okay and how she thought I had something to do with that – yay!
Weekend was good. Decided at the last minute to go on the young adult weekend away with All Saints Anglican Church, the one I have been going to with Mel. Al, her husband Dave, Josh, Pete, and Jess from work all go there and went on the weekend as well. I was really glad I went! Got to meet more young adults from the church and get to know them. There were there worship / talk sessions with a speaker. He spoke about the resurrection. He had some good points and made me think – I’ll leave it at that – haha. Mainly, how we always focus on Jesus’ death and how he died on the cross but then we commonly fail to mention the resurrection and how he came back . . . . and how our faith is somewhat based on that because anyone can die but it is the fact that he came back that sets him apart. Yeah, idk. But it was a good weekend.
So Mel has been spending the past month or more working to organize a city camp. A private school is going to be staying in hostels in down town Sydney and more or less experiencing poverty. So Julz and Mel are both up there until Wednesday working on that camp. I kind of wish I was up there because I’ve been talking to Mel a lot about it and it sounds like a really neat, different camp! But we are having a year 6 group in down here so that will be a nice refresher!!! Missing my housemates but alright with some down time!! I texted Dan and borrowed his guitar this afternoon after getting back from the retreat. I hadn’t just sat and played since being here so that was really awesome! He had his acoustic with him so it was his electric but he also had the chord to connect it to the amp so it was pretty much acoustic but with a bit of a different sound and the darn G string would not get in tune but oh well!!
All good here! Hope everyone is well at home. <3 <3 :) :)
November Highlights
SOME NOVEMBER HIGHLIGHTS!!!
Birthday Celebration by the river and Nowra bridge. Lemon Gelato - yum.
Happy 21st Julz!
Our attempt at making Julz a birthday cake. We acidentaly left the oven on too hot so the outside burned and the middle was still gooey. Oh well.
Julz in her new birthday "dry as a bone" jacket - they wear them on farms here!! Like in the TV series McLeod's Daughtes that we have been watching - lol. Check out hte size of that cereal box will ya! Huge!
Thursday night dinner moved to Maccas for dessert this week! Check out the size of the small McFlurry - perfect - makes ours look huge!Jess, Julz, Lincoln & Naomi (Son and wife of my boss)
Mel putting Anna's hair in to dreads to celebrate her completed HSCs (like our SATs)
It took like 6 hours but they looked good!!
Berry Doughnuts. Hot, Fresh, Cinnamon doughnuts. On a Sunday before church.
Echidna! At work.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Still Alive
Friday November 14, 2008
First Two Out-Trips!!
It has been a very full very amazing week!!!
The Group: Arden College
The age: Year 9
Numbers:
My Group: 8 very keen girls, one German teacher, one student teacher from MA
This week was different from any other so far; it was the first camp involving an out-trip (a night of camping) and it not only included one out-trip, but two!! I was paired up with Jess for the week and I learned so much!
Arden college, a private Anglican school, makes it compulsory for all of their year nine students to complete the bronze Duke of Edinburg award. I would compare this to an eagle scout or gold award however it is quite different.
In order to earn their bronze D of E award they must complete a certain number of hours on hikes and outdoor activity and keep a log. Youthworks has worked with Arden to create a program that meets all the requirements for the Duke of Edinburg bronze award in the week that they are here. While the students are at camp, they complete a practice hike, camp out, and canoe, as well as a “test” hike, camp, and canoe.
The order of things varied from group to group, this is what the week looked like for Jess and I and group C:
Monday:
Girls arrived
Packed gear into packs and headed out after lunch up along the ridge trail
They navigated through the markers, did an awesome job with compass bearings and hit every marker.
Along the way Jess pointed out the trail and gave me hints for remembering the way and knowing if you’d gone too far. I had done the ridge trail twice, once in that direction, and had done the trail coming from Scout Camp but not going too.
Luckily the creek we have to cross to get to Scout Camp / Bangalee was only up to mid-thigh.
Arrived at camp around 6pm.
Set up tents, established our “cooking circle” and began cooking dinner using the trangia (aluminum pots and such that function as a stove when the fuel burner is filled and lit). Three girls per trangia.
Jess, Alison and I slept in a Mega-Mid tent which is essentially a piece of plastic on the ground with a tipi-style tent on top with a pole holding it up in the middle. They can sleep up to four but are not the best in rain as the sides are not connected to the ground cover, like if I rolled over I would have ended up on the grass, a little further and I could have gone under the edge of the tent! Luckily it didn’t rain but I can’t say it was the best night of sleep in my life!
Tuesday:
Pancakes for breakky, which meant cooking circle and firing up the trangias again. All the experienced leaders grumble at pancakes for breakky as they take at least an hour and dirty the trangia again. But since this was just our practice hike and practice canoe we had time to spare. The girls had a pancake competition while Jess and I struggled with our trangia whose pan had a large bubble in the fry pan, forcing us to make small pancakes so they wouldn’t run off the bubble and to the edge of the pan. However, our very last pancake ended up winning the competition with its amazing golden brown color, perfect thickness, and yum!
Working with year nine girls can be quite fun. This group was so different from my last year nine group but then this was just girls and it was a different situation. For the most part they were positive, self motivated, and encouraging. I kept reminding myself that this was not the average group!
Jess let me do the canoeing briefing before we shoved off. It took less than an hour to get from Scout Camp to Waterslea; a nice morning paddle complete with a sing along! There was time for debrief and setting tents out to dry before lunch. Then Christian Discovery and cleaning trangia in the afternoon.
After pool duty and dinner duty, Jess came back to Koloona to take me home for a shower and dinner, which Mel was home preparing. Have I mentioned what awesome housemates I have?? I’m already going to miss Jess when she leaves. It has been pretty awesome spending time with her this week getting to know her since she is already so close with the other girls. There is such a sense of community and just . . . acceptance I guess . . . here. It’s hard to explain but everyone just genuinely loves and cares for each other. I would say this relationship and community is partially due to the experiences they have had together over the years (this being sort of a substitute uni (college) experience for a lot of them), partially due to the nature of the job, and a lot to do with us all being Christians.
Wednesday:
After a night of sleep in my own bed, I found myself packing once again. Instead of into a pack, this time I was packing into a large plastic barrel that would ride in my canoe 16 kilometers up the Shoalhaven River.
We left around 9:45 and arrived at Lynches around 3:45 after about an hour lunch break and a few “look at your map and tell us where we are” breaks.
While the girls set up their tents Julie drove down in one of the utes to deliver the packs of three girls in Al’s group. The way it works is one group hikes out, the other canoes out, everyone camps that night and then the next day the groups swap packs for barrels or barrels for packs and go back the other way. It is apparently a bit preferable to canoe the second day; in order to get an earlier start and better conditions on the water and avoid a pretty intense hill right at the start of the hike.
Our group was originally scheduled to do the hiking leg first but after the practice hike and canoe we swapped with Al’s group as they were struggling a bit more where as our girls could use the challenge.
After tents went up the girls took a dip in the river. We had them fill out log books and plan for the following day and ended up just sitting and chatting with them until it was time to start cooking dinner. Jess talked about her boyfriend in England and told the really cool story of how they meet in Uganda on a mission trip (which Julz and Al were also on as it was part of their youthworks traineeship). It was pretty neat just to sit and hang out and chat with them!
Since it is a Duke of Ed trip we are meant to pretty much let the girls take control, doing the planning and leading of their own trip; which is how I ended up setting my watch alarm for 5:08am before I went to sleep on my cushy patch of grass in the mega mid with Al and Jess.
Thursday:
The sun had not yet risen fully by 5:20am when we stood just outside the girls tents and told them it was time to get up. Since they had chosen the time, all it took was a “girls, it’s 20 past 5,” since that is how they phrase it here.
Boxes of cereal, fruit cups, and granola bars for breakky so once the tents were in the packs we were off. Ten to seven and our group of eight girls were leading the way across the cow paddock, up the trail as the mist rose off the river and the sun peaked out from behind the trees, sending its awesome rays through the clouds, illuminating the trees ahead of us. Five past eight and they had reached the farm house that sits overlooking the paddock and camp site. By now they had formed a herd, a mass, a pack, driving forward attacking this massive hill of a drive leaving their teachers and even Jess and I nearly out of breath at the back!
At one point Jess and I stopped to shed our jumpers and looked ahead a few meters to see the girls had stopped to do the same; no one had wanted to be the first one to stop.
The quick pace continued until one girl feel behind. This was drawn to their attention several times before they stopped to acknowledge it and do something about it. The teachers, Jess and I kept our distance as the girls circled up and discussed how they would handle the situation. So awesome, so amazing to watch a group of girls interact and work through these types of situations; situations that could only reveal themselves in this type of setting but have so much life application. I can’t tell you how many times this week I thought “and this is my job, I am getting paid to do this!” and thanked God for this amazing opportunity!!
The hike back from Lynches is more or less broken into three parts: the uphill driveway, the section through the bush which includes six markers to be found using map and compass, and the trail back to camp. The girls found the first three markers with ease; the first two being on trails and the third being along a power line. But somewhere between the third and fourth, the girls lost track of their bearing and we found ourselves more or less lost in the bush. We had a general idea of where we were but the truth was quite contrary to the girl’s unfailing belief that we knew exactly where we were and could lead them straight to the next marker.
I was so glad to have Jess there as it was comforting to know I wasn’t the only one who had no idea where we were! Had I been alone I would have felt like the worst most incompetent leader in the world but since I was there with an “old pro” I didn’t feel nearly as inadequate.
The nice thing about this camp though was that since it was Duke of Ed and the girls were “calling all the shots” any questions they asked us could be turned around to “what do you think?” or “it’s your decision.” Instead of it being our problem that we were “lost” it was up to them figure it out. We dropped some hints and suggestions as to what we were thinking and we eventually hit a track that lead to the road. We ended up following the road, getting on the trail to the last marker, having them navigate from that marker to the second to last marker and back before heading on the track home.
First Two Out-Trips!!
It has been a very full very amazing week!!!
The Group: Arden College
The age: Year 9
Numbers:
My Group: 8 very keen girls, one German teacher, one student teacher from MA
This week was different from any other so far; it was the first camp involving an out-trip (a night of camping) and it not only included one out-trip, but two!! I was paired up with Jess for the week and I learned so much!
Arden college, a private Anglican school, makes it compulsory for all of their year nine students to complete the bronze Duke of Edinburg award. I would compare this to an eagle scout or gold award however it is quite different.
In order to earn their bronze D of E award they must complete a certain number of hours on hikes and outdoor activity and keep a log. Youthworks has worked with Arden to create a program that meets all the requirements for the Duke of Edinburg bronze award in the week that they are here. While the students are at camp, they complete a practice hike, camp out, and canoe, as well as a “test” hike, camp, and canoe.
The order of things varied from group to group, this is what the week looked like for Jess and I and group C:
Monday:
Girls arrived
Packed gear into packs and headed out after lunch up along the ridge trail
They navigated through the markers, did an awesome job with compass bearings and hit every marker.
Along the way Jess pointed out the trail and gave me hints for remembering the way and knowing if you’d gone too far. I had done the ridge trail twice, once in that direction, and had done the trail coming from Scout Camp but not going too.
Luckily the creek we have to cross to get to Scout Camp / Bangalee was only up to mid-thigh.
Arrived at camp around 6pm.
Set up tents, established our “cooking circle” and began cooking dinner using the trangia (aluminum pots and such that function as a stove when the fuel burner is filled and lit). Three girls per trangia.
Jess, Alison and I slept in a Mega-Mid tent which is essentially a piece of plastic on the ground with a tipi-style tent on top with a pole holding it up in the middle. They can sleep up to four but are not the best in rain as the sides are not connected to the ground cover, like if I rolled over I would have ended up on the grass, a little further and I could have gone under the edge of the tent! Luckily it didn’t rain but I can’t say it was the best night of sleep in my life!
Tuesday:
Pancakes for breakky, which meant cooking circle and firing up the trangias again. All the experienced leaders grumble at pancakes for breakky as they take at least an hour and dirty the trangia again. But since this was just our practice hike and practice canoe we had time to spare. The girls had a pancake competition while Jess and I struggled with our trangia whose pan had a large bubble in the fry pan, forcing us to make small pancakes so they wouldn’t run off the bubble and to the edge of the pan. However, our very last pancake ended up winning the competition with its amazing golden brown color, perfect thickness, and yum!
Working with year nine girls can be quite fun. This group was so different from my last year nine group but then this was just girls and it was a different situation. For the most part they were positive, self motivated, and encouraging. I kept reminding myself that this was not the average group!
Jess let me do the canoeing briefing before we shoved off. It took less than an hour to get from Scout Camp to Waterslea; a nice morning paddle complete with a sing along! There was time for debrief and setting tents out to dry before lunch. Then Christian Discovery and cleaning trangia in the afternoon.
After pool duty and dinner duty, Jess came back to Koloona to take me home for a shower and dinner, which Mel was home preparing. Have I mentioned what awesome housemates I have?? I’m already going to miss Jess when she leaves. It has been pretty awesome spending time with her this week getting to know her since she is already so close with the other girls. There is such a sense of community and just . . . acceptance I guess . . . here. It’s hard to explain but everyone just genuinely loves and cares for each other. I would say this relationship and community is partially due to the experiences they have had together over the years (this being sort of a substitute uni (college) experience for a lot of them), partially due to the nature of the job, and a lot to do with us all being Christians.
Wednesday:
After a night of sleep in my own bed, I found myself packing once again. Instead of into a pack, this time I was packing into a large plastic barrel that would ride in my canoe 16 kilometers up the Shoalhaven River.
We left around 9:45 and arrived at Lynches around 3:45 after about an hour lunch break and a few “look at your map and tell us where we are” breaks.
While the girls set up their tents Julie drove down in one of the utes to deliver the packs of three girls in Al’s group. The way it works is one group hikes out, the other canoes out, everyone camps that night and then the next day the groups swap packs for barrels or barrels for packs and go back the other way. It is apparently a bit preferable to canoe the second day; in order to get an earlier start and better conditions on the water and avoid a pretty intense hill right at the start of the hike.
Our group was originally scheduled to do the hiking leg first but after the practice hike and canoe we swapped with Al’s group as they were struggling a bit more where as our girls could use the challenge.
After tents went up the girls took a dip in the river. We had them fill out log books and plan for the following day and ended up just sitting and chatting with them until it was time to start cooking dinner. Jess talked about her boyfriend in England and told the really cool story of how they meet in Uganda on a mission trip (which Julz and Al were also on as it was part of their youthworks traineeship). It was pretty neat just to sit and hang out and chat with them!
Since it is a Duke of Ed trip we are meant to pretty much let the girls take control, doing the planning and leading of their own trip; which is how I ended up setting my watch alarm for 5:08am before I went to sleep on my cushy patch of grass in the mega mid with Al and Jess.
Thursday:
The sun had not yet risen fully by 5:20am when we stood just outside the girls tents and told them it was time to get up. Since they had chosen the time, all it took was a “girls, it’s 20 past 5,” since that is how they phrase it here.
Boxes of cereal, fruit cups, and granola bars for breakky so once the tents were in the packs we were off. Ten to seven and our group of eight girls were leading the way across the cow paddock, up the trail as the mist rose off the river and the sun peaked out from behind the trees, sending its awesome rays through the clouds, illuminating the trees ahead of us. Five past eight and they had reached the farm house that sits overlooking the paddock and camp site. By now they had formed a herd, a mass, a pack, driving forward attacking this massive hill of a drive leaving their teachers and even Jess and I nearly out of breath at the back!
At one point Jess and I stopped to shed our jumpers and looked ahead a few meters to see the girls had stopped to do the same; no one had wanted to be the first one to stop.
The quick pace continued until one girl feel behind. This was drawn to their attention several times before they stopped to acknowledge it and do something about it. The teachers, Jess and I kept our distance as the girls circled up and discussed how they would handle the situation. So awesome, so amazing to watch a group of girls interact and work through these types of situations; situations that could only reveal themselves in this type of setting but have so much life application. I can’t tell you how many times this week I thought “and this is my job, I am getting paid to do this!” and thanked God for this amazing opportunity!!
The hike back from Lynches is more or less broken into three parts: the uphill driveway, the section through the bush which includes six markers to be found using map and compass, and the trail back to camp. The girls found the first three markers with ease; the first two being on trails and the third being along a power line. But somewhere between the third and fourth, the girls lost track of their bearing and we found ourselves more or less lost in the bush. We had a general idea of where we were but the truth was quite contrary to the girl’s unfailing belief that we knew exactly where we were and could lead them straight to the next marker.
I was so glad to have Jess there as it was comforting to know I wasn’t the only one who had no idea where we were! Had I been alone I would have felt like the worst most incompetent leader in the world but since I was there with an “old pro” I didn’t feel nearly as inadequate.
The nice thing about this camp though was that since it was Duke of Ed and the girls were “calling all the shots” any questions they asked us could be turned around to “what do you think?” or “it’s your decision.” Instead of it being our problem that we were “lost” it was up to them figure it out. We dropped some hints and suggestions as to what we were thinking and we eventually hit a track that lead to the road. We ended up following the road, getting on the trail to the last marker, having them navigate from that marker to the second to last marker and back before heading on the track home.
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Dinner From Steve
Earlier this week Steve, who lives in one of the boys houses across from ours, made us dinner!!Potatoes and steak on the barbie, spinach and tomato salad, and desert!!! We were so full! Thanks Steve!!
Julie thoroughly enjoying her desert!
Jess - our fourth housemate for a while!! I get to work with her next week and do two hiking / canoeing out trips!! Super excited to work with and learn from her!
On the road to Waterslea.Took this today while walking over to the office. Not a great pic but the sky was really pretty!
The river is off to the left and waterslea is up on the hill on the right.
Wrinkled Hands
Saturday November 8, 2008
So did I mention that we don’t have a dish washer??
I feel like much of my time is spent doing the dishes, doing the laundry, and just keeping our humble abode neat and tidy – boy do I sound like Mom!
While washing up tonight I realized this is my first real experience living in a house outside of home, if that makes sense. Senior year we were in a suite but it didn’t have a stove and the washer and dryer were upstairs . . . Over the summer we were in a house but that was only for three months and it didn’t have a washer or dryer either :-P
I guess this isn’t technically a “real house” either but pretty close! We have a kitchen and a laundry room and a living room area and a table, although we barely use it.
Anyway . . . This week – Wednesday through Friday:
The Group: Clairgate Primary School (Public)
The age: Year 5 and 6
Numbers: 6 groups, 90 campers, 5 teachers
It was pretty neat to have the opportunity to work with a public school group! No way would that happen at home; a public school coming to a Christian run organization for camp and on top of that having Christian Discovery (CD) which includes discussion groups and serious ministering to the kids – pretty cool!!
Some of the kids had a church going background but many didn’t so I had a few of those tricky “how do we know God is real?” questions and “how do we know the bible is real?” and “didn’t they find Jesus’ bones last year?” . . . I can’t help but think back to when I was a sixth grader and the people that were answering those questions for me – wow, so weird to be on the other side of those questions and eyes and ears now. Still accepting that fact and convincing myself that I am qualified for this!! Lol.
I had a pretty good group. As per the age, the biggest issue was getting them to be quite and listen but other than that it was a nice group of kids. Wednesday involved the 4K hike to and from the jetty before lunch and then another 4k+ hike in the afternoon. I was prepared for a lot of complaining but they were actually pretty enthusiastic! We went up past the abseiling cliffs to a look out along the ridge called pulpit rock. I had never been there before so was a little worried about getting lost but it was quite straight forward. On the way back I had them each pick or spot or hear something interesting then at the end we shared our interesting things and talked about how we can see God in nature and how only God could have created something as unique as a banksia tree – which has these odd cone/ flower things!
The group also did archery, orienteering, and canoeing. I ran my first archery session here. Allison was there so she watched and helped but I covered pretty much everything in my briefing so that was good. It was my first time briefing canoeing as well. Again, I remembered pretty much everything and the session went fairly smoothly, considering it was quite a windy day.
Having had a year 9 group and a year 3 and 4 group last week, it was interesting to have a year 5 and 6 group this week just for comparison. They really are right tin the middle. Still listen to you without too much attitude yet starting to define themselves and not as “willing and eager to please.”
Yup, so all is well here; a pretty low-key weekend. I went up to abseiling today with Mel to watch / help her set up for a weekend church group. I watched her set up the 6meter drop then she helped me set up the 10m. It was good practice. I stuck around for the session, part out of interest part out of nothing better to do at home! Had some nice chats with people from the church while they waited for their turn . . .
Talking with Mel on the way back down, we discussed how much people rely on you, the belayer, for constant encouragement and reassurance as they go down. They are really putting their trust in their belayer, we are their safety as they go down this cliff backwards – kind of a strange thought and a big responsibility!
So did I mention that we don’t have a dish washer??
I feel like much of my time is spent doing the dishes, doing the laundry, and just keeping our humble abode neat and tidy – boy do I sound like Mom!
While washing up tonight I realized this is my first real experience living in a house outside of home, if that makes sense. Senior year we were in a suite but it didn’t have a stove and the washer and dryer were upstairs . . . Over the summer we were in a house but that was only for three months and it didn’t have a washer or dryer either :-P
I guess this isn’t technically a “real house” either but pretty close! We have a kitchen and a laundry room and a living room area and a table, although we barely use it.
Anyway . . . This week – Wednesday through Friday:
The Group: Clairgate Primary School (Public)
The age: Year 5 and 6
Numbers: 6 groups, 90 campers, 5 teachers
It was pretty neat to have the opportunity to work with a public school group! No way would that happen at home; a public school coming to a Christian run organization for camp and on top of that having Christian Discovery (CD) which includes discussion groups and serious ministering to the kids – pretty cool!!
Some of the kids had a church going background but many didn’t so I had a few of those tricky “how do we know God is real?” questions and “how do we know the bible is real?” and “didn’t they find Jesus’ bones last year?” . . . I can’t help but think back to when I was a sixth grader and the people that were answering those questions for me – wow, so weird to be on the other side of those questions and eyes and ears now. Still accepting that fact and convincing myself that I am qualified for this!! Lol.
I had a pretty good group. As per the age, the biggest issue was getting them to be quite and listen but other than that it was a nice group of kids. Wednesday involved the 4K hike to and from the jetty before lunch and then another 4k+ hike in the afternoon. I was prepared for a lot of complaining but they were actually pretty enthusiastic! We went up past the abseiling cliffs to a look out along the ridge called pulpit rock. I had never been there before so was a little worried about getting lost but it was quite straight forward. On the way back I had them each pick or spot or hear something interesting then at the end we shared our interesting things and talked about how we can see God in nature and how only God could have created something as unique as a banksia tree – which has these odd cone/ flower things!
The group also did archery, orienteering, and canoeing. I ran my first archery session here. Allison was there so she watched and helped but I covered pretty much everything in my briefing so that was good. It was my first time briefing canoeing as well. Again, I remembered pretty much everything and the session went fairly smoothly, considering it was quite a windy day.
Having had a year 9 group and a year 3 and 4 group last week, it was interesting to have a year 5 and 6 group this week just for comparison. They really are right tin the middle. Still listen to you without too much attitude yet starting to define themselves and not as “willing and eager to please.”
Yup, so all is well here; a pretty low-key weekend. I went up to abseiling today with Mel to watch / help her set up for a weekend church group. I watched her set up the 6meter drop then she helped me set up the 10m. It was good practice. I stuck around for the session, part out of interest part out of nothing better to do at home! Had some nice chats with people from the church while they waited for their turn . . .
Talking with Mel on the way back down, we discussed how much people rely on you, the belayer, for constant encouragement and reassurance as they go down. They are really putting their trust in their belayer, we are their safety as they go down this cliff backwards – kind of a strange thought and a big responsibility!
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Monday Morning In Sydney
Monday November 2, 2008
Is it strange that I feel dirtier after spending a day in the city than I do after a day out in the bush? Just a different kind of dirty I suppose.
On the nearly familiar train ride now, snacking on some candy corn received in a package earlier this week, ast eh track curve in and out along the southern coastline. At the next stop, Wollongong, I’ll be nearly half way back to Nowra, where laundry, cleaning and general organization (what I tend to call “getting my life back together”) awaits me.
Thursday night I received a text from Laura, a really close friend from WAC: rowing and senior year suite mate; “Did you get Monday off? There is a possibility I could come to Sydney this weekend.” Ever since we decided not to follow through with some last minute plans in October, we had been trying to organize a get-together either in Sydney or in Melbourne / Sale, where Laura is coaching rowing for a private school.
Both of our schedules seem to be uncertain and constantly changing so when we finally united at Sydney’s Central station around 9:30 pm on Friday, following a train trip from each of us and a plane ride on Laura’s part, it was quite a happy moment for lack of better words to describe it.
It was soooooo good to reunite and spend the weekend together! I know I have already expressed over and over how awesome my house mates and coworkers are but I think I’ve also explained how close friendship take time to build and there is just no replacement for a friend you’ve known going on five years – wow!
In attempt to minimize the rambling I’ll try to give a brief summary of our weekend!
Friday Night:
Laura had already checked us into a hostel, which gave us coupons for 15 free drinks at various pubs in Sydney. We were both pretty tired so we redeemed one of our free drinks on the way to the hostel and caught up on each others lives!
Saturday:
Woke up and caught the bus to Collaroy Beach, about 20-30min outside of the city. Stopped by the grocery store first and a coffee shop so we could have breakky on the bus!
Spent a good bit of the day at the beach watching Fiona’s surf boat rowing competition! Very interesting! 4 people in a large boat plus a sweep who does the steering. They row out through the surf, around a buoy (pronounced boy-e) and then back in. It can be pretty dangerous and poor Fiona’s boat actually capsized on the way back in during one of their races. It wasn’t a hot day but not too cool either so neat to watch and gave us more time to catch up.
Had a late lunch at a pub on the beach, found a geocache and dropped off the travel bug from the summer, walked around Colloray, read, took showers, dinner with Fiona and 2 of her friends in Dee Why beach. Spent the night at Fiona’s.
Is it strange that I feel dirtier after spending a day in the city than I do after a day out in the bush? Just a different kind of dirty I suppose.
On the nearly familiar train ride now, snacking on some candy corn received in a package earlier this week, ast eh track curve in and out along the southern coastline. At the next stop, Wollongong, I’ll be nearly half way back to Nowra, where laundry, cleaning and general organization (what I tend to call “getting my life back together”) awaits me.
Thursday night I received a text from Laura, a really close friend from WAC: rowing and senior year suite mate; “Did you get Monday off? There is a possibility I could come to Sydney this weekend.” Ever since we decided not to follow through with some last minute plans in October, we had been trying to organize a get-together either in Sydney or in Melbourne / Sale, where Laura is coaching rowing for a private school.
Both of our schedules seem to be uncertain and constantly changing so when we finally united at Sydney’s Central station around 9:30 pm on Friday, following a train trip from each of us and a plane ride on Laura’s part, it was quite a happy moment for lack of better words to describe it.
It was soooooo good to reunite and spend the weekend together! I know I have already expressed over and over how awesome my house mates and coworkers are but I think I’ve also explained how close friendship take time to build and there is just no replacement for a friend you’ve known going on five years – wow!
In attempt to minimize the rambling I’ll try to give a brief summary of our weekend!
Friday Night:
Laura had already checked us into a hostel, which gave us coupons for 15 free drinks at various pubs in Sydney. We were both pretty tired so we redeemed one of our free drinks on the way to the hostel and caught up on each others lives!
Saturday:
Woke up and caught the bus to Collaroy Beach, about 20-30min outside of the city. Stopped by the grocery store first and a coffee shop so we could have breakky on the bus!
Spent a good bit of the day at the beach watching Fiona’s surf boat rowing competition! Very interesting! 4 people in a large boat plus a sweep who does the steering. They row out through the surf, around a buoy (pronounced boy-e) and then back in. It can be pretty dangerous and poor Fiona’s boat actually capsized on the way back in during one of their races. It wasn’t a hot day but not too cool either so neat to watch and gave us more time to catch up.
Had a late lunch at a pub on the beach, found a geocache and dropped off the travel bug from the summer, walked around Colloray, read, took showers, dinner with Fiona and 2 of her friends in Dee Why beach. Spent the night at Fiona’s.
Sunday:
I bought a coffee before hopping on the bus to have with breakky on the way to Manly beach. From Manly we took the Ferry into the city to give Laura the “full Sydney experience.” I had done the ferry back in 2006 and remembered how cool in was to come into Sydney via the water past the opera house . . .
We had a nice day in the city, walking around outside the opera house, along circular quay, to the rocks where we walked through the markets; crafts, prints, books, and free samples of fresh nuts . . . Redeemed two more of our free drinks through out the day.After lunch we stopped by Rob’s apartment to drop off our bags so we could stop lugging them around! Went up to Hyde Park where we went through the Barracks museum. Very interesting! We learned a lot about the convicts and the history behind the building. A highlight was on the last floor where they had a whole room set up like the old sleeping quarters with hammocks strung in two rows down the room. Laura and I took it upon ourselves to “test them out” and spent longer than intended lounging, talking, and trying to get a good picture!
We were headed back towards the opera house when we heard bells ring and remembered we had meant to check out St. Mary’s Cathedral at Hyde Park near the museum. Then we remembered that it was Sunday. We decided to take a chance on it, turn around and see if there might be a church service. We were 15min late and walked in during the sermon but it was an interesting experience. Neat church, kind of an odd service, and not just because it was Catholic but yeah, I didn’t exactly feel like I had gone to church but it was an experience.
A failed attempt at the Royal Botanical Gardens, a few sprinkles, and a hamburger later, we made our way back to Rob’s where the NRL game between England and Australia was on! Aussie won!!! Gosh, I miss NRL! Never been into a sport but NRL, yeah.
So that was our long awesome day in Sydney, I’m sure I’ve forgotten to mention some things because it was such a full day!
Monday:
Laura’s flight was at 10:00am so the shuttle picked her up from Rob’s at 7:45am. I left shortly after headed toward the block where all the outdoor shops were. Mel, my housemate had told me about it, so I was eager to check it out! I spent the morning trying on shoes and looking earnestly for affordable navy blue shorts, which don’t seem to exisit in outdoor shops!
I took notes on lots of shoes so I can now look online and order from home. I’m pretty sure I can still make out cheaper if I order from home and have them shipped than if I buy them here.
Caught the train home and Mel picked me up around 5 – home sweet home!
Such a great weekend!!!
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
A Rambling About Day 2
Tuesday October 28, 2008
Experience, so much of this job is experience. The more I do the activities with groups and the more I see other people run them the more I will improve.
So the first activity of the day was the hike/swim at the jetty. It was another double activity so my group along with Pete’s group. Pete was setting up for abseiling so I led both of our groups in getting PFDs and walking the 2k trail to the jetty, where we met up with Pete. I had done the walk several times so that wasn’t a big deal and Pete was there when we got there so that all went well.
Back from the jetty we had morning tea and Christian Discovery (CD). Julie did the mean bit then we broke into our groups to cover some discussion questions . . . We talked about who God is; how we tend to get our own ideas about God and “put him in a box” but really we should look to the bible to learn who God really is. So in our groups we looked at some bible passages and pulled out some characteristics of God. We looked at how half of the words eluded to a loving, caring, forgiving God and the other half focused more on powerful, should be feared, God who likes justice . . . I talked about how it was important to remember God is a balance of these characteristics and not just see him as loving and not just as someone to be feared but a God who seeks justice because he loves us and wants a relationship with us.
Working with year nine kids is a whole totally different experience than working with younger kids. Ohhhhh so different. The conversations and topics are deeper; not just the basic bible stories and God loves you message! I’m definitely going to be challenged working here but it will be good I think. Part of me feels like “who am I to be teaching these youth about God and religion? I’m still learning and growing myself” I guess I’ll just keep in mind that it’s okay if I don’t have all the answers and I can always look it up or ask someone after work and get back to them!
After lunch I ran my first low ropes session. I had seen it done with younger kids but as I said, older kids are so different. My briefing went alright and I’m pretty sure I covered everything. Before getting them on the low ropes elements I had them do a few trust activities. I broke them into groups of three to do a “trust pass/fall” but they weren’t taking it seriously so I did a group trust circle instead; where everyone stands in a circle shoulder to shoulder with one person in the middle who falls and gets passed around. This went better but I still had to stop several times to remind them that we couldn’t do the elements if they could not trust each other and if I could not see that they were taking it seriously and were going to be safe. I actually had to have one kid sit out because we finally got this girl to go in the middle of the trust circle and it was going really well and then he did a fake scream and pretended to drop her . . .
So we finally got through that and moved on to the elements. The first one went okay and involved one person walking across a rope with two spotters. But the next one went really well! I was headed toward a similar element to the first one but Scott had his group there so I went to the ring of fire instead and was so glad that I did. Ring of fire involves the whole group getting from one side to the other through a metal rig which is placed about shoulder/head height off the ground. It was really cool to watch as the group worked together and came together through that activity – really cool! Some of the people that were hesitant in the trust circle were now being lifted off the ground and passed through a mental ring by their classmates.
The debrief went alright as well; discussing how our trust had changed from beginning to end and sort of analyzing what made the second activity smoother . . . I think they got something out of it – I hope! We also discussed attitude and how much of an impact that has. I shared the awesome quote “Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it: attitude is everything.” Then I added how our faith / trust in God combined with our attitude can really impact how we go through life . . . It would have been better if they could have somehow arrived at that on there own. That is one thing I really want to work on: asking the right questions and saying the right things to get a group thinking and talking. This I guess will come with experience but I’m sure it also depends on the group. *sigh* so much to learn – but you have to start somewhere.
Next activity, after afternoon tea, was abseiling. I have just spent a weekend getting abseil training but had never seen it run here at Shoalhaven and had never run a session. Julie hiked up with my group, which was good cause I wasn’t 100% positive of the trail, although I’m sure I would have made it fine. We always have someone staffed as “abseil extra” and today it was Alison
So Al and Julz did the briefing as I watched and then helped the students get their harnesses and hardware. We had a 20m, 10m, and 6m cliff set up. I went with Julz to the 6m and watched her belay a few people before she let me take over. First person I made a hugeeee mistake and sat the belay rope on the ground as I attached her onto the abseil line. Really, really bad as the whole point of the belay line is that I am holding on to them in case they fall.
Other than that the belaying was okay. I need to work on coiling the rope as I bring it back up and various other things but I think I have them main idea down. Abseiling is definitely one of the more involved activities I guess – a lot to learn. After this weekend, I think I’m pretty set on how to set up but I need to keep practicing and actually use it or I’ll loose it. I have some spare rope at home so I’m going to practice with that!
I definitely have a lot to learn still but the more experience and the more I see it run the more I will improve.
I feel sometimes like I’m just standing around not being helpful and there is something I should or could be doing. But again I guess more time and experience will help me know what to do and what needs to be done. For now I just keep asking “what can I do?” “Is there something I can do / should be doing . . .” I really like this job and want to do it well. I can’t believe there’s already only about five more months left of me working. I’m afraid that by the time I get fully confident and comfortable it s going to be time to leave. Hummmm . . . Trying to take it all in, retain it, get as much experience as I can, and learn from every opportunity.
Busy week – we all agreed that it already feels like Friday but it is only Tuesday! Tomorrow is going to be crazy as this group is leaving at 1:30 after lunch but the next group is due in at 10:30am. That should be interesting and crazy!
Experience, so much of this job is experience. The more I do the activities with groups and the more I see other people run them the more I will improve.
So the first activity of the day was the hike/swim at the jetty. It was another double activity so my group along with Pete’s group. Pete was setting up for abseiling so I led both of our groups in getting PFDs and walking the 2k trail to the jetty, where we met up with Pete. I had done the walk several times so that wasn’t a big deal and Pete was there when we got there so that all went well.
Back from the jetty we had morning tea and Christian Discovery (CD). Julie did the mean bit then we broke into our groups to cover some discussion questions . . . We talked about who God is; how we tend to get our own ideas about God and “put him in a box” but really we should look to the bible to learn who God really is. So in our groups we looked at some bible passages and pulled out some characteristics of God. We looked at how half of the words eluded to a loving, caring, forgiving God and the other half focused more on powerful, should be feared, God who likes justice . . . I talked about how it was important to remember God is a balance of these characteristics and not just see him as loving and not just as someone to be feared but a God who seeks justice because he loves us and wants a relationship with us.
Working with year nine kids is a whole totally different experience than working with younger kids. Ohhhhh so different. The conversations and topics are deeper; not just the basic bible stories and God loves you message! I’m definitely going to be challenged working here but it will be good I think. Part of me feels like “who am I to be teaching these youth about God and religion? I’m still learning and growing myself” I guess I’ll just keep in mind that it’s okay if I don’t have all the answers and I can always look it up or ask someone after work and get back to them!
After lunch I ran my first low ropes session. I had seen it done with younger kids but as I said, older kids are so different. My briefing went alright and I’m pretty sure I covered everything. Before getting them on the low ropes elements I had them do a few trust activities. I broke them into groups of three to do a “trust pass/fall” but they weren’t taking it seriously so I did a group trust circle instead; where everyone stands in a circle shoulder to shoulder with one person in the middle who falls and gets passed around. This went better but I still had to stop several times to remind them that we couldn’t do the elements if they could not trust each other and if I could not see that they were taking it seriously and were going to be safe. I actually had to have one kid sit out because we finally got this girl to go in the middle of the trust circle and it was going really well and then he did a fake scream and pretended to drop her . . .
So we finally got through that and moved on to the elements. The first one went okay and involved one person walking across a rope with two spotters. But the next one went really well! I was headed toward a similar element to the first one but Scott had his group there so I went to the ring of fire instead and was so glad that I did. Ring of fire involves the whole group getting from one side to the other through a metal rig which is placed about shoulder/head height off the ground. It was really cool to watch as the group worked together and came together through that activity – really cool! Some of the people that were hesitant in the trust circle were now being lifted off the ground and passed through a mental ring by their classmates.
The debrief went alright as well; discussing how our trust had changed from beginning to end and sort of analyzing what made the second activity smoother . . . I think they got something out of it – I hope! We also discussed attitude and how much of an impact that has. I shared the awesome quote “Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it: attitude is everything.” Then I added how our faith / trust in God combined with our attitude can really impact how we go through life . . . It would have been better if they could have somehow arrived at that on there own. That is one thing I really want to work on: asking the right questions and saying the right things to get a group thinking and talking. This I guess will come with experience but I’m sure it also depends on the group. *sigh* so much to learn – but you have to start somewhere.
Next activity, after afternoon tea, was abseiling. I have just spent a weekend getting abseil training but had never seen it run here at Shoalhaven and had never run a session. Julie hiked up with my group, which was good cause I wasn’t 100% positive of the trail, although I’m sure I would have made it fine. We always have someone staffed as “abseil extra” and today it was Alison
So Al and Julz did the briefing as I watched and then helped the students get their harnesses and hardware. We had a 20m, 10m, and 6m cliff set up. I went with Julz to the 6m and watched her belay a few people before she let me take over. First person I made a hugeeee mistake and sat the belay rope on the ground as I attached her onto the abseil line. Really, really bad as the whole point of the belay line is that I am holding on to them in case they fall.
Other than that the belaying was okay. I need to work on coiling the rope as I bring it back up and various other things but I think I have them main idea down. Abseiling is definitely one of the more involved activities I guess – a lot to learn. After this weekend, I think I’m pretty set on how to set up but I need to keep practicing and actually use it or I’ll loose it. I have some spare rope at home so I’m going to practice with that!
I definitely have a lot to learn still but the more experience and the more I see it run the more I will improve.
I feel sometimes like I’m just standing around not being helpful and there is something I should or could be doing. But again I guess more time and experience will help me know what to do and what needs to be done. For now I just keep asking “what can I do?” “Is there something I can do / should be doing . . .” I really like this job and want to do it well. I can’t believe there’s already only about five more months left of me working. I’m afraid that by the time I get fully confident and comfortable it s going to be time to leave. Hummmm . . . Trying to take it all in, retain it, get as much experience as I can, and learn from every opportunity.
Busy week – we all agreed that it already feels like Friday but it is only Tuesday! Tomorrow is going to be crazy as this group is leaving at 1:30 after lunch but the next group is due in at 10:30am. That should be interesting and crazy!
My First Group
Monday October 27, 2008
The Group: Holy Spirit College (Catholic High School)
The age: Year 9
Numbers: 11 groups of 15 (about 160 campers), 12 teachers
Wow so first group all on my own. Year nine – phew. It didn’t take long to realize they were going to be a whole different ball of wax than the year three and four kids I had spent the last two weeks with.
I had to be firm, I had to be confident, I had to be consistent and not let down. My biggest challenge was just getting them to stop talking and listen to my instructions. After being in the classroom, I have come up with several strategies for getting the attention of younger kids, but all would be inappropriate with this age group. For the most part just starting to talk would work but yeah, there are always “those few.” :-P
So the day began with Monday morning breakfast and devotions before we moved into setting up for the group, which includes many various jobs. The group arrived at 10:30 (half an hour early) but by the time they had their bags set down and were all in the meeting room for their “welcome to camp talk,” we were back on schedule!
Since it is such a large group, the girls are staying up at Koolona, about a five minute walk from Waterslea, where the boys are staying, where all the meals are being held and the activities are being run from. So after the talk, given by Julie, I helped walk the girls up to Koolona to drop off their stuff and get ready for their first activity of the day.
Back to Waterslea for a hectic lunch! 170 is a lot of people!! Apparently the dinning room can by set to seat 200 but I don’t know how that would work as you can barely squeeze behind the chairs now. The first meal is always the craziest, especially with this many people! But it all worked out and activity session 1 started on time at 1:30.
My first activity was orienteering. I think I have already explained this but basically they are given a map and are set out to find different wooden markers around the site and record the name of the bird written on the marker. For the older kids, we also give them a compass; have them take a bearing when the find the marker and then record the man made object at that bearing.
Before introducing orienteering, I sat them in a circle and went through their names and had them tell me something interesting about themselves, which most of them struggled with. I didn’t actually care if they told me something interesting or not I just wanted some time to repeat their name in my head over and over!!!
I also went ahead and told them about my eyes and how they might not think I’m looking at them . . . younger kids don’t seem to have as much of an issue with it but I could tell it could be one with this group so figured I’d get that out there from the start. Kind of funny cause then one of the girl’s interesting things was “I have the same eye problem as you” huh.
So yeah, orienteering went pretty well. It’s a pretty easy activity to run once you explain it. Did a debrief at the end where they choose a word from a pile and used it in a sentence to describe their experience – some where better than others but that is to be expected. Also asked them about their team work within their groups. . .
Afternoon tea then onto activity two – canoeing. Ohhhhh if an activity could crash and burn wow yeah. Just a mess. Lots of factors contributed to this hectic, chaotic canoe session! I would say “unorganized” would sum it up pretty well.
Since there are 11 activity groups this week a lot of the activities are doubled up – meaning two groups are there at the same time. So instead of the usual one instructor out with their 15 kids + someone in the power boat, it was 2 instructors and 30 kids. It was crazy. Could have gone alright had we just split and taken our groups separate ways instead of trying to keep them together. I won’t go into too much detail now but we’ll just say it was a learning experience! Then after we got off the water and the canoes stacked away the kids pretty much headed off, leaving paddles . . . It was 5:00 so the session was technically over but that didn’t give a chance to debrief at all. I’ve decided I’m going to debrief in the morning just cause I think we need some closure on that – or maybe at least I do!! Sometimes things seem a lot worse when you are in charge, I’d like to think that’s the case but I don’t know!
Pretty hot! It was hanging around 90*F and it’s still about 85*F in our lovely, non air-conditioned home!
We have a fourth house member this week: Jess. I’ve heard about Jess every since I got here and I finally got to meet her this weekend! She worked here for nearly three years before heading over to France to work on a camp and then to England to be with her boyfriend. She is home for a month so she can get a work visa to go back to England and while she’s here she is working at Shoalhaven and staying with us! She’s really nice and is an awesome and most welcomed fourth housemate!!!
The Group: Holy Spirit College (Catholic High School)
The age: Year 9
Numbers: 11 groups of 15 (about 160 campers), 12 teachers
Wow so first group all on my own. Year nine – phew. It didn’t take long to realize they were going to be a whole different ball of wax than the year three and four kids I had spent the last two weeks with.
I had to be firm, I had to be confident, I had to be consistent and not let down. My biggest challenge was just getting them to stop talking and listen to my instructions. After being in the classroom, I have come up with several strategies for getting the attention of younger kids, but all would be inappropriate with this age group. For the most part just starting to talk would work but yeah, there are always “those few.” :-P
So the day began with Monday morning breakfast and devotions before we moved into setting up for the group, which includes many various jobs. The group arrived at 10:30 (half an hour early) but by the time they had their bags set down and were all in the meeting room for their “welcome to camp talk,” we were back on schedule!
Since it is such a large group, the girls are staying up at Koolona, about a five minute walk from Waterslea, where the boys are staying, where all the meals are being held and the activities are being run from. So after the talk, given by Julie, I helped walk the girls up to Koolona to drop off their stuff and get ready for their first activity of the day.
Back to Waterslea for a hectic lunch! 170 is a lot of people!! Apparently the dinning room can by set to seat 200 but I don’t know how that would work as you can barely squeeze behind the chairs now. The first meal is always the craziest, especially with this many people! But it all worked out and activity session 1 started on time at 1:30.
My first activity was orienteering. I think I have already explained this but basically they are given a map and are set out to find different wooden markers around the site and record the name of the bird written on the marker. For the older kids, we also give them a compass; have them take a bearing when the find the marker and then record the man made object at that bearing.
Before introducing orienteering, I sat them in a circle and went through their names and had them tell me something interesting about themselves, which most of them struggled with. I didn’t actually care if they told me something interesting or not I just wanted some time to repeat their name in my head over and over!!!
I also went ahead and told them about my eyes and how they might not think I’m looking at them . . . younger kids don’t seem to have as much of an issue with it but I could tell it could be one with this group so figured I’d get that out there from the start. Kind of funny cause then one of the girl’s interesting things was “I have the same eye problem as you” huh.
So yeah, orienteering went pretty well. It’s a pretty easy activity to run once you explain it. Did a debrief at the end where they choose a word from a pile and used it in a sentence to describe their experience – some where better than others but that is to be expected. Also asked them about their team work within their groups. . .
Afternoon tea then onto activity two – canoeing. Ohhhhh if an activity could crash and burn wow yeah. Just a mess. Lots of factors contributed to this hectic, chaotic canoe session! I would say “unorganized” would sum it up pretty well.
Since there are 11 activity groups this week a lot of the activities are doubled up – meaning two groups are there at the same time. So instead of the usual one instructor out with their 15 kids + someone in the power boat, it was 2 instructors and 30 kids. It was crazy. Could have gone alright had we just split and taken our groups separate ways instead of trying to keep them together. I won’t go into too much detail now but we’ll just say it was a learning experience! Then after we got off the water and the canoes stacked away the kids pretty much headed off, leaving paddles . . . It was 5:00 so the session was technically over but that didn’t give a chance to debrief at all. I’ve decided I’m going to debrief in the morning just cause I think we need some closure on that – or maybe at least I do!! Sometimes things seem a lot worse when you are in charge, I’d like to think that’s the case but I don’t know!
Pretty hot! It was hanging around 90*F and it’s still about 85*F in our lovely, non air-conditioned home!
We have a fourth house member this week: Jess. I’ve heard about Jess every since I got here and I finally got to meet her this weekend! She worked here for nearly three years before heading over to France to work on a camp and then to England to be with her boyfriend. She is home for a month so she can get a work visa to go back to England and while she’s here she is working at Shoalhaven and staying with us! She’s really nice and is an awesome and most welcomed fourth housemate!!!
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Another American!
Tuesday October 21, 2008
We had initiatives and canoeing today. It was a bit chilly, in the lower 60*s F (15-16*C) but not too cold.
So yesterday I found out there was a student teacher from America here with the group! With the busyness of the first day we didn’t get much of a chance to talk so today we had a nice chat after lunch during free time. She is from Northern New Jersey in her senior year at Boston University and is studying abroad for the semester (Sep-Dec, like I did) but is doing her student teaching over here – wow! As you can imagine I had a ton of questions with her: how her student teaching is structured, if she’s taking classes as well, how her time in a private Christian school is going to transfer to a teaching degree and certificate at home, which I never really got a clear answer on!
So it was really interesting to talk to her. It made me think about how a year ago I was in the classroom; just getting my feet wet 3 days a week. I’m so grateful for the program I went through; the awesome mentors I had and the small-sized courses and seminars that helped me learn and grow.
We also talked about outdoor education and she agreed that it is way more common over here than at home for schools to take their students on camp. She mentioned how they have physical education as a class but then in addition to that they have an hour and a half of sport each week. It seems their education is a bit more holistic, with the student as a whole in mind where as at home there is much more pressure to focus on academics and intellectual growth.
We had initiatives and canoeing today. It was a bit chilly, in the lower 60*s F (15-16*C) but not too cold.
So yesterday I found out there was a student teacher from America here with the group! With the busyness of the first day we didn’t get much of a chance to talk so today we had a nice chat after lunch during free time. She is from Northern New Jersey in her senior year at Boston University and is studying abroad for the semester (Sep-Dec, like I did) but is doing her student teaching over here – wow! As you can imagine I had a ton of questions with her: how her student teaching is structured, if she’s taking classes as well, how her time in a private Christian school is going to transfer to a teaching degree and certificate at home, which I never really got a clear answer on!
So it was really interesting to talk to her. It made me think about how a year ago I was in the classroom; just getting my feet wet 3 days a week. I’m so grateful for the program I went through; the awesome mentors I had and the small-sized courses and seminars that helped me learn and grow.
We also talked about outdoor education and she agreed that it is way more common over here than at home for schools to take their students on camp. She mentioned how they have physical education as a class but then in addition to that they have an hour and a half of sport each week. It seems their education is a bit more holistic, with the student as a whole in mind where as at home there is much more pressure to focus on academics and intellectual growth.
All Boys
Monday October 20, 2008
The Group: Trinity Grammar School
The age: Year 5 boys
Numbers: 3 groups of 15, 5 teachers
I’m following Alison this week. It’s good to work with / follow different leaders to get the feel for things and see how different people run things. We had Billy carting today, which the year five boys got totally into!
Trinity Grammar is a private Christian boy’s school that takes the boys on camp every year starting with year five. So it is this group’s first time at camp. Every day at 4:00 the boys have journaling time to reflect on the days activities. . . Today they were asked to write 3-6 lines and draw a picture highlighting their day. These journals are then kept by youthworks and used by the boys every year up through year 9, when they spend 5 weeks in a camp-like setting! What a neat concept! So at the end of year nine they will have five years worth of journaling from camp!
I’m finding camps are much more common here. At home I went to outdoor ed once during 6th grade for three days. Perhaps that was just my personal experience and other states do outdoor ed differently. But still, here the camp experiences seem to start at an earlier age, run for longer periods of time, and occur more frequently than once in your schooling.
I think there is a lot of value in taking students on camp more than just once in their 12 years of schooling. There is so much learning to be done at camp that could not occur inside a classroom. And when coupled with journaling and reflecting, the benefits are invaluable.
However, I can understand, having nearly been in a teacher’s shoes, the various complications involved in taking a group away on camp.
Complication #1 – personal sacrifice – the teacher must be willing to step away from their personal life for 3-5 days in order to spend non-stop time with their students.
Complication #2 – risk of falling behind – in the days of standardized state testing and yearly progress evaluations, it is difficult to cover all the content in the time provided let alone spend a week out of the classroom with little to no academics.
Complication #3 – the cost factor – most school can’t afford to send students on camp once let alone every year and parents cannot be expected to cover the costs.
These are some of the sad but true facts that stand in the way of many children missing out on the opportunity to grow and learn in a camp setting. Perhaps that is why a lot of our school are private Christian schools. Hummm. . . .
The Group: Trinity Grammar School
The age: Year 5 boys
Numbers: 3 groups of 15, 5 teachers
I’m following Alison this week. It’s good to work with / follow different leaders to get the feel for things and see how different people run things. We had Billy carting today, which the year five boys got totally into!
Trinity Grammar is a private Christian boy’s school that takes the boys on camp every year starting with year five. So it is this group’s first time at camp. Every day at 4:00 the boys have journaling time to reflect on the days activities. . . Today they were asked to write 3-6 lines and draw a picture highlighting their day. These journals are then kept by youthworks and used by the boys every year up through year 9, when they spend 5 weeks in a camp-like setting! What a neat concept! So at the end of year nine they will have five years worth of journaling from camp!
I’m finding camps are much more common here. At home I went to outdoor ed once during 6th grade for three days. Perhaps that was just my personal experience and other states do outdoor ed differently. But still, here the camp experiences seem to start at an earlier age, run for longer periods of time, and occur more frequently than once in your schooling.
I think there is a lot of value in taking students on camp more than just once in their 12 years of schooling. There is so much learning to be done at camp that could not occur inside a classroom. And when coupled with journaling and reflecting, the benefits are invaluable.
However, I can understand, having nearly been in a teacher’s shoes, the various complications involved in taking a group away on camp.
Complication #1 – personal sacrifice – the teacher must be willing to step away from their personal life for 3-5 days in order to spend non-stop time with their students.
Complication #2 – risk of falling behind – in the days of standardized state testing and yearly progress evaluations, it is difficult to cover all the content in the time provided let alone spend a week out of the classroom with little to no academics.
Complication #3 – the cost factor – most school can’t afford to send students on camp once let alone every year and parents cannot be expected to cover the costs.
These are some of the sad but true facts that stand in the way of many children missing out on the opportunity to grow and learn in a camp setting. Perhaps that is why a lot of our school are private Christian schools. Hummm. . . .
Saturday, October 18, 2008
First Camp!
Saturday October 18, 2008
Okay, so I guess it’s not my official first camp since I wasn’t actually leading on it but was my first full camp experience here!
The group: Shoalhaven Anglican School
Age: Years 3 and 4 (3rd and 4th grade)
Numbers: 41 students, 2 teachers, 1 parent
The students were split into three groups. I was with Shaneo leading a group of 11 year 4 students. Since the kids were so young they only stayed Thursday and Friday; two days and one night. The first day’s activities included orienteering, jetty jumping, and initiatives.
Orienteering involves the students working in groups of three to find markers around the site and record the fish names that are on each marker. Each group is given a map of the site which indicates the location of each marker. As the group had 11 students, I got to play the part of a student for this activity, which was quite fun as well as beneficial; giving me the chance to locate all of the markers so I know for future reference.
Lunch followed orienteering and then we were off to the jetty! Upon returning from the jetty we had afternoon tea before I led our initiatives session. Overall, it went pretty well I guess. I had my list of pre-chosen activities written down which was good. We are meant to start with a warm-up activity, then a communication activity, followed by trust, and finally team work.
The group had a lot of energy and was just excited to be at camp. So in instructing this activity I was definitely using a combination of skills I have picked up from my various experiences. I used my enthusiastic camp counselor persona when explaining the activities / challenges and my teacher techniques and tone while conducting the debriefs. It is a bit tricky as you want the kinds to have fun and enjoy the activities but you also want them to take them seriously and be able to get something from them, preferably something that can be applicable to their life outside of camp. I’m finding this is going to require the appropriate mix of seriousness and enthusiasm.
I’m in quite a unique position; somewhere between teacher and camp counselor. Having experience in both of these roles is definitely valuable and now just leaves me to find the most effective balance, which will most-likely differ from group to group.
This was a really awesome group, very well behaved and polite so I may have been a bit more camp counselorish but then during initiatives I definitely put on my teacher hat; using techniques learned in the classroom to get their attention and help them discuss what they learned (often said “learnt” here).
It was really awesome to be able to use both skills from camp and from the classroom to get the kids talking about teamwork, trust, responsibility, and God. I wrapped up with them as I would with a group at the Marsh; having each kid share their most favorite and least favorite part of the day and something they had learned so far. Finally, since this was a private Christian school I was able to end by praying with them.
Yeah, so it’s pretty cool to think about how God has been preparing me over the years and has set a path that has led me here!
*Working at CA Nature camp – sparked my initial interest in working in a camp setting but also helped me understand that I prefer and desire to work in a Christian setting.
*The Marsh – solidified my desire and love for working in the Christian camp setting
*Student teaching – taught me valuable skills for working with kids in a more structured setting, giving me experience in lesson planning with a focus on delivering content. Not to mention the many discipline and teaching techniques and strategies gained.
*WAC and the college experience – well, there’s no way I can sum that all up but yeah, it helped me grow and discover more about who I was, become more independent and form some pretty awesome relationships.
*Crew - physical challenge, love of the outdoors & water
*Studying abroad – again, helped me grow and learn about myself and survive “on my own” for a while. Not to mention introduced me to this awesome country and gave me the “travel bug.”
Bottom line – never doubt that God has a plan! You won’t always be able to see where it is leading but “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not on your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your path straight!” Proverbs 3:5-6 (NIV)
P.S. I bought a new bible! A small one I can carry around with me at camp. It is New International Version – good stuff! J $27 but it has a zipping cover, thumb tabs, lots of “stuff” in the back like maps . . . AND – it is maroon and blue like my work shirt- hehe!
Signing off and thanking God for all the people and experiences that have been a part of my life thus far.
Hope all is well back in the states and everyone is enjoying the colors, smells, sounds, and tastes of autumn! I was trying to explain candy corn last night - “Is it sticky?” “Does it actually have corn in it?” “Well, no . . . “
Okay, so I guess it’s not my official first camp since I wasn’t actually leading on it but was my first full camp experience here!
The group: Shoalhaven Anglican School
Age: Years 3 and 4 (3rd and 4th grade)
Numbers: 41 students, 2 teachers, 1 parent
The students were split into three groups. I was with Shaneo leading a group of 11 year 4 students. Since the kids were so young they only stayed Thursday and Friday; two days and one night. The first day’s activities included orienteering, jetty jumping, and initiatives.
Orienteering involves the students working in groups of three to find markers around the site and record the fish names that are on each marker. Each group is given a map of the site which indicates the location of each marker. As the group had 11 students, I got to play the part of a student for this activity, which was quite fun as well as beneficial; giving me the chance to locate all of the markers so I know for future reference.
Lunch followed orienteering and then we were off to the jetty! Upon returning from the jetty we had afternoon tea before I led our initiatives session. Overall, it went pretty well I guess. I had my list of pre-chosen activities written down which was good. We are meant to start with a warm-up activity, then a communication activity, followed by trust, and finally team work.
The group had a lot of energy and was just excited to be at camp. So in instructing this activity I was definitely using a combination of skills I have picked up from my various experiences. I used my enthusiastic camp counselor persona when explaining the activities / challenges and my teacher techniques and tone while conducting the debriefs. It is a bit tricky as you want the kinds to have fun and enjoy the activities but you also want them to take them seriously and be able to get something from them, preferably something that can be applicable to their life outside of camp. I’m finding this is going to require the appropriate mix of seriousness and enthusiasm.
I’m in quite a unique position; somewhere between teacher and camp counselor. Having experience in both of these roles is definitely valuable and now just leaves me to find the most effective balance, which will most-likely differ from group to group.
This was a really awesome group, very well behaved and polite so I may have been a bit more camp counselorish but then during initiatives I definitely put on my teacher hat; using techniques learned in the classroom to get their attention and help them discuss what they learned (often said “learnt” here).
It was really awesome to be able to use both skills from camp and from the classroom to get the kids talking about teamwork, trust, responsibility, and God. I wrapped up with them as I would with a group at the Marsh; having each kid share their most favorite and least favorite part of the day and something they had learned so far. Finally, since this was a private Christian school I was able to end by praying with them.
Yeah, so it’s pretty cool to think about how God has been preparing me over the years and has set a path that has led me here!
*Working at CA Nature camp – sparked my initial interest in working in a camp setting but also helped me understand that I prefer and desire to work in a Christian setting.
*The Marsh – solidified my desire and love for working in the Christian camp setting
*Student teaching – taught me valuable skills for working with kids in a more structured setting, giving me experience in lesson planning with a focus on delivering content. Not to mention the many discipline and teaching techniques and strategies gained.
*WAC and the college experience – well, there’s no way I can sum that all up but yeah, it helped me grow and discover more about who I was, become more independent and form some pretty awesome relationships.
*Crew - physical challenge, love of the outdoors & water
*Studying abroad – again, helped me grow and learn about myself and survive “on my own” for a while. Not to mention introduced me to this awesome country and gave me the “travel bug.”
Bottom line – never doubt that God has a plan! You won’t always be able to see where it is leading but “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not on your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your path straight!” Proverbs 3:5-6 (NIV)
P.S. I bought a new bible! A small one I can carry around with me at camp. It is New International Version – good stuff! J $27 but it has a zipping cover, thumb tabs, lots of “stuff” in the back like maps . . . AND – it is maroon and blue like my work shirt- hehe!
Signing off and thanking God for all the people and experiences that have been a part of my life thus far.
Hope all is well back in the states and everyone is enjoying the colors, smells, sounds, and tastes of autumn! I was trying to explain candy corn last night - “Is it sticky?” “Does it actually have corn in it?” “Well, no . . . “
Mel and Julz took me out to Indian for a late birthday celebration!!!
Friday, October 17, 2008
Herding and House-Making
Wednesday October 15, 2008
So far the week has involved doing things that can’t be done when a group is in but must be done in order for things to run smoothly when they are here. Monday involved a bit of changing mattress protectors and pillow cases but the majority of our time has been spent setting up, inspection, and taking down all of our tents, which adds up to around 40. It hasn’t been the most fun job but hasn’t been the worst either. It has given us a chance to work with the others on our team and get to know them a bit. It is somewhat rare that the whole team is here at once, with out trips (camping over night), and people going to help at Port Hacking and Blue Gum so it has been kind of cool that we are all here. For the most part I don’t even notice but every so often I do step back and consider the guy to girl ratio! Julz and Mel have been in the office the past days doing administration stuff and preparing for groups from that end and Alison has been working on washing so doing tents I would once in a while be like “wow I’m the only girl here!”
So today around 4:00 (our day runs from 8-5) Tim, one of our bosses comes in and says “Can everyone just drop their tools for a minute?” and we were like okay and were all attentive before he continued “we need some help with cow herding . . .” At first I was confused but then remembered the cows down in the pasture. “A bunch of the cows have gotten loose and they need help getting them back in the paddock.”
Welcoming a change of scenery from the dining room and relief from the somewhat tedious task of tent duty, you could sense the excitement as everyone dropped what they were doing and ran for the car park, piling into cars and utes! I jumped in the back seat with Julie and Josh to find myself sitting on a pile of Steve’s clothes and other miscellaneous items in the back seat of his car!
After a bit of effort, we finally located the “runaway cows,” if you will, and herded them back into the paddock. Julie grew up on a farm as did one of the men who works maintenance so they more or less led the efforts, or at least tried to, as some of the guys were a bit excited about the idea of charging after cows and ran them straight passed the open gate, which another one of the guys was supposed to be standing at to make sure that didn’t happen - lol! All ended well with 15 happy cows and bulls back safely in the paddock and about 10 Shoalhaven staff happy to end the day with a bit of excitement!
Made it back with only about 5min left in our work day so most of that was spent recounting our adventure to those who had stayed behind! I stuck around to check my email with Dan and Phil and we didn’t make it back to the staff houses til nearly 7:15. Julie and Mel had already left for bible study, which I might have gone with them but oh well. I grabbed some dinner and tossed load of laundry in. We are in need of going to the store as we still haven’t gone since Julz and Mel got back from a week of being away. We were out of milk before the week started and I had the second to last slice of bread this morning! There was a muffin pan sitting on the counter and I remembered a box of muffin mix left on “my shelf” in the pantry by Leanne (who lived in my room for 3 months before I came). I pondered it for a moment then decided to go for it!
I know, I know it’s only a batch of muffins out of a box, it’s kind of pathetic that doing laundry and making muffins out of a box makes me feel “all grown up” but yeah, hahah. Julz agreed the box muffins were an accomplishment, commending me on getting them all to come out looking like muffins, and Mel reckons it is the start of things to come and that I’ll soon be making muffins from scratch – lol. They are both great, so blessed with awesome housemates and workmates!
So this turned out a bit longer than anticipated, but don’t they all! Everything is going well down here. A group of year 3 and 4 kids come in tomorrow; I am assisting with a group and will be leading their initiatives activity – should be good – just the beginning!
PS - the other day I mended a hole inmy pants using needle and thread - so domestic! :) :-P
So far the week has involved doing things that can’t be done when a group is in but must be done in order for things to run smoothly when they are here. Monday involved a bit of changing mattress protectors and pillow cases but the majority of our time has been spent setting up, inspection, and taking down all of our tents, which adds up to around 40. It hasn’t been the most fun job but hasn’t been the worst either. It has given us a chance to work with the others on our team and get to know them a bit. It is somewhat rare that the whole team is here at once, with out trips (camping over night), and people going to help at Port Hacking and Blue Gum so it has been kind of cool that we are all here. For the most part I don’t even notice but every so often I do step back and consider the guy to girl ratio! Julz and Mel have been in the office the past days doing administration stuff and preparing for groups from that end and Alison has been working on washing so doing tents I would once in a while be like “wow I’m the only girl here!”
So today around 4:00 (our day runs from 8-5) Tim, one of our bosses comes in and says “Can everyone just drop their tools for a minute?” and we were like okay and were all attentive before he continued “we need some help with cow herding . . .” At first I was confused but then remembered the cows down in the pasture. “A bunch of the cows have gotten loose and they need help getting them back in the paddock.”
Welcoming a change of scenery from the dining room and relief from the somewhat tedious task of tent duty, you could sense the excitement as everyone dropped what they were doing and ran for the car park, piling into cars and utes! I jumped in the back seat with Julie and Josh to find myself sitting on a pile of Steve’s clothes and other miscellaneous items in the back seat of his car!
After a bit of effort, we finally located the “runaway cows,” if you will, and herded them back into the paddock. Julie grew up on a farm as did one of the men who works maintenance so they more or less led the efforts, or at least tried to, as some of the guys were a bit excited about the idea of charging after cows and ran them straight passed the open gate, which another one of the guys was supposed to be standing at to make sure that didn’t happen - lol! All ended well with 15 happy cows and bulls back safely in the paddock and about 10 Shoalhaven staff happy to end the day with a bit of excitement!
Made it back with only about 5min left in our work day so most of that was spent recounting our adventure to those who had stayed behind! I stuck around to check my email with Dan and Phil and we didn’t make it back to the staff houses til nearly 7:15. Julie and Mel had already left for bible study, which I might have gone with them but oh well. I grabbed some dinner and tossed load of laundry in. We are in need of going to the store as we still haven’t gone since Julz and Mel got back from a week of being away. We were out of milk before the week started and I had the second to last slice of bread this morning! There was a muffin pan sitting on the counter and I remembered a box of muffin mix left on “my shelf” in the pantry by Leanne (who lived in my room for 3 months before I came). I pondered it for a moment then decided to go for it!
I know, I know it’s only a batch of muffins out of a box, it’s kind of pathetic that doing laundry and making muffins out of a box makes me feel “all grown up” but yeah, hahah. Julz agreed the box muffins were an accomplishment, commending me on getting them all to come out looking like muffins, and Mel reckons it is the start of things to come and that I’ll soon be making muffins from scratch – lol. They are both great, so blessed with awesome housemates and workmates!
So this turned out a bit longer than anticipated, but don’t they all! Everything is going well down here. A group of year 3 and 4 kids come in tomorrow; I am assisting with a group and will be leading their initiatives activity – should be good – just the beginning!
PS - the other day I mended a hole inmy pants using needle and thread - so domestic! :) :-P
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Phew 22!
Sunday October 12, 2008
Sitting in my “back yard” on this beautiful spring day looking out at the boats cruising along the Shoalhaven River and wishing I could be out there with them skiing!!
It’s nearly noon now and I’ve spent most of the morning using my calling card talking to family; mom & dad, grandma & granddad. Good to talk to all of them! I talked to Ellen on Friday for a while so that was good too!
Here’s a quick recap on my last few days:
Thursday
*Archery Training – I had just gone through archery training this summer at home so there wasn’t too much new information here. They have different names for a few things but overall everything was pretty familiar.
*Dinner w/ Alison and Dave – Since Julie and Mel are both away this week, Alison from work invited me over for dinner on Thursday! She is about a year younger than me and newly married – wow. So I helped her cook stir fry! I’m really going to come home knowing how to cook, which is really good! It was nice to spend some time with them and have dinner and everything.
Friday
*Low Ropes / Escape Course Training – Walked through our low ropes course and learned how to facilitate that. PG had us do all of the elements so that was really good. Quickly talked about debriefing low ropes and we were done before lunch time!
*Learned how to drive the power boat- Oh man! So driving the boat itself is not difficult but backing the ute with the trailer on is another story. Dan pulled the boat out of the shed and backed it down the ramp into the water but then I backed the ute with the trailer down the ramp, dorve it up to the shed, and backed it into the shed – pheww. I have a better appreciation for mom and dad driving with the trailer now. I don’t like backing up in a car much less backing with a trailer on and trying to get it into a shed!
Driving the boat was fun though; its’ just a little tin boat with a motor on it, sort of like the launches from crew. Whenever we take a group out canoeing we take the power boat out to have as a safety caution since the river can get busy and roughish.
*Cake! During our “end of day wrap up” everyone sang, although at their own pace and somewhat off tune – hehe, and then they brought out a cake! Very nice!
*Dinner with the Cases – After work I went home with Leanne, who works in the office three days a week, then we went to Tim and Naomi’s for Sloppy Joes! Time is one of my bosses and is from PA, although he has been here for seven years and is married with an adorable 1 year old son!
*Sing Star w/ Church of Christ People – The young adults from Leanne’s church were getting together for a night of sing start, a karaoke play station game, and just hanging out so I went with her to that. Everyone is so nice here I’m not sure if it’s an Australian thing or a Christian thing or both but yeah everyone was so nice and welcoming. Kind of made me think about my group of friends and if someone new came when we were hanging out if we would make them feel welcome. I would like to think that we would but I don’t know. Then I thought about how Rowena came senior year and how she started hanging out with our already established group and if we were welcoming enough and stuff!
It’s quite different going to a new environment where everyone is new compared to going to a new environment where relationships are already established and you are the only knew one. I feel there are pros and cons to each but I won’t go into that now, perhaps another blog!!
*Got home around 11:45 from that, called home and talked to Ellen for like 45min – good to catch up! :)
Sitting in my “back yard” on this beautiful spring day looking out at the boats cruising along the Shoalhaven River and wishing I could be out there with them skiing!!
It’s nearly noon now and I’ve spent most of the morning using my calling card talking to family; mom & dad, grandma & granddad. Good to talk to all of them! I talked to Ellen on Friday for a while so that was good too!
Here’s a quick recap on my last few days:
Thursday
*Archery Training – I had just gone through archery training this summer at home so there wasn’t too much new information here. They have different names for a few things but overall everything was pretty familiar.
*Dinner w/ Alison and Dave – Since Julie and Mel are both away this week, Alison from work invited me over for dinner on Thursday! She is about a year younger than me and newly married – wow. So I helped her cook stir fry! I’m really going to come home knowing how to cook, which is really good! It was nice to spend some time with them and have dinner and everything.
Friday
*Low Ropes / Escape Course Training – Walked through our low ropes course and learned how to facilitate that. PG had us do all of the elements so that was really good. Quickly talked about debriefing low ropes and we were done before lunch time!
*Learned how to drive the power boat- Oh man! So driving the boat itself is not difficult but backing the ute with the trailer on is another story. Dan pulled the boat out of the shed and backed it down the ramp into the water but then I backed the ute with the trailer down the ramp, dorve it up to the shed, and backed it into the shed – pheww. I have a better appreciation for mom and dad driving with the trailer now. I don’t like backing up in a car much less backing with a trailer on and trying to get it into a shed!
Driving the boat was fun though; its’ just a little tin boat with a motor on it, sort of like the launches from crew. Whenever we take a group out canoeing we take the power boat out to have as a safety caution since the river can get busy and roughish.
*Cake! During our “end of day wrap up” everyone sang, although at their own pace and somewhat off tune – hehe, and then they brought out a cake! Very nice!
*Dinner with the Cases – After work I went home with Leanne, who works in the office three days a week, then we went to Tim and Naomi’s for Sloppy Joes! Time is one of my bosses and is from PA, although he has been here for seven years and is married with an adorable 1 year old son!
*Sing Star w/ Church of Christ People – The young adults from Leanne’s church were getting together for a night of sing start, a karaoke play station game, and just hanging out so I went with her to that. Everyone is so nice here I’m not sure if it’s an Australian thing or a Christian thing or both but yeah everyone was so nice and welcoming. Kind of made me think about my group of friends and if someone new came when we were hanging out if we would make them feel welcome. I would like to think that we would but I don’t know. Then I thought about how Rowena came senior year and how she started hanging out with our already established group and if we were welcoming enough and stuff!
It’s quite different going to a new environment where everyone is new compared to going to a new environment where relationships are already established and you are the only knew one. I feel there are pros and cons to each but I won’t go into that now, perhaps another blog!!
*Got home around 11:45 from that, called home and talked to Ellen for like 45min – good to catch up! :)
Not quite like mom's but still really nice :) :)
Saturday
Leanne picked me up, it’s so annoying not having a car; I feel bad making people driver out of their way to come and get me and drop me off for things.
Anyway, a bunch of the guys had gone down to Ulladulla, a beach town about an hour away, to camp for the weekend. One of the guys is from down there and he knew of a national park. So we picked up Emma, one of the guy’s girlfriends, on the way down, and spent the day hanging out with them in Ulladulla. It was a bit cold to swim since we didn’t make it to the beach until the sun was almost setting. The guys played some beach cricket and then we had a bar-b over the camp fire. Already getting sick of sausages – lol! They are like the equivalent of a hot dog but almost worse. :-P Cheap, quick, and easy but not so healthy or appetizing.
Got back around 11:30 again, shower to get rid of the smokey smell then bed.
So it’s been a good last couple of days. Learned a lot work wise and spent time with people outside of work so it’s good. Julie and Mel get home today so it will be nice to have other people in the house again!
Loving this warm weather but thinking about crisp fall, jack-o-lanterns, and candy corn back home – hehe!
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
First Night In The Bush
Wednesday October 8, 2008
So after a late arrival home (thank you Dan for picking me up from the train station and bringing me back to good ole staff housing at Shoalhaven) and a night’s sleep in my own bed (which I determined I have yet to spend five consecutive nights in!), I was packed and off again on Tuesday! Our overnight hike that was meant to happen at the end of last week was a go for Tuesday /Wednesday since the health of our trainer, Pete (PG), had been restored.
I had packed the night before figuring we would probably be going but we still had to pack our food and gear, which took us up until about 11:00, when we set off up the trail. On the way there we did a bit of map and compass navigation work, which was really good as I had already nearly forgotten! Different from the ridge trail, done in previous training, where you are given a compass and a bearing, this time we were given a map with the markers plotted on it and a compass to calculate the bearing from one marker to the next. Dan and I had fun navigating our way through the bush as PG followed, for the most part, silently correcting us only when necessary.
Using the compass to navigate and find the markers really helped to break up the trip and make it a bit more exciting. I’m not positive but I’d say the hike was about 7km. We arrived at our destination, a cow farm in Ilaroo referred to as “Lynches” as that is the name of the family who owns it, between 4:00 and 5:00. Lots of out trips involve either hiking or canoeing to Lynches and camping for the night. However, we were picked up by Tony and driven to another campsite for the night, one a bit closer to Waterslea but still a ways down the river.
This site is called Bangalee and is owned by a boy scout camp. Often times two groups will camp at Bangalee with one hiking there and the other canoeing there, both spending the night, then swapping canoeing or hiking for the return trip.
PG instructed us that the first thing you do upon arriving to camp is set up the tents since this is about 90 times easier in day light!! After setting up tents we cooked dinner. Unlike at the Marsh where we cook over the fire, we brought little burner things with pots called triangia (I think), which uses methane to cook – pretty cool.
It was really good to go through all of this before having to do it with a group of kids. My first time will be with another instructor so that will be very helpful as well!!
PG and Dan shared a tent and I had my own. I would compare the weather to early April as it is definitely not summer yet but the bitter cold of winter has already passed. Needless to say I didn’t sleep all that well once you combine the chilly weather with the hard ground! We did have foam pads but they did little for comfort! They did however give you about half an inch of insulation between you and the cold ground! I brought my hand warmers as well but only as a last resort if my fingers and toes started to go white!! Luckily I was cold but not that cold! It was possibly somewhere in the low fifties or around there?? 7 C – whatever that is – I need to get a converter chart! Whatever it was, I sure was glad I had packed my warm pair of socks, my thermal long sleeved shirt, and a hoodie to sleep in, even if it did mean I had to strap my sleeping bag to the outside of my pack instead of fit it inside, where it is meant to be!!
We “turned in” about 9:45 and I was the first one up in the morning. PG said we could sleep in and get up around 8 but I knew I would be up earlier. I woke up around 6:30 but then went back to sleep until 7:30 when I got up, went to the bathroom, explored a little, pulled some things out for breakfast, and finally began to pack my bag before Dan and PG finally rolled out of bed around 8:45!!
Tony showed up about 9:30 to pick up our tents but we were still cooking pancakes and had not yet taken down our tents so he decided to come back later – opppss.
Filled the water bottle and hoisted the packs back onto our aching shoulders at about 10:30 and we were off, homeward bound. Not far down the trail we came to a large creek or small river. Luckily the tide was out so the water level was low and only reached just above my knees. I hate putting socks and shoes on wet feet so I dried them off as best I could with my Smokey hoodie before we set off again. We went home via the ridge trail, giving us a chance to navigate our way through the markers going the opposite direction we had come from last time. We did very well and found all the markers accept one that we missed somehow.
We got back to Waterslea around 12:00, giving us time to put our gear away before lunch, a quick shower back at the house, and an afternoon of finishing our assessments from boot camp, which involved walking around waterslea and koolona and mapping all the fire hydrants, extinguishers, and hose reels – fun.
Another really really great training experience! At several points during the trip I could help but think that there really wasn’t anything I would rather be doing right then. And I’m getting paid to do this! Sure beats a desk job!!!!! :) :)
So after a late arrival home (thank you Dan for picking me up from the train station and bringing me back to good ole staff housing at Shoalhaven) and a night’s sleep in my own bed (which I determined I have yet to spend five consecutive nights in!), I was packed and off again on Tuesday! Our overnight hike that was meant to happen at the end of last week was a go for Tuesday /Wednesday since the health of our trainer, Pete (PG), had been restored.
I had packed the night before figuring we would probably be going but we still had to pack our food and gear, which took us up until about 11:00, when we set off up the trail. On the way there we did a bit of map and compass navigation work, which was really good as I had already nearly forgotten! Different from the ridge trail, done in previous training, where you are given a compass and a bearing, this time we were given a map with the markers plotted on it and a compass to calculate the bearing from one marker to the next. Dan and I had fun navigating our way through the bush as PG followed, for the most part, silently correcting us only when necessary.
Using the compass to navigate and find the markers really helped to break up the trip and make it a bit more exciting. I’m not positive but I’d say the hike was about 7km. We arrived at our destination, a cow farm in Ilaroo referred to as “Lynches” as that is the name of the family who owns it, between 4:00 and 5:00. Lots of out trips involve either hiking or canoeing to Lynches and camping for the night. However, we were picked up by Tony and driven to another campsite for the night, one a bit closer to Waterslea but still a ways down the river.
Dan being attacked by the bulls at Lynches while we waited for Tony to pick us up.
This site is called Bangalee and is owned by a boy scout camp. Often times two groups will camp at Bangalee with one hiking there and the other canoeing there, both spending the night, then swapping canoeing or hiking for the return trip.
PG instructed us that the first thing you do upon arriving to camp is set up the tents since this is about 90 times easier in day light!! After setting up tents we cooked dinner. Unlike at the Marsh where we cook over the fire, we brought little burner things with pots called triangia (I think), which uses methane to cook – pretty cool.
It was really good to go through all of this before having to do it with a group of kids. My first time will be with another instructor so that will be very helpful as well!!
PG and Dan shared a tent and I had my own. I would compare the weather to early April as it is definitely not summer yet but the bitter cold of winter has already passed. Needless to say I didn’t sleep all that well once you combine the chilly weather with the hard ground! We did have foam pads but they did little for comfort! They did however give you about half an inch of insulation between you and the cold ground! I brought my hand warmers as well but only as a last resort if my fingers and toes started to go white!! Luckily I was cold but not that cold! It was possibly somewhere in the low fifties or around there?? 7 C – whatever that is – I need to get a converter chart! Whatever it was, I sure was glad I had packed my warm pair of socks, my thermal long sleeved shirt, and a hoodie to sleep in, even if it did mean I had to strap my sleeping bag to the outside of my pack instead of fit it inside, where it is meant to be!!
We “turned in” about 9:45 and I was the first one up in the morning. PG said we could sleep in and get up around 8 but I knew I would be up earlier. I woke up around 6:30 but then went back to sleep until 7:30 when I got up, went to the bathroom, explored a little, pulled some things out for breakfast, and finally began to pack my bag before Dan and PG finally rolled out of bed around 8:45!!
Tony showed up about 9:30 to pick up our tents but we were still cooking pancakes and had not yet taken down our tents so he decided to come back later – opppss.
Filled the water bottle and hoisted the packs back onto our aching shoulders at about 10:30 and we were off, homeward bound. Not far down the trail we came to a large creek or small river. Luckily the tide was out so the water level was low and only reached just above my knees. I hate putting socks and shoes on wet feet so I dried them off as best I could with my Smokey hoodie before we set off again. We went home via the ridge trail, giving us a chance to navigate our way through the markers going the opposite direction we had come from last time. We did very well and found all the markers accept one that we missed somehow.
A view of the Shoalhaven River from a lookout point!
We got back to Waterslea around 12:00, giving us time to put our gear away before lunch, a quick shower back at the house, and an afternoon of finishing our assessments from boot camp, which involved walking around waterslea and koolona and mapping all the fire hydrants, extinguishers, and hose reels – fun.
Another really really great training experience! At several points during the trip I could help but think that there really wasn’t anything I would rather be doing right then. And I’m getting paid to do this! Sure beats a desk job!!!!! :) :)
Monday, October 6, 2008
A WONDERFUL Long Weekend in Sydney
Monday October 6, 2008
Oh my goodness I don’t even know where to start!!! I just had a wonderful, wonderful weekend, by far the most exciting since I’ve been here! I’m now on the train again heading back down to good ole Nowra - haha. Not even sure what I could compare Nowra to at home. Possibly some place down the Eastern shore. I don’t know. Just one of those small towns that when you tell people you are working down in Nowra they are like “oh . . . Nowra . . . right . . . what are you doing down there?” lol. Then I explain I am doing outdoor education and camps for school groups and I get another “oh.” Haha. It’s great though and I don’t think I even mind being a 2-5 hour ride from Sydney – depending on your mode of transportation and whether or not there is track work going on – uggg..
So Friday was a late night as I didn’t end up getting to Sydney until about 12:30. I had looked up the train time table but didn’t account for track work, which meant an hour wait for a bus that would take us around the section being worked on to another stop.
Allison had arrived just a bit before I did as her flight came in at 10:30 then she caught a train from there. So I met up with Allison and Fiona when I got of the train at 12:30ish! It was sooooooooooooo good to see Allison and Fiona as well.
How We Know Fiona (the long version)!!
Allison met Fiona while playing tennis in “Uni Games” down in Adeliade when we were at Bond in 2006. Then later in the semester we went to Sydney and stayed with Fiona in Manly (just a ferry ride from the Sydney Harbor). THEN (we are still going here folks) in January 2007 Fiona and two friends stayed with Allison as part of their US tour and we all went to DC!! So it was pretty cool to be with her again in Sydney almost exactly two years later and also having had the chance to see her “on our turf” if you will!!
Oh my goodness I don’t even know where to start!!! I just had a wonderful, wonderful weekend, by far the most exciting since I’ve been here! I’m now on the train again heading back down to good ole Nowra - haha. Not even sure what I could compare Nowra to at home. Possibly some place down the Eastern shore. I don’t know. Just one of those small towns that when you tell people you are working down in Nowra they are like “oh . . . Nowra . . . right . . . what are you doing down there?” lol. Then I explain I am doing outdoor education and camps for school groups and I get another “oh.” Haha. It’s great though and I don’t think I even mind being a 2-5 hour ride from Sydney – depending on your mode of transportation and whether or not there is track work going on – uggg..
So Friday was a late night as I didn’t end up getting to Sydney until about 12:30. I had looked up the train time table but didn’t account for track work, which meant an hour wait for a bus that would take us around the section being worked on to another stop.
Allison had arrived just a bit before I did as her flight came in at 10:30 then she caught a train from there. So I met up with Allison and Fiona when I got of the train at 12:30ish! It was sooooooooooooo good to see Allison and Fiona as well.
How We Know Fiona (the long version)!!
Allison met Fiona while playing tennis in “Uni Games” down in Adeliade when we were at Bond in 2006. Then later in the semester we went to Sydney and stayed with Fiona in Manly (just a ferry ride from the Sydney Harbor). THEN (we are still going here folks) in January 2007 Fiona and two friends stayed with Allison as part of their US tour and we all went to DC!! So it was pretty cool to be with her again in Sydney almost exactly two years later and also having had the chance to see her “on our turf” if you will!!
The three of us at Fiona's in 2006!!
So back to the wonderful weekend . . . Fiona is dating a really nice guy from work named Rob that lives pretty much on George Street, which runs straight up to Circular Quay (pronounced key as we learned on our last visit!) and the opera house. His place was just a short walk from the train station so he let us stay with him the first and last night and we stayed with Fiona Saturday night. Both places were amazing with awesome views: his of the city and hers of Collaroy beach.
Saturday
involved sleeping in on my and Allison’s part but poor Fiona woke up at 4:20am for ocean rowing! Wow! Talk about intense. She showed us some videos on utude.com and wow. Talk about dangerous. They row out past the surf, using oars almost identical to those used for “flat water rowing,” as she called it. Their seats don’t move but are splashed with water so the rower can slide back and forth, often on their bear bum, as this has been proven to work most efficiently! Once they get past the surf and around a bouy they catch a wave back in, which can have some wicked consequences – phew. All of the boats are designed for four rowers and a sweep, I think she may have called it, who does makes the calls and does the steering from a standing position using a large rudder. Wow!
-Walked around Sydney city with Fiona
*Max Brenner – “chocolate by the bald man” – café with everything chocolate!!
*”The Rocks” – shops and restaurants near the base of the harbour bridge
*Sydney Information Centre
-Drove to Collaroy Beach / Fiona’s place
-Dinner in Manly at a German restaurant – soft pretzel appetizer ?German?,
mango beer, crazy Melbourne Storm fans in the street excited about the NRL (National Rugby League) Grand Final on Saturday night – Manly Sea Eagles vs. Melbourne Storm.
Sunday
Another leisurely morning
-Coffee from a café right on the beach on our way to the store
-Store to get stuff for the bar-b-que and Grand Final Party
-Bar-b-Que at Andrew’s (Fiona’s housemate from the last time we stayed with her)
*Andrew taught Allison and I how to cook on the bar-b! We did onions, capsicum (peppers), and sausages! He even had an Australia apron!
-Bus to the city to Rob’s
-NRL Grand Final Party at Fiona’s boss’s
*She is doing an internship with some financial company or something
*So psyched about catching the rugby grand final!!! Allison and I were both bummed when “our team” the Brisbane Broncos got knocked out of the running but naturally we would support the Sea Eagles since we were pretty much in Manly and it was the Storm who rivaled, and lost to, the Broncos in the grand final in 2006! I’m happy to report the Sea Eagles swept the Melbourne Storm 28 to Nil – phewwweee. I’m pretty sure I’ve actually found a sport I enjoy watching!
-Celebratory visit to the pub across the street
-A Late dinner in China Town before heading back to Rob’s for the night
The view from Rob's balcony
Monday
-Attempted an early start but left around 9:30 heading down George Street towards the opera house.
-Stopped in Maccas (McDonalds) for a coffee!
-Reminisced our sprint down George Street to catch the last ferry to Manly and Fiona’s house two years ago after the Tri Nations rugby final
-Walked around the outside of the opera house before realizing the place to inquire about tours is actually under the steps!
-Signed up for a tour and browsed the gift shop until 10:30
*A really neat, educational tour!
*learned a lot of the history and interesting facts
*Got to go into and sit in three of the five theaters including one with a huge huge organ with over a thousand pipes if I remember correctly – so cool!
-Wandered back through Circular Quay and back to the rocks, stopping in gift shops and searching for an affordable lunch as well as the entrance to the bridge tower lookout, which we never did find – next time I guess.
-Lunch in an Irish pub / restaurant where we were asked if we were Canadian!
-Walk back down George Street to meet Fiona and Rob
-Cheap souvenir shop!!
-Grocery store to get lychee
*an interesting fruit that we had never heard of: almost like a peeled grape for lack of a better way to describe it.
-Back to Rob’s to pick up my bags
-Back on the train at 4:20pm, arrived in Nowra 8:44pm hummmm another loooong train ride. Totally worth it though!!!!!! :) :)
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