Tasmania

Last Friday, after driving back from Camp Gelantipy, I was able to stop by my host parents home for about thirty minutes before taking off to the next weekend trip. I hopped in the shower, unpacked my book bag from camp, repacked my bag for the weekend, and took off. James, my host parents son, drove me into Melbourne. I meet Katie, the girl from IU, and we ended up going to see the new Hunger Games movie downtown in Melbourne. It was really excellent! Then, we caught a train back to James's flat, arriving around 1am. The reason we stayed in their flat was because we had an early flight on Saturday that we wouldn't have been able to catch if taking the train from our host families. So we got up at 4:45am, took a train into the center of the city, then a bus to the airport, and hopped on a plane to Tasmania. Tasmania is an island south of the mainland of Australia. It is one of the six states in Aussie and the closest to Antarctica, so it is very cold most of the time.

Gorge Walk 

      After a rough plan ride (please refer to my previous post about a screaming child) we caught a taxi to our hostel. The hostel we stayed in was the most excellent and well organized I've ever seen. The man at the desk helped us plan our stay and made reservations for us at different places. Tasi is known for its great scenery. We went on a gorge walk by this river and saw a great waterfall. There was also a suspension bridge that went over the river. Halfway across, it started swaying (as I'm sure it is very normal) but it was still a little scary. We hiked around (my friend Elizabeth would be very proud) and visited an art gallery and museum. We went out for dinner and looked around some shops.

Flying across the sky! 

     Sunday was the best day. In the morning we did something called a treetop tour. It is a 3 hour guided zip lining adventure throughout this national park. Unlike other zip lining places I have been at, you are at the top of the trees the whole time. They attach you to the wire and you stay attached flying from tree to tree above the forrest the whole time. The weather wasn't very great. I guess they have a cut off of 50 km/hr wind (which is a little over 30 miles/hr) and if the wind is more than that, they cancel the tour. While we were in the middle of our tour the winds started getting crazy. They actually got up to 50 km and we almost had to evacuate from the tree. We ended up staying, but we were told if it gets worse, we would have to get down. So up at the top of these tree's we were all strapped in and the trees were just rocking from side to side in the wind. It was very adrenaline pumping, I loved it! The tree top tour was the coolest thing I did in Tasmania. After that, we went to the city park and saw the monkeys that were kept there. We went out for lunch, then took an evening flight back to Melbourne. One quick (100 minute) train ride, I was back at my host mom's house and ready to collapse.
     

My group on one of the platforms 

    Sunday night after I got home, I packed up everything because I switched houses. Raelee and Vic are getting their kitchen remodeled and they are getting their kitchen wall taken out and moved. The kitchen wall just so happens to be one of the walls to my bedroom as well, so we arranged for me to stay at the Farr residence. Joanne Farr is a teacher at my school. I was in her class on the second week of school. We have become good friends. She has a ten year old daughter and a fourteen year old son. She lives in the country and owns horses. I have only been here a few days, but it is a very lovely home and I think I am going to enjoy the rest of my stay here. I hope you all are having a good Thanksgiving weekend! I'm sad I will be missing it this year. Enjoy the turkey and I look forward to seeing everyone at Christmas.
   

The Stages of Grief

The stages of grief you go through when traveling on a plane in front of a crying toddler . . .

Stage 1. Cautious Adoration. When you find your seat on the plane and you spot a cute little toddler, you may think they are adorable. Their little pigtails are precious and their smile is heart warning. But at the back of your mind you begin to feel a small inkling of dread at what lie ahead.

Stage 2. Annoyance. When the toddler becomes fussy after their brief moment of happiness, you become slightly annoyed. Their nonstop crying for no apparent reason plummets your mood and the excitement you had for your trip all but disappears. The child doesn't seem very cute anymore.

Stage 3. Pity. After an excruciating half hour of constant screaming, you begin to just feel sorry for the parent of the kid. They are dong the best they can to shut their kid up. The aggregated glances they are receiving from the other passengers are anything but subtle at this point. You pity the parents because you realize, this is their normal life. They have to deal with this crap all the time. There is an expiration for your proximity to their kid, but they are stuck with this demon child for life.

Stage 4. Anger. It has been an hour and a half. Every mood you have previously felt has vanished and left only anger. Anger towards the child. Anger toward the parents. Anger towards the airline for putting you on the same flight as them. Anger at yourself for deciding to travel to Tasmania in the first place. You are ready to pull your own hair out.

Stage 5. Depression. Time seems to be moving in slow motion. Will you ever get off the plane? Will this toddler ever be happy? How can they still be crying? Are they dehydrated? Will the plane just crash and put us all out of our misery?

Stage 6. Relief. You step off the plane to your bright new surroundings. You can breath in fresh air and put some distant between you and the horrible kid. You are relieved that the plane ride from hell is over. You are relieved that you have arrived at your destination. And most importantly, you are relieved that you do not have any children.

Gelantipy Camp

Horse Back riding with my group

     Last week instead of being in a classroom at Traf Primary School, I went on a school camp with the Grade 5/6's. We took buses with 102 students and 5 parent chaperones and teachers up to Gelantipy. It is a 5 day camp where the students all stay in cabins and there is a mess hall where they eat their food. There was a lot of activities for the students to take part in throughout the week. On Monday after we arrived (after the 5 hour drive) we ate dinner then went on a night hike. I was able to see kangaroos jumping through fields and koalas up in the trees. On Tuesday half the camp drove up to the border of Victoria (the state I live in) and New South Wales. We went white water rafting down snowy river. The kids (and I) had a great time!

Team Bonding Activity

    On Wednesday, my group went off to do some zip lining. I was told on the bus that I would be assisting the guides with the students on the zip line. There were three guides who work at the camp that were coming with us. Two of them would be taking half the group Absailing, which is propelling down a huge cliff. So there was one guide to run the zip lining. There were actually two separate zip lines for the students. The start of the "flying fox" was at the top of this huge hill. You go on this zip line and it runs across to another hill. Then you are unattached and hop over to a second zip line. From there you go over a small lake and land at the bottom of the hill. I was walking up the big hill with the guide, another American guy who just finished university, and another teacher, Kelley. After he briefly explains which carabiner goes in what hole on the harness and how the contraption works, he starts to explain that we are going to be zip lining over to the second station, then unhook and go to the end. From there we will run up to the second hill where the students will come across and we will unhook them from the first zip line. We will also hook them onto the second line.  It took me a minutes to realize that he was telling me to zip line myself across to the second hill and then unhook myself (alone), hook myself back up to the second line (alone!) and zip to the end of the station. After that feat, I would be deemed qualified to hook and unhook children up to this life threatening activity. I was amazed at how little training I got. At no point did he even watch me hook anyone up. He just clipped me on top of the first hill and away I went!

Rock Climbing Wall 

     Overall the zip lining went well and everyone lived through the experience, I was just thinking, "This is absolutely crazy! I can't believe this is allowed!" Also, the students were swimming in the river with no lifeguards or any trained professionals the day before. I doubt that kind of thing could happen back home with all the lawsuits and legal issues.
        The students and I went horse back riding and swimming in the pools at the camp. We held a talent show in the lodge one night. I played a lot of euchre with the parents after the kids went to sleep. They did a ropes course and a team challenge course. They also went rock climbing in the gym.  One day the students got a crash course in orienteering. We broke up into our activity groups and were handed some maps with a compass. We had to find a station where we would be given a new direction and how many paces we had to go in that direction. The goal was for us all to end up at Dingo Hill in the end. My students did pretty well. It was essentially just a four hour hike in the country which ended at the top of a hill with a great view. Before we left, another teacher was bragging about his ability to work compasses. It became my silent goal to beat his team. Well, everyone ended up beating his team because he got lost for a half hour with his group. It turns out he was holding the compass in his left hand and the metal on his wedding ring was interfering with the compass and redirecting them off course! I felt really bad for him. . .

The Top of Dingo Hill (our destination in the orienteering activity) 

     The camp was a great experience. The students had a really great time and I believe they got a lot out of it. It was the first time most of the kids had been away from camp for that long. There was some drama and tears with some kids. We had to take a kid to the hospital because he had an allergic reaction. There were cat fights among 12 year old girls and kids getting homesick. I help an impromptu circle time with a gang of girls who were having massive issues getting along. It was basically massive chaos the whole week, but overall a great time. I am glad I got to see a different part of Aussie and I got to know the staff at the school a lot better.

The Great Ocean Road

Burning up the stage with my crew… 

This week has flown by. I started the week off right by playing drums with a group of 5th graders to the song Roar by Katie Perry in front of the whole school. The kids just loved it and it was a great time. I had been hanging out in the music room with the music teacher during my breaks and started playing with some kids. The music program at my school is fantastic. Ben, the music teacher, has little 3rd graders playing the piano, bass, guitar, and drums. His 5th graders almost beat 16 year old at the battle of the bands last year, they were that good. I did not upload the whole video, but here is a picture of me and the band at the school assembly.

James, me, and Elise (Raelee and Vic's kids)

    This week I was with Grade 5/6, so it was a classroom that had half 5th graders and half 6th graders. I have almost always been with the younger kids, so I was out of my comfort zone a little. The teacher I was with was the most excellent example I have ever seen at building a classroom community. She developed a great rapport with her students. They all get along great and I think it's partly because she has a "circle time" where the kids all circle up and everyone gets to talk about something. This week they talked about their upcoming camp that they were having. I was shocked to hear some of the students talk so openly about being nervous about a certain part of camp or being scared of something. They seemed very comfortable with their teacher and each other to be able to talk about things that were bothering them to the class. I hope I can develop that type of relationship with my kids in the future!
   

No big deal, just standing next to a shark. . . typical Australian stuff. . . 

On Thursday, Raelee (my host mom) told me that she had a surprise planned for me on Friday and her daughter was going to pick me up from school at noon and take me somewhere with her husband. No one would tell me what was going on. So on Friday, I got picked up by Elise and she took me to her dad's office. The three of us met their son, James, at a place near Melbourne. They took me to this place that was basically a huge building full of shark and sting ray tanks. You were able to get these suits on and get in with the sharks and feed them. Let me repeat that in case you didn't read it properly: I got IN a tank FULL of SHARKS and sting rays! It was so crazy. I was in shock when we pulled up, I was so excited. I had such a good time feeding them and walking around with these Gummy Sharks swarming around me. They knew we had food for them, so they were darting all around us like dogs, almost, trying to get them. We had this pole with a clothespin attached to it. We would clamp the prongs in the pin and stick the pole out and the sharks would come up and tear it off the pin. It was the coolest thing I think I have done so far.
   

The Twelve Apostles

 This weekend I went to the Great Ocean Road with Raelee, my host mom. We left Friday evening and headed to Melbourne and we stayed at her parents house. Then, we drove to Torque where we met her friend, who went with us. The Great Ocean Road is essentially just a long road that goes along the ocean. It sounds kind of lame, but it was actually great. I got to see a lot of the country and some beautiful sites. We drove to the twelve apostles, which are a collection of limestone stacks off the shore of Port Campbell. They were formed by erosion and eventually became these huge rock stacks up to 45 meters high. We stayed at Raelee's friends house and just relaxed after our day of travel by ordering pizza and watching a "true Australian film" which was Pricilla the Queen of the Desert.
    Traveling home Sunday morning, we took a ferry across the sea to shave some time off our trip home. It was a lot of driving (for Raelee. I am not allowed to drive the car, mostly because of my insistence that I will crash because everything is on the wrong side here) but ultimately a good weekend where I got to see a lot of the scenery of the Land Down Under. I am now preparing for my next week. I will be going up to Gelantipy with the 5/6's for their camp. It is up in the mountains, and I am not quite sure what to expect. I'm sure it will be interesting. Good thing I have my YMCA camp experience. . .
   

Phillip Island

With the pelicans at Phillip Island 

     This week in school went really well. I was with the "movement" teacher this week and she used to be a dancer so she teaches the kids dance along with sports for P.E. It was really interesting to see her lessons. We are having a festival in December where each grade will preform their little dances and the bands will play. After school on Thursday I was invited to play on the staff netball team. I had never heard of netball, but I decided I should play anyways. A coworker picked me up from my host family's house and we went to a gym in the next town over. Netball is a game like ultimate frisbee and basketball combined. We didn't have any subs, so I immediately was on the court running around like a chicken with my head cut off. I got the hang of it after awhile, but the first quarter, my game plan was to just run around and when people yelled at me, do what they say. At one point a player from the other team said to me, "You aren't supposed to go past that line... that is why the ref's keep calling you on it." Ohhh. . . I didn't even realize I was the person that was getting whistled at! It was so much fun and I enjoyed hanging out with my coworkers and learning a new game.

Feeding a Wallaby (in shock still) 

     Friday night I was invited to go out with Elise, host parents daughter. She is 19. I met a lot of her friends and we went to the pub. I didn't notice anythings dramatically different to the US with the bars there, except when you are a foreigner, everyone wants to talk to you and ask you about the gun laws and things. It was a good night. Elise's friends were very friendly and it was nice to hang out with a different group of people.
     Saturday I went on a day trip to Phillip Island with my host parents, Vic and Raelee. They have friends there so we went to visit them. We stopped on the way at a Fish and Chip place and ate near the beach. I saw pelicans up close. Then, we stopped at a Wildlife Center. There were all the native animals that are known to Australia. We saw some kangaroos and wallabies (which are like kangaroos only smaller). They gave you a bag of food at the door and you walked around the park and they would just hop up to you and you could feed them. It was fantastic. I loved seeing the kangaroos! I even saw a mama with a joey in her pouch! Afterwards we went to a chocolate factory before meeting Raelee and Vic's friend's at a winery.

Mama with her baby 

     Phillip Island is a great place that many people know of as the "place with the penguins." There are fairy penguins (which are now being called 'Little Penguins') that naturally live there. They hang out in the ocean and at dusk they all come out of the water at the same time and walk up the beach to their little burrows. Where they do that is a national park, so you have to pay to enter and there are bleachers you sit in, and you wait and watch them come up. It is actually a hilarious process. So I guess in nature, it is dangerous for penguins to walk up by themselves, so they "raft" on the edge of the water for awhile. Rafting just means they float around.

Picture of Fairy Penguins I
obviously got from the internet because
I wasn't allowed to take pictures. 

They wait for more and more penguins to come and then march across the beach together. It is hilarious because at the beginning you would see one or two penguins start to waddle, then they turn around and see that no one followed them, so they sprint back to the water. I was cracking up! Then, when a group goes, they slowly start their march. Then sometimes the last one will decide its a bad idea and he runs back to the water. Then another will follow and another and pretty soon the whole gang goes back. It is a big process. Eventually they all make it but it is so funny watching them decide to go. I had a great day with them and saw so many cool things! The best part about the penguins was that they were in their natural habitat. No one was keeping them there or forcing them to come up on the beach. They were just coming home to their nests. It was fantastic!

My host parents, Raelee and Vic all bundled up waiting for the
penguins

Sydney

The Sydney Harbour Bridge 

     This past weekend I explored Sydney. It was too far to drive there, so I took a train to Melbourne. From the train station I caught a bus to the airport. Then I flew in to Sydney (with Katie, the same girl I traveled to Melbourne with last weekend). Then we took a cab to the hostel I was staying at, which was in a terrible part of town unbeknownst to me when I booked it. (Note to self: if a hostel is way cheaper than the rest in the city, it's not a "deal," it is just a horrible place). I stayed at Kings Cross, which turned out to be a really sleazy area in Sydney (and not how Sydney is everywhere!). There were a lot of strip clubs and hookers and homeless people. I have never seen a public library in between two strip clubs before, until I went to Kings Cross. I have never seen a cross dressing hooker before, until I went to Kings Cross. I have never seen a meth-ed out homeless person trying to cut their own hair before, until I went to Kings Cross. I could go on all day. . . Needless to say, I did not go out at night there.

The beautiful Sydney Opera House 

     The Hostel from Hell, as I like to call it, is the worst place on Earth. (It is actually called the d*lux Hostel, please note this if you are planning on traveling to Sydney, to NOT go there). We arrived on Friday after a very long trip to be told that they didn't have a room for us, despite our reservations and deposit. We had to sleep in the lounge, which didn't lock, with no pillows and blankets, only to be woken up multiply times throughout the night by people wandering in, assuming it was the lounge. Then, they would find us curled up on the couches and realize their mistake, and stumble out. I was very frustrated with the establishment, especially because the same thing happened Saturday night. THE SAME THING. We were told Friday that they were so sorry and it would not happen again, then the exact. same. thing. happened. After, of course, they gave me a key to "our room" and I walked in on a half naked Indian man. He was not too pleased to see me, that is for sure. I did the dignified thing and ran away. I went to the front desk to tell them that the room was in fact, not available. To which they replied, then we do not have one for you, and directed us to the lounge again. After our night on Saturday, we were given a private room for the rest of our stay, free of cost, a free Shuttle to the airport Tuesday, and the managers apologies. He also offered us a free room, "if we wanted to stay longer." We both just stared at him like he was on drugs.  Of course we weren't going to stay longer, we wanted to get the hell out of there as soon as possible! Have I mentioned how much "fun" hostels are?

As far as I would go in the
water. . . 

     Due to the amount of traveling that we did after work on Friday, we ended up waiting until Saturday to start our adventure. We took a train to Circular Quay, which is the cool part of the city. There we took a tour of the world famous Opera House. We also bought tickets to see South Pacific, a musical, in the opera house later that day. It was wonderful! I am not a musical person, and I loved it. We also checked out the famous bridge, although we didn't climb it due to the expensive price. After that, we went to the Sydney Tower Eye, which is a viewing tower where you can see over the city. We had bought a package deal that came with five attractions, the Tower Eye being one of them.

Obama and I gettin' things done. 

    Sunday was a beach day for us. We took a ferry from Circular Quay to Manly Beach, where we laid out and waded in the water. Yes, the beach had a "shark net" to keep the sharks away. Terrifying, right? But apparently this fear is very "touristy", so I try to suppress it. We also walked around some nice shops and ate at a cafe on the beach. After the beach we went to Madame Tussaud's, which is a wax museum. This was also in the package of 5 things. I probably wouldn't have gone if it wasn't, but it turned out to be very fun. There was just a bunch of models of celebrities made out of wax. It sounds lame, but it was very fun to take pictures. Of course, this one of me and Obama is real, though . . .
 

Why did you have to
leave us so soon, Heath?!

  Monday and Tuesday we were able to stay in the city instead of coming back to Melbourne to teach because November 5th is a holiday here. It's called the Melbourne Cup and it is a horse race, much like the Derby here. The ladies wear fancy hats and everyone gets very dressed up to celebrate. My host parents are actually going to it. The schools are closed (at least in Victoria, where I am) so we stayed in Sydney and flew home Tuesday morning. The actual most important fact about November 5th is that it's my moms birthday. I hope you have a good one, mom! Wish I was there to celebrate with you!
      Monday we went to a wildlife place and the aquarium. We also got an hour guided tour throughout Sydney, where we got off at a Bay and walked around. We saw a great view of the ocean there, too. After eating at a great little place in Darling Harbor, we went back to out hostel and packed our things in preparation for our 5am shuttle to pick us up.

A Koala from the Wildlife place

      In all I found Sydney fantastic. I will be going back there during my last week in Australia, along with a few other places. I am hoping to meet up with a few friends from the YMCA Summer Camp I worked at in 2010 that live in/near Sydney (Jade and Jodi, hint, hint). A wonderful but tiring weekend for me!

Great view of the ocean