The Great Ocean Road - Feb 14 - 15, 2009

After spending two weekends in a row at home I decided it was time for another road trip.  While in Alice Springs I met two German girls who recommend a two day, one night tour of The Great Ocean Road.  When I looked into it I discovered that they offered the tour over a weekend so I signed myself up.

Early Saturday morning I met up with the bus, and people that I was going to be traveling with all weekend long.  After a boring (we were encouraged to sleep) three hour drive on the inland road we stopped at Logan's Beach near the town of Warrnambool.  As you can see by the photo below, it wasn't such an awful place to stop.

Logan's Beach

From Logan's Beach we went to Tower Hill Reserve for lunch.  The Reserve is inside a now extinct volcano. I saw (for the first time since being in Australia) koalas and kangaroos in the wild.

This is one of many kangaroos I saw.

From Tower Hill we travelled some more to the Bay of Islands, and the Bay of Martyrs.  

Bay of Islands

Bay of Martyrs

From there it was back on the bus for a stop at London Bridge.  London Bridge used to be attached to the mainland but one day it broke away.    We heard an  interesting story about the couple that was on the bridge when it broke away from the mainland. Apparently they were having a romantic day away from work but they were actually having an affair as both were married to other people.  Since they were stranded on top and needed to be rescued they made the local papers and their respective partners found out.

London Bridge which was once attached (not too long ago) to the mainland.

From London Bridge we checked into our hostel in Port Campbell.  A huge dinner was prepared for us before we headed to watch the sunset at the Twelve Apostles.  Once the sun had set (it was a cloudy day so we didn't get to see the sun actually hit the water line) we waited in the dark a bit longer to see a family of penguins return to their nests.  It was a pretty quick show and while I was able to see them scamper across the beach, the photos don't do it justice.

Sunset at the Twelve Apostles (although there are only six left)

It was then back to the hostel and off to the one bar in town for some pool, dancing, and conversation - oh and a beverage or two.

The next morning we were up early and provided with a great breakfast spread.  We then headed to Loch Ard Gorge along the shipwreck coast.  We heard another story about two people who survived a boat crash there.

Loch Ard Gorge

From Loch Ard Gorge we went to a helicopter company and for a fee we could go up in a helicopter and see the Twelve Apostles from the air.  Only three of us took the offer and so I flew in my first helicopter ride. It was amazing and to my surprise I didn't get sick to my stomach.  I took several pictures from the helicopter too.  (I still can't believe I went up in a helicopter).

A picture taken from the helicopter of some of the Apostles.

Me and the helicopter I went up in.

Once we were done with our flights the bus took us back to the Twelve Apostles for day time photos since we were last there (those of us that didn't have the helicopter ride) at sunset.

Twelve Apostles during the day (and from land).

With the Twelve Apostles out of our system we headed to Gibson's Steps.  They were originally created by a member of the Gibson's family as a way to get down to the water to flag passing boats for supplies.  While the stairs have since been replaced the beach remains the same.

Beach at Gibson's Steps.

From here it was another longish drive along the inland part of the Great Ocean Road.  It took us through Great Otway National Park rain forest where we stopped at Maits Rest.  We did a rain forest walk there.  All the green reminded me of being back in BC.  During the walk I learned many new things.  At one point I was  able to go inside a hollow tree.  It was hollow on the inside because of a cancer type disease for trees.  

The rainforest (apparently all of Australia used to look like this).

Inside the tree looking up at the top.

It was very dark inside but my flash did a  good job to help capture the imagine.

We then continued along the Great Ocean Road and came across a section that was inhabited by Koalas.  I was able to take a few more photos and hopefully you can see the Koala in the middle of this photo.

If you look really closely at the centre of the picture there is a Koala  in the tree.

The day continued with more stops at Apollo Bay, Lorne, Bells Beach, and Torquay (We drove through Anglesea).  I have pictures of all these places too but I figured each beach looks some what similar with beautiful  sand and great waves and since I've already posted enough beach scenes above I would leave these places out.

The trip ended with an hour and a half ride back to Melbourne via Geelong and the highway.  Over all it was a really great weekend.  Although the people on the tour where a fair bit younger than me it didn't really mater.  Everyone was nice and it was great to be with other people exploring and having fun.  Our tour guide/bus driver was a nice guy too so overall it was a good weekend.  I'm so glad I went.

Next weekend I'm away again, but this time with a trip organized by the International Teaching Fellowship people.  We're off to Gippsland for some relaxing, sight seeing, socializing, and a SURF lesson!  I can't wait.  

Oh yah, if you double click on the photos you should be able to make then bigger.

Victorian Bush Fires

For those that have opened a newspaper or watched the daily news you are well aware of the bush fires causing  death and destruction in Victoria, Australia.  At the moment I am living in North Fitzroy about 60 - 90 minutes away from these fires.   These Victorian bush fires are the most awful thing happening in Australia right now.  Yes, Queensland is dealing with severe flooding, but the loss of life in Victoria is  something that is hard to deal with.  Many of you have e-mailed me to make sure that I'm safe.  I am safe, but every day at work   I am flooded with images of the families that have lost their lives.   It's so very sad.

If you can help out with any relief effort in your area please do.   I'm lucky, but so many others are not.

11.8 km

This weekend I finally put my bike computer onto my bike.  It was very interesting for me to find out that my commute to and from school is just shy of 12 km each way.  It seems to take me on average 38 minutes but that includes the time I wait for lights to change or trains to pass.   One of these days I need to try out the transit route, which according to the website will take me about one hour.  With the amount of weight I've been commuting back and forth with, as I get the classroom running in a way that I'm  happy with,  I think maybe I should have been taking transit this entire time.  But then again, maybe not.  Today I rode home with a  bag probably  5kg lighter than usual and it was wonderful.  That's the secret, the heavy stuff stays at school.

St. Kilda and Its Festival in Photos

Today (Sunday Feb 8, 2009) was the St. Kilda Festival.  Thankfully my friend Jessica mentioned it to me last night because if she hadn't I would have missed it.  But she did, and so I didn't.  Instead of me writing about it I decided to just post pictures of some of the things I saw in St. Kilda.  For those who don't know about St. Kilda, it's a suburb of Melbourne (like where I live) and it's south of the central business district (CBD) (I'm north of the CBD).  It's just a tram ride away from my house.  Anyhow, today was their festival and here is a photo look at what I saw.  Please note these photos are in no particular order.

Looking down Fitzroy Street.  I'm not sure if you can tell but there is a very big crowd down the road.

A hotel in St. Kilda with a bar - you can see the people on the left on the second floor patio.

A street performer (notice the guy on the bicycle on a pole in the air?)

A street salsa lesson.  It was fun to watch and had I  known one person (I needed a partner)  I would have joined in too.  This one is for Jane L.

Another bar patio and deck filled with people (there were many).

The sign across the street from the bar above.  It was okay to drink in the bar, just not on the street.

Kite surfers. Okay they weren't really part of the festival but they are very much a part of St. Kilda beach.

Volleyball in a jumpy thing.  Now this was funny to watch.  It's regular volleyball but you are  constantly jumping up and down.  I wonder how my Bonaccord Staff would do in this situation.

A live band.  This was the "main stage" but there were three other stages in the area.  They were all showcasing live music of a variety of genres.

The beach.  There was a beach volleyball tournament going on as part of the festival.

Acland Street - famous for its many cake shops.

A display on the roof of one of the businesses on Acland Street.

The amazing drumming kid.  He was very very good.

One of the cake shop windows on Acland street.  This one is for  "D.".

Overall it was a really enjoyable day.  The sun was behind clouds most of the day and the temperature was comfortable (unlike yesterdays blast of heat).  The pictures don't nearly do it justice but hopefully it gives you a bit of an idea of what my day was like.

More Airplane Rides Planned!

Last night I was checking the internet for cheap flights because I have a long weekend coming up in March (March 9 is Labour Day here).  I wasn't able to find any great deals for the long weekend so I decided to check out other dates for weekend trips.  In the end I found a flight to Canberra for $24 with a $44 return.  Obviously I booked the flights even though it only has me in Canberra for about 32 hours.  Having booked yet another flight as part of my adventure I sat back and thought about all the flights I've been on, and will be on this trip.

1. Vancouver - Hong Kong (Dec 08)

2. Hong Kong - Bangkok (Dec 08)

3. Bangkok - Krabi (Dec 08)

4. Krabi - Samui (Dec 08)

This is the plane I took from Krabi to Samui.

5. Samui - Bangkok (Jan 09)

6. Bangkok - Chiang Mai (Jan 09)

7. Chiang Mai - Bangkok (Jan 09)

8. Bangkok - Hong Kong (Jan 09)

9. Hong Kong - Adelaide (Jan 09)

10 Adelaide - Melbourne (Jan 09)

11. Melbourne - Alice Springs (Jan 09)

This is the plane I took from Melbourne to Alice Springs.

12. Alice Springs - Melbourne (Jan 09)

13. Melbourne - Canberra (March 09)

14 Canberra - Melbourne (March 09)

15 Melbourne - Auckland (April 09)

16 Auckland - Tauranga (April 09) 

17 Napier - Wellington (April 09)

18 Wellington - Auckland (April 09)

19 Auckland - Melbourne (April 09)

20 Melbourne - Syndey (May 09)

21 Sydney - Melbourne (May 09)

22 Melbourne - Cairns (June 09)

23 Cairns - Brisbane (July 09)

24 Brisbane - Whitsunday Coast (July 09)

25 Whitsunday Coast - Brisbane (July 09)

26 Brisbane - Melbourne (July 09)

27 Melbourne - Hong Kong (Dec 09)

28 Hong Kong - Vancouver (Dec 09) 

In addition while these are the flights that I've already booked (and paid for) I still have some more local train trips planned and I do plan to fly to several other places too.  So this list is far from complete.  As Sarah mentioned, I think the sad part is the last flight is my flight home and while I know I'll be excited to be heading home to my friends and family, it will also mean that my adventure will be over.

Now, if only they all gave me frequent flyer points... maybe I'd have enough to come back to Australia again!

Teaching in Australia -Term 1 Week 2

Right now I'm trapped inside my home as temperatures sore to close to 45c outside my door.  There is a dry wind blowing (and I mean really blowing - I keep thinking the electrical wires are going to  snap) and my 30 minute walk in the neighbourhood had my feet feeling like they were on fire.  I guess that's why we've been advised to stay inside today.

I survived my first week of school and it wasn't nearly as tough as I thought it would be.  There were many times I was frustrated with feeling like a first year teacher because I have none of my resources with me and so every time I need something I need to make it again.  The teachers I work with have been offering me things too so it isn't as bad I may make it sound.

My class is very nice and consists of 21 children (although I've only met 20).  They range in age from 5 - 8 and their academic levels range even more.  That's not a big deal to me though because as in Canada I need to take them from where they are to as far along as I can in the time that I have with them.  I do have to follow specific curriculum - VELS is like B.C.'s PLOs.  There are also progression points that help guide where I should be going.  I'm teaching a grade 1/2 class but it's all part of level 2 with the VELS.  I have progression points for each learning objective and the children fit along a continuum. The problem I'm having is that the progression points are not particularly sequential so I feel like things are being taught jumping from place to place.  I'm going to have a closer look at the math expectations so I can make a plan of attack.  This week I found everything just too piece meal for me and while I did have some good maths (yes, they call it maths vs our math) lessons I think I can use the time more effectively by teaching in a way that's more comfortable for me.

One of the things that I eluded to a post or two ago was data collection is HUGE in the first month of school.  This first week I was given a couple hours of release time to work on that data collection.  It was good and I got a lot done. I've also had the new Reading Recovery teacher help me out a bit so I can't complain.  At the end of the week we had a meeting with the prep (aka Kindergarten)  and 1/2 teachers and I realized that I actually had more done than some.  So while I've been stressing all week about getting my assessments done, I was actually getting more done than others.  All this means is that this second week of work with children should be a lot better.

I haven't set my timetable yet (although I'm getting close) but here's what a typical week may look like for me.  Monday to Friday my first two sessions (8:45 - 9:45, 9:45 - 10:45) are dedicated to reading and writing.  I MUST have a reading and writing session every day.  It's uninterrupted time (although a bell goes at the end of each session) so once I get going with programs it should work out nicely.  There is recess from 10:45 - 11:15 and on Tuesdays and Fridays I have yard duty from 10:45 - 11:00 - which leaves me a 15 minute break after the yard duty.  On Friday I walked into (after I came in from yard duty)  an informal weekly staff meeting that's held from 11:00 - 11:15 every Friday while the kids are outside for recess.  After recess (Session 3 11:15 - 12:15) on Monday, Tues, and Wednesday I have maths (again I must do a one hour session of maths a day).  On Thursday at that time I have Art (it's taught by a specialist and I have APT - planning time) and on Friday I have Library (it's taught by a specialist which means more planning time for me).  

On Monday the rest of the sessions are for me to fill .  Session 4 is from 12:15 - 1:15.  Lunch is from 1:15 - 2:15.   I am expected to watch my class eat from 1:15 - 1:30 before I can go to the staff room and have my own lunch.  The final session of the day is from 2:15 - 3:15.

On Tuesday I have to fill session four, but session five is filled with PE and more time for my class to be with a specialist (and more planning time for me).  Tuesday after school depending on the week I either have a staff meeting from 3:30 - 4:30 or  I have a curriculum team meeting for the same time period.  This is EVERY week.  In Canada I have one staff meeting a month!!

Wednesday are a lot like Monday with no specialist working with my class so five hours for me to plan for them.  

Thursdays I have maths session four and the entire school has buddies session five.  We haven't started buddies yet so I'm not sure what it will look like.  What I do know is that it's different than how I do buddies back home. Thursdays after school we have team meetings which means I meet with the Prep, 1/2, and specialist teachers that work with our children.  We discuss what's been going on and what's coming up.

On Fridays after library (session 3) I have maths (session 4).  I have thirty minutes of yard duty at LUNCH on Fridays.  Someone else has to watch my class eat their lunch because I'm entitled to a 30 min of kid free lunch.  (If you'll notice I do 60 minutes of yard duty (aka supervision) a week - at home I do 15 min a week).  After lunch on Friday's it's expected that each grade does some school clean up and each class is assigned a section.  Everyone does the cleaning at the same time.  From there it's back to the room for a bit (more time for me to get things done).  At 2:55 every Friday we have a school wide assembly.  Recognition awards are given out.  Each class is responsible for running an assembly.  My class has to do the assembly at the very beginning of May.

The biggest change I've noticed is the structure of the day. The teaching is different but the tools I have as a teacher can easily transfer.

Now onto the children.  The children in my class are quite sweet. Obviously I miss my Canadian class - they were the best - but this class isn't too bad either.  On the first day of school I had a couple try to test me, but to no ones surprise I WON!  I had to speak to one students when he was punching his mother because he didn't like her.  Not so good I'd say but since I talked with him things seem better and he's been working really hard for me.   The children in my class are  from Australia, Indonesia, Paupa New Guinea, Vietnam, and Nepal.  I know there are other cultures I just can't remember right now.  It's a wide mix and many have Australian accents (the new immigrants have accents from their home countries).  They all call me Karen (although some are calling me Ms. Karen) and it's so cute to hear them in their little accents.  Some of the children Sharon had last year have come to say hello to and they are calling me Ms. Lirenman (obviously I've told them they can call me Karen).

The parents have also been very accepting of me telling me that they are happy their child is in my class or that their child is excited to be in my classroom.  That's been nice to hear.  I've also enjoyed meeting and speaking with them too.  I hope to be able to get them more involved with my classroom like I'd do in Canada but I need to make sure it's okay with the team first.   We do things together so many of my decisions need to be approved by all.  (I'm hoping I can convince them to give community reading a try).

The children wear uniforms but there seems to be such a variety in the uniform that it took me a bit to figure out that they were in fact wearing  a uniform. They even have special hats for outside (which must be worn this term, and the fourth term ).  In general the children are very nice.  I haven't had too much too deal with on yard duty (which requires me to fill in a form for being out there - lots more paper work here too). The school population is a couple hundred kids smaller than my Canadian school too so when I'm out on yard duty I feel like there are no kids around.

Okay, that's enough for now.  Sorry there are no pictures.  I have some photos of my students but I don't think it's right to publish other people's children on my blog.  I'll speak to the appropriate people and I'll see if it's okay for me to do.  I'll also try to take some photos of my classroom (once it's officially set up - it's a work in progress STILL).

Thanks for reading this far.  This is a long (some what dry) one!  I've also stayed politically neutral  since I am here for an entire school year and we've only  just finished term 1 week 2.

An Update is Coming

Being back at work  has limited my spare time. In case you are wondering school isn't nearly as challenging as I figured it would be.  I keep saying to myself kids are kids.  The Australian time tabling is different, and they have some state required grade one assessments (literacy and numeracy) and grade two numeracy assessments but kids are kids.  I'm still doing the same job I was doing in Canada - taking the children in my class from where they are to as far along as I can. A real blog will come shortly.