Lorinda's Weekend

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This past weekend I stayed with my cooperating teacher. 

She and her family were such wonderful hosts! 

I felt like part of the family by the end of the weekend!

On Friday we had a barbecue at South Bank.

I had my first burger of the trip.

It was so delicious!

There was Lorinda's special sauce, avocado, tomato, onion and lettuce.

I am falling in love with avocado.

South Bank is right in on the river in the city.

All the lights were reflceting off the river. 

It was beautiful. 

Unfortunaltly none of my pictures do it justice. 

The wheel was cool too! 

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On Saturday we relaxed at their pool and spa (hot tub).

I taught them how to play Bananagrams.
They LOVED it!

Then on Sunday we went to the beach. 

It was nice not too hot, not too cold.

I perfect day to play in the sand!

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Excursion! AKA Field Trip

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Last Wednesday all the Stretton year 4 students and teachers

went on an excursion to an Aboriginal Heritage Center.

...there were a lot of us!

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They kicked the day off by giving us an Aboriginal face painting. 

The girls and the boys had a different disign. 

The boys were kangaroo paws. 

Ours meant "young lady."

That is my cooperating teacher, Lorinda. 

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Next, the boys and the girls learned dances and preformed for each other. 

The dances tell a story. 

Our story was of a women picking berries. 

The boys told a story with an eagle. 

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After morning tea, the classes were split up and went to different stations. 

One was talking about how the Aboriginals use the animals. 

There were a bunch of skins, shells ect. 

He also showed us the tools used to kill the animals.. note the boomerang.

Most impressively at this station, he played the didgeridoo! 

I will try to put up a video of after Wednesday.. when the internet is fast again.

Another station was story telling, 

Uncle Wally also taught us how to use a spear.

He was very entertaining.

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Most exciting was learning how to throw a boomerang! 

Lorinda was a natural! 

Her's nearly came all the way back. 

I found it funny and a little dissapoining, 

that our instructor has never caught a boomerang.

It was still fun to try. 

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Before we knew it, it was time to load the buses and head back to school. 

Notice the color of the bus! 

No yellow buses here!

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Sage's Thanksgiving Birthday Bash

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Sage's Birthday was on Wednesday. 

Karen thought she should have a Thanksgiving themed party. 

It was great. 

We had turkey, potatoes, salad, stuffing (I made it), pumpkin, 

and for dessert, pumpkin pie, rice pudding (Grandma Carols, also made by me), and birthday cake. 

I couldn't have asked for a better Aussie Thanksgiving. 

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I will leave you with a few of the things I am the most thankful for this year.

My supportive parents- thank you for all you do for me,

My beautiful sister and brother- I miss you lots and am so proud of the people you are becoming,

Our healthy, fun, and caring family- I look forward to seeing you over Christmas,

wonderful friends- new and old,

and all my terrific cooperating teachers- you have prepared me for my career of educating. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

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Kuranda

 

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On Monday we took a bus up to Kuranda to see the rain forest.

Before we went we checked out of our hostel so all day we lugged our things with us. 

When we first arrived in Kuranda we hiked in the rain forest along the Barron River. 

It was hot and steep hike. 

We ended up going the wrong way at one point so I am not sure how far we went. 

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In town there were lots of shops and markets. 

So we did some perusing. 

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We also went to the Kuranda Butterfly Sanctuary. 

At one time it was the largest butterfly garden in the world. 

It isn't anymore, but it was still spectacular.

 I think there were 20,000 butterflies. 

Everywhere you looked  there was a different type. 

The people who worked there were also exceptionally friendly. 

It made the experience even better. 

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To get back down to Cairns we took the sky rail. 

It stopped twice and I was able to take a lot of amazing pictures both on the sky rail and at the stops. 

You can see them below. 

My favorite was the view of the ocean right at the end of the trip down. 

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From the sky rail we went straight to the airport. 

 It was a weekend I will never forget! 

Did I mention I snorkeled at the Great Barrier Reef?!

Amazing.

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Sunday Fun Day!

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On Sunday I went on a day trip to the Great Barrier Reef. 

The boat left Cairns at 9:00

It was rainy and windy and the tide was changing so the boat ride out was rough. 

Lots of people got sea sick. 

I didn't, but I wasn't feeling great when we got to the marina. 

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First  we went on the glass bottom boat. 

The picture is of coral on the reef. 

Since it was overcast the coral wasn't colorful, 

but it was still very cool. 

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I spent about 2 hours snorkeling. 

It was so amazing!!! 

There were so many beautiful fish. 

I saw schools of fish, just swimming by.

That was unbelievable. 

The highlight of the day was being able to pet the huge fish on the right. 

His name is Wally. 

He lives by the Marina and I came across him right at the end of the day. 

He was about as big as my torso and very brightly colored. 

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The boat ride home was gorgeous. 

The sun was out and it was a nice, smooth ride. 

I rode outside on the top of the boat and loved every second of it!

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When we got back to Cairns we went to the grocery store and bought this spread for $10.00. 

We enjoyed it for dinner, breakfast, and lunch! 

Yes my total food budget for the trip was $9.95!

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Saturday in Cairns

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The mission of the Cains trip was seeing the Great Barrier Reef. 

The mission was completed before the plane even landed! 

This is a view of part of the Reef from the plane as I flew into Cairns.

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Shilo and I stayed in a hostel less than a block from this lagoon that looked out to the ocean. 

I thought the fish were very cool.

The city is centered right off of the Lagoon.

There were lots of shops right around where we were staying,

so we explored those, the pier and the lagoon on Saturday. 

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Our flight left Brisbane at 7:25am. 

I didn't eat breakfast and so by 1ish when we got around to eating I was starving. 

I had my first fast food of the trip, Red Rooster. 

The chips (french fries) were really good, 

well not as good as In 'n Out fries, but good. 

The chicken was typical, but the BBQ sauce was very different! 

It was kind of like soy sauce, almost. 

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In the afternoon we kept with tradition,

and visited the Botanical Gardens.

Once again I was impressed. 

There were so many beautiful trees and flowers.

This garden was much more tropical than the others. 

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At one point we left the gardens,

and began bush walking (hiking) in a state park without even realizing. 

It was pretty rigorous, 

but at the top we had this beautiful view of the ocean,

so it was worth it in the end. 

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It was rainy Saturday night and we were exhausted, 

so we went to bed pretty early.

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