Kata Tjuta - The Olgas

 We had to catch the bus at 5:45 am to go and watch the sunrise over Uluru.  I took way to many pictures of this very big rock!  It is 9.3 km around the base of it if you choose to walk.  They discourage climbers, but people still do it.

 Suns coming up ...

You can see The Olgas off in the distance.  They are about 55km away.

 This photo was taken from the bus.  Its one side of Kata Tjuta.

 I opted for the 5.5km hike up into the Olgas on a really calm day.  They call this area the Valley of the Winds ... there was no wind that day but only around +10 in the sun.  Once the sun went down, out came the mitts and jacket...even if you are from Canada!

 Clearly you can see the different in the sun setting in these shots ... pretty spectacular.

 Our tour guide suggested taking photo with a glass of water or wine.  I took the wine of course and this was the result!

 My partner in crime on the trip ... Toni.  This was our last sunrise in Uluru to take pictures.

 This was mid day just before we departed for the airport.  The one below shows Kata Tjuta off in the distance.

Uluru

 Our little Irish Pub hotel was located in the "Rocks" area of Sydney.  It was two minutes from the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

 ...and just two minutes from the view of the Opera House!

We caught the train back to the airport in the morning and I couldn't resist a morning sunrise of the bridge. They really have this transportation thing figured out here in Sydney, it was so convenient getting around.

               This was one of the first shots of Uluru when we started out sunset camel ride.

                    There were three road trains of camels as we set out on our ride.

                                             This was Mertle, our camel for the evening.

                                      Sun was starting to head down quickly ... more photos

 I couldn't figure out how to rearrange the pictures in the blog???  This was a shot from the plane as we flew into Ayers Rock.

                                                    Toni and I, after our ride on Mertle.

                                 This is what a road train of camels looks like in the distance.

Sydney

I ventured to Sydney on my Term 2 holidays with my colleague Kerry and her three kids.  It took about 8 hours from Inverell to Sydney, but had a beautiful day to drive up and over the mountain range in the first picture.  Kerry had booked a lovely B&B in a 1920's home on the Manly side of Sydney.  Our first day involved not getting lost as we navigated our way to Ella's ballet school.  We dropped her off and Angus, Nick, Kerry and I headed to the beach.  Angus had money in his wallet that burned like kryptonite, so we snooped around the beach and checked out the surf shops.  After picking Ella up from ballet, we headed down to catch the ferry across to Circular Quay in the heart of Sydney's tourist area.  We walked and shopped until it was time to head back.  We went to the Taronga Zoo the next day.  When we arrived we took the gondola over the zoo and were amazed at the view of the Harbour Bridge and Opera House in the back ground.  They had a beautiful selection of animals.  Another trip on the ferry allowed me to meet with the Australian Coordinator for the Teachers Exchange.  I met with Helen and we had a lovely lunch. It was nice to finally put a face to all the emails I had over the past year getting myself through the paperwork flurry to get here.  Kerry, crew and I headed back to Inverell after three fun filled days in Sydney.

Last Day of Term 2

My last day of the term was Friday June 27th, so I decided to celebrate Canada Day with my students.  My colleague Cath and I combined our two classes and she had a competition as to who could draw the best Canada Flag ... she made me draw an Australian flag!  From the Smart board, I showed them the words to "Good Old Hockey Game", by Stompin Tom Connors and Oh Canada and we belted out the two songs.  They all slapped on Canada tattoos and we headed outside to play hockey.  Cath made a cake for the occasion!  The afternoon was a masquerade themed social in the hall for students who created their own masks for the occasion.  Cath made mine, a koala bear and glued on a piece of ecualyptus.  We danced the afternoon away and sent the kids home for two weeks.

Immediately after school my other colleague, also named Cath, picked me up from school with her two princesses, Charlotte and Georgia, (they call me Zoozann) and we headed out to a little town called Weewaa!  Cath was invited to a Mad Hatters Tea Party in this little town so we stayed overnight at her mother-in-laws house.  Anna had a beautiful lasagne meal waiting for us upon our arrival.  In the morning we were up and out the door to attend the tea party.  One of the photos shows the cake that they actually cut just before we left.  I was armed with souvenirs from the store hosting the tea party and we headed back home.  Along the way Cath took me sight seeing.  We stopped at an observatory with the most ginormous satellite dishes I've ever seen.  They run along a 9 meter wide railway to track outer space 'stuff'.  Back into the car and our next stop was Sawn Rock.  A little 800 meter walk into the bush lead us to this spectacular rock face in the Mount Kaputar National Park.  Once I arrived home I had to pack my bags as I was heading to Sydney in the morning.

Weekend Adventures

June was a month of weekend adventures.  My colleague Cath invited me to go to Tamworth with her for her daughters netball training.  So I tagged along and brought my running gear with me as we planned for a quick run as she and I are training for the Sydney to Surf 14km run in August.  Tamworth is know for its country singing roots and has a Golden Guitar at its tourist information centre.  Before heading home we stopped downtown for lunch and I had my picture taken by Slim Dusty, a well known Australian country singer.  Tamworth hosts the country music festival every January which attracts big names like Keith Urban and alike.

My other weekend get-a-way was to a little place called Gostwyck.  It is located just outside Urella and it consists of a little church on the edge of a tree lined private driveway.  My colleagues from work, Deb, Jen and Kim took me to the local "Upper Pub" for tea (lunch) and drinks.  We popped into  a local shop called the "Wool Room" to browse their wool products.  Beautiful items to keep you warm and cozy through the winter months.  We also visited the local book store and I picked up two old maps from turn of the century Encyclopedia Britannica's.  Really cool!