Freycinet National Park

 My tour included a hike up to the lookout at Wineglass Bay and down to the beach, which is located in Freycinet National Park.  As we walked along the path, a little wallaby popped out.  Much to my surprise, there was a little Joey on board!  So cool to be up that close to one.  The folklore says that there was a whaling station located at one end of the bay.  When they slaughtered the whales, the blood would fill the bay, giving it the name of “Wineglass Bay”.  The hike up was beautiful as well as our picnic lunch at the beach. 

 In the evening I went on a Little Blue Penguin viewing.  No picture taking was allowed, and only the guide had a flashlight to guide our way through the sanctuary.  We watched as they waddled their way up out of the water and onto the beach.  They continued past us as we stood buy watching.  They were making their way into their burrows for the night.  It was an amazing sight to witness.

A blow hole near the penguin sanctuary.

  We stopped at a roadside oyster farm.  A dozen for $15 ... 

Port Arthur

 The view of the prison

 The remains of the church

 Remains of the prison lodges

Asylum cells 

My day at Port Arthur Historic Site included a guided tour that told of the first convicts from England being shipped to this prison to serve their time for crimes committed.  Each man was taught to read and write and was given a trade to master.   Those that didn’t learn their lesson the first time were given the opportunity to sit in silence and darkness in the asylum.  That place freaked me out!  This tour included a boat ride over to the boys prison island and to the cemetery island where convicts and laymen were buried.  Unfortunately the prison was undergoing some renovations.  The scaffolding blocked much of the view of the main prison, but I still was able to see the rest of the grounds.  

Hobart Tasmania Sept 2014

 Sullivans Cove - Original Buildings - All repurposed

 Dock Side Restaurant 

 South Pole Supple Ships 

Salamanca Place - Home of the Saturday Market 

I booked myself a little trip over to Tasmania, the Australian island south of Australia, to see the sights.  I had great spring weather (+20) and could have moved there at a moments notice!  Loved the city of Hobart.  Here are just a few shots of the oceanfront area downtown.  

All my students had to present a three minute speech to the class to try and claim a spot in the school speaking finals.  I had talks on AFL football, fashion, Greek Mythology, Coke, and homework excuses, but one that had my attention was the one on Aussie slang.  It is a tale about me and my adventure to Australia, I giggled the whole way through because I didn't know what Sophie was saying!  With written permission from her mom, she has allowed me to share her speech.  I have included translations for you ...

G’day Blokes & Shielas,

I’ve decided to have a chinwag (have a chat) with you today about good old Aussie slang.  Now the reason I have chosen this topic is to help out my Canadian teacher Ms. Thibault as she has chosen to come down under and have a burl (give it a go) at teaching us ankle bitters a thing or two. But I reckon (believe) by now she may think we are not the full quid (unintelligent).  But no worries, I hope by the end of this chat she thinks we are all little rippers (great) and not of our rockers.  She may even give me a beaut score cause she won’t know what I’m on about.

Aussie slang has been taken from convicts to bush rangers to the First World War and have emerged to reinforce a sense of National Identity and character.

Struth! (exclamation) You wouldn’t think these words mean so much but sure as eggs they do.  Aussies use slang for humour wit and rhyme to describe experiences of this colourful land.

For example, get a load of this. 

There was this Bonzer (great ripper) Canadian chick whom decided to take a job in the lucky country teaching some rug rats how to read and write.  She quick as sticks packed her bag with some skirts, blouses and trousers and a couple of pairs of heels.  OH BOY … was she in for a rude shock, someone should have told her that all she’ll need is some cozzies (swimming costume), thongs (flip flops), singlets (tank tops), flannies (flannelette shirt) and tracky daks (track suit pants).

She lobs into Bris Vegas (Brisbane/Gold Coast) to find herself left stranded as her ride has done the Harold Holt (past Prime Minister who when for a swim and never came back).  Stranded like a drongo (stupid person) she was mad as a cut snake (really mad).  She decided to find a boozer (pub) and have a coldie (beer).  Taking a possie (seat) at the bar she gave her order to the dipstick (idiot) and she noticed he was built like a brick out house (brick shit house) and found herself starring like a stunned mullet (bewildered).  “They don’t make them like this in Canada!” she thought.  After scoffin (drinking back) a few plonks (cheap wine), Mrs. Thibault found herself hav’n a rip snort’n time with the local Yobbo’s (a stereotypical Aussie; beer in one hand, meat pie in the other, generally drive crappy old Holdens and have a dozen mullet clad kids following them. By-products of alcoholic fathers) She was choccus (munching) on sangas (sandwich) and booze and thought she’d better rack off (push off) before she made a raw prawn (embarrassment) of herself with these fellas.  She realized she stands out like a shag on a rock (very obvious) and didn’t want these larrikins (harmless pranksters)  hav’n a lend of her (to take advantage of someone’s gullibility)  .

By some stroke of luck, Mr. Barid (schools vice principal) finally turns up to pick her up.  After driving for hours they are within cooee (nearby) of Inverell and Ms Thibault is beginning to think they are WAY beyond the black stump (the back of nowhere) 

Mr. Baird is a bonzer bloke (great friend who’s male) so he opens the car door for her, “Careful you don’t come a gutzer (drunk) on the Bunyip (mythical outback creature – the koala) ”.

“What the???”  Ms Thibault shouts.

The next day everyone is flat out like a lizard (busy) drinking getting ready for school but Ms Thibault felt like chucking a sickie (calling in sick) cause she has a killer headache, but not wanting to be a piker (someone who doesn’t want to fit in socially), she gathers her stuff and went to meet the kids. 

The moment she meet the rug rats, she knew she was in for a dead set rip snort’n year (really good time). 

Crikey (OMG)!! That was a gobfull (verbal abuse) wasn’t it?  Anyway, Ms Thibault I guess I have left you quite gobsmacked (astounded) and here’s hoping for an Ace score! 

Sophie M

Sydney City to Surf 14km Run

Sunday August 10th

I went to Sydney to take part in this fun event with 85,000 other people from around the world.  I wore a Canadian tattoo to identify myself.  My colleagues, Cath, Toni and Heather presented me with an Australian Sports Jumper (Jacket) with a big Canadian Flag stitched on the back!  Love it! You just can't imagine that many people in one place, but with amazing coordination it happened.  Red Foo was there DJ'n as we ran past the start line about 10 minutes after the gun fired ... that gives you an idea of just how far back we were from the start line.  It was more of a 'dodge and bob' race as people of all running experience and prams were lining the running surfaces.  About 6 km in there is 'heart break hill' to contend with!  It goes up for about 2km, but with bands and entertainment along the way, there was no crying from me!  I did enough training that when we arrived at the Bondi Beach finish line, I could have kept on running as I had more juice in the tank to pull off a 1/2 marathon.  It was a great birthday weekend!

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.