Summer Hollibobs!

Yay!!!! At last, the summer holidays are here. Finished at Victory on Friday. Mixed feelings as have made some good friends and the kids 'came good' overall. Onwards to new school now and Oli's coming with me. But first: HOLLIBOBS!!!
We're off in a minute to South East Asia for 6 weeks. House let out and ready to go. First stop is Singapore, which should be fun. 
The best bit will be spending time with Jeffers and Oli. Oli has worked sooooo hard this year, gaining Dux without any input from us at all (guilty mum). He needs to kick back now and is super excited about our trip. 
We took him travelling when he was three although he is unable to remember anything at all, so this will be such an experience. 
I have probably spent more time cleaning the house in readiness for our people than I have all year! Jeff's amazed at the difference. Anyways, here we go!

November Days

No Guy Fawkes night... showed the kids photographs and explained what happened on the night. They were all amazed that we burnt an effigy of anyone in front of small children!

What a week. My first piece of writing ever published in T.E.S. Very pleased and it's given me the confidence to send more stuff off. One hundred pounds to be given to the school. I have decided that I would like a coffee machine for the staff: a necessity. 

Not long now until the end of term at my present school. Mixed emotions really as my two years there have taught me a lot about myself as a teacher although I feel ready to move on and to undertake more challenges. Always have been a bit of a fidget! Very excited about my new job role and school as will be teaching seniors only (year 11 and 12) as well as an extra class for gifted and talented year 9s. Oli will be moving there too when the school year starts in January. He'll be in Year 10 then with year 11 and 12 still to go so the timing is good too. Oli has decided that the draw of the extra curricular activities -sailing,body boarding and rugby- far outweigh the fact that he may be taught Senior English by his mum! The school is endeavoring for the latter not to be the case, but it's a possibility. St Teresa's is a larger school than my present one - it has 800 students - although it's in Noosaville, which is only 15 mins down the road. Smiling muchly.

Great week with a friend's family from the UK staying here. Realized what a fabulous area we live in here as we showed them around! Love to see people from the 'homeland' and to hear that Devonian accent again. Jeff and Oli are back to Biddy in July for Jeff's niece's wedding. I will be unable to accompany them as the wedding is during term time here. Sad Face, but at least I can read without interruption and eat when I like!

Weather's warming up and we're entering storm season. Batten down the hatches. Our water tanks are empty again though, so could do with some rain. The tanks, as you already know, are for our toilets and washing machines, which makes sense. However, when the tanks are empty, thankfully, we do go over to town water! Snakes are around at the moment too, although we don't seem to have any around our place. I always keep the screens pulled across to keep 'em out as well as the nasty creepy crawly things. Don't mind seeing any of it in the wild but draw the line at sharing my home with them.

Retaining Walls: a Murder Mystery in the Making...

So. The lovely landscaper has finished the retaining walls. I asked if I could keep all the wooden end bits for my friend who has a wood burner. 
'No' was his prompt reply... 'as they are treated with Copper, Chrome and Arsenic'... hmm... mind-boggling and a certain story plot, I am sure. Found the stickers from the wood lying around on the ground, which backed up his statement!

Our Fisher and Paykel Washing Machine

We bought a Fisher and Paykel branded washing machine. These machines are manufactured in New Zealand. We were told by the seller how to programme our machine to play the NZ National Anthem. It works. Strange but true.

Funny Old First Day of the Hols

Today, Oli and I went to Noosa... I ordered a coffee and a 'slice of coconut cake'. The coconut cake arrived toasted: TOASTED (?).  I bought CHICKEN MINCE for tonight's chilli, then took my skirt to the newsagents to be dry-cleaned (?). On our way home, I left a box of books at Tewantin Bowls Club to be sold to members/drinkers etc. to raise money for the club. I then PAID to recycle my unwanted goods at the recycling yard. I walked in to Eumundi and bought my 5-year driving licence as well as the compulsory 3rd party insurance. I then paid an enormous amount of money (on-line) for my top-up comprehensive car insurance. No road tax here in Oz. I paid the first installment of Oli's braces, which will be $240 per month for the next 18 months. No free dental care here either. I sold several household items on Gumtree and the buyers picked them up this afternoon: without trying to knock me down on the price at all. Finally, I went to the bottle shop for some wine (not sold in supermarkets here in Oz and certainly no 'three for ten pounds' deals here!!). A day of differences.

School Holiday on the Sunshine Coast

I have been waiting for these holidays for soooo looooong... I was in hospital and recuperating during the last school hols, so feel very excited about these next two weeks. Not much planned. We have two 'lodgers' coming to stay for term 4 - fellow teachers at my present school - as their house is now let, prior to them returning to NZ to start new teaching jobs in the New Year (Boohoo!!). Will miss them both desperately, but a trip to NZ is now on the cards for next year, so all good I guess.

Three years ago today, we arrived in Oz! Wowzers... the time has really flown and we still feel that we're learning stuff daily about this wonderful country. Really glad that we made the move and don't regret it at all: we're having so much fun here, and every weekend seems to be an adventure. Well, apart from this weekend, as I need to clean and dust... sigh... 

We have had a couple of quotes for our landscaping to be completed so will decide over the next few days about who will be doing the work. I loved the chappie who seemed soooooo excited about constructing a retaining wall: he seriously was so excited that we could be needing a few walls (we're on a slope) and wouldn't stop scribbling little plans, bless him! Hopefully, we will be able to get the digging and concreting completed before the next holidays and then we will be able to sit out looking at dirt during the hot months. Haha! We should get the weeds cleared though, as it's snake season  and we wouldn't want to give a home to one in our 'garden'- which is called  a 'yard' here in Oz: confusing to say the least.

Ooh... just remembered. We went to a wonderful all-day music festival last weekend in Noosa. We took Oli and wondered how it would all be. Really well organised though and we were all able to have the best time, without getting in each other's way. Booze section separated from the under 18s/family section. 40,000 people attended and no real issues, as far as we were aware anyways. Oli giggled when we (his parents: how could we possibly?!!) DANCED, but then realised that he looked silly as he wasn't dancing, so joined in too. Good times.

Wet Week in Paradise

What a rainy old time we've had here recently! Shouldn't complain I guess... our 2 X 5000 litre tanks are now full (and overflowing!) and our parched landscape is greener. However our dried-up mud around the house is now sludgy mud... yuckadoodle. At least our home is warm and dry and there is something so guilt-free about snugging up to watch a movie whilst it's raining outside. The boys have the rugby on the television though at the moment, so I guess I'll have to pick up a book first.
Friday was our area sports day. I volunteered to take the students and loved it! I felt like the kids do when they don't have to go to school. They were brilliant actually, considering they were water-logged as it bucketed down all day. We arrived back at school a bit early, so we watched some YouTube clips in class whilst the heater attempted to warm us up: felt just like England!
Our year 12s are getting excited already about their formal at the end of the year. Very different from the UK. The kids at my school have to learn to waltz (they're having lessons in school at the moment), take a partner of the opposite sex (!) and their parents attend the event too! A very formal formal I have to say. I won't be attending, but I will go along to see their attire: it's all I have heard about since March... sigh... They are on their last couple of English assignments now and they are relieved to see an end to it all... um... so am I. Haha!
I have enjoyed looking on facebook this week, noting my ex-Park students' GCSE results! I still keep in touch with several of them, and have shared their anxiety and nerves waiting for results day. Great bunch of kids that were my tutor group in Year 7 and 8, before we emigrated. Miss 'em!
Oli picked up his new reading glasses today: they actually quite suit him. He only needs to wear them for close work (computers and reading). We have a Specsavers here, as in the UK, and our medical insurance means that we can have a free eye-test and glasses each year: bonus. Oli also had his braces fitted on Wednesday but dislodged one already last night! Can't get it sorted until Monday, so his timing was not good. He's adapted well to them, but now says that he feels a bit of nerd with both glasses AND braces. Bless him. Doesn't seem to be stopping the girls from txting... not that I should know that of course :) 

Winter in Eumundi

We feel that we're coming to the end of our winter; or it appears so! The cold and frosty mornings have disappeared and my heated blanket has been removed, so all good here. Having an elevated home has meant that certain rooms have been cooler, but this will be a bonus when the warmer weather's here. 

Hiroshi has been waved off (tears all around!), and we'll keep in touch for sure as he was such a sweetheart :). Back to normality and have just spent a couple of hours cleaning and dusting: having a larger house has its downside I guess as I am not the most house-proud of peeps. Lovely to get the windows open (the screens stay shut: no uninvited guests thanks) and let some fresh air through. We've just had a day or so of very heavy rain that blew in on to our balcony and downstairs seating area. Not complaining though as our tanks were empty and we were on town water. We chose to have 2 x 5000 litre tanks when our house was built. The tanks are for our washing machine and all of our loos. They are filled by all the runoff from our roof and great that the water isn't wasted. We can't understand why more people don't have them here. Kids at school are on tank water for everything; even drinking. Not sure if my tum would be up to that though!

Itching to get started on the landscaping here now. We're trying to source a fella with a mini-digger who will get our garden dug out, and take all the crap away so that we can proceed with planting,concreting and fencing. We're fed up with looking at mud! We both work such long hours and love our weekends, so not gonna do the digging out ourselves. I don't mind the planting though, as it will be fun. We're planning a veggie and fruit area as they will grow well here, and some areas where I am just able to sit with a glass of wine and a book. Oh, and plants that attract bees as well as plants that attract the lorikeets and not much grass to mow and some bamboo screening and Jasmine to climb the poles and fragrant shrubs at the front of the house... and... hmmm... not much to ask is it?! :)

Japanese Panic and Frolics

So, we're spending the evening at our friends' home in the Hinterland of the Sunshine Coast. We're sitting outside around the brazier, toasting marshmallows and sipping wine. Jeff, Oli and I are excited at seeing our first possum in the tree above us, as well hearing various unidentified 'rustlings' in the surrounding darkness... then Jeffers asks, 'Where is Hiroshi?' (H= Japanese exchange student)... 
We all look at each other, with the sudden realisation that his seat around the brazier is empty... 
Panic ensues. Bedrooms, bathrooms and kitchens are checked along with sheds and garages being upturned. Bushes and shrubs are poked and shaken... and then... we find him. Lying flat on his back in the middle of the large garden and he's not moving... 
HAS HE EATEN TOO MUCH BBQ MEAT AND COLLAPSED??? HAS HE BEEN MURDERED BY ONE OF THE 'UNIDENTIFIED RUSTLINGS'?
No. 
He's actually totally enthralled with the clear sky's display of stars... He explains to us that as Tokyo is so jam-packed full of lights, he has never seen the stars and planets before!
Good Grief. Thankfully, he's still alive and kicking, although slightly miffed as he's missed out on a 5th marshmallow. 
I couldn't help wondering how I would have explained to the school and his parents that the Friendships had 'lost' their Japanese exchange student? Hmmm...

One year on...

I haven't been adding to this blog, as this year has been a busy one... but thought that I should add an update... 12 months on: what's been going on in our little world?

1) house now complete and we're living in it... still in awe of our wonderful little piece of Australia... landscaping needs attention, but not bothered too much about that at the moment... when the weather's warmer, we'll do some work I guess!

2) I am now completed the transition from provisional to full teaching status. All new teachers to Oz have to complete 200 days of teaching and put together a hulking great evidence file: wouldn't have minded, but already done this in the UK when I qualified there! All done now though :)

3) Jeff now an Aussie registered electrician... took a couple of years and parted with nearly $2000 for the actual test, but we can relax there too.

4) Oli really settled in school and bringing home great reports... lovely to hear... he's very self-motivated, which is a bonus. He's also quite the entertainer. :)

5) We've been enjoying our Aussie winter here in Eumundi and the environs. Strawberry picking, walking, attending the markets, reading, cycling et al. The beaches here are glorious in the winter sun and we've spotted: humpback whales, dolphins, echidna, turtles, sea-eagles, goannas, rainbow lorikeets, quails and snakes (but only a couple of the latter thankfully!).

We feel really settled now. Oh, I actually have just secured a new teaching job, commencing in January 2015. I will be teaching senior English only (year 11 and 12) AND THE JOB'S IN NOOSAVILLE WHICH IS ONLY 14 MINS DRIVE FROM HOME... :)