Sneaky Aussies...

For the last four months or so we have been living in a bubble.

Everyone had us convinced that WA (Western Australia) is nothing but a bunch of country loving, laid back Aussie's that don't do much on their vacations. WOW! Were we wrong!

Our first vacation is here after 12 gruelling weeks of teaching and we had plans to head up North to Exmouth and swim with the whale sharks, snorkel with the sea turtles, and be complete beach bums. The only problem with that plan... everyone and their grandmother thought of it too.

We started looking a month or two ago for hostels or campsites to stay at: booked. Then I looked at hotels: booked. Then I thought okay, tours: booked. Well what about the $400 swim with the whale shark snorkel trip; the guy just laughed at me... booked months ago.

So apparently these Aussies have been pulling the wool over our eyes as they had their trips booked years in advance.

On the upside, perhaps this is our saving grace. Mom and Dad just left after 4 weeks with us and I don't think we cooked or stayed at home more than 2 nights the entire month. Weekends were spent in Swan Valley, Margaret River, Rotto and weekdays were spent doing everything in between.... including teaching.

Our first day of holidays were spent golfing Perth's number one rated course, Joondalup. After a stellar round we came home to left over Indian food and had a three hour nap (well, I did). We then headed off to our beach volleyball game and destroyed the competition. We played the whole "we don't have sand in Canada" card and it was over before it even started! ;)

With the North ruled out, we're heading South for our holidays. We plan to play a little more golf, head to Yanchep National Park to see the Koalas, then head South to the Karri Forest and Albany (the first settled place in WA). If anything, we'll get some sun, fail at surfing at Golden Bay, drink wine in the valley, and climb some really, really old trees in the Karri Forest.

Needless to say we're booking our trip to Vietnam in July asap!

It's Official

Well, it's official... Jordan and I are officially coming back home to Edmonton for a white Christmas.  Reality is... beer and bananas are WAY too expensive here in Perth. Actually, now that I think about it, there are a lot of things that are expensive here. For instance, my mother was complaining (on Skype) that another 20cm of snow just fell the night before. So, I asked her if she was driving my Xterra truck to work.  She said absolutely not! The gas in Edmonton is SO expensive at $1.18/L... it's ridiculous and astronomical!  Well, when I explained to my mom that gas in Perth is at a whopping $1.51/L, she literally fell out of her chair!  But going back to the bananas, because Perth is hardcore on local products, most of the bananas come from Queensland... now if you have been following the news as of late, Queensland had a massive flood this summer and completely wiped out the majority of its crops. As a result, bananas were costing $18.00 per kg (that's like $4 for 1 banana). So the running joke is that if you see a bloke with a banana, you automatically assume he's rich! Needless to say, Jordan and I get leg cramps almost every week! So when you're throwing out those half eaten bananas at home, don't think about those poor African kids... think about us!! Banana deprived down under.

Things at school are getting much better!  Besides the recent fire bombing in the school yard a few weeks ago, things have settled down.  Kind of a funny story but basically it was a Friday afternoon and the kids had an English test last block. So instead of wagging class, they decided to lite up the school yard and evidently smoke out the entire English building. Now, here is the funny part... instead of moving the kids to the footy oval, they call for all students to move into the gym.  Yup... school's on fire... let's move all the kids to the gym.  Now that I think about it, I don't think there was even a fire alarm... I think the kid just ran out of the classroom screaming FIRE!!! Needless to say, the fire was contained and classes actually resumed 40 minutes later. 

It is finally autumn and I am now wearing t-shirts at home.  The day still gets quite toasty but not as humid as in February.   We did get our first taste of rain a couple days ago, and even though it was only for 5 minutes, that was the most rain Perth has received in the past 3 years.  Seriously, we're in a draught and water conservation is a BIG thing! 

So no more questions about whether or not we're ever coming home... the flights are booked and we'll be there bringing in Christmas and New Year's with a bang! It's official. 

The Sea was Angry!

Well I just got back from my first camping trip with the grade 11's. Instead of heading to a mountain range or a little Yowocas campsite, we caught the ferry and headed out to Rottnest Island for two days. The island, "Rotto", is Perth's little getaway 45 mins from shore. It is 15 km long and no cars or animals are allowed on the island. The main mode of transportation is biking and after two days of riding this rental antique around the island 8 times, I can hardly sit down!!

The whole experience was great, except the little part where you needed to catch a ferry to and from the island. Let's just say that I am officially a "land lubber"! At 8am the wind was howling and the sea was angry! So with my trusty pack of dremamine I doped up and was ready for the ride. As soon as we pulled out of the dock it was as if we were on a rollercoater of death at some ridiculous amusement park. 15 out of the 40 kids were all jockying for a spot over the back rail where they could vomit.

I have to say at that moment, as teacher and student were side by side throwing up any resemblance of breakfast, there is a sort of bonding that occurs. It could take weeks, even months to build a relationship with students, however as we all hung our heads over the side I can honestly say I will be linked to these kids forever.