Kangabums: Kookabura Lives in the Ol' Gum Tree

Emma and Frog

The 'Ol Gum Tree in the yard

Rise and Shine Darling

I've taken to doing something here on February mornings that would take a hardened winter criminal to do back home. I go outside with my coffee and sit on the ground surrounded by grass, gum trees, crazy rocking birds and a frog. Frog, the dog that is.

There is another activity that we are getting more adept at too and that is staying cool. It's funny because all of the people we meet ask us the same question, Keeping warm, are yas? Well, HELL YES!! At a mere 36 degrees I'd say it's more like, Cooking from the inside out, are yas?! I've realized something quite spectacular. Edmontonian and Sheppartononians (I know that's wrong) have a deeply engrained similarity which is dealing with extreme weather! So, I must discuss this in my layman's amateur psychology. As a Canadian, we crave sun in all seasons. We crave sun in the subzeros of January and the high 20's of August. So, when you arrive in Shepparton, you can feel your Vitamin D barometer rising and you get excited by the prospect of feeling sensible for a change. Then, you step into the sun and within minutes start to hear that sizzle of garlic in the frying pan. That'd be you, your skin, your brain on SUN! Holy hot tamales!! But, no, you don't want to run inside! It's sun, that of which you crave! Too bad mister, get the heck inside before you do some real damage! Then you realize that taking it in small doses is all you can afford to do as you are not a trained Australian. But, WAIT!! You finally notice that there is no one outside. BIG HINT. It's the 'weather extreme disorder' that you have. You crave the opposite of where you are from, but in no way can you submerse yourself safely. The girls and I invented 'The Cooling Off Machine'. It's a basic concept but works

Drinking and Driving-Brian's new Favourite Pastime

deliciously for dropping the body temp. A trampoline with a hose. All is fun and games though until someone sees a HUNTSMAN!! Bonnie was the first to see it, I didn't get to though because she screamed so loud that the poor thing molted on the spot and blew the coop! Strapping ice packs to one's body is also acceptable if you can't handle the spiders~!

We now have realized that it's somewhat like the extreme cold, not a hospitable environment unless you are covered with a proctective element like winter parkas and balaclavas. But here, it is a slippery coat of sunscreen.

Speaking of which, I've officially broken 3 things now and hopefully, no more to happen soon. The first wasn't to valuable. We were in the SPC factory shop, which is the cannery wholesale. We just stopped in for a peek, but seeing that I am frequently the packhorse to my daughters' whims, I soon had full arms of jars of fruit and syrups. As I stood there searching for my family, I felt one jar in particular begin to slip through my oversunscreened arms. With no choice left but to sacrifice it, a crash SPLAT happened at my feet in front of the lineups to pay. The syrup! Uh, yea, that'd be mine, my face said. Kindly, the stockboy said, Don't worry Ma'am. I'll get right on that. Lesson learned: Don't carry bottles and jars in 36 degree heat covered in sunscreen.

We've been in this delightful gorgeous place for almost a month now. It's a strange feeling being on summer vacation in January, but hey, that isn't hard to get used to. Julie and Andrew's house is kind of my dream home. I'm whispering this now because I don't want them to know that it's going to take more than a bulldozer to get me out in December.

They live out of Shepparton a wee bit, still very close to the city. Casey, Julie's very sweet and patient daughter picked us up from the airport. On the highway to Shep (that's what they call it!) we saw our first wildlife! Yes, 4 kangaroos! Sadly, they were slightly unrecognizable as roadkill. Casey said that this is common. And a little red fox. But, when we pulled into our new home, we were treated to a welcoming committee of 2 green lorikeets grooming each other in the tree. Which leads me to the next topic--BIRDS!

Baby Magpie splashing in the sprinkler

There is a lovely family of magpies living in the yard. These are not like their Canadian counterparts though. In fact, I would rename these sweetiepies! Every once in awhile, they show up in under the grape vines and make a mewing sound. I give them bits of cheese and they nibble away at it. The babies are learning their chortle sound and love to practice it in the gum trees which sounds like someone blowing random notes through a wooden flute! Funny though, because they are as big as the parents, yet haven't left home yet, much like Canadian teenagers! In anycase, I found out that because it takes so much energy to feed babies, that the young adults stay and help raise the next batch of babies! They help rebuild the nest and help feed their baby brothers and sisters, for awhile anyway. This explains how I saw the big babies pulling strings of dried vines and flying away with them. Very entertaining!

Then there's the charming and solitary tawny frogmouth that is snoozing the day away in a branch crotch of a big tree in the yard. This guy is very hard to see as he seems to be a master of camoflauge. If you go out and wake him up gently, he'll share a staredown with his gorgeous yellow eyes. Then, he leaves at night.

Frog having an Ice pack treatment

Willy Wagtails are so entertaining! They flit around the yard scooping up bugs and jumping up to catch a flying treat. Just as their name suggests, when they land, they shake their little black feathered bootie tail back and forth!

Another bird which I thoroughly enjoy watching and have no choice but to listen to squawk is the Gallah. These loud boisterous flying machines gather in crowds like footie fans! Love them, but some people don't. In fact, you don't want to be called a Gallah because it means you're being a dumb ass. I actually like their big awkward noisy flying flocks with their pink and grey plummage. We've got nothing like them in Canada, except maybe Oiler fans--ooo, I'm gonna pay for that one!

Now, the one bird that I waited my life to see, the Kookaburra, has been only heard in the fleeting moments of twilight here. Man are THEY LOUD!! I LOVE THEM!! Haven't heard that much noise since my classroom back in Edmonton! Anyway, I hear them before I see them. Just knowing they are out there makes me happy.

Every day we were hearing a mystery bird. It starts with a high screeching sound like someone dragging a needle across a record player. Then it ends with a chit,chit,chit noise. I couldn't for the life of me figure out who was making this sound! It's like they were invisible. Someone finally told us that it was the cicadas, not birds. Feush. Thought I was losing my mind! These insects are by far the loudest of the bunch but thankfully they have the same sleeping patterns as me.

There are many other birds around too, which I haven't formally been introduced to yet. But, I thoroughly enjoy watching them flit about outside.

Julie and Andrew's house is stunning! It's long and flat, surrounded by grapevines, extra large trees of all sorts, ghost gum, eucalyptus and many more! The walls of their house are top to bottom windows and sliding doors. Apart from the wood and comfy spots to read, there are no stairs! Love it!

Surrounding the estate, is a channel that supplies water to the houses for watering. It's a great walking path and you can peek into everyone's backyard! The one thing we noticed is the abundance of swimming pools! Big yards and pools! The neighbours have had us over for swimming but they don't go in the day as the sun is way too intense.

Walking along the channel behind the house

Frog enjoys walking along the channel, checking out the smells and stopping for a drink and a dip. One night we were out with the lady next door and her daughters walking, and we met a crew fishing for yabbies. These are little lobster creatures that live in the channel. I guess they are tasty! I might send Brian and the girls out to catch a few. You just need a basket and a piece of beef or chicken. Toss it in and wait and then FLICK! You pull the basket and send the yabbie flying out in the grass. If a yabbie isn't enough to give you a good scare, there are always bindi eyes! At first, I thought these looked like pretty sprawling out regional flora. But, NO!! Run for you life!! Bindi eyes are like the worst poking devices created by God! They are flat to the ground plants that make thorn seeds with 3 prongs of torture! The first night we walked the channel, the bindi's were out in full force but we didn't realize it. Suddenly Emma stopped to inspect her feet. The bindi eyes were all imbedded into her flipflops and poking through--Ouch! They are the equivalent of thistles in Alberta, but they have the power to pop bike tires!

Ouch!

Good Onion

There are some very funny stories that we hear about accent mistranslations. We've been extremely fortunate to meet amazing friendly people everywhere we go! Many people say, 'Oh, yur from America!' Of course we stand proud and say humblely, 'no, we're Canadian.' No matter, people are so very willing to help you out.

I met a teacher at our exchange orientation and she told me about when she was on exchange in Toronto. Her grade 9 class had cell phones and she quickly gathered all of them and said, 'I'll have a great time at the Pawn shop tonight!' But, with her accent, she said 'I'll have a great time at the Porn shop tonight!' And then there are the happy sayings like Good on Ya! Her student's reply was, 'Hey, she just called me an onion!' It seems like the 'er' sound is pronounced 'uh' like papuh instead paper. And the 'a' at the end of a word is pronounced 'er'. Emma is Emmer here! But, bummer is bumma! Go figure!

Our pet snake

Koalas and Kangabums

In our last few days of summer vacation in January, we decided to brave the heat and head out to see some local sites. Kyabrum, which is a fauna park not too far from here was our first outing. It's a large area of HOT! We had our first sightings of kangaroos, cockatoos, koala bears and dingos, but strangely no people. We asked at the front desk after whilst downing cold beverages where everyone was. Of course, no one would saunter around in that heat. Here's what I finally figured out. We were avoiding the hot sun hours which back home are 12-2 pm and venturing out later around 4-6pm. Strangely enough, THESE are the hot hours of the day. I think that particular day was 37 degrees, which is my melting to boiling point.

Then, Australian Day is January 26, the day that marks the arrival of the First Fleet of convicts and company from England in 1788. We decided to seek some shade in an old gum tree forest along the banks of the Murray River. Ulupna is an island in a national park, only about 40 minutes drive away.

The first thing you notice are the trees! Giant branchy knarly trees! And if you look waaaaaay up, you might get lucky and see a little blob of fur sacked out. As I do, I wandered over to the nearest camper and started chatting. He said that there were koalas around in the trees, usually pretty high up and snoozing. Supposedly koala bears aren't really very smart. Seems that their brains even rattle around in their too big skulls. Evolution has left them a bit empty due to the fact that it takes so much energy to eat gum leaves and detoxify them in their little stomachs. In any case, I'm totally charmed by their 'not so smart' cuteness. We sat down near the river's edge for a picnic and I looked up to see a bear climbing up the tree next to us, cross over into another tree and do the backwards bum slide down to nearly the base of the tree on the other side of the path. Without even a shake of his tailess bum, he settled into a wedge within reach of us! Needless to say, we were transfixed by him, and even as Emma tickled his clawed paws with a long grass, he seemed to just take it in stride and give us a wink. So cute!! I want one!

Look up!

After awhile, we took to the river which was lovely and cooling! As it was Australian Day, many people were lounging around in their chairs IN the river. We had nice chats with people and watched boats go up and down. Everyone was experiencing that 'oh so happy VB stubbie feeling'!

Getting Ready for School

I finally was rested enough after a week of snoozing til late, avoiding the sun and drinking reaaallly great Australian wine, to take the girls for their uniform shopping. After finding the 'School Uniform' Shop, we stopped and it was like pulling a dog into the Vet.

The store is floor to ceiling uniforms of all different schools. When the clerk approached us, she quickly did an 'up, down' look of the girls and asked what school they were going to. Within a minute, they were behind the curtains and giggling, and making comments like 'NO WAY am I going to wear this!' While they were in the change room, another set of girls the same age came in with their beleaguered looking mother. When they came out in their dresses with an air of submission on their faces, I asked them if that is what they would wear to school on their first day. They smiled and said yes, and then Emma and Bonnie came out with their dresses. They assessed the hem of the dresses that Emma and Bonnie were wearing, and because they knew the colour of green plaid was Wanganui Secondary College, they said, 'But you shouldn't!' Turns out, they were going to a different school and the hem needed to be long, but if Emma and Bons turned up with that length they would be labelled on the spot! The clerk was kind enough to mention that I needed to shorten the hems of the dresses, considerably! Oh yes, she said, the Wanganui girls often wear it so short that you can see the colour of their knickers! Well, we didn't go that short and negotiated a length that left both mom and daughters happy.

The next day, we headed off to Wanganui Secondary College to arrange an appointment to meet with a counsellor. Within minutes, a vice principal welcomed us and unbelievalby spent an hour with us! I was amazed that a VP of a school with 1400 students would take that time to talk to us! Mr. Tanner helped us with course selection and took us on a tour of the whole school. That was seriously good customer service. The girls have an interesting assortment of classes: Ceramics, Video production, Law and Lawbreakers, Let's Bake, Astronomy, Quadratics, Active Life for Girls, English, How High is Your Flagpole (for girls), and my all time favourite, Let's Entertain! Explanation needed, I know. Wanganui is a smart smart place. The courses have fabulous names that are more appealing to kids, but appalling to moms! That is until you know what they mean. How High is Your Flagpole is about trigonomtery. Let's Entertain has nothing to do with poles or dancing. It's about cooking for a crowd. Laws and Lawbreakers is about the justice system. I'm sure that the girls are in for a very informative and clever education here.

Shepparton is surrounded by rows and rows of orchards. Pear, apple, peach, nectarine, cherry and I think tomatos and other vegetables. Not surprising, the produce here is divine! There is also a Campbells factory close by and a cannery. YUM! Food is a bit more expensive, but I must say, it tastes more delicious too. Some neighbours have introduced us to the essentials in terms of high yum factor. Carmellobears, Victorian Crumble and Chockitos. Then of course, you can't forget the stubbies. VB is really nice. These are short necked beers. There's also a good news, bad news story to share. Good news is that Australian wine is amazing and not too expensive, bad news is that you're not here to share it with me!

Ah, well, twelve months should be enough time to sample a few bottles.

Melbourne

We travelled down to Melbourne for my teacher orientation days, but went a few days early to explore. Melbourne is like a mixture of Butte, Montana and Vancouver. It's Butte on a coast in Australia! The buildings are beautiful, laced with iron work and built of brick. The CBD (central business district) is a mixture of shiny architecturally modern skyscrapers, but surrounded by old stone buildings. Lovely parks, hilly roads and the wierdest driving rules in the world! Trams run up and down many streets, so traffic is no less that diabolically tricky! We found out quickly that making a right hand turn is as confusing as writing backwards. In order to make this right hand turn, you have to think backwards as you are driving on the other side of the road. I can't explain a 'hook turn' but if you don't do it correctly, you'll end up as a decoration on the front of the trams.

We stayed in an area called St. Kilda. It's a long stretch of beach, cafes, shops and sadly, BAKERIES! It's not really a sad thing, except for the fact that you can't possibly try something at each one without experiencing a large dose of pastrie padding afterwards. It's quite famous for the bakeries and no wonder, mud cake, vanilla slice, and every kind of imaginable chocolate concotion sits encased before you while you salivate nastily on the street. And the coffees...yes, we learned that there are many different sorts, short black, long black and flat, plus the ever lattes and capp. Or, you could have a cuppa. Tea or instant coffee. But, don't bother asking for iced tea because they don't have it. I think this was invented so that they could have a reason to sneer at North Americans. When you ask for it, they automatically pull their cultural difference look and say, Nar, we don't DO iced tea. Shame, you could make a fortune with the heat in the summer.

Can you find the Cupid Doll?

Melbourne is kind of irresistible really. It's like a bag of Halloween candy. You don't know what to eat first. The girls took quickly to the beach and Luna Park. The giant creepy moonface welcomes you into this old amusement park where you can ride a rickety old white wooden rollercoaster that was built in 1912. It's kind of a place that will leave children with nightmares or crying for more. A few rides, some treats and hot sun! Then, a five minute walk to the beach to cool off in the Melbourne Bay's water. AHHHhhh....very nice.

One night, we walked down to a pier that stretched out over the bay and I noticed a small crowd gathering. As I tend to be a sensationalist seeker, I wandered over and found out that the Little penguins would soon be returning from their day of eating in the bay.

These little birds come in at night to roost in the rocks on the pier, by the hundreds! They have spent the day travelling up to 80 km catching fish and at dusk, they come back, amongst the boats and waterrats, to snooze. And, their name suits them well as they are only about 10 inches tall.

The next couple of days were spent at the teacher orientation which was very informative. All of the teachers on exchange in the state of Victoria were there. Canada was represented nicely (two of us from Alberta, one from Vancouver, two from Manitoba, four from Ontario and one from New Brunswick). Then, some were from Colorado, Northern Ireland, Scotland, England and one very brave young teacher from Switzerland. We had a great time getting to know each other and exchanging stories. It was great fun, and we all plan on getting together in 2 weeks to go to Gippsland for surfing lessons! AHH!!

One of our guest speakers, and probably the most useful of the lot, was a police man from Melbourne. He was a big guy who swaggered in loaded up with gear, and didn't break a smile until the end. He talked about the 'rules' of being in Victoria like what would get you a small fine, a big fine and a jail time. Yah! Basically he was laying down the rules but at the end, he mosied out turning back saying, 'Call me if you're in town and I'll take ya's for a beer.' Good guy with good messages.

Sun setting on Melbourne

Setting sun on Mebourne-THe building reflects!

Sometimes it takes a change of hemisphere to meet someone you are related to! Through the magic of computers, I hooked up with someone who is related to me. Mary Harrison, my dearly missed mother's cousin, lives in Melbourne with her husband Brian. So, here we were, meeting in the extreme heat of January, sitting in a cafe in St. Kilda talking about Montana. We are related because my wonderful Grandmother's sister was Mary's mother. Wow. I've never met Mary until that lunch and probably would never have had the opportunity. But there we all were, in a cafe in Melbourne sharing stories about my mom, Grandmother and places we commonly shared. That really grounded me and I know that it's not the places you go, it's the people you talk to that open new (and old) worlds. Thank you, Mary and Brian. I am so glad we met!

Melbourne Zoo Visit

The Day We've All Been Waiting For

My first day back to school was like a mixture of going into grade one as a kid and my first day of teaching! Nerves were on HIGH! Brian dropped me off early, ok, two hours early and had to boot me out of the car. Seriously, I was scared! I have total appreciation for the little first day preps (kindergarten) who have to become part of the big scary world.

The day starts with modern happy music being played over the loudspeakers, which indicates to the students, all 400 of them, to go to their classes. So, they all wander in tentatively because all night they've been dreaming of the new MONSTER TEACHER with fangs waiting for them, just as I have been dreaming of MONSTER CHILDREN with claws. Suddenly, I start shaking hands and introducing myself to them and their parents. Then, I say, please find a seat. Within minutes, my racing heart starts to calm. I look around and all of the kids have chosen a seat and are standing straight and silently behind their chairs. Hmm...I'm too freaked out, so I go to Luke's room, who is next door to me and point to my class. Is this supposed to happen? He laughs and looks and says, No, they have 15 more minutes before class starts. Wad'ya say to 'em? All of the other students in the open area are just chatting and moving about.

Well, I can honestly say that after one week of teaching, I've never felt so good about a first day. The children are LOVELY!! All clean in their uniforms, happy, helpful, polite. Maybe the honeymoon will end, but right now, I'm LIVIN' THE DREAM!

Then, duty calls. YEs, playground duty that is. I go out, with my sunhat, sunglasses, oodles of sunscreen with the Vice Principal. He shows me the area to supervise....WHOA! That's a lot of kids all dressed the same! Stunning playgrounds, undercover areas, macadamia nut trees for shade, 2 play areas, and a artificial turf area, all surrounded by pear orchards. Sweet. A truly happy efficiently run by amazing staff kind of place. I must have done something good in my past life.

So, more on school later. I'm noticing many differences. Like playing TIGGY and then having a drink from the bubblers!! Who know that Tiggy meant tag! I love when the kids explain things to me because I rarely understand them but just follow along.

Sports at the Digger James at Grahamvale

Spiders and Snakes OH MY!!

It was a cooler morning the other day. Ahhh, my sweat glands were having a well deserved vacation. I decided to open the blinds and windows of the class. The kids were rather eager for the breeze to flow through as our classroom is surrounded by big windows that can open. I quietly moved across the room while the SWEETIES were are all reading silently, (and yes, they truly are magnificent children!) and slowly unlocked and raised the glass pane. You don't expect much in Edmonton when you open a window apart from a frigid breeze and some snow blowing in during the month of February, but I wasn't prepared for what ended up staring at me, dangling from a thin thread of silk! And, yes, as you have predicted, the scream penetrated through the walls into my neighbour's classroom.

Now those who know me understand my temperance for all living creatures. But I've never been face to fang with a spider quite that large! First shock, then a giggle ripple through the class, then me, spotted running down the hall. Thankfully, the very brave and wonderful teacher next door marched in and swept it off.

I now figure that I've earned my Boy Scouts badge for bravery. Nothing else can scare me except...

I was sitting in the staffroom having my tomato salad made from fresh tomatos from the vice principal's garden. All was lovely. Peaceful and pleasurable, with happy converstions stirring at each table when suddenly a teacher strolls in and reveals in a lackadaisical manner, 'Got our first snake.' My haunches went up as did my eyes. She was carrying a folder paper towel. There's no snake in there I thought. Then she stated simply, 'Ya, it was found by the workers.' At Grahamvale, they are building an addition to the staff room and the workers saw it. As I've stated before, I can't pass up an opportunity to see a spectacle. Jumping out of my chair, I peer into the paper towel only to witness a mashed blur of prior snakehood. 'Ya, the worker squashed it.' OOOooo...not nice. I can handle roadkill, upchuck and booger but smashed snake put in over the edge of easy digestion. Sad but true, the snake ended up in the garbage, as did my lunch of tasty tomatos. We've had another slithering visitor since with that one ending up in the shovel. Please remember that these are venomous creatures not coming to learn their ABC's. To have a shovel at you means to be beheaded by one. Nice...sweet dreams all.

HUGE LETTUCE!!

So, settling in is happening. All the brain processing makes for tired evenings, but a walk with Frog around the channel with all of the swallows makes a peaceful closing to the days.