Birds Pt 2 - Katie Holmes & Tom Cruise Wedding

As Nico mentioned in the previous post we hit the Jerrihlinga wildlife reserve on the weekend where we met the talking birds included in this video.



Their repertoire also included "How's it going?" and a cat's meow...funny stuff.

Duality of Human Nature

Last post we showed you the Good Sammy. This post shows the Evil Sammy. And so, with these two posts, I intend to show the classic nature of human behaviour. That is, we all exhibit Christlike goodness yet, at the same time, are capable of the greatest evils.

Sammy was there to persecute Jesus:

A new look at the Zupruder Film reveals the truth about JFK:


Sammy collaborated with Vader to take Obi Wan down,
bringing tears to millions of children:


Sammy claims she respects all wildlife, yet this image
shows her bloodthirsty side on a Japanese Whaling boat

Apparently her appetite for ultimate evil was not
satiated by taking down Obi Wan...she now
turns her attention to forwarding Sauron's cause
by slaying the noble Boromir:

The Good Sammy

We saw this sign in Perth and a wave of sentimental thoughts overwhelmed us cause we do, certainly, miss the Good Sammy!

Then came Samina's rantlike comment on the Oprah post. Sammy, like all humans, exhibits behaviour that specifically identifies the classic duality of human nature (the Good Side that we miss and love versus the Evil side that we don't.) What evil side? Read the post!

Damo, in search of justice and cold hard vengence, shall search for a photo opportunity that represents Sammy's other side and post the results.

Helmets Are Important

Helmets are very important for your personal safety and Australians take this very seriously, more so than anywhere else in the world.

Helmets are used for a plethora of activities that, while not particularly dangerous, could cause mental trauma.

Elsewhere in the world, such activities would be untertaken in a carefree manner with a complete disregard for personal safety. Not so Australia, where law requires you to wear a helmet for activities as diverse as climbing a tower to view a city (you could fall and hit your head,) standing under said tower (something could fall from the tower and hit you in the head,) riding a large megafauna emu type bird statue in the park (the bird, being made of stone, could suddenly shatter, a piece of which could hit you in the head,) or even while walking beneath a cliff (a hoon, aussie for hooligan, above you could toss rocks off the cliff that could hit you in the head.)

Elsewhere in the world, governments are complacent and willing to let their citizens encounter these dangers without any regard for their safety.

Not so Australia, where blatant disregard of the laws will land you here:

he's a housewife anyway

when i got home from work this afternoon, damo said, "Oprah had a really sad show on today." it's too bad he's picked up the stereotypical afternoon tv habit but not the vacuuming, dusting and laundry habit. can't complain too much though because there's usually a good supper (curry) ready to eat when i get home from work and the dishes are often done.

in other news, some of my year 9 boys were complete jerks today but afterwards i went out on yard duty in the year 7 area and felt a lot better hanging out with my kids (note the possessive). as one teacher remarked today, "They grow on you, don't they, those year 7s? Like fungus." I just stroll from group to group and even if I don't teach the kids, they all say hi and want to chat for a bit. Back in Canada, I won't even know 1/2 the kids I pass in the hall. I'm going to miss these guys, despite all the heartache and annoyances from the start of the year. misty eyes.

Scooterin Perth

There's no cooler way to tour Perth. It's Fonzi cool. Video & photos of perth, fremantle, & Rottnest Island (quokkas!!.) Also included is a journey on the Highway to Hell that leads to the gravesite of Bon Scott. Hopefully he didn't & we don't end up there.

wouldn't it be nice if the world were chocolate?

Cadbury's has a tour of their chocolate factory in Hobart, Tasmania. Is there really much more that needs to be said? The only disappointment was that, due to health regulations, you can no longer just grab chocolates off the assembly lines as you walk through but instead get a box of chocolates at the end. Health, smealth. I didn't really care much about the process but it was heavenly just walking around inside the factory surrounded by the chocolate scent!

Cinco de Mayo

I just got back from a very nice weekend in the city (i.e. Melbourne) with a few other exchange teachers. Americans, Canadians, and British celebrated the Mexican independence with maragitas and salsa. Then we went for yum cha (dim sum) the next day and out to the comedy festival that night. Melbourne, and possibly all of Australia, does not have spectacular sushi (this is the collective opinion of the Canadians) but they do have good Chinese food. Damo thinks it has to do with WWII--Japan was hated for many years after Kokoda (and the larger threat of their almost invasion of Australia) . Kokoda is like Gallipolli of WWI for the Aussies. One word just sums up so much tragedy.

We were at Flinders station when one footy game was over and another was soon to begin and everywhere you looked were fans decked out in their teams colours. The MCG holds something like 100 000 people so you can just imagine the crowds. It was so exciting! Next week will be my first AFL match: Freemantle vs Melbourne.

Always wash your hands after being out in public. This little tidbit of information comes courtesy of the little drunk 13 year old who puked on the train, left her soiled tissues (given to her by some nice person) on the seat and then spit up again by the door, wiping her mouth on the handrails. Who does that? Well, drunk little girls obviously. Too gross. How many people unknowingly touched that the rest of the night?

wildlife attack!

It's not so much the wild animals that are dangerous here but, rather, their plastic and fun fur counterparts. These rare photos depict some of the more horrific moments from on the road in Australia. From giant koalas who grope and choke, to montrous Cadbury chocolate Freddo frogs, swarms of bush honey bees or surprised red Mallee bulls, the average tourist needs to be constantly on the lookout.

Speedos...Time for Some Booze!

There's only one way to respond to Nicole's post with photos of men-folk sporting overly tight speedos. With booze...and lots of it! It's the only way to drown the images that have been forever etched into my brain. I mean it was bad enough being there, but having it reinforced with photographic evidence. Arg. It's enough to make a grown straight man cry.

So...ya, booze. Um...that's not booze, but it is the wonderful fruit (different from the 'fruits' in Nicole's post) called 'grape' that becomes the second best booze - wine. We hit Penola on January 20th. It's the gateway to the Cooawarra wine region renowned for its Cabernet Sauvignon and to a lesser extent its Shiraz. Since I had driven the whole way from Sydney down along the Great Ocean Road (over 3000 KM in total) Nicole had the pleasure of chauffering me around to all the cellar doors! We only hit about 8 or so but I was nicely buzzed by the end of it - and the price was right - FREE!

Now, that's better, clearly booze. This was taken after a wonderful dinner later that evening. We met Cathy & Mark at a pub who invited us over for Kangaroo steaks and wine. Never knowing when enough is enough as Wray and Marsh, and, well, just about anyone in the Calgary gang, can attest to, by the time this photo was taken we had made our way onto scotch. The walk home back to our cabin was quite enjoyable. Nico the babysitter looking after a completely innebriated & stumbling damo. Kangaroo steaks are yummy, I don't know why there was that big outcry when it was found that Aussie made pet food had kangaroo meat in it. Boohoo. There's over a hundred million of the things hopping all over the place. It's not like you're eating a panda or something.

And, to clearly wash the images of the previous post from everyone's mind, here's one for the boys.

Oh...hehe...let's try again here...someone not from the 1970's Russian womens' hockey team.

Ahhh...much better...someone that would make even the overly discerning Fearman proud! The horrors of the previous post are now clearly washed from memory and we can all sleep easy once again. Your welcome.

speedos on display

(photos carefully selected by Nico)

This is the action we saw this past weekend at Lorne for the surf rescue part of Rescue 06, the world lifesaving championships hosted this year by Geelong and area. As expected, Australia and New Zealand cleaned up in this portion!

These photos are from the flag race finals where one person is eliminated each round.



This is the ready position in the final round--between a Kiwi and a Japanese. The competitors have to jump up and turn around.









Then they race across the sand . . .






. . . and dive for the plastic stick thing. This photo is from the previous round where Australia got eliminated but it just shows you how brutal it can be at the end! The Kiwi triumphed and the Japanese second place finisher broke into tears (overcome by getting second place or losing first place, we're not sure).




Here we have the boys ready for the swim competition--the Team Canada competitor is the one with the solid red cap. There were lots of speedos on display but that's clearly not a fashion faux pas when dealing with world champion lifeguards.





And finally, the champion taplin relay (swim, board, kayak, race) team: the Kiwis perform a haka, derived from a traditional Maori celebration (or war) dance. This is the dance where they stick out their tongue.

language lessons

So here, it's okay to ask for a rubber in class because you're just asking for an eraser. Pencil crayons don't exist ("Which one, Miss? Pencils or crayons?")--they're coloured pencils. Markers are also textas. Binders are known as folders. Quotation marks are inverted commas and periods are full stops (sounds like a telegraph!). Thongs for flip-flop sandals, bathers or cozzies for your swimming suit, jumper for sweater, tea is a whole meal.

Rs are ignored so bee, bear and beer sound the same, as does weed and weird. I live near Melbin not Melbourne, and hope to go to Cans, not Cairns.

Everything is lovely, I reckon.

Tears over Spilt Milk

Today, at recess, a little Year Seven boy (12 or 13 years of age) couldn't get his lock open. He was so upset, he was crying! Poor kid! Some of my 'integrated" kids (aka 'coded' or learning disabled) almost cried today as well because we were looking up words in the dictionary and they 'hated it!' and just couldn't do it until I came to help them both with each and every word. "Miss, miss, I can't find environment! It's not on this page!" "Well, this is the ent page so we have to turn over to the next page . . . yes, there it is! Good work!" In the same class, I discovered a student with anger management issues after he hurled markers at his group--kicked him out, found him bawling when I went to chat with him.

I am so not used to this age group! Tears everywhere! Immature behaviour! Lack of basic skills! They tell on each other! I think I will be developing my nuturing side a lot more this year, along with my patience. However, these little guys can be cute too. The students all have to wear uniforms--adorable! The girls all love my accent ("That's Ms. Cameron. Isn't her accent lovely!?!") and all the students ask lots of questions about Canada, including whether I speak Canadian! I spoke a few words of my awfully accented French and they just thought that was SO exotic!

The Year 9s are okay, even though they all hate Australian history, the subject matter of this course. There's one pisshead (pardon my language, Mom!) who's an exception--he's notorious so I have much sympathy from the other teachers. As the Aussies would say, he's feral.

Are There Really Flies in Australia?

Yes. The annoying, swarm en mass and get in your face type flies. Flies that have no qualms about crawling in your nose, landing on your eyeball …or even worse…flying into your mouth just as you are breathing in so that you get a late afternoon meal. These two stunning photos demonstrate the phenomenon...in certain areas it's almost impossible to take a photo without a fly in it. I guess that flies, like humans, lust after recognition and fame.

Cafe Mimo

We had to stop for a coffee at the fabulous Cafe Mimo in Melbourne. Who knew that Mimo would make a go at opening a coffee shop Down Under.