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Cornwall: Blue skies, hot scones and black mines

Fri, 08 Jul 2011 00:03:00 +1200

We left the Witterings not long after the wedding and travelled down to Tehidy, Cornwall and stayed at the Tehidy Motor Camp. It took a while to get used to the fact that in England everything is in miles and a lot of the road signs were kinda different to the ones in NZ, however having a Tomtom which was loaned to us by friends was worth its weight in gold and definitely made traveling a lot less stressful. I would definitely advise getting a Navman or a Tomtom when traveling around in the UK.

One thing that I haven't mentioned was the weather. It was awesome for the wedding and the Cornwall trip which we were told was unusual for April but definitely made the trip a lot more enjoyable with the warmer then usual weather.

Day 1: was St Ives, we drove to the train station and took the train which was both scenic and recommended as we were told there weren't many car parks in the town. St Ives is a beautiful scenic town, filled with lots of old buildings, small streets, sandy beaches and blue sea so it is well worth visiting. The morning was just spent walking around the town, looked in some of the boutique shops and ate a cornish pastie but other then that we didn't do a hang of a lot as we had a couple of things to do that day. I'd definitely suggest spending a day there, take in the sun, beck and enjoy some of the beautiful pubs/cafes. We also visited a old church who was celebrating the local beer festival by decorating the inside in hops.

From there we were back on the train and drove to St Michaels Mount, an old castle nearby. You can usually walk to the castle in low tide, however as the tide was up, we needed to pay 2 pounds (one way) to catch the boat to the Island so if you do visit then I'd suggest going at low tide to save a bit of money. The old castle was amazing, it was an old monastery and then was taken over by the french and is now owned by a french family. There are cannons around the castle, lots of narrow passages and great 360 deg views around the area. Also a great collection of art and weaponry owned by the family is on show around the castle. If you have a bit of extra money and are a keen gardener then it is worth buying the garden ticket to see the families garden on the other side of the castle. The garden is partly made of terraces which provides shelter to the garden and some nice photographs.

From there we stopped off at Penzance for fish and chips and although it was getting late we had a brief walk along the foreshore before heading home. I was a bit disappointed that I didn't see any pirates though.

Day 2: We decided to stay in for the morning and watch the royal wedding. Although we tried to find out if there were any local wedding celebrations, nothing was to be found so we decided to carry on with sightseeing after the wedding. First on our tiki tour was Mithian where the ancient farm of the Trewartha family still stands. Trewartha means "House on high" and was the early form of the Andrewartha surname although I'm not sure if it is known how the name was changed from Trewartha to Andrewartha.

On arriving in Mithian there were signs of a party but as we were on a mission we pressed on and finally found the farm house a couple of meters down the road however no one was home. We met a couple of boys along the road who were walking to the house, one who happened to live there and he mentioned that his Mum and Dad were at the party so we found them and found out more about the house and farm. We were also invited to stay at the party so we had a helped ourselves to what was on offer (the hot scones and tea were awesome!) and talked to some of the locals before leaving. We were especially happy that we had finally found a garden party to celebrate the wedding, however I'm not sure the locals could quite work out who we were but being polite they didn't ask plus being from NZ we didn't worry about randomly crashing a locals party so it was sweet as ; )

After the party the next stop was Gwithian to a church where family had been been buried in the church grounds. There were a number of Andrewartha family members who were buried at the church. Along with our family, there was also another family whose surname was unfortunately called "Cock" who were also buried there. This surname also features as the most embarrassing English surname at http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-402920/Smellies-Bottoms-named-surname-list-shame.html

The last stop was a few miles down the road to Upton Farm at Gwithian Towans which is where the Andrewartha family walked off the land after a big sand storm which decimated the area. Although we were not sure where their farm actually was, as the area was still very sandy we decided we were in the right place and went for a walk to the beach. The site seems to be now a small surfing town where the land drops quite abruptly into the sea making for great photos. There was a big swell that day so a few people were surfing when we were there.


Click on the images above to see more

Day 3: We drove to Tintagel, the place where the King Arthurs legend was supposed to be written about. The place had a strange feel about it and I could definitely believe why such stories could have been written about such a place. The walk to the waters edge and then the stair climb to the main ruins of the castle took a while from the car park but it was worth it. The view of the surrounding landscape was amazing and I would definitely recommend grabbing a booklet to guide you through the different parts of the site.

One exciting thing about going to St Michaels Mount and Tintagel was that they were real castles! Being from NZ, castles were studied but rarely seen locally, I never really got to visit any ancient castles till now so that was quite exciting.

After Tintagel, the next stop was Padstow, famous for Rick Stein's restaurant and their local Mayday festival (which we just happened to miss by a day or two unfortunately) and for just being a beautiful seaside town. The town was still buzzing from the festival so it was cool to walk around and see the decorations and have a bite to eat.

In the evenings there wasn't much to do in the caravan except watch the TV so Dad got me interested in Snooker while watching the English championships. It was very exciting watching the lead up games towards the finals of the snooker in the evening and especially cheering on Judd Trump who was obviously making waves in the snooker community as an up and coming star.

The final day in Cornwall was fairly laid back as I think we were all a bit fed up of sightseeing so we spent a few hours at Truro in the afternoon shopping and left the next day to head back to the Witterings to stay with the Bells for a week.

On the way back we stopped off at the Lost Gardens of Heligan, a beautiful garden which was lost for over 50 years due to both world wars and the shortage of money to look after them at the time but now they have been restored to their formal glory. If you are a gardener then this is certainly a must see and it was really strange to see a New Zealand garden there also. I don't know how they would have got those New Zealand plants and trees through customs but it definitely made me feel at home in the ferns and plants that are rarely seen out of NZ.

Bon voyage!

Tue, 07 Jun 2011 01:31:00 +1200

Its a big step leaving the comforts of NZ and heading to the UK. Who knows what will happen?

Well here is my attempt to document my OE experience and I'm already falling way behind so have to catch up big time! :-( my apologies and I will try to update my blog more often.

Where to start… well once my brother Paul proposing to his english girlfriend Emily last year which sparked everything off really. I was looking for an excuse to do my OE and there it was… I said goodbye to my job, friends and family and headed over to England with Mum, Dad, and my sisters to attend Paul's wedding in April. We were joined by family and friends from NZ and it was also great that my Uncle, Auntie and cousin from Perth could make the wedding as I hadn't seen them since my Australian trip.

We were based in the Witterings, (near Chichester) at Emily's families place. The Witterings kinda remind me of a larger version of Waiterere Beach back home (a spot where our family have regularly visited for summer holidays since I was very young) so I fell in love with it automatically. Emily's parents made us feel very welcome and were very hospitable to all of us. As this was the first time both families had met you would think that things could have been quite awkward at the start, however it was quite the opposite and to me it felt like we had known them for some time which was awesome.

While traveling to England I had taken no-jetlag tablets to try and ward the evil jetlag away however it still hit me kinda hard. For the first week I wasn't 100% as my body was still adjusting to the change. Waking up really early and feeling sleepy in the afternoon didn't help, however I came right in no time.

Leading up to the wedding was a chance for the two families to get know each other more and the stag doo was hilarious. Gerard, Derek and I had a couple of meetings to sort out what we were going to do to Paul and it was great to see the day finally come together. It involved firstly dressing Paul up in a hawaiian theme costume with a flowery coconut bra and plastic skirt. We then went to the local restaurant for a man feed with the family members and then everyone turned up in the afternoon for a game of soccer at the local park and then a kiwi style bbq with some NZ treats that we had carried over in our suitcases. In the evening we played ten pin bowling and for those who wanted to join us, we went on a pub crawl in Chichester.

The wedding was awesome! It was a true celebration of Paul and Emily's love for each other and the day went without a hitch. After the wedding we went straight to the wedding party where it was a high tea theme, lots of scones, sandwiches, biscuits and cakes. Paul and Emily had bought up lots of tea sets from second hand stores and on the Internet which looked really impressive and made the party even more special.

After the food, Uncle John, Auntie Jenny, Cousin Ben and I played a few songs to the wedding crowd and then a music group started a Ceilidh with lots of dancing which was great fun. The wedding party carried on till around 8pm so everyone could head home when they wanted for tea. The Andrewarthas and the Bells had a fantastic low key dinner afterwards. The food was really impressive, the chef worked at a local restaurant and didn't fail to impress. The meat was cooked to perfection, the vegetables were great and the sauces were to die for. It was a perfect way to finish the perfect day.

Click either here or on the picture to the right to see more photos.

After the wedding we stayed with the Bell family for another couple of days till we left on our next part of the holiday.

Remember to keep checking the blog for updates on my "not so normal" OE experience ;-)

Wellington Beer Festival

Wed, 04 Mar 2009 23:12:00 +1300

I went to the first Wellington beer festival on the weekend and it was awesome! Doesn't matter if it rained for most of the day, then really windy... but once the weather calmed down in the early evening, everyone started enjoying themselves even more.

The beer was a premium selection of a few great small breweries, overseas importers and the main brands were also there. The food was great and there were good bands playing (pity about the weather or I would have been out there dancing to them!). Can't wait for next years event!

Oh... I was looking at videos and pics of the event and low 'n behold... there I was! To prove that I was there, go to this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOYR2iJYCew

Connect Mission Project

Thu, 06 Nov 2008 20:05:00 +1300

If you have loved my blog entries from Santa Teresa then I guarantee you will love the Connect Mission Project blog. A few of my friends are heading over to Vanuatu to build a classroom for one of the local schools there. Read more about my friends Natalie, Ali, Michael, Laura, Lucy, Katie, Jenny and others at the Connect website and keep up to date with their blog at http://connectmissionproject.wordpress.com/.

I hope they have as much fun as I have living in a small community so different and so far away from home. Good luck guys.

Bring on the next adventure!

Thu, 06 Nov 2008 19:48:00 +1300

Thanks for eveyones emails and blog messages over the last few weeks. Its been an awesome experience and I'm glad I could share it with you all. I will try to wrap things up here and provide an overall look from my prospective.

The last couple of days at Santa were spent helping out in Toms class. I helped out with writing, spelling, maths and showed them how to start making their own website (which wasn't much of a success in the end haha). It was kinda sad to say goodbye to the kids as there are so many uncertanties to their future but I'm sure they will make it as they have such a loving community and teachers who want the very best for them. I also wish the brothers well as there will be a few changes next year and I hope everything goes smoothly for them. I'm so glad that I had the opportunity to go to Santa Teresa and stay with the bros, it has definitely been an eye opener and something that I will remember forever. I would have loved to stay longer and help out more but the time has come to head back to normal life but this won't be the last trip I make and I'm already planning another trip at another date. When I do decide to explore another extreme part of the world, I think I am going to be a bit more ready for it (well as ready as I can be anyway...). I mean: - Not just heading over there to find work to do but making sure that I am involved in some kind of project while I am there or at least having a role in the community that I really know what I am doing. Teaching at Santa was really fun but I don't think it was my thing... I think I would have rather taught them I.T. skills - however the kids already have access to computers and were quite computer savvy, or at least helped out building a school room - they have a new room but its being put together somewhere else and being brought in by a truck. - 3 1/2 weeks was too short... if I was going to do something like this again it would be for at least a year or longer. - I would definitely encourage going with some sort of organisation and having a "home base" like the brothers place in Santa was awesome, it made adapting to the desert community life so much easier.

All in all though, this trip has been life changing, it's made me think a lot, heaps and heaps of fun, its been great to experience another totally differen't culture and work in another part of the world! Bring on the next adventure!

Cycle into Summer

Mon, 03 Nov 2008 14:55:00 +1300

Just got an email from the Wellington City Council regarding their Cycle into Summer program and it just keeps getting better and better! Its great to see the Council actively promoting cycling and the best part about this program is that its FREE!! I biked the bays earlier this year with Ingo from work and would highly recommend it! Its a great way to get fit, heaps of people are doing it so why don't you join me!

Click on the below link and check out all the events and workshops! Its going to be an awesome summer.
http://www.feelinggreat.co.nz/sites/cycle-into-summer-registrations-open-now

Time flies when you are having fun

Tue, 28 Oct 2008 01:06:00 +1300

What a week and its almost the end of my stay here argh... doesn't time fly when you are having fun! This week hasn't been as action packed as other weeks but still a lot has happened so I will try my best to give you a good run down...

Monday 20th: On Sunday night Red mentioned that the seniors class was heading on a trip to Desert Park in Alice Springs so I asked T.J. and Ned if I could possibly tag along as adult help, that was fine so we all piled onto the bus and headed into town. Travelling in the old school bus along the corrogated, dusty road was exciting to say the least especially when we came back as we hit a few dust storms and the inside of the bus filled with dust. Once we got there we just missed the bird feeding exhibition which I heard was really good so ended up watching a movie about the outback in an ampitheatre and then started wandering with the kids around each area, looking at and listening to exotic birds and other desert creatures. It was really interesting for me but from what I understand, some of the kids had been there a number of times and so it was kinda boring for them... but I'm sure they still got something out of the trip. They started to get a bit ratty after lunch but after they all recieved head sets with recordings for each part of the park, this quitened them all down and the rest of the afternoon went really well. I was amazed at how aware they were of their surroundings, they could easily pick out lizards in the grass and small birds in the trees and know what they were (part of living in the bush I guess). Caught some of the kids throwing stones at some birds (luckily they didn't bring their slingshots with them hehe). Once we were back on the bus and heading home, part of the deal was to stop off and buy something from the shop. One of the student teachers bought a couple of bottles of fizzy drink to share around... well that plus the heat and not enough water ended up making the boys go all silly and start fighting down the back of the bus (some of them had way too much... it was kinda like they were drunk haha). It was an interesting ride home and proved that giving fizzy to kids isn't something you should do, especially on school trips.... however it is a really good social experiment so teachers, if you do have a boring school trip and want to liven it up a bit then be my guest hehe.

Tuesday 21st: Started in Yvettes class taking as many kids as I could for reading. It was really cool to sit down individually with each child and get them to read one or two books and write a little report about how they were going with their reading. In the afternoon I ended up helping Kumen, (an Aborigional teacher from next door) create a powerpoint presentation for her studies on the recent community races.

Wednesday 22nd: The class was really disruptive today for some reason which made things hard for Yvette having to growl at the kids quite regulary. As it was a new class, I was still learning the kids names and trying to get a feel for the class so it was also hard for me to try and help out so I thought it was best if Yvette dealt with the discipline. Todays lineup was Maths, reading and then religion in the afternoon. Alicia came into to the class room to run the accelerated reading program and even commented on how they were really difficult they were today. After school I spent sometime helping Red with his geneology program and taught one of the religious sisters how to record using her new vcr/dvd player. Brother Red has been at the community for 13 years and has a passion for driving the school bus and Geneology. He has kept track of the ancestory of the main families in the community for years, its always interesting to look for certain kids who are at school and see who they are related to, then see that some men have had kids to multiple women and vice versa. What the records do tell you is that everyone is related in some way in the town so you do have to be careful who you make enemies with.

Thursday 23rd: The children seemed to be a lot more settled today, however there were a few absent and there seemed to be rumours of some families taking kids into town so there were a few missing from school. Math was first, continuing from yesterday with their two times tables and then writing after smoko. They were given a new sentance to write out from the book that they are reading called "Mr Winterbottom" and I made sure that each of them finished writing it out (even if it was a bit of a struggle sometimes) and then before lunch I gave out a couple of awards to our kids at the school assembly. In the afternoon it was religion and they had to create a picture based on the bible verse that Yvette read out. After tea I had planned to hang out at "The Club", drum for the kids and get them to dance but it was closed for cleaning so I ended up spending a while listening to the local band who were practising near the Club and was also invited to Kelle's place for a drink so chatted to both Yvette and Kelle for a while.

Friday 24th: Today started as usual with reading and maths but after smoko it was time to party as it was the birthday of 2 kids in the class, however only the birthday girl showed up (the boy was either at home or in town still) but the party went on. I bought my drum to school so the kids played on that for a while and we also had party games like musical chairs and statues (the game where the music stops and the kids have to stay still till the music starts). Although Yvette had forgotten the birthday cake it didn't matter as there were heaps of party treats, cordial and smiley iced biscuits which Yvette had made (I haven't had iced biscuits for ages... they were soooo good!). I hope to help update the school website next week and had a small meeting with Tom to kinda kick start this after school and then it was off to the brother place for a lovely feast of Fish and Chips and a beer or two :-)

Saturday 25th: Woke up very early to catch the tour bus to Uluru (Ayers Rock). I treated myself to a tour last week as it was something that the brothers here recommended I do (especially as I had come all the way out here and they were unable to take me out there themselves. The trip was well worth it! Although it was kinda expensive and they made you pay for breakfast and lunch, the bus was big and comfortable, met some cool people along the way and saw some amazing scenery so that made up for the extra cash spent! Along the way heard a singing dingo, saw Mt Connor, Uluru cultural centre and Ayers Rock itself. Then walked up to a spring next to Uluru and saw some old rock paintings. Then finally travelled to Kata Tjuta otherwise known as the Olgas and watched the sun go down at the Uluru sunset viewing spot. Ayers Rock shone a brilliant red, it was absolutely amazing to see! The temperature got up to 41 degrees outside the bus that day, it was really hot. Movie on the way back on the bus: The Dish. Problem was the dvd was scratched and the dvd player wasn't working properly either... another thumbs down to AATKings, however instead saw a few kangaroos on the way back and fell asleep on the bus. Ended up also playing a game of pool at the short stop at one of the outback pubs on the way back with Nick from Denmark. Sunday 26th: Woke up early and headed back to Santa for Church. Ended up going 'bush' with T.J. and about 7 local young guys for lunch. Saw some kangaroos, wild horses and a couple of camels. The local scenery was sometimes very bleak (i.e. lacking in 'bush') but lots of very beautiful rocky hills and great 4 wheel driving terrain. I love 4 wheel driving, the thrill of the unknown bumps and ruts... so much more fun then driving on a straight sealed road for hours and takes much more skill to navigate some of the twisted driving tracks, however corrogated roads arn't fun at all. What is funny is that the locals don't always have 4WD cars but still head out to catch kangaroos and other 'bush tucker' in their sturdy holdens and fords... would make for some very interesting driving!

I can't say this place is quiet...

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 03:07:00 +1300

This week has been full on and a lot of work but its been really cool to help the brothers out when needed and feel more like I am part of the community! I don't know if it just has something to do with the time of year or the fact that I am just visiting the right place at the right time but it certainly makes for good blogging :-P

This school week has been reasonably 'normal' (although things for me aren't really that normal here haha... anyway...) with daily school life carrying on as usual with lots of photocopying, reading, writing, colouring in, maths (using plastic coins) to learn how to add up money and fun times with the kids in year 2-3. I think I am being moved into another class so not sure what will happen next week. Outside of the classroom however it was a differen't story...

Monday: we had a BBQ for the school staff at alta creek a few miles out of the controlled area for Santa Teresa. Its a beautiful spot, the creek only runs in the wet season so for most of the year its a dry riverbed which is perfect for BBQs as there is shade from trees, lots of firewood and a perfect flat spot for a fire. Being outside the 'no alcohol' zone also meant that it was a great place for a beer! The organisers brought the beer and wine from Alice and we drank it all... it was a great night!

Tuesday: We had a large combined celebration for 100 years of catholic education in santa teresa and confirmation of the older kids in the school. Got up early to move tables and chairs to the church and then helped out with small jobs till the ceremony got underway. School was cancelled as everyone was at church and as the whole day was taken up with: Songs and an aborigional smoking ceremony as we entered the church, the main mass, morning tea afterwards then everyone headed to the spirituality centre for awards presentation for years of service to the school and a powerpoint presentation of pictures from over the years. Then there was a big BBQ lunch at the school (over 300 people catered for) which I helped out by serving food to the locals and guests. Finally there was a performance from some of the local women who were dressed up in local costume and body paint. There was supposed to be a performance from some of the local men but for some reason this didn't happen. Then it was time to go home, but not before I helped Br Gonz clean up the BBQ and canteen area, then help Br Laurie put back all the chairs and tables we moved in the morning. By then I was hot, tired and went to sleep early!

Wed: Cooked for the brothers tonight but when I went to the local store (for the first time... as most of our food is bought in Alice) I bumped into one of the kids who wasn't at school today. Her father (who was there with her) pointed this out to me. After asking if she was going to be at school tomorrow, wondered why he didn't push her to go? From what I understand its pretty common for the families around here not to worry about their kids not going to school or following up on them if the school asks where they are.

Thursday: After school we has been invited to a BBQ tea with Barbara (works in the canteen with Br Gonz), Marie and Tom (teachers at school). Great food and conversation was had by all and it was nice just to chill out with some of the staff from the school outside school hours and talk about what has been going on in the community. After I got back I ended up sitting in front of the tv for a while but as I was heading off to bed I heard dogs howling and running around near our place and lots of wailing. As I peared from my window to see what was going on I saw a steady stream of locals walking past the school towards the church. I put it down to "sorry business" as one of the locals was to be buried tomorrow however now witnessing this procession it certainly put a differen't light on the coming funeral.

Friday: School was cancelled for the funeral, however the teachers and students met at the school before proceeding to the main road and we all formed a guard of honor for the coffin and it slowly made its way to the church. The young 16 year old girl had attended the school, as far as I know she died from sleepapneia and was supposed to be having an operation which would hopefully help with her health problems and could have prevented this from happening. It was a big funeral with lots of locals attending and most I haven't seen around or even at church. There was heaps or wailing and embracing the coffin, most people brought fake flowers (due to the heat I guess) and the coffin was covered in them. Through out the 2hr+ service there was wailing which was kinda off putting at the start but its part of their culture, a couple of dance items by friends and family which were beautiful and a fitting send off for her and also Br Gonz did really well to read out about 20-25min of tributes and sorry messages from family members all over Australia (one was even accidentally read out three times as multiple people had fowarded the same message to him). The funeral was really sad and even though there was heaps of crying and wailing mainly from the women of the community, seeing her grandfather (who was sitting close by) start crying and then being comforted by one of his friends (or could have been family members) was possibly the saddest part for me. We got into Alice just in time for tea with the brothers and afterwards I went to see Br Red get awarded his medals at the golf club. Every 2 years the Masters Games is held in Alice Springs and Red always enters in the golfing competitions. He ended up winning 4 gold and 1 silver for his age group over the weeks competition. Then I caught up with locals on the town who I met in Melbourne while I was staying there on stopover to Santa Teresa.

Came back to Santa on Saturday after doing a bit of shopping and catching up with a friend for Lunch. Then on Sunday after church, World Youth Day pilgrims from Alice Springs arrived for a social get together and BBQ. It was cool to meet some of the local area pilgrims, see some of their photos and visit one of the 'local watering holes' :-) The water boar we visited for lunch is pumped is controlled by solar power and fills a large tank. Most of the kids swim in it and since the day was sooooo hot, I was very tempted to jump in with my clothes on haha! Some of the local sisters of charity (Mother Teresa's order of nuns) were there, plus I worked out that one of the sisters was even based in Porirua, Wellington for a while.

The week went fast!

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 03:09:00 +1300

Its been a few days since I last blogged and a lot has happened so will try to be brief. Thanks everyone for your emails and messages, it means so much!

Now to answer your questions: Santa Teresa is 80 km southeast of Alice Springs over a dusty, bumpy road which is quite rough in some parts. No I haven't seen any snakes but I have seen a Kangaroo just after dark while driving from Alice Springs. Yesterday and today hit just above 30 degrees but its been about 25-30 due to wind and a few days of cool conditions. The brothers have all the normal stuff for breakfast although all the milk out here is UHT which I am not used to drinking all the time but I'm getting used to it. Also the tap water is full of calcium, at least its drinkable but has a noticable taste and it affects all the appliances that use it so you end up having to replace or at least clean them every so often. There are about 20 kids in the class that I am in at the moment however we never get all of them to school at the same time... the most we have had is 16 one day this week and on friday we had just 5 kids attend. The plan is to head into Alice on the weekends to stay with the brothers there. Alice also has cell coverage so I will be contactable Fri - Sat and will usually head back to Santa for Sunday. I will be back home on the weekend of the 7 - 9th Nov.

7/10/08 - The brothers went on a door knocking mission this morning and ''encouraged'' the kids to come to school so we ended up getting more then the last few days. I was moved into the J2 and 3's class as the the seniors was a bit full with the extra student teachers helping out and running sessions. The teacher Elaine is one of the Aborigional teachers at the school and is helped out by her daughters most days. The kids talk to the teacher in the local Arrente language so I usually just observe and help where I can by doing photocopying and getting supplies. I was introduced to the class, shared a bit about myself and also taught them a bit of Maori which was cool. Most of the classes usually involve basic reading, writing and then colouring in the photocopied pictures. They have been learning about local animals and creating their own stories around these animals. While school was on, there was a meeting held in the community (interestingly this wasn't widely known about by the locals... not a good way to start big changes to a small community) regarding possible changes to the way alcohol is dealt with in the community. At the moment there is a total ban on all alcohol but some government people want to introduce controlled drinking in the community (as alcohol is heavily taxed over here - just like NZ, I'm sure its in the governments best interest to promote drinking here :-| ) . Over the week there has been a lot of talk about this and I don't think that controlled drinking will work, it will only bring back the old problems the small community faced previously with family violence and others bullying the non-drinking locals. With the strict ban on alcohol, the locals drive to town to get their drink, drink at the boundary of the community and there have been accidents caused by drunken driving when the locals are commuting, however I don't think this will stop in the new system (it still happens everywhere)... its really about education the locals and getting them to think about what they are doing, promoting sober drivers etc. Whatever happens, I hope the decision is made with the communities full backing rather then 'in the best interest of the community'.

8/10/08 - This week there have been a few visitors which I think has had a disruptive affect on the kids. In the morning it was reading and writing and in the afternoon Elaine read to the kids a local tribal story and the kids wrote down a few lines of the story and coloured in the pictures. Its quite exciting being in school to get a refresh of my scizzor, handwriting, written maths and colouring in skills which I don't use in the office. Memories of how much I enjoyed art and how frustrating it was to find the correct coloured crayon come flooding back... no matter how hard you look for a black one, you always end up finding a blue or purple one :-) Also when using felts it was always the yellow ones that would go off-colour first (due to the other darker colours mixing into the tip). School finishes each day at 2:30pm which is very early for me as my usual finishing time at work is at 6pm (or sometimes even later) so I have been hanging around Br Laurie to see what needs to be done. Cleaned the kids toilets today, the spray they use to disinfect the bowls was potent and I was almost knocked out by the smell + the feeling of the disinfectant as it fizzes up your noes.... ugh :-( Then I was sent to do a couple of extra things at the local sister place with fixing up their computer and helping a builder with their door. Then went on a trip to Alice Springs with one of the brothers to get some supplies. When coming back along the road from Alice it was dark so we stopped in the middle of the road, turned off the lights and got out of the car... it was sooo quiet and beautiful! The only light was from the bright moon.

9/10/08 - Teacher was away this afternoon so it was just her daughter and I in the classroom. We had colouring in time in the morning and in the afternoon I was put in charge of the boys with their maths, man they were hard work!!! After lunch we had a road safety visitor talking about the importance of wearing a seatbelt in the car and helmet on a bike. Poor "Dolly" (his 'quiet' assistant) got a battering in a play cart showing the difference between wearing a seatbelt and not... it was a rough looking road worker with a strong auzzie accent playing with a toy car, so funny for me to watch at the time but quite serious as a couple of the community members passed away last term due to driving while drunk near Alice. Then did some photocopying and got the kids to write stories about desert animals until it was time to go home. Over the week we have had armtour (part of nasca.com.au) come into the school and run sports activities with the kids. They are made up of professional sports men and woman who regulary visit Aborigional schools in remote communities to encourage them. Some of our group were even in the recent olympics and won medals. They ran a half an hour slot in the morning with games such as t-ball, cricket and ran exercise routines and small games such as poisionous rope or team ten pin bowling. The sessions were great fun, they interacted with the kids really well and the kids really got into the games and had heaps of fun + hopefully got a lot out of them. We had a BBQ run by the armtour on thursday and I got a photo with Danielle's bronze medal, she represented Australia in their Softball team. I was kindly invited to the armtours accommodation for tea (mainly leftovers from the BBQ) and it was great just to socialize with a group my own age in the community but it was also kinda weird not to have a beer in my hand haha! Straight after the BBQ we went over to "the Club" and played with the kids for a few hours. The armtour crew gave out prizes, food and danced with the kids. It was heaps of fun and I managed to pull out some of my crazy dance moves which made a few of the kids laugh (although I'm still not sure if they were laughing at or with me lol).

It certainly hasn't been an easy first week.

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 03:08:00 +1300

The heat has been uncomfortable - its not at all like the lovely weather back home lol. I am kinda getting used to it but everytime I go outside it really hits you.... and inside usually isn't that much better :-( you can't really escape it..... All I need to do is drink heaps of water and harden up haha! Having a fan in my bedroom makes it a lot more comfortable at night.

The language barrier is difficult - especially in the classroom. The kids are still learning both their native Arrente language (although this is their first language and is spoken with their parents) and English so lessons can be split between the two. The kids often don't understand me and I am trying to get my head around how words are said in the local language but I am not going to be here for long enough in order to get the hang of it..... however you can get around this easily with actions and rephrasing words + there is usually someone around to translate or help out anyway. There arn't too many home comforts or people I know here - life is simple here and even though things could be a whole lot better for me with more air conditioning, cellphone coverage and better access to the internet (the list goes on) blah blah blah...... however I really need to take a step back and understand that life is simple here and even though I could make things a whole lot better for myself, I don't think I would grow as a person because of it! In someways its good that life isn't complicated for the people of Santa Teresa because when you start adding city life to the country... you start adding city problems.

People are friendly here, they are genuine and usually say 'hi' and want to know who you are and where are you from. The brothers are really helpful and welcoming, I am slowly getting to know the staff and students of the school so I will get used to life here in no time :-) and maybe in the process encourage others to come over sometime. Friday is always a half day at the school so with an extra long hour session with armtour, then writing and finally singing practise before going home for the weekend. Then the brothers and I went into town where I was treated to a lovely meal of Fish and Chips (or 'Fush and Chups' as the auzzie brothers tried to put it in our lovely NZ accent). The rest of the weekend was spent either chilling at the brothers house in Alice or back at Santa Teresa on Sunday. However I did end up walking up to the top of the hill to the cross overlooking Santa Teresa. After a nice restful weekend I am hopefully ready for what the next week is going to throw at me... stay tuned!!

Over the weekend...

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 01:17:00 +1300

Day 2 - 4, I am now in Santa Teresa and loving it! No cell coverage as my phone doesn't support the cellphone connection here but there has been lots happening so will blog about as much as I can as to what has been happening over the past few days over here. Contact me via email for the time being till further notice.

Sat 4/10/08 - Saw the sites of Melbourne with some of the community members that I am staying with, which included going on a mission to buy a drum bag (as my drum has a little chip from travelling over here so I really don't want to happen again), visiting the Melbourne Museum (which is just across the road) and walking down the Yarra river... it was a beautiful day! Then in the evening, I went to a club in the city and got in contact with a couple of friends from Wellington who are now living here and met up with them in the club and did a bit of dancing! Very Niiice!

Sun 5/10/08 - Woke up early for my flight and as it was daylight savings change over (again) I lost another hour of sleep so was a bit annoyed about that... and did a bit of packing before realising that my ride had not awoken and I didn't know where his room was in the large house :-( Woke up one of the other residents and they showed me his room, then woke him up and we proceed to the airport. Got there and I tried to book in but missed the final call argh!!! (I sooo didn't need this...) Proceeded to the information desk and after a stern warning from the lady at the desk regarding missing flights (i.e. I could have had to pay for another ticket), was put on the next flight which happened to be direct to Alice Springs (score!). Ended up beating my original flight to Alice which was awesome, however at first didn't find Brother Laurie at the airport who was picking me up so waited for a little while before he approached me and asked if I was Michael.

Movie on the plane: The Incredible Hulk.

The ride to Santa Teresa was a bit long and bumpy, the road was unsealed, stoney and sooo orange (the sand our here gets on and in everything)... however good company, a long chat with Laurie made it go sooo much quicker! Once there, was introduced to the other brothers Tony (T.J.), Gonz and Red who also live in the community. I was shown to my room, talked to the brothers for a while and then was invited out to the community races which were held on a race track out of town. We took the landrover and along the way picked up a few kids heading to the track. The kids are awesome, so friendly and inquisitive "whats your name, where are you from" is what they have been saying and they usually come up to you and tell you random stuff (like kids usually do), while the adults tend to keep to themselves but when approached and introduced are friendly.

Some of my pics that I took show the racecourse, it was definitely an epic event on the community calendar, it happens every year around the time of St Teresas feast day and the whole town + some people (mostly family) from around the area turn out to watch the races. Mostly locals sat or stood around and watched the kids dancing or talked to themselves and this seems to be a big thing at community events. Now this event is kinda hard to explain, but one thing you have to know is that time goes out the window... I was at the event for about 3 - 4 hrs I guess but there were only 2 races, you could be standing around for ages wonder whats going to happen but its no use asking as no one seemed to know? However no one worried about it and the kids entertained themselves so there wasn't any problems. The racing was very dangerous, the horses are mostly wild horses from around the area and one rider even fell off in one race. Other highlights were a big thunder storm which hit the course while a race was on, around here they don't get much rain so it was certainly an experience (inside another experience lol). The orange sand turned a deep orange/red colour and I wasn't worried about it cause it was soooo hot... it was such a weird feeling to go from one extreme to another so quickly.

At the races I had the opportunity to meet quite a few locals so quickly which I think has helped a bit to settle in here, but still there is a lot to get used to. Later that night they had the prizegiving for the races, its a big deal as the top prize is $1000 and the whole community was at "the club" (a big hall in the centre of town with hoops, pool tables and other sport equipment). We turned up and there was a disagreement happening so we left and came back later, as its mainly due to how disagreements are handled in aborigional culture. It could be different for each community but for this one, all arguements are usually vocal and in the open and they don't like us "Whities" interferring or trying to break them up as we could be involved in it also. When we arrived, things seemed back to normal. Dancing and more waiting was to be had till the winners were announced. It was all done in english as some of the out of towners family probably wouldn't understand the local language (as each aborigional area has its own language and dialects), however I still couldn't understand what was being said (could have been due to the accent or even the microphone) except for one of the elders saying "look everybody, give him a hand" in a sharp auzzie accent after each prize winner. I found out later that because of the storms that the main race couldn't be held so all the minor prizes and ribbons were handed out, the main race was delayed to tomorrow.

Monday 6/10/08 - First day of school! Introduced to a few staff and Tom (Ned) who is to be the class teacher that I will be helping with. However he doesn't need too much help at the moment as he already has one aborigional teacher aide and two visiting teachers who will be planning half day sessions for three weeks for the class. The kids call Tom "Ned" as Tom is a name of a recently deceased member of the community. This is whats called "Avoidance practice", read about it more here, hovever if he didn't have a nickname then he would be called "Kuminjay". After a quick maths and english lesson revolved around what they had been up to in the holidays, the whole school piled into the bus and a few vans and then headed back out to the racecourse for the final race. This would never happen in the city... most schools would never stop for a race so it was a interesting experience. From what the school was told, the race would start around 10ish but when we arrived, we were the first group there lol so a call was made to the organisers and slowly the rest of the community made its way out to the racecourse. The main race ended up taking place before 12pm and as the horses were called over for the presentations, the same elder said "look everybody, give him a hand". Then got a ride back on the bus to school and they gave out lunch and told the kids to come back at 1:30pm while the staff had lunch. I managed to get a bit burnt at the racecourse but other then that the day was "great success".

In the afternoon it was religion and preparing the kids for their confirmation which is happening next week with the Bishop coming to town from Darwin. The schools have heaps of students enrolled but a big problem for the school is that students just don't appear for class regulary, one day they arrive and the next they don't. Today there was more teachers and helpers then students which was kinda strange. I got to play with the classes virtual whiteboard, its so awesome!!!! The whiteboard is touch sensitive and a projector displays the image on the board. You can write what you want on the board, touch the whiteboard and then select the word that you wrote. Then the written word changes to a text font and you can move them around or bring up a keyboard and type more if you want, so much fun!

After doing some odd jobs after school I went home but there wasn't much peace once I sat down as groups of kids would knock on the door and ask for a ride from the brothers, however the answer was no as they had missed the bus and the brothers were tired from a long days work. Ok now to sleep, will blog in another couple of days or so, hope all is well at home. m

Day 1 and all is well

Sat, 04 Oct 2008 03:10:00 +1300

If you don't know what is happening to me now, I am off on an adventure of a lifetime over to a place called Santa Teresa (which is roughly an hour south of Alice Springs) to live and work in a community of Marist Brothers who teach at a local school in the community there. I am not too sure whats going to happen but you will find out by reading my blogs over the next 4 weeks and hopefully share in my experiences and maybe even come out yourself one day? Who knows...

Well at the moment I am blogging from Fitzroy, Melbourne where I am staying for the weekend before travelling to Alice on Sunday morning. From what I have seen it has similar aspects to it like Wellington but I don't know if its exactly as similar as people say back home... but who knows I could change my mind after this visit?

My day started with waking up to a song on my radio and I can't work out who sings it but it was very poignant. I think the song is 'Beautiful people''... the lyrics go something like "beautiful people... skin dark and brown... see what else can now be found(?)". I think its a nz artist/song but not sure... If anyone knows then let me know please. It reminded me that ''yes I was going to a totally different culture but that it doesn't matter cause we are all the same really!". Then finished packing and bought some toys for the kids at Santa Teresa (which i'm sure they will like). Then mum picked me and my gear up and we got to the airport on time. However the service at one of the food shops at the airport was shocking and kinda put a damper on things for a bit there... however pretty soon I was up in the air and off to Melbourne.

Once at Melbourne I sent a txt for a nice couple who sat next to me, to their daughter who was picking them up, claimed my luggage & drum and brought it to customs. Thought I would get in a bit of trouble with my drum and was pulled up about it, however the guy was nice and let me through haha! Was picked up by Br Tony and taken to Fitzroy where I met some of the Fitzroy community and also some visitors, then had an awesome bolognese dinner and to finish off a walk around the neighborhood. Tomorrow I have organised to go to see a local gallery and the museum (which is directly across the road from the house haha! Museum Location) so I am very close to the city which is awesome! The next time I blog, I will probably be in Santa Teresa.

Day Tramp

Sun, 14 Sep 2008 22:53:00 +1200

Just went on a tramp in the bush with my community, a few other friends (which included my sister Clare) and 4 boys from Holy Cross School in Miramar! This was organised to give these boys a new experience, challenge them and to get them out of their homes and away from some of the problems which exist there for a little while.

Here is where we started and we ended up in the Orongorongo River Valley after about an 1hr 45min of walking (thanks to whoever took these photos on panoramio). It seemed to be a success too as the boys enjoyed themselves and there were lots of laughs shared. Even though they grumbled on the walk there, as soon as we reached the end of the 5 mile track it was straight into making damper (by wrapping dough around a stick, cooking it and covering it with jam) and also cooking sausages on our gas stove. Damper is so quick, easy and fills the gap after a good walk in the bush! It would have been really cool to start a fire and put on a brew but we didn't have much time in the end. After a bit of a feed, the boys decided to jump into the cold river and after a quick swim it was time to go home.

Heading back was great and it took a lot less time then it took to get there and grumbling from the boys + there were heaps of jokes and games played to keep us all entertained and good conversation. One game was initiated by the oldest boy and he was giving out 1 point to anyone who tripped but didn't fall and 2 points for a fall. Even though it was mainly to pull fun at others in the group, he ended up complaining every single time he managed to get caught out and given a point... but I didn't let him get away with it hehe. It brought back memories of my own tramping expeditions in the bush with the school tramping club, lead by Mr B (our chemistry teacher) and has made me want to get back into tramping even more so if anyone is keen I would like to do some more trips around the Wellington area once I get back from Auzzie and you are most welcome to come with!

Its been a while...

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 03:06:00 +1200

It has been a while but as I was clearing the spam that was appearing on my comments and adding spam protection to the comment form, it occured to me that I have been ignoring my blog so I thought i would write a bit about what I have been up to recently.

I went over to World Youth Day with a group of young "and not so young" adults from around the wgtn area last month. it was a great experience and we had heaps of fun watching the festivities, meeting other Catholics and travelling + getting to know each other as a group. other highlights were seeing the Pope and catching up with my uncle in Sydney.

In October I am heading over to visit a small place called 'Santa Teresa' and live with a marist community (similar to where I am living now) and work in a local school + experience somewhere different and exciting. I am going with an open mind and I hope to meet heaps of people but I'm afraid that the lack of internet access and home conforts will certainly make it hard 'yakka' but something that I hope to grow and become a better person from. Then I am off to visit my family in Perth for over a week and then home yay! Can't wait!

Brewing Beer (Part 2)

Sun, 18 May 2008 23:33:00 +1200

After bottling my last brew, I have now decided that today was a great day to start again! *cue the Beastie Boys (remix)* "I Mix My Brew Down I Put My Brew Down It's Not A Put Down I Put My Foot Down..." I tried the first brew about a month after I bottled it and it tasted really sharp... too sharp (as if it needed more fermenting... sharp).

Anyhoo... the beer made it clear that it needed more time and so I left it too it. But I wanted more... The next brew pack I have used is a Macs Saaz Pale Ale. I ended up only buying one pack at the start but it seems that it only makes 11.5L of beer per pack so ended up buying another pack which was kinda stink as other beer packs will make at lease double that (23L) with one pack. The last 'brew down' took a while, however as I had now mastered the process it took only half the time with less mess :-) and in a couple of hrs I had cleaned the instruments, done the deed and its now under the stairs bubbling away.

I learned from the brewers world man that you don't need to put much water in the airlock which was part of my problem last time... I wondered why the hell the airlock was taking ages to bubble, turned out I had overfilled it and thus it had issues. However it all turned out ok in the end. See http://brewlion.lionshop.co.nz/ for more info and recipes, some of which sound really cool like 'Honey Light Beer' which could be a good experiment for later on down the track! One thing that sucks is the time it takes... I am so impatient, but I know I will be rewarded when the time comes!

mgandjb.com

Wed, 16 Apr 2008 23:39:00 +1200

Hey you, check out http://www.mgandjb.com/! Its filled with awesome photos of my friends Mary-Grace Williams and Jonny Boon's wedding day and the site is using the awesome SilverStripe Gallery!

Crankworks is closing

Sun, 09 Mar 2008 00:19:00 +1300

Just got an email from the Crankworks team and they are shutting their doors after 20 years in Wellington :-(

I just love their quote taking a swipe at the local competition 'As one of the last independent stores to survive, it has become obvious to us the future belongs to the chain stores and cheap "bargain barns".' and its definitely true.... to a point. I still think that there is room for Independent bike stores in Wellington though.

Larger bike stores are more expensive to get your bike tuned at + there is nothing like a friendly face and a down to earth team who are there to help you out when u get stuck. Most of the chain stores are very money focused but the vibe I got from Crankworks were that they were mainly focused on you and your bike and that is where the focus should be! Wellington is definitely losing something special, all I hope is that some good comes out of this...

Brewing Beer (part 1)

Sat, 08 Mar 2008 00:28:00 +1300

Today I went out and bought a brewing kit from http://www.greatexpectations.co.nz/! I had been thinking about brewing my own beer for a while and now I finally did something about it which was a good feeling.

Great Expectations has a lot of brewing gear and they seem to know their stuff so it was cool just to go in there and ask questions about the brewing process! I bought the Brewcraft 'Beer Starter Kit' which has everything that I needed to start with, which included some PET bottles and the beer kit of my choosing (I chose the cascade 'golden harvest' lager and plan to try a few different brews over the next few months or so!). Once I got it home I couldn't wait to get started but there was cleaning to do... everything needed to be sanitised grrr but once that was done it was awesome to have everything go smoothly! The beer ended up being at the right temp and gravity and didn't take all that long to set up (even though I am a beginner). Now there is a 23L bucket o' beer sitting under the stairs brewing and if I brew a couple more batches I will more then definitely pay for the kit which is great and everyone in the community is quietly excited about the cheap beer option that we now have... so everyone wins!

My advice is to give brewing your own beer a try, it may cost a bit to set up but in the long run is really cheap and produces a lot of beer! Stay tuned to see how my first batch turns out...

E-petitions - have your say!

Fri, 07 Mar 2008 00:28:00 +1300

I was sent this link via my girlfriend Kelle and I think this is something that hasn't really been promoted that much so I thought I would do my bit and write about it! e-Petitions which are run on http://www.wellington.govt.nz, allow people to petition the Wellington City Council, via the internet, on matters relevant to the Council's business. At the moment there are a few good ones for example: Keeping the Dual Slalom Mountain Bike Track at 1 Mt Albert Rd, running the Bike Free programme in Wellington and adding more drinking fountains in the city. These are great ideas and fully worth supporting so I hope this article inspires you to stand up and make your vote count! Go to http://www.wellington.govt.nz/haveyoursay/e-petitions/ep/current_eps and start voting!!!!

Today was awesome!

Sat, 23 Feb 2008 00:18:00 +1300

and I didn't have to pay a thing!! ...bonus My day started with getting up reasonably early to join 1,800+ others to Bike the Bays.

I signed up for the 32km loop and did it in a cool 1hr 15 min which I was pretty chuffed with! After the event there were free bananas and a really cool reggae band which made the atmosphere quite relaxing (pity my adrenalin was still going and that I was physically exhausted or otherwise I would have danced in front of the stage. Then it was off to work for a change of clothes and then Kev and Mike picked me up and we headed over to the Sunny Wairarapa.

Once we got to Martinborough we got slightly lost but no worries, ended up at our destination at the end which was Alana Estate for the "In Tune With Nature" concert. Kev managed to get free concert tickets from Dave's manager and invited Mike and I which was great! Once we met up with Lorraine then it was off to find a seat. The concert was awesome, Dave's set was really good and the songs that he did with Hayley were great! I am not really a fan of Hayley but she has an awesome voice and is really talented (compared with what Dame Kiri remarked). It was half time and we got to visit the man himself and so we just chatted about different things like community life, holidaying in the Islands and just general chit chat but it would be have been really cool to spend more time chatting about music and life in general. (pic to come!). Then it was back out to our seats for the second half where Hayley did her set. We managed to get backstage after the final song to say goodbye but the were whisked away shortly after to sign autographs. All and all it was an awesome day which I will remember forever! Dave mate, you are a legend!