Tarra Bulga National Park

What better way to celebrate your first wedding anniversary than with the aussie fam jam and a 22km hike! On Saturday August 20th, Rianna and Kendra hitched a train from Melbourne to come visit Mark and I for the weekend. We picked them up in Traralgon, which is about a 40min drive, at 7:30pm. The girls were quite hungry so we stopped at a pub in Rosedale to have a few drinks and a bite to eat. Soon enough the pub was filled with a team of footy players from Maffra...correction, a team of very good looking footy players haha. They had just won their footy match against Traralgon and were out to celebrate! We spoke with a local fan for quite a while and soon enough Kendra and Rianna were hailing a ride back to Maffra with the men on their team bus! They had lots of laughs with the boys! We met them at the pub in Maffra and finished the night off with some drinks and headed home not too late- we had to be up early for our hike!

The next morning we had pancakes and packed our lunches for our day trip. Tarra Bulga was about an hours drive. We were lead up many winding hills and roads. It was a beautiful day and the scenery was very nice! We were happy the girls could come visit on such a nice weekend!

Tarra-Bulga National Park is essentially rain forest with some of the worlds largest ferns and contains many eucalyptus trees as well(which are rare to find anymore). The park is home to a suspension bridge which overlooks a deep fern gully and Cyanthea and Tarra Bulla Falls. It was very beautiful at the park! The trees very tall and the sounds of the birds were wonderful! Cyanthea and Tarra Bulla falls were also quite nice! In the end we hiked 22km (with 8km of it being up-hill!) We were a little sore..and tired by the end.
We look back at to what the year has brought us and what we have accomplished so far. We are very lucky to have the oppourtunity to travel and experience new places/things and we look forward to the journey ahead and what it has to offer. Happy Anniversary! xo

Here are a few pics from our hike:

Rianna and Kendra!

ouch!

Too late..the rock had fallen.

Tarra Falls

Mark and I!

Being scholarly

Fam Jam!!

Cyanthea Falls

Suspension Bridge

So pretty!

We made it to the top!

Warming my Toes to Teaching

Stepping into the classroom for the first time a few weeks ago was a little nerve-wracking. I have done several teaching placements but with supply teaching you dont get an obervation period, you have no idea what your going to teach and you have no idea what the students will be like. I have never been given full control of the classroom before so you can imagine how nervous I was. On my first day of teaching I felt like everything I had been taught and learned had been wiped clean from my memory. However, when I began teaching it all came back and by the third day I felt more comfortable.

While teaching with ANZUK I taught 5/6's, 1/2's, highschool classes, Kindergareten, and 3/4's. I had been to many different schools and once I even had to substitute Italian classes all day. Australian schools do some things differently but in most cases the classrooms are very much the same, along with the curriculum. I have found many of the classrooms/schools to be advanced technogically. Many classrooms have laptops and most classrooms are equipped with a smart board.

I am much more comfortable with teaching now and am much more comfortable with planning lessons on the spot and being flexible. During placements I always had set plans and sometimes when you supply you are left with little or no plans so you need to be creative. At first I was uneasy with supply teaching because I am a planner, but in the long run I think this gives me a chance to see/experience how different teachers do things and I can learn to become a more comfortable and confident teacher. It helps me build on classroom management and behaviour management(especially since students think its a fun day if they have a supply teacher).

Moving out to the country worried me as I thought I wouldn't find anywork but thankfully I have had lots of good luck and have had many bookings already, and recieved a part-time contract at Bundalaguah (Bun-da-lag-you-ah) Primary School, 10 minutes out of Maffra. One of the school buildings is over 100 years old with its opening in 1872.

The schools consists of 40 students and consists of 4 classrooms (P-1, 2, 3/4, and 5/6) The school is built upon years of history with a starting time of 9:15. This time is historical because students had to finish barn chores/milking cows at home before they could attend school-so school started later. Additionally, the school bell is manually rung with a large steel bell (one of my favourite things).

The school congregates in a short assembly in the morning and at the end of the day as well in the courtyard, which is also very nice. I will be working there every Wednesday doing Art and Computers and every Friday I will be in the 5/6 class. I already met all the staff and students and they are wonderful! I am looking forward to my time at Bundalaguah Primary and hope I can learn more and I appreciate them giving me the oppourtunity to gain further teaching experience!

Mark has currently been working some long days because of calving season and each day has gotten better-organized wise. We plan to be living on the farm for sure by the end of next week, but we will keep you all updated!

Farm Country

Living in the city was very convenient but living out in the country is quite beautiful! On Wednesday we moved from Ascot Vale in Melbourne to the region of Wellington which is just over two hours East(close to the coast, or Golden Beach). I had mentioned that we were moving to Sale however we are actually living in Maffra, a small town outside of Sale. Maffra's population is about 4500 people so it is pretty small. Sale is only about a 20 minute drive away so whatever you can't get in Maffra then a quick drive to Sale will solve the problem.

Mark is working on a 600 cow dairy in the tiny town of Riverslea, which is right beside Maffra. The farm is a share-farm between two families. Both families are from New Zealand however the one family has now left to go back home and the other family has recently moved here to take on the farm. The house we are intended to live in is on the farm but is not yet ready so we are staying in the house in which the first family from New Zealand lived in. It is currently for sale but we should be living in the farm house by Friday(located in Riverslea). Our current digs are quite nice and very spacious and only a 5 minute drive into the town of Maffra or to the farm where Mark works.

I have applied for teaching jobs out here and have had some good luck so I am keeping my fingers crossed for a contract.

Sale is recently experiencing some serious flooding and some parts of Maffra have also flooded due to the large amounts of rain which is causing some rivers to overflow. Currently where we are living we should not experience any flooding but the ground is quite mucky. The weather here is still slightly chilly, especially at night but when I go fro runs I still wear 3/4 length pants and a tank top- not bad for the middle of winter! Spring is upon us, so bring on the warmer weather!

Mark is enjoying working on the farm and because it is calving season it is quite busy. They can have 16-20 calves in a day. Also, there are about 100 new cows that still need to get accustomed to the rotary parlour so some milkings take a bit longer but they are getting used to it.

Here are some pictures of our new settlement:




Right in the middle you can see Sale..above Sale over to the left is Maffra and to the right the East coast.

Our current residence in Maffra

The backyard..if only it was warm enough to use the pool

Our  friend in the backyard

We quickly noticed that many households have lemon trees on their lawns

Beautiful!

The rotary parlour

Mark milkin away

Cows being borught in from the paddock(field)

Calves

All around (in the distance) are mountains



Great Company

Well Mark and I are off to Sale today, a town(region) 2 hours East of Melbourne. Sale is closer to the coast which is always nice but the downside is that we are a bit further from Rianna and Kendra. We very much appreciated them letting us stay with them for a bit and we know we will visit them often and they can come gander up our way anytime!

The Sights and Sounds of Melbourne

So far we are loving Melbourne and I have been teaching lots! I of course love teaching but being a substitute teacher can be difficult. You are not always left with plans or if you are left with them they are very..very..brief and of course the students think its a party day because they have a supply teacher. I have been using most behavior/class room  management techniques I have learned which is definetly helping. Rianna and Kendra have also noticed the difficulty of substitute teaching but the good thing is that you are somewhere new everyday(each day is different) we are working lots and we have each other to talk to.

Mark has had lots of job offers on farms outside Melbourne and has chosen to work on a dairy farm in the town of Sale, which is East of Melbourne. It is a 600 cow dairy owned by a man named Clint who is  share farmer. Mark is interested in working here because Clint is still learning so he is excited to work with him. The area is gorgeous and green with many hills/mountains. I still plan to do substitute teaching as there is still lots of work in that area.

This is mainly a picture post so enjoy!

Apartment in Ascot Vale: Our living room 

Kitchen 

Lovely rainbow out our balcony 

Mine and Mark's bedroom- Kendra and Rianna share the master room 

Driving through the countryside 

Beautiful!

sweet mailbox

our new car!

see the joey's leg sticking out??

striking a pose

butterfly on Mark's head

it rained for a bit so the orangutans were trying to stay dry

baby and momma