On the weekend of February 16-19, we made the long trek back to Sydney. The NSW exchange coordinators and the Exchange Teacher League volunteers hosted a weekend for all visiting teachers and their families. There were teachers from BC, Alberta, Ontario, Colorado, England and Ireland.
Our family left Boongarra Farm after work on Thursday. After a 7 hour drive, we arrived at our hotel (?!?!?!?) on the west side of Sydney at midnight. This was perhaps the most dirty and disappointing place we have ever stayed (except that 1 "hot pool" place in Montana on our honeymoon.....OMG!) The rates were cheap but the hotel was old, noisy and DIRTY. Very gross....We will not be repeat customers!
Friday morning found us braving the rush hour traffic to make the 1h20 min commute to the central business district of Sydney. We found our parking lot ($78/day!) and then our meeting spot. I spent the day with the current and recently returned exchange teachers. Howard and the boys joined some of the families on a walk around Sydney. Their day sounded much more exciting! They walked through the botanical gardens again, stopped inside the Opera House and walked across the Harbour Bridge and back again. It was a very long day for some of the little legs! Unbelievably, not 1 Jackson had a camera or an IPod to take pictures of their adventures!
After meeting up as a family at 3:30pm, we were all tired and had some time to kill before supper. While other families went shopping, ours needed a break so headed down to our van in the carpark. We flipped the seats forward and the boys had lots of room to relax, play and listen to music and eat in the back while Howard and I read in the front. (We know how to make our own good times!) At 5:30 pm, we headed out on another walk, this time to the restaurant to meet up with our fellow exchange friends. After supper the boys played with the friends they had made during the day and we had a little quiet time to visit and compare notes with our colleagues.
Saturday morning was another rush as we had to meet our boat at the Sydney Harbour by 8:45 am. The large group of us set out on a 5.5 hour cruise and picnic. It was a beautiful, hot summer day with ships and sail boats everywhere. The boys walked around the boat with their friends and spent most of their time far away from parents. (Unless of course they were hungry.....check out the picture of Khye with chips, pop and chocolate all at the same time!) We continued our visiting with new friends and compared our recent holidays, culture shock and school experiences. After getting off the boat, we took our boys to an indoor pool so they could play for a couple of hours before heading back to our hotel.
On Sunday, we were supposed to again meet up with some teachers near the Harbour to enjoy a morning walk and lunch. By Saturday night, we had to call and cancel because we were all exhausted from our busy week, our long drive and our hectic weekend schedule. Instead, we packed up the van early and headed for home. We arrived home by 4pm and had lots of time to get ready for the week ahead.
It was a super busy but enjoyable and educational weekend. I appreciate meeting the other exchange teachers working in NSW. I am also VERY greatful for the excellent school, staff and community connections that we have in Griffith because there were several people at our weekend who have A LOT more to cope with than we do!! I also realized that Griffith isn't really that far from civilization when I met the young, single lady from England who is working in Broken Hill!! Now that's far! I am hoping to get together with some of my new "outback" friends working in Dubbo, Canberra, Wagga and Albury. Maybe we can plan our own "Outback Weekend!" Of course, that would have to include boys AFL or cricket and some laundry!
Our family left Boongarra Farm after work on Thursday. After a 7 hour drive, we arrived at our hotel (?!?!?!?) on the west side of Sydney at midnight. This was perhaps the most dirty and disappointing place we have ever stayed (except that 1 "hot pool" place in Montana on our honeymoon.....OMG!) The rates were cheap but the hotel was old, noisy and DIRTY. Very gross....We will not be repeat customers!
Friday morning found us braving the rush hour traffic to make the 1h20 min commute to the central business district of Sydney. We found our parking lot ($78/day!) and then our meeting spot. I spent the day with the current and recently returned exchange teachers. Howard and the boys joined some of the families on a walk around Sydney. Their day sounded much more exciting! They walked through the botanical gardens again, stopped inside the Opera House and walked across the Harbour Bridge and back again. It was a very long day for some of the little legs! Unbelievably, not 1 Jackson had a camera or an IPod to take pictures of their adventures!
After meeting up as a family at 3:30pm, we were all tired and had some time to kill before supper. While other families went shopping, ours needed a break so headed down to our van in the carpark. We flipped the seats forward and the boys had lots of room to relax, play and listen to music and eat in the back while Howard and I read in the front. (We know how to make our own good times!) At 5:30 pm, we headed out on another walk, this time to the restaurant to meet up with our fellow exchange friends. After supper the boys played with the friends they had made during the day and we had a little quiet time to visit and compare notes with our colleagues.
Saturday morning was another rush as we had to meet our boat at the Sydney Harbour by 8:45 am. The large group of us set out on a 5.5 hour cruise and picnic. It was a beautiful, hot summer day with ships and sail boats everywhere. The boys walked around the boat with their friends and spent most of their time far away from parents. (Unless of course they were hungry.....check out the picture of Khye with chips, pop and chocolate all at the same time!) We continued our visiting with new friends and compared our recent holidays, culture shock and school experiences. After getting off the boat, we took our boys to an indoor pool so they could play for a couple of hours before heading back to our hotel.
On Sunday, we were supposed to again meet up with some teachers near the Harbour to enjoy a morning walk and lunch. By Saturday night, we had to call and cancel because we were all exhausted from our busy week, our long drive and our hectic weekend schedule. Instead, we packed up the van early and headed for home. We arrived home by 4pm and had lots of time to get ready for the week ahead.
It was a super busy but enjoyable and educational weekend. I appreciate meeting the other exchange teachers working in NSW. I am also VERY greatful for the excellent school, staff and community connections that we have in Griffith because there were several people at our weekend who have A LOT more to cope with than we do!! I also realized that Griffith isn't really that far from civilization when I met the young, single lady from England who is working in Broken Hill!! Now that's far! I am hoping to get together with some of my new "outback" friends working in Dubbo, Canberra, Wagga and Albury. Maybe we can plan our own "Outback Weekend!" Of course, that would have to include boys AFL or cricket and some laundry!
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