Tramp fail

I was hoping to have some pictures of the Outdoor Ed tramp I have just been on. Unfortunately my tramp lasted all of 1.5 hours (instead of the two days planned). I had the joy of taking a girl back to school after she had a bit of a drama queen moment and promptly gave up a 30 minutes of walking (by this stage another student was carrying her pack too). Perhaps her greatest stupidity was that she had just got a tongue stud the previous day, and because of the associated swelling, had not eaten any breakfast and could not eat solid foods. Doesn't work well when you are climbing up a big hill. Anyway 2 hours drive later I was back at school, then the following morning I had to drive the van back out to the carpark (another 2 hours) to pick kids up. On the upside, we were underway during a heavy rain cycle and it was bucketing down so going home to a shower and a bed was in some ways preferable to camping out.

The weather is looking good for next weekend so I might get out somewhere hopefully.

Update...finally

Well it has been a while between updates... A quick summary of the last 5 odd months.

We had many a discussion about whether to return or not to Melbourne, but in the end we decided to stay. I did apply for a couple of jobs in Melbourne but didn't get offered anything. I did get offered a job in Oamaru - at a nicer school with probably more easily teachable kids, but we decided in the end to just stay put here. 

We travelled to Milford Sound over the 3rd term holidays, which was a great trip.

I've been out walking a bit, but no where near as much as I'd like. I also did far less skiing in winter than I envisaged - but still got out a few times.  I did climb the local foot hill recently - Mt Tuhua at 1150 odd meters or something. A steep 3 hour climb from the valley floor (starting at around 100m) but worth it for the views. I'm hoping to get some more tramping done this year.  

Mt Tuhua viewed from near my house:

Over new years I attempted to climb Mt Bowen again (a trip I attempted and detailed in this blog around easter last year).  This trip was also a failure.  Long story, but to summarise we attempted to climb by a different route but ran in to the same problem - no track through thick alpine scrub which forced us to retreat back down the mountain.  With more daylight (and a better forecast for the next day) we would've probably pushed through this stuff alright, but in the end we decided to just give up and head back down the mountain.  

Incidentally if anyone is interested in doing some tramping over here, let me know - I'm eyeing off maybe the Milford track at the end of this year (or something else in Fiordland) and maybe the Heaphy Track over the winter holidays.

A couple of weeks ago we went for a trip up to Golden Bay and visited the Gannet Colony on Fairwell Spit.




I've been conducting the Westand District Brass Band for some time now. We had a lot of engagements over xmas - from the towns xmas parade, to various carols etc. We played for the first time in 2010 today at the A+P show. On another note I won a first and second in photography at the show, and Julie won a cross stitch section. Some photos from the Xmas Parade:





A+P show:

Julie and I are returning to Melbourne for a week over easter. I look forward to eating a lot and catching up with people.

I went back to work this Monday. Wasn't great. Wasn't too bad either though.  My senior music students are pretty good actually - there is some really talent kids there, so there is some shining light at the end of the tunnel.  

I will endeavour to post more updates this year.  

6 down, 6 to go?

This post is a month or so overdue, but anyway it's time for a summary of my first 6 months in NZ.  Since my last post I have been indulging in skiing a lot (of the downhill variety).  Cross country stuff here is not as common as in Oz- your only option is apline touring and for that you have to be able to ski really good and know about avalanches and stuff (three skiers in the backcountry have died in avalanches in the last month over here).

Anyway, a summury:

The Good:

- No traffic

- Good biking

- Good hiking

- Good skiing

- Good photo opportunities

- Lots of great places to visit within a couple of hours drive

- Relaxed pace of small town life

The Bad:

- Supermarkets aren't open past 8

- No decent takeaways (I really miss: Italian food, Nandos, Chinese food, Pancake Palour etc)

- No one seems to be able to make a decent bacon and egg sandwich around here (who'd thought you could actually screw that up even?)

- (Last on the food I promise) Fish and chips are pretty sub par around here.

- Small town living (it has it's downsides as well)

- Missing the music opportunities of Melb

- I do even miss my faithful readership (of 1 or 2).  I notice the Victory haven't had the best of starts to the season.  

The Ugly:

- The job.  Pretty much over it nowadays.  The kids are a mix bunch, but the worst are really energy sapping.  A couple of weeks ago it was 'throw things at Tim' week.  I ducked a chair.  Had a stone hit me in the foot (in fairness it was really thrown to hit me I don't think).  Net result of both incidents - not a whole lot.  I thought at least the chair throwing chick would get suspended, but no she eventually was forced to mumble something that may have been an apology. (After refusing to do so for several days.)  

-Restorative Justice (the results of which are above).  School's discipline model is based on this system.  No punitive punishment, only RJ.  Sorry, but I much prefer to be feared and respected than to be in an equal relationship of power with my students.  (At least with this kids anyway).  Maybe I'm just bitter because in this whole year I don't think justice has ever been restored to me.

So where does this leave me?  Seriously considering returning home at the end of the year.  Julie can go back to her old job if we return within 12 months.  A big financial carrot given our combined income at the moment is less than what one of us was been making last year.  Having said that though, the thought of leaving so soon pains me... but the thought of another 3 months in this job (let alone a whole year and 3 months) pains me equally.  

Jobs back in Melb for next year will soon be advertised so I guess decision time will be soon.  Annoyingly I don't really want 5 days of classroom next year, but finding instrumental work from over here may prove difficult.  Bah, enough musing for now. 

Requiem

I've decided to include this as a separate post rather than bury it in the long update just posted. Whilst it may seem sad to mourn a rock formation, it was with great sadness that I read of the demise of the Island Arch on the Great Ocean Road - one of my favourite places to photograph. I think I would've photographed it on at least 10 different occasions.

Update

Firstly, good news is I am still alive. Whilst my predicted death from swine flu in my previous post has not eventuated, it does seem somewhat ironic that now Melbourne is in fact the epicentre of swine flu in Australia. (I even noticed that one of the schools I worked at last year was one of the ones that were closed for a week or so). Keep wearing those facemasks people (or you could just continue living your life like normal - a more sensible option).

Tramping has continued - two trips in the last month, one to Buckland Peaks (photos attached) and another on a school outdoor Ed trip down the Copland Valley (didn't both taking the camera). Not much to report on either - both were pleasant excursions.

Starting out - valley floor at the 100m contour
Halfway...






4 hours, 10km and we're up on the tops around the 1300m contour.

Buckland Peak Hut - Seen center of the frame in a basin below various ridgelines.

Descending into the hut. Somewhat icy in places

Hut

Climbing back out of the basin onto the ridgeline.

In Other News....

I've noticed that Lake Mountain and Stirling have just got a good snow dump... Starting to feel home sick again. Should get some skiing in here over the winter school holidays (a couple of weeks away). It will all be downhill though, not too many places you can do cross country here unless you know about avalanches and the like.

I am somewhat tempted to return home for a week over the winter holidays. Return of velourfog is one carrot. Another is that the education department over here says that if I travel to Australia I must take one forced week of sick leave on return. Bonus. Probably not going to happen though.

Any news from the home front out there? I wonder if my readership his diminished from 2 to 0.

God must be angry

Well this may be my last transmission.... It seems that I may have inadvertantely angered god as he seems to be sending his wrath down on us here:

First tornados.

Then, swine flu - two teachers from my school where on the same flight as these kids

They are currently taking the week of school and taking anti viral medications.  If I don't escape this emerging pandemic, please, have a parma in my honor.

Autumn and Burgers

Another quick update. After returning from tramping last weekend I headed down to Queenstown and Arrowtown for some autumn colours, and to live the dream of eating Fergburger at every meal (though I later had to concede on breakfast and only managed lunches and dinner). Fergburger is by far the best burger I've ever had. The classic Fergburger with cheese is a good starting point, but for the truly brave the Big Al (pictured below) with 2 patties, 2 eggs, lashing of bacon, beetroot, lettuce, tomoto, cheese, red onion, relish and garlic aioli is a winner.

Arrowtown, a historic gold mining settlement about 20 minutes from Queenstown lived up to it's reputation for spectacular Autumn scenery.