Tag Archive for Gippsland

Gravity by Scot Gardner

12/12/2011 Joh reading, work

The back cover of Gravity reads “Saturday night. Nowheresville.” How many teenage regional dwellers have this to say for the place they live in? I related to this story because I was busting to get out of here when I was a young person. I’d love a massage for every kid I’ve taught that has plans of heading elsewhere as soon as… I certainly didn’t have the heavy home life that Adam (the protagonist) lived with. His mum has already shot through.

I enjoyed this book. I have been meaning to read Scot Gardner’s books for a long time. He is a local author and I want to use some texts created in our area next year with my students. He names local towns that students are familiar with. I am aiming for connection. Not just to school, but to community and place. I’m not sure I will use this novel, cause I think it would be more relevant to older students. Scot Gardner has written many books so I’ll work my way through them and find a suitable one I’m sure.

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Local History

05/02/2010 Joh work

I wasn’t keen on teaching Local History this year. I’ve only been doing it a week and I have learnt so much already. I have a feeling it could be one of my favourite subjects. I’m reading a book “The Settling of Gippsland” by Patrick Morgan. I am having all kinds of realisations about this region I call home. I am glad I have been given this subject. I remember when I studied ‘Introduction to Koorie Studies’ at uni I learnt so much and was facinated in the local indigenous history. It shifted my perception of this place I come from. I was an adult by then and remember working on an assignment shortly after I gave birth to Tom. I was so committed to that subject! I wondered why I hadn’t learnt about it before.

I watched a TED talk during the holidays called ‘The Danger of a Single Story’. I could relate to it at some level and reading about our local history has reminded me about some of the messages I got for myself from this clip. I want to encourage my students to explore their local identities. So many young people, including myself and my own children can’t wait to get out of this area. Why? There are many positive things about it. We listen to the media instead of our own experiences. It is good to leave home and explore the world, yet I believe it’s also good to appreciate where you are from.

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Monday

26/10/2009 Joh travel, work

When I was on camp last week I changed my alarm from 6.00 to 7.30. I didn’t want to wake the kids up that early! Thursday and Friday mornings I woke up by myself before the alarm was needed, so I didn’t really bother to change it. This morning though, when the alarm woke me, the rush began.

I had an excursion today to Tarra Bulga National Park. I hadn’t prepared the night before because I was tired. So I was in a big rush. I had to get lunch to take with me and I missed breakfast because I simply didn’t have time. It’s was so busy with camp last week that I hadn’t prepared properly for the excursion and had left it till this morning.

I arrived in morning briefing just on time and waited for someone to start before being told that it was me. My turn had come up to chair the meeting. After giving the staff their usual 30 seconds to read the bulletin, I launched into a conversation with another teacher about the day ahead and had to be interupted to be reminded that everyone was waiting for me to continue.

Despite my disorganised beginning, the excursion, which had been very well prepared and planned by the teachers who had organised it, went off without a hitch. I work with some great people.

The trip to Tarra Bulga revealed to me the extent of our local bushfires. It was a horrifying sight and the bus driver who lives out that way took us down his street to show us the rebuilding. He said that 40 % of the people whose homes burnt down won’t be returning. The ones who were have new homes well underway.

The park itself was still as I remember it from my trip with Andrew years ago. The kids enjoyed the day and learnt a lot. I was surprised that although it is less than an hour away from where we live only a small number of students had visited before. It is a beautiful place. The air is different.

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Home Again

22/10/2009 Joh gratitude, home, travel, work

It was beautiful weather at Tamboritha. The creeks were full and flowing with the melted snow. We walked to Thomastown on the first day. The water was freezing, not that I wet more than my feet. It was numbing.

I rode the horses morning and afternoon on Tuesday. We rode through the bush and along the creek on the plains in front of the hut. It was sunny and the air was crisp. They were perfect conditions. I was at the back of the line so I missed a lot of the little thrills experienced by the kids, they certainly shared them that night in the huts in front of the fire. I laughed till tears rolled down my face and my stomach hurt. It still brings a chuckle thinking of some of the reactions of the students to their first horse ride.

The night sky was clear and there was no moon on Monday night giving the stars the best opportunity to show themselves. I felt really lucky to enjoy such a view. The second night the small sliver of a moon and the lightest clouds gave a different view, no less enjoyable.

I am so glad to be back from camp. I’m tired.  I love being home and I missed Darin. It was probably the longest length of time we’ve been apart since we met! My parents are home from their Winter nomading and it was great to see their tanned faces again. Knowing it was possibly my last year 9 camp at Tamboritha, I appreciated the environment and the conditions have never been better.

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New Moon in Libra – Sunday 18th October 2009

17/10/2009 Joh astrology

Make a wish on the New Moon in Libra to do with partnerships. Yasmin Boland has this great article about how to make new moon wishes. Mars moved into Leo today, and will stay for an extended length of time. Astrogrrl discusses how this move will impact in this post.

I have spent most of the day untangling the strings of a kite and untangling my own feelings and thoughts in typical dark moon style. It’s been a big week for me in lots of ways. I am off to Tamboritha with the year 9s, probably for the last time on Monday. We are running things differently at our school in 2010 as far as the year 9 camp experience goes. I feel too tired and unwilling to give up the peace of coming home each night, but once I am there, I’m sure it will be ok.

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Why So Fast?

11/10/2009 Joh gratitude, home

Weekends just fly by lately. This one was no exception. Yesterday was a leisurely day. We had brunch out and had a bit of a stroll around the shops. I love Traralgon’s shops because they aren’t all in a centre devoid of natural light and air.  I heard a rumour, JB HiFi are planning a local outlet, so that excited me. We watched an old Dave Hughes DVD in the afternoon. We talked about going for a drive, yet didn’t get around to it.  

I have read and napped both days. Darin watched some of Bathurst, but could be lured away from the TV at times :-) . We did a little housework, although there’s not much to do with only two adults here most of the time and Darin sharing responsibility for household stuff. I cleaned out one of those cupboards I’ve been avoiding cause I know everything would fall out if I opened it.

We went for a drive to the Quarries today. I remember we went there for Christmas family gatherings with mum’s family when I was a kid. I had no idea where it was though. We found it on the other side of Briagalong. It was sunny on the way there but there were dark clouds on the range and even a patch of snow. On our return drive the rain caught up with us. I must remember to take our camera. We tend to only bring it when we have the kids.

Tonight we went for a long walk around town. I haven’t been exercising much lately and I am feeling it. I feel better already. I love our life together.

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Halfway

28/09/2009 Joh holidays, home

I haven’t blogged since last week! The weather turned a bit rough so I turned to inside activities mostly, though we did get some gardening in on Thursday. It was long overdue with some garden beds needing to be mowed rather than weeded. I want to do so much outside it is overwhelming to start sometimes. It looks much better now, yet I still see a lot to do.

We had the kids for a night last week, which is always fun. One of the kids decided to stay with her mum, I noticed her absense. I missed her actually. We didn’t get out with them curtailing our tendency to always go out when the kids are here. Darin thought it was time we did a bit of normal hang out stuff. I remember when my kids would go to their dad’s for the weekend, they tend to have high entertainment expectations when that’s what usually happens. It’s so interesting being on the other side of the ‘every second weekend’ family.

I watched a few films, the most interesting was ‘Flashbacks of a Fool’ with Daniel Craig. I have also been introduced to Carl Baron and laughed till my stomach hurt watching his DVDs. I had no idea he was so cleverly funny. I watched the Grand Final, half heartedly baracking for the Saints. I fell asleep though so I didn’t get to experience the loss. I’ve watched the Grand Prix as well on a few occasions during this season. I can barely contain my advertising analysis though whilst watching these ‘blokey’ things on TV. It’s a whole new reality to me.

I went for a drive to Golden Beach and had a long walk along the beach Saturday morning.

Yesterday we went to Ikea in Richmond to get some cutlery I wanted and as you could expect walked out with a few more items. We went to the National Gallery to see the Salvador Dali exhibition but the queue was for an hour so we took in the rest of the Gallery and resolved to go back during the week. I don’t know why I thought doing this on a Sunday was a good idea…. Ikea was packed also. We had dinner at Bukhara’s in Warragul on the way home. It was my first visit, Darin thought it wasn’t as good as it once was, I thought it was yummy.

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The Ada Tree

22/09/2009 Joh family, relationships, travel

spring-equinox-blog.jpgYesterday Darin and I went for a drive. We were heading for Yarra Junction to have a look around and I spotted a sign to the Ada Tree. I have always wanted to be at that old tree, so we made a detour down the dirt track, walked through the ferny rainforest and there it was. The signs say the tree is just over 300 years old. It’s huge. It’s a miracle of survival with all the logging and bushfires that have been through that area.

On the way there driving through the trees we came across a couple of patches of scarred logged land. It’s so ugly. That area was logged by my grandfather in the late 1930s and he was caught in a bushfire that was documented for an ABC website, so it is a significant area to me. I’ve heard Pa mention the Ada track in his stories of those times.

Leaving the Ada track, we took a different turn and found ourselves no longer on the way to Yarra Junction, ending up in Marysville. I have never seen such devastation from fires and I’ve been through a few fire ravaged areas. It was very sad and eerie. We took a very long way but eventually arrived at our intended destination. The day was done though, so there was not much time spent there before heading home. I think I’d had my fill of sights and adventures for the day.

It was the spring equinox yesterday in Australia.

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Fishing and Sale’s Swinging Bridge

21/09/2009 Joh family, relationships, travel

Yesterday we took the kids fishing. Darin’s son brought his rod for the weekend and was keen. I had asked a couple of the boys at school about the local fishing spots, but I wasn’t clear about where they meant so we headed for Sale. Getting bait was the beginning of the adventure. We went to the petrol station, who sent us to the bottle shop, who sent us to a Camping shop, that was inconveniently closed. Fortunately we spotted a ‘Bait’ shop as we drove away wondering where to go.

The man in the bait shop recommended going along the river past the swinging bridge. I had a vague idea of a bridge, but no idea really about the swinging bridge. We found it and settled on the other side of it for some unsuccessful fishing. I did catch some classic expressions on the faces of the gorgeous children as they watched their rods intensely, screwed up their noses at the worms we were using for bait and reeled their rods in so rapidly the fish would have had to chase the bait to get hooked. I can’t say I was too disappointed about not catching anything personally.

We were there at the right time to see the historic swinging bridge swing open. When I pictured a swinging bridge, in my mind I was looking for a swinging in the wind kind of thing, but this was something else. A part of Gippslands local history that I had no idea about, despite having travelled down that river from the Port of Sale as a kid in my pa’s boat. I have no recollection of it. blog-swinging-bridge.jpg

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Discovering Kongwak

31/08/2009 Joh gratitude, home

Darin and I went for a drive this afternoon to Cape Patterson. We were taking off from Warragul and went through the green hills on the windy roads and came across Kongwak between Korumburra and Wonthaggi. We stopped.

It’s a small place, yet it had a really colourful Market.  The people there knew the teenage kids by name, as well as one another. I love that tiny community environment.  There was a variety of new and secondhand things, inside and outside stalls and a nice vibe. I bought a couple of kids books, Darin purchased some CDs of comedians and he got some of our favourite incense and a sandalwood box. I tried on some clothes but my broad shoulders just didn’t feel relaxed in them, everywhere else fitted great.

We also checked out the Art Gallery and we both fell in love with a sculpture there. We managed to walk away discussing all the things we need to do at home before a peice like that would find a decent place. There were some appealing watercolours there.

The remainder of the day was gentle, Cape Patterson was a bit seaweedy, we drove back through Inverloch. Finding Kongwak was the unexpected pleasure of the day.

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