Hunter Valley Happiness

Australia takes a day off for the Queen's birthday, and we celebrated by taking the opportunity to head out of town at the last minute. I went to a travel agent in Coogee looking for the best deal... and found none! The travel agent had a few destinations up her sleeve, and offered me the usual local tours: Blue Mountains and Hunter Valley. We had just gone to the Blue Mountains, so Hunter Valley it was! I thought it would be fun (and really inexpensive!) to do the backpacker thing, and luckily there were 2 spots available on the tour leaving Sunday!

Bright and early on Sunday morning we caught the bus and off we went with the most talkative bus driver I have ever encountered! It would be a huge understatement to say that he loved the sound of his own voice. We managed to get a few minutes of sleep though, despite his talk, which ranged from the history of the area along our drive, to detailed insights into the mailboxes and garbage bins along the roadside. Kurtis and I couldn't help but laugh: his banter was just too much.

We met up with our tour group at Lindeman's Vineyard and had our first tasting. We travelled to 3 other vineyards in our tour guide's purple van - a suitable colour for grape country, I thought. Along the way we met some people in our group, and became fast friends with a woman and her mother that were on the tour. They were really fun, and had travelled all over the world, including to some places that we've been. 

We learned a lot about the vineyards and wineries on our tour, including why the vines all have rose bushes at the end of the row: a rose bush likes, and dislikes the same things that grapes do, so if your rose bushes are doing well, so are your grapes, and if your roses are not doing well, then neither are the grapes! And I thought it was just because it's so pretty! The final vineyard we went to was our absolute favourite. It is called "Hanging Tree Vines" because apparently a large tree on the property was once used to hang a criminal in the 1800's! The land was perfectly groomed, the vineyard and gardens exquisite. The sunset was unbelievably perfect across the pond outside of the cellar. The perfect ending to a wonderful day. When we were finished our tours we headed to our hostel for a bar-bq with our group. Luckily we had a 4-share room with the mother and daughter that we had met and not strangers! It's been awhile since I've been on a bunk bed, and it reminded me of camp! :) 

The second day was an open day for us to choose our own adventure. We rented 2 bicycles and off we went on what we thought was going to be an easy, nice little jaunt around the vineyards... It was beautiful, but it was anything but easy! Ha! We had a few bike glitches along the way, but nothing Kurtis couldn't fix, and nothing so serious that I couldn't laugh my head off as he got covered in grease trying to get the chain back on. He was my hero.

Our destination turned out to be much further than we expected, but the scenic ride was well worth it. As we were heading along the highway I saw a horse that looked incredibly lonely: I had to stop! He came right over to the fence to say hello. The poor thing was filthy dirty and I tried to give him a brush with my fingers, though what he truly needed was a good bath. I noticed some clovers growing on my side of the fence and picked a few handfuls to feed him for a little treat. He looked so forlorn I felt badly to leave him, but after a few photos it was time to move on.

We went to the Hunter Valley Gardens and spent a few hours wandering through the exquisite gardens. There was an English garden, a rose garden, a Chinese garden, a story book garden, and many more! Some of the shrubs were trimmed into birds, elephants, even a stampede of horses! And lucky us, we had a gorgeous day to boot! On the way back to the hostel we stopped at a few wineries on the back roads to taste and buy their wares, and of course admire the area.

Our weekend ended with a peaceful bus ride home: thankfully with a driver who must have had a long, full weekend just like us. It was a perfect weekend getaway, and certainly not the last time we will enjoy the Hunter Valley!

Vivid Sydney

Sydney is full of fun and exciting events - one of the perks of being in such a massive city. On a Friday night we bundled up and headed out after sunset to check out Vivid Sydney's "Smart Light," "A festival of music, light & ideas." We joined hundreds of spectators who were out that night at the outdoor event, which focuses on alternative energy and light conservation. Artists from Australia as well as a few other places such as Germany, Denmark, UK and Portugal, created fabulous massive art displays made of lights or projected on some Sydney's famous monuments. 

The whole route took us a leisurely hour, winding through the old buildings in "The Rocks", heading up the pier to the Opera House, and exploring the Sydney Observatory where some of the displays were. Of course I had to stop in at Starbucks in Circular Quay (pronounced "key" by locals for whatever reason), as it is a rare treat here in Sydney. This may be the only major city in the world that Starbucks has not infiltrated... and surprisingly I actually don't mind! If there is one thing Australia does really well, it's coffee...mmmmm... But I digress...

Our camera captured some of the beautiful displays, but does not do justice to the larger light artwork on the Sydney Modern Museum ("Facade") or the Opera House ("Lighting the Sails"). 

I loved the light and music show, "Hammerhaus" put on by a German artists, and thought that the "Cycle!" exhibit was particularly neat. This piece was powered by a set of stationary bicycles, so in order to see the hoola-hoop-like blue lights shine around the trees, viewers had to do some work! The faster the people rode the bikes, the more the lights shone! The bats were cool to see - both the real ones, and the fake ones.

It was a lovely (free!) evening out and about in Sydney, and certainly not something you get to see every day! I am so impressed at the culture in this city. It is refreshing to be in a city that places so much value on the arts... and I intend to take advantage of it as much as possible while I am here!

Hello JSM!

Hi grade 2's and 3's! I thought I would write you a little note to say hello and farewell - can you believe the school year is almost over?! Where did the time go?! I am sure you are excited for the summer and for next year, especially those of you heading off to grade 4 at G.W. Skene!!!!

I have missed being at JSM, but I certainly have not forgotten about you all! :) I hope that you have enjoyed my stories and writing over the last few months. I know that a lot has changed for you over the year, and I hear you have handled it really well. I will continue to blog and post pictures, and will be back in September for a little visit so hopefully I will get to see some of you then! Keep in touch!

I hope you have a wonderful summer in Calgary or wherever your adventures take you... and let's hope that the weather gets better for you!!! I can't believe you got snow in June! That is just disgusting! Oh, and Happy Stampede! Be sure to go on a few rides for me. Yee haw! :)

Love, Ms. Hone

May Madness!!!

I can't believe May is gone! I have been busy teaching all over Sydney, grades K-6! It's been a little crazy at times: some days I teach up to 5 different classes of different grade levels: talk about having to be flexible! Overall it has been a good experience so far, and I am really glad to be working again!

The schools here are very different than in Calgary. The classrooms are built around outdoor play areas, and the school grounds usually have a variety of gardens and play structures. The kids all wear uniforms and matching hats every day. But, kids are kids wherever you go in the world! I have learned some new games and some different things to do in the classroom. The one thing I really miss is the hands-on learning that we did at JSM! There are a lot of worksheets here and book learning, rather than centres and experiments.

At home, our apartment was really busy in May! On the 4th Kurtis and I went to the Opera House for dinner to celebrate our "official" one year. We had a friend come from Calgary for the first week of May, and later in the month a couple came through for a few days. Though we couldn't spend time at the beach, there were other exciting things happening. I went to my first AFL game - also known as Ozzie Rules! It was one of the most exciting sports I have ever seen, with tackling, kicking, dribbling and what seemed to be way too many players on the field! There is a Canadian on the Sydney team so a few people in the crowd were waving Canadian flags - it almost felt like home! We had a crazy flash flood down our street at one point, which was neat to see (thank goodness we are on the second floor!). My favourite movie store didn't fare so well in the flood though: the carpets still smell. Anyways, it was fun to show our friends all around our new fun city! Now that we have been here a little while, I think we are pretty good tour guides. :) It was nice to see some familiar faces, and we can't wait for our next visit from friends or family! 

This past weekend we headed out of the city on a day trip to the Blue Mountains! Now, for those of us who are used to seeing the Rocky Mountains I should say that they are very different... I think in Calgary we would say that the Blue Mountains are more like really big hills! Either way, they were very beautiful and we enjoyed some fabulous views and a eucalyptus rainforest hike at "Scenic World". This is the site of an old mining area and we learned a lot about local mining! At one point we took the world's steepest railway from the top straight down into the rainforest - the whole time my brain was thinking, "You should be falling right now!" but the way the train seats are built you don't fall! It was a very weird feeling. We saw the famous "Three Sisters" mountain formation. Aboriginal legends believe that three aboriginal princesses, sisters, once ruled over the Blue Mountains until one day an evil witch doctor came and turned them into stone!

From there we headed to the "Jenolan Caves." We did 2 cave tours and saw some really neat crystal formations. I had no idea crystals could form in so many ways! Some actually looked like blankets hanging from the cave ceilings. There were stalagmites (points coming up from the floor of the cave) and stalactites (hanging on tight at the top!), everywhere. Some of the caverns were so small we head to duck, while others were at least 3 stories high! It was quite beautiful and certainly unlike anything I've ever seen! I think my favourite part was the underground river. The river runs through the very bottom cave, and is the original river that formed the caves hundreds of thousands of years ago! In some ways the whole tour seemed very magical. The only down side was that we had the same tour guide for both caves and had to listen to his cutesy shtick twice... We actually saw layers of rock that were formed before the time of the dinosaurs! Though it was a cold day (hats and scarves came out of hiding!), it was worth the chill to see such amazing sights! Oddly enough we only saw one animal the whole day: a little bushy tailed possum out to check the garbages for scraps... cute little guy.

Next weekend: Hunter Valley!!! Stay tuned...