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2014 so far has seen us head back to work; leading to a bit of a shopping spree, picnics on the beach, an anti-climatical Australian day, a night out with Dave in coogee, some Sydney sight seeing, and a wonderful Valentine's weekend.
A bit about work -
So technically at the moment I am currently not allowed to teach in NSW. I'm waiting for ACECQA to assess my degree and on the job experience to determine whether or not I am qualified to work as a teacher in this state. Which I will be, of course. It's just lots of jumping through hoops and takes ten weeks to determine apparently. I should really have started the process as soon as we'd arrived and I'd be earning a lot more money by now but I wasn't entirely sure how to go about it. So if any teacher friends back at home want help with this, I'm your girl :D it's all going through now though so it shouldn't be much longer and I'll be a qualified Early Childhood Teacher for New South Wales. So currently I'm working as a long term casual day care assistant in a centre called Sandcastles, in freshwater. I'm working with a girl called Lou who is originally from Essex and together we teach a group of 14 2 year olds. It's a completely different ball game to what I'm used to and I've found group times the most challenging! Holding the attention of a 2 year old is no easy task! Try adding 13 more in to the mix! At first, I didn't enjoy it. It felt like a lot of changing nappies, toilet training and chasing them around; just a job to pay the rent. Now though, I feel like I'm forming lovely bonds with the kids and getting to know each of them well. I'm learning all about the programming and portfolio/observation writing for that age group and new strategies to keep children focussed. Skills I will definitely be able to use back in the classroom. I am now enjoying working with this age but not sure it's something I could do forever!! Just my luck though... the centre has been given notice of an inspection so we've had a couple of late staff meetings with more to come! Last time we were there til half 7! But at least they provided dinner!
George doesn't speak much about his work. Again, it's just a way to pay the rent at the moment. I know that he enjoys finishing at 1 on a Friday though!! He goes to the pub n drinks beer and plays pool until I finish at 6!
We'll both stay where we are until April and then the plan is to start travelling again - up the east coast with Jo :D, to the red centre, the west coast then on to Bali, Singapore, Thailand to meet grace and Luke :D then home for Eds wedding in August. We've looked at the possibility of returning to Sydney to work in September for another 6 months or so but there are lots of visa issues to look at and find out about first. If we do come back, we want lots of visitors for Xmas this year!! Mum and dad have already agreed - no backing out now!! Nothings set in stone yet though but we both enjoy living here so much that, as Laura very wisely put 'what's another 6 months in the grand scheme of things?' and she's totally right so it'll be something that we'd like to look in to.
So after our first proper pay packet we both treated ourselves to a few purchases; some well needed, some well deserved! Living in Sydney, it didn't last long! Luckily, I get paid fortnightly. So the next pay packet bought us some exciting trips and excursions to look forward to.
First off was a trip to coogee to visit Dave for his birthday. His place was very 'backpackery' and George and I ended up drinking far too much and getting home at 4 the next morning. Ooops! I was determined to do the touristy thing the next day so I dragged George out of bed at 10 to go in to the city. We had breakfast at the lovely, organic cafe/flower shop near our house then caught the ferry to circular quay. We then spent the day exploring the markets at the rocks, the botanical gardens and then finished it off with dinner and drinks in opera bar, looking over the harbour and the opera house. The next day was a beach and barbeque day with friends back in Manly.
We spend most week nights either going for a walk or run on the beach. Sometimes we'll go out for dinner or get picnic food and eat on the beach. Sometimes we'll just do an easy dinner and watch some tv.
Last weekend was Jaryd's birthday so we were going for drinks in the city after work. I unfortunately finished work too late and by the time we were ready they were heading back to manly. So George and I got a quick bite to eat at the manly international food market and then we headed to a few local bars. On Saturday morning I woke up feeling a little worse for wear so I went for breakfast with George then back to bed while he went off snorkelling with Jaryd. He played botchy ball on the beach and went snorkelling in the clear sea at Shelley beach. He came back very excited to have seen the state fish of NSW - a big blue grouper. We then had a cosy night in with a take away. The Australian open is on in Manly at the moment so on Sunday we went to check it out. We watched the Hurley skate team demo for a while. A ten year old boy was definitely the star of the show! We then sat on the beach for a while and for the first time in Australia, I got a horrible heat rash :( we went home to get ready for more bday drinks for Jaryd at wharf bar and I wasn't feeling too great but George convinced me as we know we won't be here for much longer. Bad decision though as I got bitten to pieces by mosquitoes and with a combination of a reaction to a bite and far too much Sun I had no sleep and ended up losing out on a day's wages the next day. Need to invest in some top strength bug repellent and anti histamines. Not my finest weekend! I did, however, get to do some trip planning the next afternoon when I started to feel better.
So now we're up to date at this weekend! And it's been the best yet! We spent Valentine's evening at the opera house watching a circus/cabaret show called la soiree. It was funny, interesting and jaw dropping in parts! There were acrobats, singers, comedians and naked magicians!! It was so much fun and a tick off the bucket list! Watching a show at the Sydney opera house!
After a few hours sleep, we were back on the ferry in to the city to get picked up for a trip to the blue mountains. What a fun day! The first stop was featherdale wildlife park where we hand fed kangaroos and wallabys and cuddled up to a koala. It was raining but it didn't matter as there were so many interesting animals to see. After an hour in the park we were back on the coach with our tour guide Rob who was full of knowledge about the area and spoke for the majority of the journey to the blue mountains. We stopped at various Vista points to get a good look. Unfortunately it wasn't the clearest day so the mountains weren't quite blue, more foggy! But nonetheless they were beautiful. They are called the blue mountains because of the surrounding Eucalyptus trees. The oil from their leaves evaporates and gives a blue tinge to the atmosphere. After a few stops we had a big pub lunch at a very English style establishment then we arrived at the blue mountains scenic world. There were a number of ways you could explore; railway, skyway, cableway or walkway. We decided to walk to the bottom then get the railway back up. The trip into the floor of the Jamison valley took us about 45 mins via a set of rather steep steps. I wish we'd counted how many there were! It had been raining so it was slippery and to our right was a pretty sheer plummet! I was holding on to the railings pretty tightly! We finally made it to the bottom with shaky knees and sore legs to arrive at the world's steepest railway track. Once used for former coal mine workers and had a 52 degree gradient! It took all of 5 minutes(if that!) to get back to the top! After a quick look around the gift shop, we hopped back on to the coach for the long journey home. We arrived back to circular quay at about 7pm, had a quick ice cream then got the ferry home.
Today I'm off out for lunch with friends then it's back to work tomorrow while all my teacher friends enjoy half term! Jealous!! But not long til Jo joins me for a very exciting east coast adventure!!
Miss you all, lots of love
Kelly and George
XxxX
- comments
Ann Sounds like so much fun. What a great weekend. You are not missing anything at home!!!!!! We miss you guys, so keep us entertained some more with Kelly and George's further adventures. Love you loads. Mum
Dad You are having a great time but also drinking too much.