Thursday was the start of the two-week break between term 3 and term 4, or rather, for most students it didn’t start until the weekend, but my school had Parent-Teacher interviews on Thursday and Friday, so we went there for half an hour on Thursday evening (me and my host mum; apparently it’s expected and ordered here that students go to parent-teacher interviews, and it’s very individual) and then I had the day off.
The teachers praised me a lot, which is perhaps a sign that I should get a life.
On Friday 21st, the whole family went to Glenrowan to visit my host mum’s parents and we stayed there for the weekend. I find it interesting that the creaky floors in my grandparents’ house are apparently universal.One local historical figure in Glenrowan is Ned Kelly; think Robin Hood, but with a rifle and thick iron house armour that can stop a bullet. He was arrested and hanged right near Glenrowan, mainly because someone finally managed to shoot him in the leg. They have a statue of him there and a few attractions about him.
We visited Paradise Falls.
A very impressive and beautiful place. It doesn't look extra high in the first photo, but notice the size of the person below.
On the way home we drove to Winton Wetlands. The weather wasn't great, but we saw wild kangaroos: Or rather, we saw a lot of kangaroos. I used to wonder how Australia can maintain a steady population of kangaroos when they kill so many on the road, but there were so many in Winton wetlands that I'm not surprised anymore. They even had a few dead kangaroos there:
Winton Wetlands just looks interesting overall. It's an ephemeral wetland, currently in the dry season, so most things just look dry. A few interesting specimens were wild pelicans which normally swim on the river; a Sulphur-crested Cockatoo, they are very common and loud; the blue one with the red beak is an Australasian Swamphen. I took these photos from my window this bird is called a Rainbow Lorikeet. I've posted it on the blog before, but the photo was from my mobile phone and against the light, so I'm giving a better example.
I was at Camp Getaway on the weekend of September 13th and 14th, helping with maintenance. I went with the members of Rotary Keilor East and their student Malene from Denmark.
The week of September 1st to 7th was pretty uneventful, except for a few test results and Fathers’ Day, so I merged it with this week’s post.
Anyway, bragging rights: I got a 90% on my Philosophy essay; I’m said to be a “sharp thinker and beautiful writer.” I got a 98% on Maths Methods. In Australia, Fathers’ Day is celebrated on the first Sunday in September. So on Saturday we went to a vineyard/restaurant about halfway between Melbourne and where other relatives live, and had lunch there. Then on Sunday morning we went out for pancakes.