Old Bar Exchange Teacher's Weekend

We have met so many interesting people in our time here who do not happen to be Aussies. They are the band of brothers and sisters known as New South Wales Exchange League teachers. We've had many weekends and assorted activities where we got to know and befriend the many English and Canadians who are 'stationed' here for a year. Interestingly not one American in the group except for me. We comiserate about our living or work experiences- sharing stories, good and bad. It's good to know that others have been in similar situations to the ones we have found ourselves to be in. We aren't the only ones going through it! Things we can't politically correctly tell a local can be shared with these co-sufferers...




Karen and I thought it would be nice to have many of the people we've met come to Old Bar for a nice relaxing beach weekend. We set aside the second weekend in November hoping it would be great beach weather. Many had taken Friday off and had arrived early to stay in our local caravan park. Little did we know of the deluge that would come down that night. It had been raining nearly every day for about the previous 10 and we felt so bad about the prospects. It was already the wettest November on record and it was only the 10th! We all ended up at our little house feeling depressed and sorry for ourselves until Karen initiated a game of 'spoons' that involved some nasty Comrade Vodka shots by the losers. We loosened up and cheered up in a hurry...Especially Keith Southwell from Nottingham (yes, the same Nottingham where 'the sheriff' was from) who either loved the vodka or was a bit slow to pick up the intricacies of the game...Note the photo. I think his wife, Hillary, eventually helped him figure it out. I know that I had to drive him back to his cabin!









The next morning it rained quite hard early then stopped. We all decided to 'give it a go' at the beach thinking it would be short lived. Some of the visitors had booked surfing lessons with Kyle's teacher, Rob Wynter and we felt we really needed to go. Remarkably we stayed dry except for the salt water in which we enjoyed surfing, swimming and body boarding. It was cloudy all day but we all ended up sunburned because we all assumed naively that we didn't need sunscreen. The kids dammed up the 'river' that was flowing to the sea after all that rain. The adults walked the beach observing how much of the dunes/banks had eroded on many sections due to that same rain. Some of the houses are getting dangerously close to the creeping edge of the bank. That night we ended up at our house again for a nice BBQ and more good visiting. The kids played a huge game of poker with Skittles. Tough lessons were learned... We also celebrated the 8th birthdays of Chris and Shannon Gerein's twin girls, Jillian and Claire with some cake and sparklers. We ended up down at the beach when it got dark and had a great bonfire that Chris Gerein lit with but a single match. True Canadian outdoors know how. He's probably had to do that several times to survive the Calgarian winter. Martyn Luckhurst from Devon England, kept the fire stocked with wood and kept us all laughing as he always does. He's the studly lifeguard poser with the purple surfboard...
















































Sunday broke to beautiful blue skies and we all lathered on the sunscreen and hit the beach for more of the activities in and out of the waves. We had a nice picnic on the beach and spent most of the time playing in the waves, or kicking a soccer ball or playing cricket. Our family ended up playing tennis later that afternoon with Val and Kieran Clark who were the only family from Queensland that came to our gathering. We felt very fortunate that the weather changed and we feel very fortunate to have met so many great teachers from all around the world. Hopefully we'll see them all again sometime in the future.

Karen's Aussie Mates

We have had many blog entries on beautiful places in Australia. It is now time to show you some beautiful people from the Land of Oz. Here are some pictures of my new mates:



Linda Drenkhahn (Jakob's sponsors mum) the night we were models for the soccer fundraiser. Besides modeling, we have seen the Beatles and AC/DC together. We've had many BBQs, seen a lot of soccer together and shared lots of glasses (bottles) of wine.







Sally is putting on sun cream telling me not to take her picture. We have worked, boxed and drank together. She has 4 kids, two of whom go to school with Mariah and Jakob






Jeanette is our next door neighbor and community sponsor. I have enjoyed all of our sundowners together. She has helped me with many daily details. Jeannette's favorite words are "fair dinkum".






Peter and Narelle live in Port Macquarie, an hour north of us. We met them through the exchange league. They billeted us for a weekend (let us stay at their house). Here we are in the Blue Mountains having a sundowner.




Angela is actually from England on an exchange with her family, but I have included her because her friendship has meant so much to me. Our families have hit it off so well and we've stayed with them in Sydney on many occasions. Some day we hope to visit them in England.





This is Tina, Mariah's sponsors mum. Tidy Tina has seen me cry and laugh. She is my exercise buddy. We have boxed, done yoga and walked. Tina's favorite words are "far out" and she is a chocoholic.







Here are Sharon Osborn and Michelle Sleigh. They both play tennis with me on Saturday's. We are called the Mermaid Mums.






Jodie and Chris Duck have 3 kids like we do. We have gone to a comedy show with them, been to their house for a bonfire, and golfed.







Allison Moore is also on the Mermaid Mums tennis team. She has a daughter and a son Mariah's age. She has provided us with many items for the kids and we've shared several meals.








Maria is another of our neighbors. She has been so kind to us. She has lent us her car, driven Mike and I to work, and had us over for tea (dinner).









"Queen" Donna Abraham was all dressed up for the Melbourne Cup horse races. She is the mother of one of Mariah's running partners. We've driven to many races together and she is having a massive going away party for us.











Shannon, Jeanette and Hillary are more 'exchangees' who live down in Sydney. They have been great sounding boards for vacation planning and the like. We've spent several exchange weekends with them and many others in our same situations.



This is my running partner, Fiona. Here we are at 6:00 am running Old Bar Beach. We run about 3 times a week together. It took me 9 months to find her.







We have lived this year side by side. Soon we will be miles apart, but each of these people will remain in my memory and my heart.