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Published: June 20th 2006
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Some God light
During a break in the storm we were treated to an impressive light show. 7 weeks into the term and with Saturday morning field hockey, marking, and report cards, this has been our first chance to get away from it all. We needed this break.
When the opportunity to meet with other exchange teachers in Byron Bay on the Queen's Birthday long weekend presented itself, we jumped at it! We booked our flights and rented our car right away.
Sarah spent Friday in Sydney at the Aquarium and IMAX theatre with her class, and met Tom at the train station on the way to the airport. We caught our flight to Byron Bay without incident and quickly retrieved our luggage and our rental car at Coolangatta airport upon arrival. The airport was about 45 minutes north of Byron Bay, so we had to find our B&B in the dark. Luckily, the airport was right on the Pacific Highway, so there were no problems. Planua B&B was delightful - a separate building for the B&B with a wood-burning stove - and we paid a little more for a room with an ensuite with spa tub 😊 It was a very pleasant getaway!
Saturday greated us with a dark and stormy morning. We met
Pretty flower
We found this flower just under the Byron Bay lighthouse in a grassy area. with the exchange teachers group near the beach for a lunch picnic and Tom planned to go scuba diving in the afternoon. As we sat and chatted with others at the beach, we saw the wind picking up and picking up and picking up... "the sea was angry that day, my friend". As we got to the dive shop, they had just cancelled the dive boats for the afternoon 😞 So... we headed out for a trek along the beach, around the headlands of Byron Bay and right up to the most easerly point on the Australian mainland. We ventured up to the lighthouse and back to the beach through some bush. It was too bad the dive was cancelled, but the walk was quite rewarding. We didn't even get rained on!
We met up with all the other exchange teachers that evening for a pizza dinner. It was great to share stories and realize that our experience is somewhere in the middle of everyone else's. One exchange has had it very rough... as a start, three main appliances in his house here have needed replacement and, since he's Canadian, his teaching assignment has been ammended to include a
Surfing through the storm
There were quite a few brave surfers in the water few French classes ... he doesn't speak a word of french.
On Sunday, we all met back at one of the nearby schools and loaded into a bus for a tour of the hinterland. The area is within the largest caldera in the southern hemisphere creating steep rolling hillsides of rich soil. The main crops seemed to be bananas and macadamia nuts. We stopped at the Channon Market (open every second Sunday) where anything may be sold as long as it has been handmade or, apparently, locally grown. The next stop was Nimbin... stuck in the 60s and known for its marijuana culture. Police officers are rarely seen in Nimbin, and visiters are openly approached on the streets to make purchases of their locally grown produce and homemade cookies 😉 It was actually quite sad walking the streets and seeing people's obsession with drugs. We also passed through Lismore... a community in a huge flood plain. There were 3 - 4 metre high markers on the telephone poles showing high-water marks from the flood of '74. Later in the afternoon we gathered back at the school for a barbeque and Tom played a mean game of cricket with a
Byron Bay Lighthouse
The Lighthouse at Byron Bay few other transplanted Canadians.
Monday was the Queen's Birthday holiday... and we planned to head out early (it is report card season afterall!). We arrived at the airport, checking in just 30 minutes before our 10:15 flight.... which was promptly delayed. As various trucks and tools appeared underneath our plane, it was delayed again... and again. At 1:00 it was finally cancelled and another plane was being brought in. We finally departed Coolangatta airport at 5:40pm! Tom had his laptop with him, so was able to work away at reports throughout the day. Unfortunately, Sarah was stuck with her John Grisham book and a bunch of Sudoku puzzles! We finally arrived in Sydney and took the train into Central Station. From there, the trains to the Central Coast were not in service... so we had to take a bus! Quite a long day. We got home just in time to hit bed since we had school the next day.
For those of you at Upper Canada College, you may appreciate Sarah's "it's a small world" experience recently. One of her students will be moving to Abu Dhabi in September. Her family is trying very hard to get her
A little more tentative
The surfers kept close to shore as the sky became darker. into a new IB school that is openning in September... Raha International School. I offered to write a reference letter to the school principal... Steve Johnson! What a very small world it is!
We now get to look forward to our next school holiday. We're heading north to Queensland... look forward to our next update!
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