Today was our last full day in Australia, tomorrow we leave to make the 28 hour journey back to Portland, Oregon. We started off the day exploring Paddy's Market, a huge warehouse filled with hundreds of booths. Then we walked along Cockle Bay and Darling Harbor enjoying the boats, fountains, and shops. For lunch we ventured out to Bondi Beach, one of the most popular beaches in Sydney. Bondi is an aboriginal word for water breaking over rocks. Here we all had a taste of a kangaroo burger, ice cream, and enjoyed a short nap on the beach.
Today we had a splendid day of free activities! We hopped on the train and rode out to a new part of the city to explore. We walked through Domain Park to the Art Gallery of New South Whales. Here we saw aboriginal, abstract, and sculpture art. We also got to see multiple works from Claude Monet, Vincent Van Gogh, and Pablo Picasso. After the gallery we walked along the edge of the Botanical Gardens to Mrs. Macquires Point. This was a spectacular view point of the harbor, the Opera House, and the Sydney Harbor Bridge. We decided to climbed a rock and stay there for an hour to watch the sun set behind the Opera House and Bridge. We left Brisbane early in the morning to fly down to Sydney to spend the rest of our short Australian trip. After figuring out the train system and getting slightly turned around on our walk to the hotel we finally made it into Sydney and were ready to explore. It was supposed to rain all day but when we got here it was beautiful and sunny so we decided to take a ferry out to Manly Beach, a popular surfing destination for the locals. As soon as the ferry engines started, it started to downpour. We were headed to a beach on a stormy day. The rain let up slightly during the ferry ride but started again on our walk across Manly to the beach. We ate our lunch on a bench under the little cover that we could find. Then it stopped raining again! So we walk down the boardwalk to a little alcove called Shelly Beach. Here we looked for seashells, dipped our toes in the ocean, and tried to soak up some sun. Until it started raining, again. As soon as it started to rain we go off the beach and attempted to make the twenty minute walk back to the harbor as quickly as we could. It was no use though, we were drenched! So we hopped back on the ferry to head back to Sydney harbor. When we made it back to the harbor we decided to go back to our hotel dry off an bundle up for the last night of the Vivid Sydney Show on the Harbor.
For our last day in Brisbane we decided to explore the area around the river. We took a ferry up the river to South Bank Park. While the sun was out we swam at the "beach", a man-made beach, and laid on the sand to soak up the sun. When the clouds inevitably rolled in we explored the street market, a rainforest walk-through, and a peace temple. We got to our hotel in Brisbane last night after what felt like a long flight from Auckland. This morning we set out to explore a little bit of Brisbane and got to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary to hold a koala and feed kangaroos!! On Monday Australia celebrates the Queen's birthday, so they have a long weekend with lots of activities happening, one of which is horse races. Because of this the buses were pretty late and traffic was bad. We were a little confused about the bus system but luckily we met a friendly lady who helped us navigate our way to the sanctuary and showed us some cool things to do while in Brisbane.
Friday was our last day at Point England school. I haven't been able to post much because I was feeling unwell and the week was very busy. Here is a recap of the end of the week. Wednesday I got to spend some more time in a year 1 classroom. In this class there is a 1 to 1 iPad student ratio. Students used their iPads to go over sounds, write stories, draw pictures, and listen to stories. It was interesting and informative to see how five year olds were mastering the iPads while learning literacy and math. Wednesday after school Katie and I had the chance to play a some netball with some year 4/5 girls. We played a game called Master, which is similar to the basketball game bump. On person starts as the master and passes the ball to the next opponent, the opponent shoots and if they make it, they are the master. If not they take turns shooting until someone makes it, all the while trying to make it so your opponent doesn't catch the ball too close to the hoop. On Thursday, I got to join the year 7/8s for their weekly sports class. This week the students were learning Aussie rules rugby. They began by learning how to punt the ball. After that they played a game called bomb the teacher, in which students line up and try to purposefully punt the ball at the teacher and hit them. So myself, Mr. Barks, and Mike, the sports coach, lined up to be bombed... luckily the students were just learning how to punt. Thursday night was the year 7/8 social, their first dance of the year. Jessie and I were at the social to help out because both of our teachers were their to chaperone. We manned the concession stand with two year two girls who wouldn't let anyone walk away without paying! Friday was our last day at Point England. The day started off with their weekly Friday assembly. Students sang songs, learn about leaving a smart footprint on the internet, and received awards for academics and sports. Katie and I both received a Duffy award for our help in the classrooms, we got to join the other students on stage to accept our awards. For lunch we took one last walk to the yummy bakery for sandwiches and sweets. After school we said our goodbyes to the students we had been working with for two weeks, our wonderful teachers that let us into the classroom, and the families that let us into their homes, then we were off to the airport to Brisbane, Australia for more adventures. Thank you Point England School for letting be a port of your community, we learned so much! Thank you to the Nua's for allowing me to stay at your house and welcoming me to your family! I will miss you all and cannot wait until to come back to New Zealand. In year 7 and 8 (grades 6 and 7 in the US) students at Point England get to walk over to Tamaki College (what would be a high school in the US) to take technology. Students rotate every 10 weeks between cooking, graphics, and hard materials. This would be the equivalent of electives like Home Ec and Woodworking at Azalea. Students go over to Tamaki for about an hour and a half to learn about these subjects. I was able to observe some of the cooking class in which year 7s were making a yummy smelling pasta dish and a hard materials class in which year 7s were creating molds for pewter pendants. This coming Monday is the Queen's birthday, Queen Elizabeth the II, and it is a national holiday in New Zealand. We get Monday off from school, so we have a lovely three day weekend. On Saturday we were lucky enough to get to go to the beach with the King family. We drove about an hour outside of Auckland to Muriwai Beach. It was a gorgeous day, we got to watch the surfers, put our feet in the water, and look for seashells. We hiked up to some view points at the beach and after had a lunch of fish and chips at the park. Thank you King family for taking us on this wonderful adventure!!
I went to bed last night not feeling well at all, I woke up this morning feeling worse. Fortunately, I spent the morning drinking tea and reading. *Sidenote, The Fault in Our Stars by John Green is an amazing book! I have almost read the entire book today, I had to take a break through, I was crying.* After lounging this morning, while Katie and Jessie did school work, Katie and I walked down to the harbor to explore Kohimarama beach and Mission Bay beach to look for seashells. We got some delicious gelato on the way and spent the next couple of hours looking for the perfect shells on the two beaches. I was very excited to find part of a sand dollar, something that my family and I collect, but I have yet to find a whole one. Netball and rugby are the main female and male sports in New Zealand. In fact, one of the substitutes I have been working with comments frequently about how these sports are a religion here. I would agree. From year one (kindergarten) all the way through university students can play netball and rugby. At the Nua's home (where I have been staying) all of the girls play or have played netball, so it is often the topic of discussion or on tvv. Netball is a sport similar to basketball but there is no backboard, you cannot dribble the ball, and if you have the ball you can only pivot. I have been lucky enough to get to watch professional and high school netball on tv, and watch year 7, year 8, and year 2 girls play for Point England School. Here are some videos and pictures from these games.
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