Back To School and James Bond Jackaroo

We are back in the schoolroom after the kids returned from camp - the 3 hour drive home with four kids in the back had us in hysterics at the going-on of a grade five camp! Term 2 is upon us and we've started learning about the media, what 'bias' and 'assertions' are, evidence, points of view and opinions, as well as some geometry in maths (translations, rotations and reflections anyone?)

Collecting the kids off the bus at LSODE after their camp to Magnetic Island

Before we left to head south over the school holidays I spent a day cleaning and organising the schoolroom from top to toe. Packing up last term's work, sorting through the mountain of textas, pencils, crayons, staplers, sharpeners and going through all the books in the reading corner bookshelf. This is the disaster zone before...

Stuff of nightmares, I know. Please don't judge me! Things got just a tad hectic by the end of term trying to finish work off. I tried to find a home for everything and organised my little heart out until I came up with something more to my liking. Clear desks and clutter free, hopefully means the kids (and I) can concentrate a bit better.

The reading corner of the schoolroom is generally where Tom does his school work (he refuses to sit at his desk so sits in his red chair, sometimes with an iPod on, mostly playing with stress balls and blu-tack). The big bookshelf holds all the reading books, reference books, craft and drawing books and books from the school library. We sit here on the reading mat after lunch and read a book together, last term it was Enid Blyton's 'The Magical Wishing Chair'. To say the bookshelf was in need of some attention was probably an understatement...

Now it's a more organised place to sit and do our work, read stories together and find exactly what we need...

When we were in Longreach picking the kids up from camp Kristy and I got some beanbag chairs to put in the reading corner also. So far they've been a hit, with Maddy now choosing to do most of her work down there with Tom. A lot of people ask me if this sort of teaching is actually a hindrance to the kids for when they go to a 'real' school and have to sit in a 'real' classroom. Probably, but at the moment it's a means to an end!

We had a bit of medical drama this week as Maddy stepped on a screw and had it stuck in her foot. After much hysteria and crying, a phone call to a neighbour who is a nurse, we pulled it out and she now sports a bit of a limp but I've assured her we won't put her down just yet ;) No netball this Friday though, but it has also started raining today and turned cold - I think the inland Queensland winter is finally here.

The patient recovering on the couch with 'Flopsy' and nurse Tom

Matt had a bit of excitement this week also. Ok, that's the understatement of the year - he came home from work grinning from ear to ear. They have been mustering this week using a contracted helicopter, Matt got a flat tyre on his motorbike, not unusual so he kept riding, then he bent the steering rod (or something??) so had to abandon ship and start walking. Chopper pilot must've taken pity on the poor soul and landed to pick him up and take him back to the yards. The others were having some trouble with some non-compliant cows and weaners though so Matt actually got to 'go to work' in the chopper whilst mustering, jumping in and out to help Alex and Glenn tie some weaners and then jump back in the chopper. So basically he now thinks he is some sort of James Bond jackaroo. Luckily he did have his little camera in his pocket that day though and managed to snap some of these...

He also got these ones once he had his feet back on solid ground. Lots of people have asked us what the country is like around Alpha so hopefully these give you an idea. The last one may or may not have had some help from Matt's lovely photographer wife :)

Back in the schoolroom I have been really surprised and proud at how the kids are tackling their new work. It seems something may have clicked! Yesterday Tom asked me if I had ever been a teacher before, I said no but I had been a nanny, he said well how do you know how to teach us things so well? Maybe I'm not doing such a bad job at 'winging' it!

Yesterday we whizzed through two days worth of maths as well as spelling before smoko (unheard of!)  and then tackled a day of English and I set them a 'special task' of writing a persuasive piece. First, I had to introduce what the heck 'persuasive writing' was before letting them write for a full hour. Kristy and I were really pleased and surprised at the level of their thinking and writing - great stuff!

Maddy learning about 'rotation, reflection and translation' with shapes in maths this week

Tom with his new best friend 'Speckles' in his red chair in the schoolroom

Miss Emma's way of totally bamboozling the kids - well so I thought until they actually understood it and wrote something! 

Matt and I are off to Longreach tomorrow for a little tourist activity at the Stockman's Hall of Fame and Qantas museum. We haven't really done anything like that since being here at Malden so I'm really looking forward to it. The Sparrow's are off to the races in Emerald, unfortunately at the moment it is steadily raining.

Another jam-packed week in the schoolroom for me and branding in the yards for Matt next week before we head to Yeppoon for Beef 2012 next weekend. Another roadtrip!

The First Week

The first week here at Malden seems to have flown by. The kids and I got stuck into some pretty difficult (as in, near impossible!) writing tasks for English in the schoolroom, as well as some learning about Aboriginal painting...Maddy seemed to interpret the task a little differently by getting more paint on her skin than on the paper. Results were a messy schoolroom - still trying to find systems/places etc. that will work best for me, Kristy and the kids to work together. Having fun though!

I'll try to answer some questions we are getting from friends and family back home. The country here is fairly flat, scrubby - you can see in the photos below of Matt and I driving home from first day of work. I'll try and get Matt to take some more photos whilst out and about, I pretty much haven't explored much further than the drive from the donga to the house! The weather has been humid in the afternoons before rain most evenings. Here are the rain clouds rolling in, view from the donga...

Good news was that on Friday morning the creek was low enough to get Luxy across, and Carrie on the back with all our worldy possessions. We'd packed it all up a bit damp early in the morning at Injune so Matt was itching to get it set up to dry out. The fridges were fairly feral also - Saturday afternoon was the lovely job of scrubbing mould. Yum. 

Saturday night was the Alpha 'Bullrama' Rodeo - quite the social highlight. We all went into town together (Kristy and Alex's car is on the other side of the creek, they got it out before the creek came up). We met lots of locals, good to put faces to names I've heard all about! Loads of kids and a good family night. Again, Matt and I surprised at the size of Alpha, I think if you have low expectations you can be pleasantly surprised?! General rodeo activities of bull riding, some kids having a go on some poddy's, barrel races and the usual fare, much like rodeos back home, just bigger hats! Sorry my photos are so terrible, I only brought in Matt's little point and shoot or my iphone...

Back home to Malden last night and across the creek on the motorbikes in the dark. Matt finding it oh-so-strange to have not much to do on a weekend. As usual, he would probably prefer to work seven days a week. His pacing around the donga yesterday was driving me mental! This is definitely the first time ever we haven't had a million things to do on a weekend like house or garden projects at Brindabella or community events at Yea or travelling to see people - you all live too far away now! It's nice, but strange. We did manage to clean out the fridges in the camper like I said, go through the donga kitchen and sort out everything, put some wedding photos up to make the donga a home, write a list of things we need to get still. Oh and hang a hammock!

My sister Louise got us this hammock for Christmas and Matt proudly hung it on the front deck of the donga this afternoon. Pretty resort-esque, no?! Kristy, the kids and I are off to Longreach tomorrow until the end of the week for Home Tutor Workshop and the school swimming carnival (go Boree!) I'm looking forward to checking out the school, Longreach in general (I went there once as a kid about fifteen years ago) and put more faces to more names. Alex and Matt are fending for themselves. Should be interesting?!

For the meantime though, if you need me I'll be in the hammock with a Sunday evening beverage and a book...

Arrival at Malden!

So some of you might be wondering - where on earth are we actually headed?! Good question. Glad you asked...

Well, last year when we decided to go on this crazy outback honeymoon adventure you might remember I put it out there on my old blog, Cinderella at Brindabella, our plans to get some work as a jackaroo/governess team. Within 24 hours I had almost ten emails in my inbox offering us work all over Australia. To say we were blown away was an understatement! One particular email stood out to us: a couple in central Queensland (between Emerald and Longreach) with twins, a cattle property (which suited Matt down to the ground) and the mum was one half of the brains behind popular madeit business AnK Bowtique (which suited me down to the ground). After much emailing backwards and forwards as to job descriptions, logistics, accommodation etc. we committed ourselves to signing on as jackaroo and governess at Malden, near Alpha, starting in February 2012 after our six weeks at Boort and making our way up to Queensland. 

The drive between Injune and Emerald

After leaving Injune at 6.30am we hit Emerald by late morning, travelling through some beautiful varying country again. We shopped up a storm at Woolies in Emerald - I have always hated, I mean hated, grocery shopping with Matt, as he always tries to fill the trolley with about fifteen times the amount of food we would ever need. You could always hear me telling him to put things back, stop touching, we don't need that! Yes, like a child. Now it was pay day for shopoholic Matt - despite the fact we had literally no room in the camper for all of this food! It took some 'creative' packing methods...

If packing were and Olympic sport, my husband would win gold!

On the road again from Emerald, due west for two hours to Alpha - much more substantial than what we were expecting. There is a little supermarket, post office, newsagents, bank, butcher, two servos, all you need really. Continued out of Alpha north for 60km to reach our destination, 'Malden'. 

 

The floods in the past few weeks had put Alpha under water, and the Native Companion Creek which you have to cross into Malden was at one point up to 10 metres. The day we arrived it was at just under 2 metres, not low enough to drive through. Luckily there is a little footbridge which can accommodate four wheelers to ferry our food and a few possessions across. 

We met our hosts and new employers Alex, Kristy and the kids Tom and Maddy at the creek, crossed across with all our stuff on the bikes and made it safely to our new home sweet home - the donga. Perfect basic accommodation for us newlyweds. It has a great front porch area and car port, two bedrooms, a dining/living/kitchen area and bathroom. We settled in the first night after dinner up at the house with Alex, Kristy and the kids (a few kilometres from the donga). I'll put up some photos of the donga soon, haven't got around to that yet.

We both started work straight away, Matt in the yards as well as out mustering and me in the schoolroom supervising and (I hope?!) teaching the twins something of use in their lessons with the Longreach School of Distance Education. 

So far, so good. Despite it being about 40 degrees we haven't found it too hot - well it's hot but what are you going to do?! The kids are (so far) delightful in the lessons I have taught, if not a little unmotivated at times so I might have to get a bit creative there! Matt is enjoying working with cattle again after his year stint with sheep and potatoes. What I am not enjoying are the resident frogs living in my toilet! I am insisting on Matt doing 'froggy patrol' before going to the toilet. Speaking of which...best be off!