Plan A and Plan B

Hi Gang!
This Sat was supposed to be an outing to the Cleland Wildlife Park to feed koalas and wallaby's. I was too hot. Plan B was a tour of Adelaide with my new friend Julia. Julia is a cousin of my friend John Redmond. This is my second outing with Julia and we had a wonderful time visiting downtown Adelaide. We started at the central market. This market was similar to the Byward Market in Ottawa. It had lots of things I have seen before and many I haven't. There was a Kangaroo Meat shop that sold Roo sausages, Roo meatballs and Roo tenderloin and other parts of the Roo too. We had lunch at a place called the Big Table and I had the BEST sandwhich ever. Ok it was almost as good as your Martina Navratalova one Gord. It had tandori chicken, mango chutney(with a bit of bite) fresh cucumber and fresh cilantro. Yummy! Check out the muffin sign Mandy-I am telling you they are all sweet cakey muffins. I think we could corner the market with my banana flax seed choc chip muffins or my date bran muffins and make our fortunes! After the market we drove around to see some of the sites. We ended up on North Terrace-where the art gallery and museums are. I wanted to check them out for when Amelia comes. We also made a stop at the festival Arts center. I hope to get to see something there.
We stopped at Henley Beach for a coldie-actually I had a lovely red wine that Julia not only recommended but she treated me to. Henley is a very trendy spot and very busy. It was nice to walk out on the jetty and look over at Glenelg. I will put more pictures up later. Right now I have to go get ready for another busy week at school. It's hard work trying to teach all those little possums how to say their vowels properly!
G'day eh!
love,
Bern

Oh yes Mandy can you check with Barb(I may be old but I am not dead yet) McIntyre to make sure she sees the picture of the hottie in the blue bathers-I thought she might enjoy that.

Another wonderful day in Oz

Hi Gang,
Well I had a wonderful first day with my new class. It's so cute to hear these little bunnies speaking with an Aussie accent. Or perhaps I should call them possums. We had some interesting discussions and questions including, "what language do you speak in Canada?" The reply was "what language am I speaking now?" They also wanted to know if I had grizzly bears in my backyard. So I asked them if they had kangaroos in their backyard. Then we had some confusion over the bitumen-yes the pavement- I had heard the word but it was out of context, as conversations often are when six year olds are involved. This promises to be a great learning experience for all involved. They wanted to see a photo of the rink at Fallingbrook and thanks to google maps I was able to not only find the school but drop the little man down in front of the school. We could see the boards for the rink but the picture was taken in the spring-no snow or ice. So one boy figured that when the ice rink melted it must turn into a pool like they have.(yes Pam my school has a pool) Can you imagine? Perhaps I can persuade one of my Fallingbrook friends to take a picture of the rink with children skating.

It's hard to think about rinks and snow when the temp remains above 30. I am on a quest to photo the perfect sunset. See me there with my Sobey's bag looking for treasures. I am sure my dad is looking down and smiling. Back in my university days he used to call my Sobey's bags "matching luggage." I think the poor man moved me 4 times in my last year of university and mostly I packed in Sobey's bags. Isn't it comforting to know that some things never change?

I hope you are all staying warm and looking after each other. I miss and love you all and will send you some of my sunshine!
G'day eh!
love,
Bern

oops I forgot the pics....

Wooosh....

Hi Everyone!
Well I went downtown to see the last race of the Tour Down Under. It was AMAZING. Those guys were flying. They did 20 laps of the course. OK Jacob-why do they shave their legs???? I walked the course backwards(I am down under) and took pics from different vantage points. The bikes were so close I could have reached out and touched them. All I heard was a woosh as they flew by. I tried to use the sports setting on my camera. Lance is #11-see if you can spot him-I couldn't. Apparently he is wearing black socks and a red/grey/black outfit. Oh well his loss-he didn't get to see me either. There were 3 guys well in the lead but at the end the gap was closed and I don't even know who won-except it was an Aussi and the hometown crowd were happy. What a neat event.

Not be be outdone by sports I had my first Aussie lamb BBQ at my new friends Shelley and Tony's place. I followed Tony around hoping to discover his cooking secrets. Well for starters he walked over to the neighbors and cut a chunk of rosemary from their bush. Gord do you have a Rosemary bush? The lamb was exquiste. Shelley out did herself with a beautiful pavlova for dessert. I was a little confused by the bowls of what I thought were Olives and cheese that came out with the dessert. It was noughat and chocolate covered fruit-appricots I think! What a treat! There were 11 of us at dinner-extended family and friends and I felt like I was at the Paquet's household. Shelley's mom Ailene is a former quilter turned dollmaker. I managed to get a personal trunk show and went home with some fabric and quilt magazines and an invitation back. What a wonderful day! I wonder what tomorrow will bring...
G'Day eh!
love and hugs to all,
Bern

Paradise

Hey Mates!
How are you going? I am not slacking off but this working for a living is interfering with my blog time. I have been in school all week trying to get organized for the first day-next Wed. These are some random pictures. The first one is of a native Aussie on the beach. Apparently they drink beer everywhere and anywhere here-because they can! Imagine that. I have seen guys with a beer in their hand walking their dog, driving their cars and just hanging out. The younger gentleman is my new friend Adam. He is a year 6 student who was spending the afternoon with his grand dad and they were looking for bait to go fishing. He showed me all the best places to find sand crabs. Too bad they were so small-no good eating there. The windswept girl on the cliff is me-I haven't got that one handed picture taking thing figured out yet. I was hoping that the height of the cliff would show. Perhaps I needed to back up a little......

It's been a long day and I need to go wash the sand off before I hit the hay. I hope you are all doing well. How are those New Year's resolutions going? Mine is to see a sunset on the beach everynight for the next year. So far so good. Actually it is much better than good-it is AMAZING. Pinch me-I am in Australia!
G'Day eh!
Bern

Silver Sands Beach

Hi Mates!
I never grow tired of exploring the beaches here-each and everyone of them is beautiful. I spent 5 hours today on Seaview Beach. I was mostly watching the wind surfers and the ones with the kites. There was one guy who was a real hotdog-he flipped and flew and was having such a grand time. I laughed out loud just watching him. I also met a gentleman with his 2 grandsons out looking for worms and other bait. We combed the beach together and they showed me the best places to find sand crabs. I grew tired of walking-the wind was brisk today and so I sat down for a rest. A rogue wave got me. Once again I am thankful for the quick dry canoe pants I purchased at Black Water Design. I walked to Brighton Jetty and before I reached it I was dry! The boys helped me find pieces of natural sponge and of course a few new shells will be added to my collection. I have a new quest-to find a shark's tooth for Brendan. Not sure how that will pan out buddy, but I will do my best. Well today I am wind burned and beat-too tired to even download my pics-see what you will have to look forward to?
G'day eh!
Bern

PS I am going in to school tomorrow to get my new class ready for my new students! It IS the most wonderful time of the year!

This Sat

I just heard on the radio that Lance Armstrong will be biking around Adelaide and eveyone who wants to is invited to come ride with him. Do you think he would like my pink bike from Kmart????? I could wear my CANUCK t-shirt from the Bay!!!

Thought you all might like to see some of my pics. Enjoy!
G'Day eh!
Bern