My trip to the Gaol...

What a great few days!  Sunday actually brought about the bike ride, Lorraine and I rode along the coast up to Nightcliff which ended up being about an hour - hour and fifteen bike ride.  It was BEAUTIFUL!  There were cliffs, waves, sandy beaches (that no one sunbathes on because “it’s too hot”, and “there’s a hole in the ozone”, and “they get enough sun” Ooh and there are jellyfish EVERYWHERE! Anyways the bike ride was a beautiful way to finish off my first week in Darwin (I can’t believe it’s been one week!!).  

Monday I got to school ( a touch late after missing my turn... twice :/) to find that the year 5/6 were going on an “excursion” and a chaperone bailed... so who got volunteered?! I was quite please to say the lease.  So I quick grabbed my lunch and we were off to the “Bureau of Meteorology”, “Fannie Bay Gaol”, and the “Museums and Art Gallery of the NT”.  I got to watch a weather balloon get launched, listen to William tell stories about storm chasing, have Andrew explain all the different tools and methods of collecting the weather data at the Bureau of Meteorology.  Then at the Fannie Bay Gaol (Jail) we learned all about the jail house that housed all the convicts in Darwin, capital punishment, and how Cyclone Tracy changed everything in Darwin.  Which fit perfectly into the Cyclone Tracy exhibit we went to see at the Museum and Art Gallery of the NT (Northern Territory).  It showed the devastation, before and after photos, and even sent you into a room that showed the true sounds that people were hearing all around you in a pitch black room (it was haunting).  We then explored the rest of the museum, so my group of 10 5th and 6th graders stopped to see Sweetheart (a replica of the 5.5 meter saltwater crocodile that lived in the Finnis River. After Sweetheart and Cyclone Tracy I convinced my group to look at the Aboriginal Artwork (I know I’m a con-artist taking advantage of these children looking up to me, in order to explore the museum for my personal attraction to it ;)).  They actually thoroughly enjoyed it though! They were calling me over to look at the fishing nets, hand crafted jewelry, tree bark artwork and totem poles.  Despite the sunburn and blistering heat, we all truly enjoyed the excursion.  

Let us see.. some more colloquial phrases..

ugly as... fun as... sweet as... (not just ugly, cool, fun, sweet, awesome)

Mum and mummy (never Mom)

Ranga (nickname for a red head--- short for Orangoutang)

Kris (Kristin) --- Haha, I forgot to mention this but Aussie shorten everyones names.  So Kristin becomes Kris, Belinda becomes Be.. etc etc.  However if you already have a short name .. like Ross .. they tend to extend your name to Rossco, or Tim to Timmy or if you’re last name is Brown to Brownie.  It’s great :)