Sunday, December 18, 2016

A Flight in the Muster Chopper !

A Flight in the The Muster Chopper !

I was fortunate enough to be taken up in the helicopter by the boss as a late birthday present to watch a muster. The chopper is a small 2 seater and is used to muster the cattle. Our boss, the pilot, organises the ringers who are on bikes on the ground from the air.

Now, this special event was a while coming because each time the boss tried to take me something stopped it from happening. The first time it was an unusual event... it rained overnight. The second time I told the boss I was too busy in the schoolroom. His very smart answer to this was to take me up the day after we arrived home from holidays and before school started back.

We left early in the morning at 6:15 as the sun rose, and had a wonderful view across the property as he explained where the boundaries were. 

The four ringers worked the cattle on the ground riding dirt bikes. They mustered the cattle from one paddock into the 'chase' where they could be easily moved through to another paddock further along. A chase is an ingenious way to move cattle across large distances. They are long passages that make it easy to drive cattle from one paddock or property to another. The paddock was in the boss's words, ' a couple of thousand acres.' It took an hour for a chopper and four ringers on bikes to move 400 cattle, a mix of calves, weaners and bulls.

While in the air he flew up over the new dam that they are having built to help make the property more drought resistant. When completed it will cover several acres which are a natural catchment and provide gravity fed water via a pump and solar power to the cattle. When rain eventually comes and the dam fills it will sustain their cattle for up to 7 years.

As we approached home on the way back we had a great view of the homestead - the main house, kitchen, ringers quarters, sheds, house dams and our own house.

It was a memorable morning !

By Lynne

Monday, December 12, 2016

A Look Back at the Year We've Had !

A look back at the year we've had !

Country Events

While living in a rural/outback community there are always lots of community events to attend. 
We have found that as we are not as far from town (only 110kms and some of that bitumen) as we were at Durham Downs Station(300kms) that we are traveling into town to events and church more often than we did at our previous stations.
This not only means we are busier but also tend to spend a little more money than in our previous remote teaching positions.

Some of the events we have attended. 

Mistake Creek Cross Country Fun Run and Cent Auction
The day began with fun runs for adults and children which the girls participated in. The course covered ground within the school and out in the adjacent dry paddocks. All four girls did very well and placed in the top positions.
The day also included some stalls, bbq, bar, and a cent auction. 
At the cent auction you purchased tickets to bid on items to win. You placed your tickets in the box of the item you wanted to bid for and waited for the draw at the end of the day. There were over a hundred items !
Afterwards we headed into town for the Saturday night, where George puts on a campfire show at the caravan park every few weeks.

Athletics, Cross Country and Swim Carnivals
During the year we have attended, with the girls, several carnivals, both their own School of Distance Education ones and local Small Schools Carnivals. The last ones are a combination of local small state and catholic schools. Local students from stations that learn via distance education/school of the air are invited to compete as a team. These carnivals enable all the local students the chance to compete against more children. These small schools may have numbers of students between 17 and 30 students overall.

Easter
At Easter we headed into Clermont, once more, for the Good Friday and Easter Sunday services. The Good Friday service was a combined ecumenical service shared between the Anglican, Catholic and Uniting churches who each had a part of the service held in their church, while the cross was carried through the main streets of town between them. We found this very different, and very....... for the wider community and tourist watching on.

Anzac Day !
The Anzac Day weekend arrived and once more we headed into town. We camped at Theresa Creek Dam, about 12 kms out of town. This is a community funded area that 
charges $15 for camping with showers and toilets available. The dam is a great spot for boating, skiiing, swimming and fishing.
On Sunday we attended church and Monday, the Anzac Day Service. It began with a parade  through town and ended with a service at the memorial gardens beside the lake .....
 Once more we found the personal small community Anzac Day Service very moving.


Gemfest at Anakie  
Each year, in August, throughout the Central Highlands gemfields they hold Gemfest, a weekend of  music and gem and jewelry displays. We decided to spend a day at Anakie on the way home from mini-school in Emerald and then camp at Theresa Creek out of Clermont on the way home.

Gold and Coal Festival, and 100 year Memorial for the Clermont floods
Held in Clermont in September, this festival celebrates the history of the area, settlement and the importance of gold and coal to its development. The beautiful parklands around the lake in town are home to two days/nights of music, displays and stalls. We found the large 
outdoor digital photo display, which included the history of the floods in 1916, to be very interesting and sat through it twice to take it all in. As part of the 100 year memorial service over 60 Japanese floating lanterns were released onto the lake on the Friday night. One for each person that died in the floods that year. A sign.ificant number for a small town.

Rodeos and Campdrafts
We also try to attend local rodeos and campdrafts especially if we know families who are competing or the ringers from our station are competing.



Sunday, October 30, 2016

Blackdown Tableland National Park

Now this is a beautiful part of this area that we will be returning to sooner than later !!


The view from Yaddamen Dhina Lookout


The park is found east of Blackwater in what is known as the Central Queensland Highlands. The National Park lies in central Queensland 183 km west of Rockhampton. The signed turn-off on the Capricorn Highway is 11 km west of DingoAs the ascent road to the park is steep and windy it is not recommended for caravans and large rv's so we went for the day. This was a big mistake as the park was so beautiful with lots of smaller walks to views of gorges and waterfalls. Next time we will definitely take the car and tent and stay overnight. As it was we had camped for several nights just west of the park at Bedford Weir, another great freedom camp, so there is the option of leaving the caravan there.

There are several small walks to lookouts and several walks that are only 2 or 3 kms long, so ideal for me to do in short stints with breaks. There are also swimming holes for a cool off in the cool clear water on a hot day. 
While there we did the Yaddamen Dhina Lookout, and the Mook Mook walk across Mimosa Creek and over some gentle ridges to a lookout on the edge of the tableland. This offered views of sandstone cliffs and distant ranges.

Below: The Mook Mook walk to Mimosa Creek


Perhaps the reason we loved it so much was the fact the cliff views and walks along the rocky creek beds and mini waterfalls reminded us so much of home. Before my accident George and I had spent years walking the Blue Mountains west of Sydney, we had been gradually ticking off all the walks as we did them. It was our most favourite part of Sydney.

Below: Cliff Views at the end of the Mimosa Creek walk and a short canyon walk


If you haven't been to Blackdown Tablelands N.P, put it on your list !

By Lynne

Sunday, October 23, 2016

Carnarvon Gorge Qld by Helicopter !

Carnarvon Gorge and a Helicopter Ride !

While at Carnarvon Gorge a while back I relaxed at the caravan while George walked the 14 km gorge track as far in as the Aboriginal art gallery and amphitheatre. As this is not something I am physically able to do I missed out on seeing it all so George suggested I do the helicopter flight instead. Now this is not something, I would normally do as it is expensive but I was feeling like I missed out on seeing something really special so I relented. Funny how it worked out though ... George wound up coming too. 😉

The helicopter flight actually does not fly over Carnarvon Gorge as that is a restricted area, it flies over another amazing series of gorges adjacent to Carnarvon Gorge. 
Although I have flown in several different small sight seeing planes before, I have actually not been up in a helicopter. This was a whole other experience, and the air and winds caused it to be a choppy take off that was a little unnerving to begin with, and I had been offered the front seat !
Once more I wont try to explain what we viewed from the chopper but will just post pictures ... They will tell it better than I could explain !




 Some of the shorter walks, showing the vegetation and Carnarvon Creek. The wallaby was a Pretty Face wallaby. 
 On the road into Canarvon Gorge there is the historical site of a WW2 air crash which we stopped to wander around.

Friday, May 27, 2016

Life in our Outback Schoolroom ! Four girls and 2 Home Tutors !

Life in our Outback Schoolroom ! Four girls and 2 Home Tutors !

The school day begins for George and I when we walk about 200 metres from our house to the schoolrooms. Once more .... no driving, no traffic, no stress ! (George will teach in the schoolroom until lunch time before leaving to spend the rest of the day doing some gardening and preparing the evening meal for everyone.)

Below :The view from the corner of our verandah past the helicopter shed across to the main house yards where the schoolrooms are.

 The first duty is to switch on the two computers used for on-air lessons and login to The Learning Place of the Queensland DET to access Collaborate which is the forum for online learning. This enables us to access the forums with the least amount of difficulty. As on air lessons require a phone link and computer link we are able to have two students on air at a time as we have two phone lines. We can at times when absolutely necessary have a third lesson occuring using one of our mobile phones.

Below: Shows the new schoolroom being built. This has been built as an addition to the original schoolroom behind it. The old room is being used for the second on air lesson, it has a reading corner, creative art and writing areas. The new room is being used as the main teaching room. The photo also shows the use of George's mobile for a third phone link and the SODE teaching screens during on air lessons. Once more we are grateful for a wonderful working space.

The girls arrive at 8am, from their home which is above the schoolrooms ! But usually they are out running around or playing in the yards since early in the morning and the schoolbell, which is a wide metal pipe with another thinner one that is banged around the inside to create a loud noise, needs to be rung to let them know its school time. They will then come in from wherever they are playing to the main yard, often from their cubby houses.

There are no school uniforms out here, just whatever they feel like wearing ! Sometimes this may
even be dress-ups and never any shoes. Their feet must be as tough as nails as they run all around the station with bare feet. The eldest has been training for a 3 km cross country course and completes the circuit in bare feet.

During the week students in Yrs 3 - 6 have the option to have English and Maths four days a week, and Reading three times. History and Science are offered once a week on air. Each lesson is one hour. Yrs 5 and 6 also have a language lesson, Japanese. Prep/K to 2 have one on air lesson a day, either English or Maths and a couple of reading sessions a week. Other subjects like HPE, Art, spelling, handwriting, writing, citizenship etc are taught by us from DE curriculum packages. The girls do not attend all the offered lessons as having four girls in the schoolroom there is sometimes clashes with lessons and for some subjects like science it is better to teach them off air ourselves.

At 8.30 each day their on air lessons begin. Collaborate has already been opened on the computer and we wait for their teacher to place their lessons up on the screen. At this point all that is left to do is phone in to the DET, dial the teacher's lesson code, and wait for the conference style lesson to begin. Once begun the students and teacher converse on air and use a main room for lessons, and breakout rooms for individual work and feedback. The teacher uses a video option to be able to be seen during the lesson, as can the students. The students are able to complete work directly on the screen which can be saved by the teacher. They are able to interact with their classmates and teacher through the phone and on screen.
While two of the girls are on air we have the opportunity to teach a lesson to the other two.
At 9.30 the girls will switch over so we quickly log out from the first lessons, hang up the phones and begin the login process for the computer and phone again !


At 10.30 it is smoko and we all head out for a break. Though while the girls rush out to grab something to eat and then disappear to play somewhere on the property I log the new lessons in for 11am and then rush down for smoko. This will happen all over again at lunchtime.

At the end of smoko the bell is rung for the girls. The girls can hear this from anywhere in the home paddock areas and come running ready for their second session from 11 until 12.30 /1pm depending on the day. Usually they need to clean up as often they have been climbing trees, digging holes,
building cubby houses, playing in the chook house or sheds, or just running around barefoot in the black soil and red dirt.

With four girls in the schoolroom and up to 11 on-air lessons a day the girls are on and off air from 8.30am to 3pm. It is a very busy full on day for everybody but we always make sure we down tools by 2.30 in time for some outdoor games, art, craft, cooking in the station kitchen with George or just a walk down to the river. Fitness and directed play is not as big a need for these country girls ! Their favourite out of school games involve building cubby houses all over the yards both on the ground and in the trees, pretend play and lots of running around barefooted. They also have time to ride their motor bikes and help with mustering on the weekends. All the girls are great cross country runners and the eldest is off to zone cross country !



So where does the curriculum come from ?

The girls schoolwork arrives in mail bags which can be brought in by the postie ladies twice a week with our grocery and bread orders. Or we pick them up in the SODE (school of distance ed) mailroom when we go to Emerald for mini school in the middle of each term. We are supplied with curriculum books that include a student's unit workbook/guide, a home tutors unit guide, a unit disc and a pack of resource books. These are included for english, maths, science, history, geography, pdhpe, art and manual arts. They are also available through the online Learning Place. The teachers usually supply  Work Rate Calendars for each 5 week unit.
Each day the girls take photos of their work in each area with the iPad and email them to their teachers to use as a record and for feedback.




Time with Teachers and School Friends !

The girls have opportunities to catch up with their teachers and friends during the year at different events.  Each term Emerald has a 5 day mini-school in the middle of the term which the whole school attends. Many of the families and home tutors including us camp out at the Outstation which is a hall on the school site. We also attend 2 cluster days towards the end of each term which are held at a families property. It is our families turn to host this in a fortnight so watch out for a blogpost on that ! We are also off to the schools Athletic Carnival in Rockhampton next week, a trip of 5 or 6 hours for one day ! These days enables the girls to spend time with their friends and cousins who also attend.
Other events include Home Tutor Workshop week, sports and swimming carnival days, trips away with the school for Yrs 4, 5 and 6, and Graduation.
The girls also attend other events, often sporting ones hosted by local schools and community groups. Travel may be as little as an hour away or as much as 6 hours away.
They also enter art and craft work into the local show with success.



The life of a Home Tutor is never boring !!

By Lynne

Thursday, May 26, 2016

Bugs and Heat !

Bugs and Heat !   Or  The Bugs are Killing me !

As the land was much greener for a while due to some rain over Christmas so the number of bugs increased. Many wait for the wet to hatch ! So the abundance of frogs - green frogs, very small brown and pale green ones and the worst of them all cane toads, along with geckos, butterflies, moths, ants and mosquitos increased. 

Both outside and inside the house we noticed them in number, especially the small frogs and geckos who all leave small presents everywhere including on the walls. The small frogs take over our shower/bath each night and it is George, our great white hunter's job to get rid of them, but of course they keep returning. They tuck themselves into the most unlikely places.  It is not unusual to get up in the middle of the night and tread on one in the hallway, so now I always turn the light on. It wouldn't wake George anyway !  

We also had arrived to find three of our aircons not working..... And in the bush it takes a little while for the delivery and installation to happen. We therefore spent our first two weeks struggling to adjust to the heat in the house. This was made even more difficult I think because we had just returned from a two week cruise to New Zealand where the temps were generally between 17 and 23 degrees. The daily temperature was in the 39 to 47 degree range, with our night time temperature at 10 pm remaining in the 33 to 40 range. 
Eventually our new aircons were installed in the bedrooms, but the loungeroom aircon sounded like a jumbo jet taking off.  While there was nothing they could do about the dreadful noise and rattle which emanated from the living area one that shook the whole house.

Sunday, May 8, 2016

A ' Killer ' of Huge Proportion !

A Killer of huge proportion !

As I mentioned in a post while we were working at Durham Downs Station, the beef that the staff and family eat is the station's own. 

A ' killer ' is chosen from the herd to supply the station's beef about 2 weeks before it is needed. It is separated from the herd and brought into a paddock with a couple of others to keep it calm. The cattle are then left for a few hours to graze and settle before the ' killer ' is put down, this ensures the steer is calm and therefore provides better beef as it is not stressed.The steer is then hung up to drain/bleed in the coolroom for a week before it is butchered.

At the end of our second week our boss came into the schoolroom and suggested the girls and George and I might like to come out and watch the men and butcher bring in and store the beef from the steer they'd brought in. 

Apparently it was an unusually big one. And It was ! 
Apparently, this steer had been avoiding being mustered each time the men went out for quite a while. They believed the steer would see the boss's chopper coming and head into the thicker bush and disappear. This time the beast was spotted on the side of the road and quickly dispatched.   

It hung from the bobcat from a height as high as the hook would go. It was thought to be close to a tonne in weight. While hanging there it was cut to make two sides of beef before being cut into four pieces and then chunks to be hung up in the coldroom once more. It took up most of the space in the coolroom.





The meat from this one steer has kept the freezer stocked for a couple of months. Now I asked at the time if the meat would be tougher as it was an older, larger animal but apparently age and size does not necessarily predict quality of meat. It is more dependent on the quality of pasture, grazing and calmness of beast when ' killed.'

By Lynne

Sunday, April 3, 2016

Mini-School in Emerald

No sooner had we arrived than I was packing my bags and bedroll for mini-school in Emerald.

We had arrived late Sunday and headed straight into the schoolroom, spending all our time there till late each night. When Saturday arrived it was time to finally unpack the van, set up house - what little there was - and pack for mini-school 200kms away.... Such a short distance in comparison to our first post ! 

I left on Sunday morning with the four girls and their mother, who drove a 4wd bursting with swags, bags and school gear. We set off for the two and a half hour drive to school for a week with their on-air teachers and friends. It's always a week full of excitement ! 
Arriving in Emerald we unloaded the car and grabbed our swags to claim our space on the floor in the hall. Next stop was the shopping mall for supplies and then the pool to cool off from the heat and where the girls had a swim with all their friends. I was excited to think we were only two and a half hours from a fully serviced town.

Each School of Distance Education ( School of the Air) is a little different in it's organisation. We are working out of Emerald this year and the whole school attends Mini-School in the one week together, and a cluster is held once a term over two days at the end of term. 
( at Longreach a cluster day was held at the beginning of term, while each grade attended their own separate Mini-School in Longreach at a different time.)


At Emerald the accommodation is in a hall/shed named 'The Outstation' where about 70 children and adults slept in swags on the floor. The children slept in the middle while parents and home tutors slept around the walls. 
Above: my bedroll is against the side wall in the back right hand corner.

They have a kitchen and lounge area named 'The Tuckerbox' and an outdoor eating area. 
School began at 8.30 with assembly, but before that there was breakfast 6.30 - 7.30 and a swag inspection at 8am with a prize for the neatest swag. After school there were activities like football clinics and picture plate making, dinner and night time activities including movie night and a trivia night.
Above: looking from the 'Outstation' , sleeping quarter, past the schoolrooms up towards 'The Tuckerbox'.
 Below: Looking in the same direction as above but the playground is on the right opposite the schoolrooms

While at mini-school I was interviewed by a local journalist about our choice to live and work outback and about our work teaching on the station. The article and this photo ran in the next weeks paper.

After six busy days at Mini-School we headed back to the station Friday afternoon, and were unlucky enough to have a shredded tyre about 20kms from home on the dirt in the heat ! 

Oh well, that's life in the outback !


By Lynne

Central Queensland ... Our new Home for a Year !



We had been home, in Sydney, less than 24 hours when it was time to head off. So leaving our family once more, we traveled 1800kms north west this time to Central Qld. 

Our new position is on a station situated 70kms north of Alpha with only about 30 kms of dirt to the station. We are working on a family-owned property that is one of many managed by the sons who have carried on from their father. 
The drawcard for this property was its proximity to the coast, only 450kms to Rockhampton and Mackay, and only 200kms to the town of Emerald which is a much bigger centre than Longreach. So much so it has 3 reasonable size shopping centres, and a complete range of services. We are very excited to be so much closer to a major centre this year.  As usual the position comes with accommodation, a three bedroom house.



 Below: Our house and the green helicopter shed next door to us. Boss often goes out in the small 2-seater helicopter at sunrise each morning.
Horses in our side yard

We were fortunate that the grading cycle was kind to us !  
... and a good friend, Lance, over Christmas had worked with George to flip our axle on the caravan to enable us to travel on dirt. This gave us another 3 and a half inches of clearance under the van. They had also covered the under body with metal sheets to protect our water tank, pump and wiring from rock damage. (Thank You Lance !!) 
As a result we were able to take the more direct Tambo-Alpha Road, a 170kms of mixed dirt and bitumen that saved us a 450km circuit. Last year on our return home from visiting Alpha, we had to take a circular route west to Barcaldine and then south to home as the road was rough and our van not suited to this type of road. 

What a whirlwind start to our teaching year it has been. Leaving Friday morning late we'd stopped to visit friends in Bathurst for lunch then drove two very long days to arrive at the station on Sunday afternoon. With no time to spare we hit the ground running and organised ourselves and the schoolroom ready to begin teaching Monday morning, already three weeks behind in the teaching program.

Once more our work contract is a little different. We are teaching four girls, a Prep (Kindergarten in NSW), Yr 2, 3 and 5. I am in the schoolroom full time while George is in the schoolroom until lunch. He then does some gardening/handyman work and prepares dinner for the four ringers and ourselves. At times these numbers can grow as tradies, other staff and visitors come and go. The record stands at 17 people for dinner at present. It means late nights for George. So far we've found the days to be quite full on, long and with little time for breaks.
Below: A sunrise shot from our back verandah !

Once more, stand by  ... I will be posting blogs on everyday life for us on the station !

By Lynne

Tuesday, March 29, 2016

Our First Cruise !

Our final excitement before heading back to work on our next station was ...

Our First Cruise !

We chose to celebrate our 32nd wedding anniversary aboard our first cruise on the Explorer of the Seas, a Royal Carribean ship. It also happened to be the first time we had taken time out to celebrate our anniversary in well over ten years.
We were bound for New Zealand for 14 days, before heading back up to Queensland for another year. We had saved up for the cruise while we were out on our first station in south west Queensland and didn't leave the property for 10 weeks at a time

Below photos showing one of the exercise and pool decks, the promenade with cafe and shops, and the theatre which seated 2000 people.

After spending 2 calm days at sea we entered the three sounds at the base of the south island. It was a perfect day for cruising Milford, Dusky and Doubtful Sounds, and we were the first ship in a few weeks to have clear skies as we travelled through each sound.
We arrived earlier than expected at all three sounds so cruised through the first at about 7.30 in the morning watching from our stateroom while we had breakfast. The second we viewed over lunch from the dining room, and the last from the rear deck.
Above: seals 

Our first port and land based tour was Dunedin where we spent the morning on a Panoramic tour which included the gardens, the old train station and views from a lookout. After the tour we spent a wonderful afternoon at the Otaga Museum and had a stop at the Cadbury Factory before making our way back to the boat. The day would only have been made better if I had taken my scooter, but that's another story.


Our second port was Picton where we chose to do a tour which included a cruise through Charlotte Sound. Though the day was overcast to begin it cleared to a beautiful day. We enjoyed the cruise, but touring the town in the afternoon with my scooter was the best part of our day. What a beautiful town situated as it is on the bay with a walking path around the bay which we really enjoyed. To add to the mood in the afternoon, an older gentleman accompanied by a younger man marched through town and into the park by the bay playing the bagpipes.



After another day at sea, which enabled me to rest and get ready for another busy day, we arrived in Wellington where we'd decided to do our own touring which included a morning at the Te Papa Tongarewa Museum including the special ANZAC display, a 'walk' around town, a trip on the cable car to the top to Kelbourn Lookout  where we would have views of the city and visit the Cable Car Museum. The museum is a must on anyone's itinerary. I must say the trip in my scooter on the cablecar, which was very crowded, was a little uncomfortable and scary. It was also another day where we had difficulties with transport for anyone in a scooter, and I wound up disagreeing with a bus driver and refusing to move out of the way unless another gentleman in a scooter was also allowed to board.


Tauranga was our next port and George left me onboard to relax while he did a day tour to Rotorua. We had decided that the tour would be too difficult for me due to the uneven ground, the extended time in the bus, and a longer day. We were glad we had decided months ago to only book half day tours for me. I disembarked the boat on my scooter later in the afternoon in time to meet George as he exited the bus at 3pm so we could have an afternoon walk along the foreshore paths on both sides of the inlet and through the town. Staff, passengers, customs officers and NZ tourist officers were all very helpful this day as I disembarked on my own and laughed about George being on the last of 13 buses. (I am very lucky to have such a patient husband who is willing to keep going after a long day for 
me. It has become a common occurrence  during our travels. While traveling the gulf, George would walk to the top of a canyon only to return to an expectant/patient me wanting to do something else !)


In Auckland we once more started with a tour, this time to a cultural centre and participated in a Welcoming Ceremony and a Hangi. We then spent the afternoon visiting the Scenic Sky Tower. As each port was only a day visit, this was the best way to have an overall view of this large city which has so much to offer. The tower was 60 floors high and the first lift takes you to the first viewing area on the 51st floor which has a few glass floor panels. From here we could see people completing the outside platform walk and others preparing to do the base jump. The second lift takes to to a another viewing area and covers 10 floors in 7 seconds ! The view from both the viewing floors was amazing and the perfect way to see the city when you don't have much time.   




 Our final port of call was the Bay of Islands where we'd decided to have a short day in port as I was beginning to feel the effects of so much busyness. We did a tour of the Treaty House and park area, and the earliest trading post and mission house. It was an excellent tour which rounded out our tours of the history and culture of New Zealand. 
The only thing to mar this day was that it was a tender port and was to cause a lot of angst amongst passengers with mobility issues as each was given a different story about the tendering of mobility aids. I didn't take mine and noticed a few other passengers struggling, only to discover later that day that others had been allowed to tender theirs.

Two more days at sea and we would be home. George made the most of his time on board and participated in the choir and drama groups. I also made him do a few things I would have loved to do but couldn't, poor man, the dance fitness class, iceskating and the Flowrider. The last one I couldn't stop him once he started. I secretly think he enjoyed the dance fitness class too !

The Waitangi  Treaty House and Treaty Canoe... 
Original mission house and stores house 

Two more days at sea and we would be home. George made the most of his time on board and participated in the choir and drama groups. I also made him do a few things I would have loved to do but couldn't, poor man, the dance fitness class, iceskating and the Flowrider. The last one I couldn't stop him once he started. I secretly think he enjoyed the dance fitness class too !
Above: a photo with a waiters each night.


By Lynne