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| Rob about to make a shot on a glamorous snooker table at Governemnt House in Brisbane |
Greg finished term 2 by staying home sick on the Friday with a horribly sore throat. It’s a mixed blessing. The students expect to have an entire free period to do whatever they want, so having a day at home in a cozy bed sounds so much better. However, absences are covered internally for the most part at Maroochydore, so his colleagues will be cursing his name today.
It feels a bit like
we just had a vacation 2 weeks ago. Monday was a holiday. Greg taught Tuesday
and Wednesday. As soon as he finished teaching at 12:35PM on Wednesday (early
finish day) we drove to the Gold Coast to stay with some Canadian friends –
Randall, Karen, Erica, and Christa - who are also on exchange from British
Columbia. All of the Queensland exchange teachers were invited to Government
House in Brisbane for a formal gathering to celebrate the Queen’s birthday. Afterwards,
we stayed the night at Randall and Karen’s place. Thursday morning Greg used
one of his school visitation days to see the High School in Southport and then
we flew to Sydney that night.
Government House
We were told to
dress formally well in advance, so the challenge was to find suit jackets for
the lowest cost. Heather found a suit jacket for Greg at a school fair for 5
dollars. It is very nice and fits him perfectly. The winner, however, was
Randall who found a very nice suit jacket at a second hand clothing fair for 2
dollars.
Our group of
Canadian exchange teachers piled in to one vehicle and drove into Brisi for a
hoity toity night with Royalty. Although, we knew that no members of the Royal
Family would be present. Heather stayed behind to babysit. Thank you Heather!
When we arrived, an attendant asked for our formal invitations – which Greg had
just realized he did not bring. Mission Impossible music began to play (in his
head) as he began to strategize how to gain access into what seemed a heavily
guarded Government House. As we were entering the house, each invitee was
providing proof of invitation except for one man who had mistakenly been
separated from his wife. “My wife has the invitation” said the poor bloke to
the formally dressed security guard. As Greg passed by he mimicked the man and
said “Same for me”. Lying is the wrong thing to do, but desperate times call
for desperate measures.
The house was
stunning. As we entered, the guard informed us that we were not to wander
beyond the hallway and that no photos could be taken inside. We were, however,
allowed to see the games room. It was easily Greg’s favorite room as it had big
plush leather seats surrounding an enormous ornate Snooker table. The table was
set up with the balls racked and they practically were begging us to break. We
didn’t think this was a good idea. Not yet anyways.
We were then
invited upstairs to shake hands with Governor General Penelope Wensley and
listen to her very well written speech while being served glass after glass of
wine. The funny thing was when the toast to the Queen was made, Greg clinked
his wine glass with Lori (an exchange teacher from Ontario) and the sound
seemed to resonate through the room as no one else dared to disgrace her
majesty with such casual behaviour. How embarrassing.
We went out onto
the large balcony to take pictures – which was allowed – and had a fantastic
time. We met the first female Governor General, Leneen Ford, who (to our
surprise) was Canadian born. As the effects of the wine grew stronger, our
inhibitions seemed to wash away and we ventured back downstairs for a game of
snooker on that beautiful table. In hindsight, Greg still thinks it is
perfectly appropriate to play snooker on a table that is set up during a party
where drinks are free. Especially in Australia.
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| The posted laboratory rules at Southport High School |
Sydney
Thursday was spent
with Greg watching some Aussie teachers teach Science in Southport and Heather
entertaining Fenton at Randall and Karen’s. Once Greg was done “work”, we
zipped off to the Brisbane airport to spend the long weekend in Sydney.
Unfortunately, our flight was delayed by almost an hour, so we did not get to
our destination until late Thursday night. Also, Fenton did not have his much
needed nap and became over tired to the point of being rather unruly on the
plane, kicking the seat in front of him despite our efforts to keep him
entertained. We took a shuttle to our hotel, which was atypical in that there
was no lobby and the doors were locked after 7:00PM. In addition to this, it
was located in King’s Cross, Sydney’s former red light district. Even on a week
night King’s Cross is quite busy with inebriated people shouting, fighting, and
staggering around. It felt very vulnerable to be standing at a locked door with
Fenton in our arms and our luggage at our feet after being told to “wait 5
minutes” for someone to walk a couple blocks from another hotel to let us in.
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| The elevator at Regent's Court - our hotel in King's Cross |
Waking up on a
Friday morning in Sydney was worth the hassle. We walked to St. Mary’s
Cathedral, the city centre and then to the Opera House. In fact, we chose to
walk every day. We went to a market at the Rocks and picnicked at the Botanical
Gardens. The only time that we used public transportation was when we took the
Ferry to Manly and when we met up with Greg’s long time friend, Ian.
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| Market at the Rocks |
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| St. Mary's Cathedral |
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| Heather was fascinated by the Botanical Gardens |
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| Greg was fascinated by Manly beach |
Greg met Ian when he
traveled New Zealand and Australia 12 years ago. We stayed in touch during this
time by phone, then through Skype and Facebook. Ian drove us around the area,
stopping by his old digs in Bondi, and then to his house for lunch. Ian’s wife,
Cindy, made a wonderful spread for us and we spent the day visiting and playing
with their lovely daughters, Chloe and Milly.
Our next big adventure…
Now that term 2 is
over, we have another 2 week holiday. Our plan is to fly sparrow fart from
Brisbane to Cairns, rent a camper van, and drive to Darwin. After that we fly
back to Brisbane from Darwin. Not much more planning has gone into this
holiday, so it looks like it will be rather spontaneous.
