Going to see the Gov'nah

It all started in late February when a lovely piece of mail {almost the only piece of mail} showed up in the mailbox. It was addressed to Steve, had no return address and in place of a stamp it said "Government House". Inside was an invitation to see the Governor of Victoria at Government House during education week.

In fact, the invitation said "The Governor and Mrs. Jan de Kretser request the pleasure of the company of Me at a reception at Government House". Notice that he is the Governor and she is Mrs. Jan de Kretser, kinda funny, don't ya think?

On March 3, 2009, off to downtown Melbourne Steve did go, in his dress pants, dress shirt, tie and dress shoes {oh yeah, socks that were not white!}. Alas, no shorts or Hawaiian shirts did he wear!

It is a small house, only seats a few, and is in dire need of updating!!! WOW. What an incredible place to visit. Apparently the house is only open 1 day a year to the public, Australian Day {January 25th}. The Governor regularly hosts events 2 - 4 per week however these are only for "important" people. Two weeks before the International Education Gala, Princess Anne spent 4 days at the house - just thought that I would share that with you. The only way in to the Governors house and property is by invitation and there are guards to the entrance. The house was built in the mid 1870s and once served as Australia's capital until Canberra was created and built.

There were about 350 visitors in the hall

See: dress pants and shirt and tie. The others are international students and a teacher.

A brief ceremony was held, one by a pair of Aboriginals, a sign of good graces and a proper welcoming. One played a didgeridoo while the other presented every visitor with a Eucalyptus leaf, a sign of a proper introduction, good health and a proper greeting. The governor then spoke as did the minister of education. The whole ceremony was scripted down to the minute and took a total of 37 minutes.

This is the Governor, notice his wife right beside him, oops sorry, she is not allowed on the "throne"
The governor spoke to as many people as possible. He is an amazing man, ~ 70 years old and does not appear to be over 50! he is very well travelled and spoken, he spent ~3 years living just outside of Seattle. He and his wife attend 4 - 8 functions per week and he chats to everyone! His wife is also an amazing person, she likes to visit with people as well. She is very down to earth and said that she prefers if the governor gets all the limelight.


After the ceremony, the gardens and a partial section of the lower level of the house were opened. Everyone got to tour the house and could stay until 1 pm sharp. Food and drink were served during this time, the food was amazing: meat pies, mushroom and feta tortes and some other appies, not sure what most were!

Just a small dining room, only seats 30 per side, 6 silver candelabras and 2 fireplaces

See, I really did meet and chat with the governor.

There is a fountain in the "corner of the terrace section". The fountain is ~ 15 feet in diameter. The second level of the house has ~ 37 rooms, most of which the public will never see. Every where that the governor or his wife went, they had a personal aide and a police officer{s} or guard{s} was not far off.

As I toured parts of the house, most of the furniture was from the early 1900s, a band was playing in one room - there were about 100 people in this room, but that could have been easily doubled, a huge entrance, probably only 60 x 20 feet, a monster desk, it was ~10' x 10' x 3' made of solid oak!

It was an amazing experience. I am one of the few teachers at Maroondah Secondary College to ever be invited to an event at Government House. All of the teacher exchange teachers were invited to this event. It is a very humbling and amazing event to partake of, I have never been invited to the Premier of B.C., the Parliament buildings or any other government function back in B.C. It made me realise how interesting, extensive and powerful this whole teacher exchange is. I was originally thinking that I would meet a few people from the district, however never in my life did I think that I would meet the Governor of Victoria.

I have been invited to the Educational Board Office of Victoria to meet the "powers that be" and have experienced amazing treatment by: Maroondah Secondary, the board office and the Government of Victoria. They all have made me feel very welcome and appreciated, it makes me wonder and hope that the same is occurring for all the exchange teachers back home.

Twilight Fete

On March 13 we attended the Twilight Fete at the girls school. This was possibly the most fun at a school event that I've ever had! The fete is a fund raiser that almost every school in Victoria puts on. In talking to the Vice Principal we learned that the evening would bring in almost $10 000 to the school. One evening!!!!! It was truly a family event with people bringing their lawn chairs and blankets. Everybody gathered on the basketball courts to enjoy the fun.


Each grade decides on a theme and then sets a booth up. The grade ones had the Lolly and Glow Stick booth where I put in an hours time and met many, many parents and kids. It actually turned out to be really enjoyable. The preps were selling the art work that they had made in class, you even had the option to get it framed for an extra $10. There was face painting, fairy floss and fresh fruit. There was some yummy food for sale - hamburgers, sausage in bread and baked potatoes. It was all at a very reasonable price and smelled heavenly! Most of the booths had some sort of community sponsorship as well, to help offset the costs.


The booth that made us stop in amazement was the beer and wine one. At a primary school function!!! For $2 you could choose from 6 different beers or white or red wine. You could also bring your own food and drinks (including alcohol). Honestly, that booth still makes us laugh when we think about it.

Throughout the night there was music playing. In the weeks leading up to the fete the kids had been filling out ballots to vote for their favorite songs. One of the teachers compiled the results and played the Montrose Top 100 for all to hear. The kids danced and sang all night long!! Kennedy even won a prize for being able to name a song and artist during a contest.





The evening had started at about 5pm and by 9pm we were exhausted and very grateful that we had only a 30 second walk home. The kids were really disappointed to leave they had been having so much fun. Steve and I were chatting about whether something like that would be possible at home. No food safe and alcohol for sale at a school event - not likely.

There were cars parked for blocks and blocks around the school.

Lost in Translation

One would assume that since both Canada and Australia are both English speaking countries that everything you read would be straight forward. we have found a few signs that have left us wondering as well as a few that are pretty clear.

Bob Jane - tires, batteries and other car stuff - who'd have guessed?

This is one of the more straight forward ones.

Forget mittens, stick your hands inside a roll of toilet paper to keep them warm in the winter.

Steve thinks this is the funniest sign.

They sell tires people, only tires.

It's kind of like the moose signs on the highways in BC.

Nope, not fast food. It's a bottle shop (liquor store). Just pull up and they come to the car to take your order!

After you're done at the bottle shop, right next door is...

This one makes me think of Harvey Korman ( the guy from the Carol Burnett show) and he was really funny.

Sells computers, printers, etc but I've never seen anybody there that looks like that!






See they're every where!

I wonder if any nice people shop here...

We just thought this would give you a taste of what it's like to shop here. No Home Depot where you know what they sell - stuff for your home. It's more like "head toward Nunawadding, turn left at Harvey Korman, past Keith Fagg and Bob Jane. You'll see the Total Tools on your right!" Huh????

Second Time Around

One of the first Friday drives we took in Australia was up past Healesville towards Alexandra and Marysville on February 6. I remember that it was the 6th because the next day was "Black Saturday" when the bushfires swept through all the areas we had driven through the night before. From a previous post you may remember the photos of beautiful green trees and lush rows of grape vines, it's a beautiful area that we have really enjoyed exploring.

Last Friday we decided to go for our weekly adventure somewhere along the same roads we had travelled Feb. 6th. We were curious about the extent of the damage and wanted to see for ourselves. It has also been one of our favorite areas to explore. Healesville is about 20 -30 minutes from where we are here in Montrose. During the time of the fires we could smell the smoke and had days of smoke filled skies. The girls even had a couple of extra days off school due to the increased risk of fire.

The area around Healesville remains beautiful. It's just in a different way. Now you can see how nature has chosen strange paths to travel. We didn't see any burnt houses but instead saw how the houses remained untouched while the fields and trees around them were burnt. We saw cars and sheds that were destroyed and huge fields that were completely untouched. It was interesting to make the comparisons to what we had seen the first time we had been through the area.

All I can think is how incredible mother nature is that she is starting to "rebuild" already!

Second Time Around

On the 6th of February we went on a Friday road trip up past Healesville and saw some fabulous scenery. There was rolling hills, quaint narrow roads and endless forests. The next day was the now infamous "Black Saturday" when many of the communities around Healesville were destroyed by the bush fires. This past Friday we took our weekly road trip up to the same areas to check things out. Aside from the curiosity we love the area and haven't found another drive that can compare. Healesville is about a 20 - 30 minute drive from where we are here in Montrose. There were many days where we could smell the smoke from the fires and the girls had an extra 2 days off school due to the increased risk of fire.

We didn't see any burnt homes but we did see a few burnt vehicles and fences. It was odd to see the path that the fires took - it seemed to pick and choose where it went, leaving the houses alone but burning the surrounding areas.

The Big Koala Hunt

Since we have been here in Australia, Friday has been my favorite day of the week. That's really not a lot different than when we are in Canada, but Fridays here are really good. Friday is the day that we all jump in the truck after school and we head out to explore the area around us. We have found some great places, great food and friendly people. It's always a great adventure!

About two weeks ago we headed out on one of our Friday adventures to a place called Pound Bend. Pound Bend is a piece of protected land in Warrandyte State Park. One of Steve's coworkers told him that there were koalas in the park, lot's of them. Fabulous we thought! We would love to see some koalas. Off we went.

The park was beautiful, with the Yarra River flowing through. There are some really lush areas and some that are quite barren with just a little scrub brush under the trees. There are loads of trails to walk on, picnic and day camp areas and peace and quiet. We headed out along a trail that followed the river bank, keeping our eyes peeled, looking for the "many" koalas. As we walked we wondered where we would see them. Near the top of the trees? Out on a branch? in the crook of a tree where the branch meets the trunk? Are they out in the day? Dusk? We probably should have done a bit of homework first.

After walking for about an hour the girls began to complain about how far we had gone, their legs were sore, they were hungry. Yikes! Any koalas that had thought about making an appearance were probably scared off by the ranting. We decided to head back to the parking area, taking a bit of a different route. We cut through a small clearing part way down the trail.

Walking through the clearing we came across an old rusty piece of machinery. Out in the wild! Wow. Suddenly this became really interesting as we tried to figure out what it had been used for. It had a small door on either side that opened to cavities that looked liked they were used for wood burning. There was a small rocket shaped cylinder on the top. We decided that it probably had something to do with the gold mining that had gone on in the area in the 1800's. With the proximity to the river it seemed reasonable. We knew it was really old because it had a very established tree growing up through the middle.

Happy with our discovery we turned to head for the truck. You know that feeling when you are being watched but when you look up nobody is there? We had that feeling. Yep, we were being watched - by two very curious kangaroos. Yikes! Do they attack people? Are they more scared of us? Do we move? Slowly we started walking and as we did, the kangaroos started a very slow retreat, stopping to look back at us every few feet. They are funny creatures. Who would have thought that you could actually look elegant with feet that size? Kangaroos certainly are.

Silly koalas. We never did see any that evening but we were none the less impressed with what we had found. An ancient piece of machinery and a couple of curious kangaroos. Not we had started out looking for but still exciting. The girls climbed in to the truck chattering about it.

We have wondered over the last month or so why we don't do this more often when we are at home. Maybe we should start when we get back. You never know what you can find. I work this Friday but maybe we'll head out for a short drive some where. It's always an adventure.

The Big Koala Hunt

So far since we have been in Australia, Friday is my favorite day of the week. Although that's not much different than when we are in Canada. Friday here is different though. Friday is the day we go exploring. We jump in our truck and head out on the road to explore the areas around us. I have yet to be disappointed on a Friday here. About two weeks ago we headed northwest of Montrose. One of Steve's coworkers told him about a place called Pound Bend which is supposed to be a guarateed koala sighting spot.

Pound Bend is a small town in Warrandyte State Park and it is beautiful. The Yarra River winds through the park and there are many trails to walk on. There are picnic and day camp areas and, apparently, koalas. We walked for about an hour along the river keeping our eyes peeled for koalas, all the time wondering where in the trees they hide. Are they near the top, on a branch, in the crook of a branch where it meets the trunk? What time do they come out? Day time? Dusk? We probably should have done a little more home work on the subject before we went out.

After an hour the girls were starting to complain about how far we had walked. They were complaining so loudly that really, any koala that was going to show itself probably changed it's mind. I can't say I blame them (the koalas). The girls can be really loud when they are tired and hungry.

We decided to head back to the truck and head somewhere for dinner. That is our other Friday night adventure. Where shall we eat? We usually end up getting some takeout along the way home and sit outside somewhere to eat it. Anyhow, we head back to the truck and decide to cut through a clearing between the river and the parking area. We are innocently walking along when we find an old piece of machinery. Questions and guesses flew about it's original purpose. There were 2 small doors that look like they closed over a small wood burning area and a cylinder on the top that looked like a small rocket. It had obviously been in that spot for so long. How do I know that? The huge tree that was growing through the middle of it! The area was once part of the original area where gold was found and with the river near by maybe it had some use during the gold rush.

Satisfied with our examination of all things mysterious we headed once again for the truck. You know that feeling where you are sure you're being watched but when you look around nobody is there? We had that feeling. Yep, we were being watched. Two kangaroos, not koalas, but kangaroos were standing about 10 feet from us watching us examine the mystery machine. I have to admit it is a little unsettling to find this. Do they attack? Are they scared of people? Do we move? Will they move? We stood and watched them for a while and then slowly started walking towards the parking area. It turns out they are scared of us, as we watched them hop away. It did make our day seeing them. Finally some real wild life!

Silly koalas. They'll have to wait for another Friday adventure. Or at least until we can get to a zoo.