Showing posts with label Townsville. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Townsville. Show all posts

Wednesday, 23 April 2014

for T

is for Townsville.

If you read my N is for Normanton post you would know that that was my first teaching post. I started there in Semester 2 on a contract. I replaced a teacher who had moved to another school to be the Acting Deputy. It wasn't long after I arrived that I was told I would be taking the Year 6 class on camp to Townsville for a week... arghhhh!!!

There I was, barely into my teaching career, barely into my 20s and having to take this group of kids who I barely knew 790km from home!! What. The. Fudge...

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't packing it. The previous teacher had started the process but it was essentially up to me to put the itinerary together, organise everything and somehow remain sane. Wanting to make sure I made a good impression and hope that they did not regret giving me the contract I did not make my apprehension known and luckily I did have support in the organising and the Principal attended the camp as well (side note: kids LOVE school camps but they are secretly a teachers worse nightmare!)

Some of the students had never left Normanton and for most, if they had it was only to Mt Isa, so going all the way to Townsville was a massive experience for a lit of them. I can still remember the excitement in their voices and squeals as we drove into Townsville as they say shops and places in 'real life' that they had only ever seen on the TV. I remember one girl yelling..."Miss...look der Miss" trying to work out what she was pointing at I really had no idea and said "what?? what can you see?"... "Look der Miss, der.." and then she promptly sand the "Bob Jane T-Mart" ad... It was these little moments that made me smile so much for I was the one that was there for this first time experience for so many of them.

Normaton is not far from the beautiful gulf town of Karumba which has some of the best sunset views of the ocean you will ever see. It is such a big tease of a place though as the beach there is gorgeous but of course due to crocodiles you cannot swim in the ocean. So the students were so wary of swimming in Townsville and on the day we went over to Magnetic Island and I had to do some serious coaxing for some of them to get into the water. Some of them got a little overwhelmed and started grabbing hold of me in the water as well for 'safety', but really, they almost drowned me! The lady doing the safety talk to the students on the ferry on our way over to Magnetic Island really needed to chose her words more wisely when she asked the students "when you jump off the ferry which side will you jump off?"...well that sent a shockwave through the group as they looked at me with gasps of, 'why do we have to jump off the boat? what about the crocs?'...I had to convince them that the lady was talking about, if there was an emergency.

We had 2 trips to the Hospital while we were there, the first was when a student was running around the caravan park where we were staying and wasn't paying attention where he was going and 'coathanged' himself on one of the clothesline, falling over and hitting his head. The second was an incident involving 2 girls while we were ice-skating. Again, skating around, not really paying attention and ran into each other, ones head collided with the others chin, there was blood, there was a trip to the hospital... fun times had by all!!

The Rock Pool at Townsville that the kids needed to be convinced was safe to swim!
A day trip to Paluma Rainforest with a swim along the way.
Canoeing over on Magnetic Island
The trip was action packed with activities, visits to the Museums, the Zoo, meeting The Cowboys and The Crocs (Basketball team), and many first-time experiences for many of them. Hopefully it's one that they remember as well.

Linking with Ms Mystery Case for Words on Wednesday (because being Wordless do this A to Z challenge is not really possible!!)


Tuesday, 24 September 2013

for a holiday!

The last few weeks have been crazy busy to say the least, so much has gone on that I am still trying to wrap my head around it all. No doubt there will be a blog post (or 10) about it when I have it sorted in my head but for now I am just absolutely, totally, utterly, without a shadow of a doubt ready for a holiday!

I guess technically holidays started yesterday but I have been so busy doing all those jobs I never get to during the school term, I feel like my holiday is not really starting until tomorrow. Tomorrow I fly to Townsville for 11 days to visit some friends and saying I cannot wait is a bit of an understatement.

When I booked the flights months ago I decided I was too cheap to pay for checked luggage (anyone else find that a total rort??) so went off to the local luggage store and bought myself a new lightweight carry on suitcase. My friends laughed at me (they know me well) when I sent them a piccie of my new luggage but I was determined!

So determined I even searched Pinterest for tips on how to pack for a 2 week trip in a carry on! I was amazed at how many blogs I came across with awesome tips on how to do it!

So, of course, I decided to steal the idea and write my own blog about how I have packed for an 11 day trip in a carry on! So here's my top 5 tips....

1: Buy lightweight luggage - that way you can pack more. I chose one that was about 2.1kg so that leaves me just under 8 kgs of luggage. I also bought an extra large handbag that will hold my ipad, book, magazine, water bottle, camera etc which allows me to take more without penalty! (in hindsight though, and you'll read below, I should have bought a black one but I didn't)



2: Check the weather....well that was easy...it's North Queensland...it only knows one temperature....HOT!
High 20's with 0% chance of rain.....YAY!!!


3: Choose a colour... I am a bit of a matchy matchy kind of girl, If I'm wearing a brown belt then I want brown shoes and a brown bag (or at least a matching one) and the same with black...So when trying to limit your luggage choose a colour or colours and work around them, I have chosen black and coral. Also chose neutral items and add a pop of colour through a scarf or other accessories!
Yep, that's it...3 pairs of shoes!! (and my friends all over the world gasp in disbelief! lol)  

 If you are wondering what that is in my joggers.. it's socks and my sports bras.. Fill every space! lol..

One dress and one maxi skirt - a must!

5 tops - a few neutral and a few prints

4 bottoms - in this case all shorts (plus a pair of jeans, not pictured)

Some exercise outfits - yes we are those crazy people who exercise on holidays! No excuses!

4: Roll and flatten... I am a bit of a fence sitter when it comes to which is better and generally go a bit of both. I rolled my tops and secured them with a hair band... then folded my bottoms flat so they were the same measurements as my joggers when place on top
of them..

Just need to add my toiletry bag
5: Wear your bulkiest items on the plane - even though I am flying to sunny NQ I never leave home without a pair of jeans, and in this case with the flight not being terribly long, I can get away with wearing them on the plane (if it was a long haul flight to London it would be a different story)
My outfit for the flight

Bought the handbag before deciding on my colours... (I do have a little neutral clutch in)

It also helps to visit friends that are a similar size in clothes and shoes to you so you can borrow! Lol...

A few items that I have packed, I won't be disappointed if they don't come home with me. I know what I am like and no doubt a few new purchases will be made. One of the things we are doing while I am visiting is The Color Run! Am so excited! So I am taking up my old old joggers, so they will be the first things to be left behind to make some room for other purchases!

Another highlight of my trip is CMC Rocks North Queensland.... being BIG country music fans we are just a wee bit excited about that!

Am hoping that my body clock realises it's on holidays soon as I have not slept past 6am so far!

Stay tuned for some holiday snaps and stories to come!!!!

Linking up with Essentially Jess for IBOT of course!!!