Bernakin State Forest + award Nicole.
In the weekend we made a beautiful trip to Benarkin State Forest. Benarkin is a village located off the D’Aguilar Highway with a general store and a population of around 200 residents. Before we went into the Bush the kids had a play in the “First settlers memorial park” after a long trip from Brisbane. Following to that we went into the bush and ended up at a Picnic place where we had a BBQ.
Closer to the city you often find gas-barbeques, but further into the bush often the barbeques need to be burned with wood that you have to take with you or gather it from the bush. So that’s what we did.
When we stated a walk along the Emu Creek Gorge, we saw an exceptional beautiful environment developed in the humidity of the gorge. We saw many birds, snakes and other animals.
A snake that’s not frightened and doesn’t flee from you is often not a good sign. Nevertheless Anita couldn’t leave the animal before taking a picture. It shows where the snake is watching us with his head hidden under a leaf. After having seen this and other snakes we continued our walk very carefully.
Overall it was a great walk in a beautiful area, although the combination of a high density forest with the high humidity and the (sounds of) many (hidden) animals sometimes were a bit scary.
Nicole is proud, and so are her parents, that she received a “Head of School Award”. This award is given to her because she already earned 5 Merit Certificates. Taking into account that she started last year 1 month after the start of year 1 AND without speaking any word of English she has done very well. In the 
past she earned the following Merit Certificates:
1) “Excellent progress with learning a new language – English ! (28 May 2008)
2) “Good progress in Reading” (24 June 2008)
3) “For beautiful, neat handwriting when copying from the board.” (28 July 2008)
4) “Outstanding homework” (27 October 2008)
5) “Being an excellent helper during our art lesson. Encouraging others. (2 March 2009)
Besides this she got a certificate for good behavior and several reading awards. Although this “Head of School Award” one of the most important ones and is showing good performance, we are confused by the honoring system. We are positive about the fact that the school tries to stimulate kids with this type of tools. However, sometimes it is confusing (for kids and parents) to see all kind of different awards, certificates, medals, stamps, etc.
Warm regards from us all.