VanDijkTrack

Not long after the start of the new school season, Jorick already was lucky having an excursion with his school class. They went to Trevena Glen Farm and some parents joined. Jorick insisted that his Dad also should join, so he did, which was fun. The kids could feed calfs, pigs, goats, hold chickens, ride a pony, sit on a bull and milk a cow. It was a real educational interaction with animals and they loved it.

The next weekend we went bush camping and walking in Lamington National Park being one of the beautiful rainforest parks close to Brisbane (around 110 km, 2hrs drive). We selected the Green Mountain region, close to the well known O’Reilly’s region with O’Reilly’s resort to put up our tent.  A more than 30 km one-lane road with small and steep parts is leading to this destination. It was a beautiful road in a natural environment. After reaching our destination we could set up our tent, look around and have a barbeque in the evening.

During the night it became fairly cold on the mountain around 10 degrees Celsius. Other people camping here were walking in ski clothing, which was a bit weird. As usual the darkness already started early with complete darkness after 6 pm. That’s something we cannot get used to after being used to the long summer evenings of an (North-)European summer. So we went early to bed and awoke with the sounds of many birds, brush turkeys and also saw some very small wallabies (Red Necked Pademelons).  We started the day with the Botanical Gardens and the Tree Top Walk, which is an elevated path/bridge high through the trees. This gives unusual nice views of the forest.

After that we walked the Morans Falls Track of 4.6 km, 800 m down hill. It leads to the Morans Falls. First we could watch the Falls from the other side of the valley. Then we went to the top of it.

It was a nice walk in a beautiful area.

Especially around O’Reilly’s it was busy with much tourism since this is a popular destination.  The walking track was much better, although not as quiet as many other tracks in other areas.

At home we still enjoy the bush environment and all flowers in the more cultivated garden. For us it is unusual to have flowers around the house during the whole year. Also the trees always have leafs and also are loosing them continually. This makes us less aware of changing seasons.

Thanks for your interest.

Kind regards,

Jan, Anita, Nicole and Jorick

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.