Last day at Christ Church and my long weekend plans so far...

I am currently on a free period; so a quick update - Iv been helping out in a variety of lessons ranging from boys in pre-primary to year 12. I am gradually understanding the rules of AFL and hope to watch a game when I visit sydney. I chose to have two days off this week, as I want to explore Perth more. Tomorrow (Thurs) I plan to cycle down to the local train station (approx 20mins away) and travel into Perth central to explore the city in more depth by myself. Friday, I plan to use the train again and travel down to Fremantle - which is a big victorian harbor city, that has many tourist spots within it. One I have been told to visit is the jailhouse, where you can have tours of the different chambers and look up your surname to see if you are related to the many men that were transported to the swan river colony between 1850-1868. I am also looking into catching a ferry ride to Rottnest island which used to be attached to the mainland and has strong heritage links to the aboriginal, european, colonial, maritime and military history of WA. I am sure Millie will get be out and about saturday and sunday with the kids, so i shall update you all soon!! Monday next week I begin my two weeks teaching at Newman college. lots of love xxxxx

Weekend exploring Perth city

Friday night; me, Millie and Rosie-may had a girls night in. Getting food in and watching some tv, whilst Samuel and David attended a footie event through Samuels club where some players from the West Coast Eagles were rumoured to attend. Saturday; me and Millie went and looked around the local Karrinyup shops. Im being very good at saving my money and did not buy anything; as clothes prices here are very expensive in-comparison to back home! Samuel and Rosie-may had a sleepover with two friends this night, so us adults settled down for the eve and watched a kings speech. Sunday was spent exploring Perth city. Unfortunately the weather clouded over by the time we arrived in the city, so I plan to visit the city again to see it properly. We briefly visited the bell tower which bells were given to the "people of Western Australia as part of the national Bicentennial celebrations in 1988. Among its many attributes the Bell Tower includes the twelve bells of St Martin-in-the-Fields. The bells were again recast between 1725 and 1770 by three generations of the Rudhall family of bell founders from Gloucester in England, under the order of the Prince of Wales who was later crowned as King George II. They are one of the few sets of royal bells and are the only ones known to have left England." 


 http://www.ringmybells.com.au/


We also visited Kings Park, which is a national park on the outskirts of the city and features a state war memorial, as well as a large glass walkway between eucalyptus trees. This was amazing!! and had great views of the city. As we walked around the memorial; two huge rainbows stretched across our view of the city. It was a true photo moment and I shall upload the pictures soon. I am currently waiting for first lesson to start in my second and last week at Christ Church Grammar School, before I move onto Newman next week.


Lots of love xxxxxx

Playtime with Rosie- may

Some pics of me and my adopted younger sister Rosie- may playing doctors and dentists.

        

                                                             

Welcoming arrival at Perth airport

Here are few pics of the lovely Proudloves who were waiting for me at Perth airport.

Christ Church first week continued....

Having now been in WA for nearly a week, I have assisted in a variety of lessons. These include water polo and rowing - both sports I had no previous knowledge of rules or positions prior to coming out here. Christ Church does not seem to follow national curriculum aims or standards; as PE lessons are whatever the teacher decides to base the lesson on. Lessons are only 50mins long each, therefore many of the sport lessons consist of a mini skill drill, followed by a big game. The school is situated right next to a enclosed river - which I walk down to and I spend my lunch breaks in the sun, watching the mini jelly fish swim by beneath the jetty. The population surrounding the school is very wealthy and houses often have a river front view and porsche out on the driveway. Also alike to stuff you see on the tv; the women (known as the "claremont housewives") spend most of their days shopping in the expensive shopping arcade just down the road from the school and exercising to become as slim as possible. Exercise in WA is so important to everyone out here, you cant walk down the street without 3/4 cyclists in full lycra kit cycling past you. Today I had a go at playing auzzie rules footie with some year 12 boys, which was fun, but extremely hot in the sun! I actually cant understand how people out here play sport in their summer!! Tonight Im helping at year 10 hockey training and then tomorrow and saturday I shall be helping out at year 9 and 10 fixtures against another local private school called Hayle. Planning to explore Perth and other local suburbs this weekend; will hopefully upload some pictures then.

Christ Church Grammar School (Day 1)

13th june - An early 6am wake up and 710am leave; me and david made the commute down south towards the school. Arriving early I had a quick tour of the school facilities; which incomparison to even the private schools of cheltenham is no match!! The sport facilities they have here are incredible; ranging from  two huge sports halls both indoors and out, a two-story gym facility (including all the pieces of machinery you could think of), a large outdoor heated swimming pool, large oval pitches (for footie, rugby and soccer it seems).

Today I mainly had the role of assistant coaching and helping out with any lessons that required me. This included managing some very excitable year 4's (8/9 years old) in a mini soccer game. I met a guy called Neil who has strong links to olympic and national hockey coaching/play who suggested i should work with both the year 9 and 10 "A" (firsts teams) with both training and fixtures; which involve both tuesday and wednesday for training and friday and saturdays for fixtures. The PE staff here are very friendly and just from walking around the school with Tom; sport is a big part in the schools agenda - as he was constantly stopped and asked about last weekends fixtures. The boys that attend the school each have to do sport lessons throughout their school career. For example year 7s (11 year olds) have a 2 week rota of four lessons of praticals and 1 lesson on health. The teaching system here in Australia is very different; there are no mid exams or gcses etc, it is simply an exam at the end of year 11.

I am looking forward to the week ahead and starting some hockey coaching. Rosie-may has adopted me as her older sister and I even received one of her books for me to read whilst I am staying with her, wrapped up in green paper (as she wanted to wrap it in my favourite colour). Plans for the week are mainly coaching in the school and Tom has invited me to the local pub this friday with the rest of the PE staff. This coming weekend i hope to do some exploring around Perth and hopefully shall get some pictures up here for you to all get jealous over!! Having a great time and missing everyone back home. lots of love xxxxx

first and second day in perth

11th June - Arriving at perth airport I was greeted by the lovely Proudloves and a painted banner reading "welcome hannah" on it. To try and avoid any jet lag; Milie and David had planned a quick trip to the coast and Heathcoate park where we ate some huge muffins and chips and Samuel tried to teach me AFL (Australian Footie League) rules; which I failed miserably at, but i am still determined to understand the rules by the time i leave! We then met up with some other "poms" who have also moved to the east coast and  we ordered pizzas for a night in together. Unfortunately by 630pm my jetlag had finally sunk in, so we called it a very early night and I thoroughly enjoyed my 12 hour sleep!! (which as you all know is record in my books!)
12th June -  Today me and millie went grocery shopping in a local suburb close to their home. Food prices here are astonishing!! 11 dollars for bananas is pretty cheap! This afternoon me, Samuel and Rosie-May went down to their local park and enjoyed playing in the play area and I had another go at playing footie in the gorgeous sunny weather. The weather is lovely; sunny and around 20+ degrees, however Millie insists it is freezing and they have their heaters on in the house and car, whilst I wear a t shirt. Having a great time and missing you all. lots of love xxxxxx

Heathrow - Goodbye UK

All checked in and ready to go!

Less than a week to go!

I'll be arriving in Perth at 1415 hrs local time (7 hours ahead of the UK) this Saturday the 11th June.