Murwillumbah; an ancient volcano?!

Here are finally all the "ins" on my past week; school photos, art galleries and volcanoes. Quite a interesting week, don't you think.

Photo shoot.
Tuesday morning, there were school photo's. At our school, everyone puts on their best clothes, make-up, hair etc. Here everyone ironed their uniform and put their hair in the prettiest braid, pony tail or pig tails. When everyone lined up for their individual photo, Mrs Brodar (head of senior school) said sarcastically: "Wow, look at that extra layer of make-up on your faces." Ofcourse no one was allowed to wear make-up, so all the girls started giggling. After the individual photos, there was a group photo with all the year-11s. In total that are 135 girls, and to fit them all in front of the camera is quite a hard job! All squeezed together though, it eventually worked, and it looked great.

Murwillumbah's Art Gallery.
During the weekend, I went to the nearest town to Naoka's dad's (Walter) home. They got 5 new goats last week so they needed supplies for them. After we got all the "goat stuff", we went to the among Australians well-known art gallery of Murwillumbah. It was beautiful, the artworks were incredibly good! Unfortunately you weren't allowed to take any pictures. Also, when you entered the building, you could immediately see the amazing view of the valley.

Something I did not know, was that the valley used to be the top of a volcano! It is surrounded by a mountain range, which used to be the sides of that volcano. It is one of the two largest volcanoes on earth that have ever existed. The mountain range is about a kilometer high, imagine another 2k higher, and you have the height of the original volcano. And, then we haven't talked about the fact that it erupted every now and then, spilling lava all the way up to Southport (which is an hour and a half away from Murwillumbah). The lava has been a great fertile soil for the area, so now the place is filled with farms, where they grow crops such as sugar cane, tea, and a lot of other fruits and vegetables. Also, there are many farms where they hold cows and goats.

Multitasking.
Sunday, it was great whether! The sun was shining with an occasional breeze, just perfect. There weren't any activities planned for the day, so I decided to catch up on homework, while sunbathing (multitasking all the way!:). When I finished my homework, I went for a run. I had already seen spiders as big as twice the size of my hand, and as if that wasn't enough, I saw a snake about 7 to 10 cm thick, and at least a meter or so long! It definitely was a stimulus for me to run faster.... When I got back at the house, Nerida told me it was probably a very dangerous snake too 0.0

Right now I am back at school (Monday mornings are the best....), and I CANNOT wait for next weekend because I am going to Sydney!!! So that will definitely be a very very long blogpost you can enjoy :)

Loulotte

Togs and Saussage Sizzles

After another week of school, it was finally Friday morning, and the day of the Swimming Carnival. When we came to school, everyone gathered at "the Oval" (a sports pitch at the school campus), and the roll was called. It was amazing to see everyone being dressed up in their house's colours. Everyone in my house was dressed blue and white, had coloured zinc all over their faces, blue bows in their hair, and blue floaties and swimming caps.

Swimming Carnival, from left to right: Candice, Imogen, Phoebe, Charli, and I

Right before we all left the Oval, each house did their war cry. My house was first, and we stood there in a huge circle. The seniors in the middle shouted:
"Melaleuca! Are you ready?"
Everyone in my house replied:
"Are we ever!"
Then we started jumping up and down, and all together we yelled:
"Blue White Blue
Hocka-tika Hocka-tika Karra-jarra Hah
Karra-jarra Hah Hah Karra-jarra Hah
Boomericka Bositicka Loo Doo Hoo
Melaleuca Melaleuca Blue White Blue"

Melaleuca Mafia

Ready, Set, Go!

After us Karragaroo house did their war cry, followed by Banksia house. When everyone was finished, we left for the swimming pool. The Swimming Carnival was ready to begin.

When all the girls were seated, the races started. The incredibly good swimmers with their unbelievable dives and perfect techniques amazed me. The races were divided in different age groups and types of swimming (e.g. butterfly, back-stroke, freestyle, etc.). First you heard a buzzer, all the girls put their hands up in the sky. Another buzzer, the swimmers got ready on their blocks. A whistle, and they all dived in the water while the supporters, with their hands still in the air, swung down their arms and said "whoo" as the swimmers hit the water. Then, the supporting began. All the houses sang songs and yells to support their contestants. "We've got spirit, yes we do! We've got spirit, how 'bout you?" the houses shouted against each other in-between all their different yells.

When the "professional" races ended, the participation races started. Everyone had to swim, so that includes exchanges. We changed into our togs (they were St. Hilda's one pieces) and lined up for the race. It was hard not to start laughing, since everyone was wearing those ridiculous swimming caps.
Everyone just wanted to get to the other side of the swimming pool to earn points for their house (you didn't have to win to get points). Even though it wasn't much of a competition, I really enjoyed it. The participation races went on for an hour or so, and when this event had ended as well, there were House relay races.

Throughout the day, they sold sausage sizzles, smoothies, and chocolate Valentine hearts (since it was Valentines Day). We had two breaks, between the swimming races so we could have morning tea and lunch.

The day ended with a Fun race between the daygirls and the boarders. This was a relay race too, but every person or group of people from each team had to swim in another "style" than the previous swimmers. This was definitely the best event of the day.

It was such a great day; everyone was so into it, all dressed up and supporting their house in the loudest way possible. The atmosphere was very positive and it was all ‘round awesome!

New posts coming soon :)

Loulotte