End of Term 3

Sorry everyone, this is a long one.  Every blog I think that I haven't done anything interesting in the last couple of weeks, but then ……..here it is!!!!

Casey and I headed out into the Great Sandy Desert/Tanami Desert for an adventure and a picnic.

Lots of wild horses.  The locals go out and try to catch these horses.  Every now and then we will see a foal in the community.  The horses are completely wild and thirsty!!!!

Yes, there is a lot of nothing out there!  We searched for this moderately shady spot near a dry creek.  It was a lovely spot to have our picnic.

My teaching is more boring than I thought.  The boy in the top of the picture is actually asleep sitting up.  The other one was just getting in on the act.  Of ten the children come to school with very little sleep.

Culture in Term 3.  Our topic this term was 'Healthy Strong Spirit'

A visit to the Art Centre.  The locals find the Art Centre a place of quiet and spiritual peace. Its a place they can express their culture through art.

2 of the Elders told their stories.  They were emotional stories of dispossession at the hands of white policemen.  These 2 ladies were taken from their desert homes and placed in the Balgo Mission when they were small children. They were speaking to the children during  NAIDOC week , where we learnt about Truth, Voice Treaty.

The sand hill in the distance was the venue for one of our bush trips that took the kids into their country to feel their strong spirit.  The kids had a great time running down the hill in the hot hot sand.  I had red dirt in my shoes and on my clothes after the day.

Juan and I on the top of the sand hill.  It was hard to climb.  You took 2 steps up and one backwards as it was steep and slippery

Still cleaning up the library.  I have taken all of the Dreaming books off the shelf to put in alphabetical order.

I have been volunteering at the Art Centre recently as they have not had any volunteers for a couple of weeks.  Today's job was to sort out the colours and wash up old paint tubs.

Out walking we always attract the kids.  Often they ask us if we have a sandwich or apple!  We give them sandwiches and fruit at school, but amazingly, we don't carry spares around in our pockets when out walking!!!!!

Spider web and spider.  This was our craft activity from last week that was inspired by the big book Spiders and their Webs.

Voice, Treaty, Truth...…….The children were putting their handprints on a big NAIDOC display.  They loved painting their hands of course!!!!

During Culture days we were lucky enough to have Aaron sing some songs with the kids.  They loved to bang away on the drums.

NAIDOC AFTERNOON ROTATIONS

Most of the kids had their face painted

I helped the children make bracelets and necklaces from yellow, black and red wool.

The kids got to throw a spear at animal targets.  They were very good at this.

Kangaroo stew was on the menu for NAIDOC day

The girls did Coolamon races.  Those things were hard to keep on your head when you were trying to run.  I suppose they were not designed to have on your head when running!!!!

The children are given lunch everyday.  Mr Bean is always a good distraction so that the food is eaten quietly.

A school from Melbourne stayed with us for a week.  The children helped in the classroom, which was great for the kids and me of course.

I never knew that changing a tyre could be so much fun!!  There were 11 of us to change 1 tyre.  We were still 200 km from Halls Creek when the tyre blew.  Everyone carries 2 spares just in case.

This sign is outside the butcher shop in Halls Creek.  There is nothing like tough, tasteless fatty Meat and iffy seafood!!!

We had a football carnival with the surrounding desert schools.  The kids and in fact the community are footy mad.

The pool opened on Saturday.  The water was cold, but it didn't stop most of the town having a dip.

Not to disappoint.....Here is a sunset!