Wildlife

Meet Earl... a Lorne Local. 

Stumpy enjoys multigrain bread....even the crusts. 

Bells

The Rip Curl Pro Surf Comp at Bells Beach is a massive surf event, and I was able to enjoy a gorgeous hot day at Bells just before the Easter long weekend with Jasmina, Ava and Alex.  We sat on the beach and watched the surfers from there for a bit...and then made our way up to the Beer garden/terrace and enjoyed more action (and some ciders) from up there.

Ava watching a reverse floater. 

 Sunscreen for the crowds. Help yourself before you hit the beach...

Alex and Jas in the car park after hitting the food stands. 

French Breaky

Back in March, before the school holidays, my Year 8 French classes enjoyed un petit déjeuner in their morning classes. In table groups. the students had to organize who would bring plastic cutlery, disposable plates and cups, chocolat chaud (in a thermos, enough for the table to share), a tablecloth and a centrepiece.  The croissants, pain au chocolat,  pain au raisin, confiture and Nutella would be provided.

An abstract centrepiece.

The Nutella was a surprise. In one class, when the Nutella appeared, all you could hear echoing around the classroom was "Ooooh.... Nutellaaaaa".  In another class, one girl screamed "NUTELLA!" and fell to the floor....not because she was allergic, but because she loved it so much.

Students listened to some classic French tunes (Yves Montand, Edith Piaf, Charles Trenet), replied "merci" or "non merci" when offered food and drink. For one class it was my last class with them, and they were gorgeously well behaved.

Another centrepiece ("My Nan's a florist.")

Conversation mostly centred around how much Nutella you could stuff into a criossant, "white" chocolat chaud versus "regular" chocolat chaud, and conjecture about whether I actually listened to "all that funny  old french music" in my free time.

Typical Nutella to Croissant ratio at the boys' table.

...Not dead yet!

Well, there has been just about a month of silence on this blog. That may be my own personal record. Shoddy.

This is just a quick word to say that I am still here and life continues to  unfold in challenging and interesting ways. I'll try and summarize in a "dot points" (Translation: point form). 

• Frugal living means rocking up at friends' homes for dinners. They love that.
• I resigned from my teaching job at the end of the first term in order to direct a play at the VCA. The second year acting company has their first performance season in June, and I am one of three directors working on Australian plays with these actors. It's a pretty cool gig: it's paid, it's a chance to direct well-trained young actors, and it's another opportunity to make some beautiful and interesting theatre. 
• I had a pretty fun and busy end of term teaching Drama and French to my junior students.
• I spent a working holiday in Lorne  on the term break and enjoyed an Endless Summer on and near the beach.

Stay tuned for pictures coming in the next few days. 

Bushwalking

They don't call it "hiking" here. It's "bush walking". New Zealanders call it "tramping".
In our search for free and/or dirt cheap things to do on the weekend, Nadia and I went on a short-ish bushwalk last Sunday.

We got up early and drove out of Melbourne to Cape Schanck.  The Lighthouse is a popular tourist attraction and there are a few walking trails that start from the Cape. We did a 12 km walk along the cliffs and into the bush, and then we doubled back, finishing at the lighthouse.

The morning was a bit fresh, and we were the only ones on the trail for about  half an hour...

until we saw this mob!

Cape Schanck Lighthouse

It's Fashion Week in Melbourne at the moment, and so inspired, we posed for fierce nature shots in our mega-stylish outdoor gear.

Ridiculous. 

Wedding in the Vineyard

In February, I attended the wedding of my friends,  Nafisa and Chris. It was a really lovely wedding... probably one of the nicest I've ever been to!

Chris and Naf were married at a gorgeous winery on the Mornington Pennisnula. It had been quite stormy in Melbourne all day, but it was sunny and clear here in the late afternoon. 

Guests were given Japanese paper cranes and everyone hung their cranes with a blessing and a good wish  for the couple. 

Paul and Evelyn, friends and colleagues from Aquinas. 

The menu was wonderful!!

Reviews

How happy am I about critical response to the show?! Here are the latest reviews:

The Age

TimeOut Melbourne

The Pluck