Bethany School

Keynote Speaker

On Wednesday last I was asked to speak about my exchange experience in Camperdown for a group of four schools and their boards. They have a dinner each year for their boards. It was a little daunting but went well. I have never been a 'keynote speaker' before and was delighted that I did not make a bags of it. Met Mark's brother Paul who had stayed in my house in Trim last March and also Alistair Fitzgerald from Dingle. I had been in training college with his brother. Just as the night finished I discovered that there was a Justin Staunton whose father was from Gort teaching in the local secondary school. He is a first cousin of a first cousin of my mother's but we are not related. Small world or what?

Footy Tips

Today was the end of the regular season. There were 22 weeks of matches and from now on it is knockout. At school we had a tipping competition whereby we had to predict the eight winners each week. Your score counted each week and this weekend as we entered the last round of matches, I was in second place. After the last match today I was in joint first. There are 12 in the group of teachers and spouses so I am looking forward to some crowing tomorrow. If I had not tipped Charlton so much, this year, I might have won. I supported them as Setanta plays for them. Well he used to until he was dropped about a month ago. I have seen him play a few times and he did not do well. His days are numbered, I would say. Wonder will he go home and win an All Ireland medal?

Federal Election 2

Still no result. Labour are expecting 72 votes and the Coalition 73. That means that they will need to have the support of 4 Independents to form a minority government. The reason for the delay is that they are counting postal votes which have come in from all over the world and have made a difference in constituencies where there are only a handful of votes between the candidates.

Speed Traps

They are everywhere. Not much speeding on the roads here because you are guaranteed to get caught. A few week ago while coming back from Melblourne at six in the morning, I came across three speed cars and that is not counting the cameras. I have met a car at least once on journeys of any length that I have made here. If they are not pulled in they can appear driving against you or behind you. Thus you can be driving on a five lane highway and if you are on the limit you are seldom passed out.

Weather

Not all barbies and sunshine here. There had been a drought in Victoria for at least the last ten years and this winter it has rained and rained, The house if a full field from a river and on Thursday last water came within 20 metres of the back garden.

Parent Teacher Interviews

Parent teacher interviews were held a few weeks ago over two days. Tuesday 2.00 to 8.00. and Thursday 2.00 to 6.oo. The business manager and myself cooked a meal for six o clock (photo) on the Tuesday. She did the soup and I did the Irish stew. ETs (emergency teacher-sometimes also called a relief teacher but let's not go there!) were employed for three teachers from 2.00 on the Tue and ditto for the remainder on the Thursday. No Staff meeting or PLT (Professional Learning Team meeting) that week. 15 minutes per interview and Marg rang a bell every 15 minutes. They did not record the interviews. Also were not able to not use the Naplan results as they have not been corrected and issued yet. They are done by the Dept and not the teachers. All that work and still not able to use the data. The interviews were a follow-up to the mid-year reports issued two weeks previously. There will be a second set of meetings (and reports) before the end of the year.

Building and other projects

Building Project (BER): What a mess. All this money came on stream in a hurry. We got $850,000 to build a new Library, and also included four withdrawal rooms and a Teacher Preparation Room. Because it was rushed in the planning stage when it finished the builder left and there were four pages of snags and unfinished items. (See the big row). Huge extra work. Also Solar Project $70,000 to install solar panels and rainwater harvesting. This was also being completed at the same time. Also land purchase. We are buying a patch of land. Really slow but afraid that it might fall through so had to get involved to move it along. Working bees to complete works that should have been included in BER. (concreting and shelving) P&F have donated $17,000 to purchase furniture. Computers purchased by a loan over five years from the CEO at 1%. Ditto for land purchase but over ten years. Extra work added to by not knowing the system. At the beginning of the year my biggest challenge was finding out where the money was , after that many aspects of the job are similar. Anxious not to deplete this year’s budget but at the same time things need to be finished. My attitude all along has been to drive the school forward just like I would at home. Not just a caretaker. Have had to handle issues that in theory I could have turned my back on but I couldn’t. I have had some serious stuff happen but the beauty was that I had someone to guide me all the way especially the CEO psychologist and consultant.

Federal Election

Saturday 18th: For the past few weeks it has been all the go on Telly if not so noticeable at local level. No posters on poles with just a few signs here and there. The party in power are the Labour Party and they changed leaders just prior to calling the election. Kevin Rudd was replaced by Julia Gillard as the poles pointed towards an election loss. There was an immediate swing to the Government which gradually levelled off. Now it is neck and neck. The coalition is led by Tony Abbot who is not very popular. I enjoy listening to him as he is great at slinging the mud. Aussie politicians are allowed to say stuff that would not be allowed at home. It is very entertaining. He is a great opposition leader but would not be a popular Prime Minister. Polling finishes in a few minutes and it is too close to call. I think that Julia will get it for the Labour Party in the end. They have managed to save Australia from the recession though that does not seem to count too much. They should live in Ireland for a while!
I took a trip downtown to see what it was like. No posters or other signs of an election around the town. Just a few posters immediately outside the polling booths and inside were about twenty booths. You just walked in and gave your name and address. No ID or voting card was requested. I could have pretended that I was Mark and voted (I didn’t!) Everybody votes as there is a $100 fine for not voting. Even if you are abroad, you must vote or you will be fined.

Interesting names of the local candidates included: Purcell; Tehan (Dan-who won); McNamara and O Brien.

Camp

Monday 16th: Grades Five and Six went to Rose’s Gap in the Grampians on Camp this week. I took a trip up to join them for a day and a half. The scenery is spectacular, especially as there is such a contrast with the long, straight roads through lowland, which is more of the norm in Victoria. One tends to forget that there are mountain ranges and in north east Victoria you can even ski.
The kids stayed in cabins and the teachers also. The teachers' cabins were a little more spacious and even had heat, unlike the poor kids. It went down to about two degrees at night and only got to a high of 13 during the day. But thank God it did not rain. They chose not to go in the summer as it is too hot and snakes and bushfires are more of a danger. Bushfires had swept through the area three years ago and you could still see the evidence as you drove through the forests, especially on my way back which was through the bush on a dirt track, for the first 15k.
Activities included abseiling, giant flying fox, canoeing, rope games and a giant swing. Fairly typical of adventure centres at home. I only had the courage to do the flying fox and felt a little left out as every child and every teacher and parent tried everything. The Aussies are great for having a go.

Haircut in Bendigo

Saturday 14th: Journey up on Saturday morning about four hours. Fields and fields of floods and road surfaces damaged. Cold breeze but a high of 14 degrees. It is a colder 14 here because of the windchill factor. Green wind and rain. Stopped at Beaufort asked if Irish connection could not find any. Not a Navan Man in sight! Road signs on the way up full of Sullivans, Moroneys etc.
Met Peter O Neill who had exchanged in the early eighties to Alaska. Lunch at the Leadlight Café met all the gang. Of all the weekends together, the most yet attended this one. Then a tour. 1851 more gold that any where else in Oz. None since the fifties yet still number seven in the world in terms of gold mined. Mr Meyers was a native of Bendigo and his was the first Department Store to have a sale in Oz. His stores are now nationwide.
Not too many Irishmen can make the claim above. Surprised that the hairdressers closed by four on Saturdays. I was their last customer.
Our hosts had organised a Bush Dance for us and it was attended also by many of their friends. The hall was even in the bush, i.e. outside the city limit! Drinks and finger food were also provided. The band were called The Emu Creek Bush Band and before each dance they talked us through the dances and ‘called’ them as we did them. It was like being back in the Gaeltacht learning the Céilí. Indeed many of the movements were similar, the rules (eg lady on the man’s right, direction of circles and waltz) were also similar and of course the music was either Irish or adapted from Irish. It was all very familiar. I had forgotten my camera so am depending on some of the gang to email me. Video would have been nice . I have taken a lot of video this year but have not had the time to edit it and put it on the blog. The dance started at seven and finished at eleven. To finish all the different countries came out and sang their National Anthem. I resisted the temptation to sing ‘Danny boy’ and proudly stood on my own to sing Amhráin na BhFiann. It wasn’t easy, in front of a crowd but Padraig Mac Piarais would have been proud of me!
Sunday morning I took a lie in and as I was eating my breakfast the bird of the house landed on my shoulder and stayed there as I eat. Another first. Hope that photo arrives.

Met with Sandy (fellow from Canada) and we did Mine Tour, Talking Tram and Chinese Museum. The Mine tour took nearly two hours and I learned everything I ever needed to know about Gold Mines but was afraid to ask! We even got to go down in the actual shaft lift used by the miners and to wear the helmets with the lights.
The Talking Tram was a hop on hop off city tour but the city is quite small and there was not too much to encourage you to hop off. It was difficult to hear also because of the noise that the tram makes.
Chinese Museum was interesting. It outlined the migration of the Chinese to Victoria in the various Gold Rushes. It was incredible to think that the Gov introduced a $10 entrance fee tax for Chinese only, in the 1850’s. To avoid this tax, many landed in other states and walked over four hundred miles to get to Bendigo. There were many artifacts, the most notable being the longest dragon in the world.
Each place we went to people offered to take a photo of Sandy and me. Ironic when you consider the teasing that I gave Ann, when we were travelling, as she kept asking people to take a photo of us.

Statistics/Census 2

Friday 13th August. This was done last Friday (see posting). Today it took about an hour and a half to recheck, when it came back from the Dept. More work for me than last week but still an awful lot less than at home. So, after a week all the stats were up and checked. No delay on grants here or payments based on last year’s numbers.

School Satisfaction Survey Part Two

Friday 13th. The closing date was extended to today. Only 23 out of the sixty families returned the surveys and we posted them to Melbourne. Staff and pupils did it online. Not all staff completed the forms as it was not compulsory and about 80% pf the pupils did it. I will let you know how it went. It is a regular occurrence and we can compare the results to last years.

Oisin is gone.

Thursday 11th: Oisin left yesterday and I am back on my own. He was here for eleven weeks and managed to find work as well as having a holiday. The house is very quiet and has lost that ‘lived in’ feeling. I dropped him to Melbourne airport after school, (3.5 hour journey) we had a meal on the way and then I turned around and headed back. Tired.

Bin Night

Monday is bin night. It is the same as home. Rubbish is collected every week and the recycling bin every second week. They don't have different coloured bins but rather different coloured lids. When I came first I noticed that there were a lot of knocked over bins the next day and this was explained by the fact that the collection is automated. The yoke just dumps them back. It can't collect them unless they are upright to begin with and the non-handle side facing the road. They are collected here at eleven at night, which is strange that such a racket is allowed in a built-up area.

Statistics/Census Day

Today was Census Day in school. It is similar to the end of September in Irish schools when we have a month to submit statistics to DES on which are based the grants issued before the end of the school year and the employment of teachers for the following year. It is a bit of a saga at home filling in the forms and cross checking everything.
Here, similar detail is needed but because all the systems are computerised and updated as they happen, it was just a question of updating what changes occurred in the last week (eg a pupil leaving) a quick cross-check on everything and click a button. The Dept already had the information as the details are live on their website. The school business manager was a little busier during the week and today we cross checked everything in 30 minutes. By the end of the day all Australian schools had submitted their statistics. They will be contacted in the next week if there are any queries or errors. Oh joy!

The Big Row

We have just completed a new library and withdrawal rooms in school. They were handed over four weeks ago but the builders left a bit of a mess and there were some incomplete works. A final amount of $200,000 was due and then there was a bond for the snags. I had two long walkarounds, identifying snags and incomplete works, with the architect but the builder did not attend. Nothing was happening so we withheld the last cheque. The number of visits and phone calls that I got were unreal. Everybody got very excited. Apparently that is not the way they do things here! Worse still, I had let it be known at site meetings that I once withheld money from a builder for three years, in Ireland. Not just the builder but the architect and even the CEO were on my case. "That is not how we do things here!" was the mantra. "We use the bond and after a year you can cash that if need be to complete the works." We ( I obviously had the backing of the Board) were breaking a contract and liable to pay interest charges on the money due.

Of course we were not (technically) refusing to pay the money but rather "investigating the issuance of the completion cert"! They got on to the Chairman of the Board and he had to calm down and reason with 'That Mad Irishman'. Major panic all around not helped by the fact that I would be out of the country before anything got to court. I think that I was the only one that was not mad. So we had three weeks of nothing and then a week of work like you could not have imagined. By Friday, all the major outstanding works were completed. We handed over the cheque on Thursday, as a goodwill gesture having completed our investigations on the completion cert. The Chairman of the Board was thanked profusely for sorting it out!

It was great craic.

The Great Ocean Road

Sunday 1st August
We took the scenic route back to Warrnambool, to take in the remainder of The Great Ocean Road. We had got as far as Lorne back in March. The day started out as a pleasant sunny day but got steadily worse, as you can see from the photos.
Construction of The Great Ocean Road began in 1919 using thousands of returned service men, a massive job undertaken with only picks, shovels and horsedrawn carts. Covering over 400Km it was finally opened in 1932. It was funded privately and charged a toll for the first ten years when it was handed back to the state who abolished the toll, as the road was paid for. Now there is a novel idea for the M50!

The Twelve Apostles

It was freezing and so windy I thought I would blow over!! Found on the famous Shipwreck Coast which has claimed many lives, the Twelve Apostles stand guard in front of rugged cliffs, towering 70 metres above sea level. Formed by the oceans weathering effect on the soft limestone over thousands of years, these unique formations are one of the most photographed natural attractions on The Great Ocean Road.

Lock Ard Gorge

The gorge is named after the ship Loch Ard which ran aground on nearby Muttonbird Island on 1 June 1878 approaching the end of a three-month journey from England to Melbourne . Of the the fifty-one passengers and crew, only two survived: Tom Pearce, a ship's apprentice, and Eva Carmichael, an Irishwoman immigrating with her family, both of whom were 18 years of age. According to memorials at the site, Pearce was washed ashore, and rescued Carmichael from the water after hearing her cries for help. Pearce then proceeded to climb out of the gorge to raise the alarm to local farmers who immediately set into plan a rescue attempt. We had seen the re-enactment on Flagstaff Hill in Warrnambool last week. Pearce was a young man at the time, who went on to survive another shipwreck and died in his forties of a heart attack. Eva returned to Ireland shortly afterwards but in a steamship!

London Arch /London Bridge

London Arch is a natural arch in the Port Campbell National Park. The arch is one of the tourist attractions along the Great Ocean Road near Port Campbell. This stack was formed by a gradual process of erosion , and until 1990 formed a complete double-span natural bridge.The arch closest to the shoreline collapsed unexpectedly on 15 January 1990, leaving two tourists stranded on the outer part: they were rescued by a helicopter. I remember seeing it on the news at the time. The two were husband and wife except not married to each other! (I know this quiet spot where no one will find out!) Prior to the collapse, the arch was known as London Bridge because of its similarity to its namesake.

The Wallabies versus The All Blacks

The All Blacks killed them. It was great to be able to watch with Matt, Cheryl and the kids. The Hakka was pretty impressive but the rugby was sublime. If the World Cup was in the morning there would be no team to touch The All Blacks in their current form. Food poisoning and World Cup nerves are the only things that could beat them!!!

Titanic Exhibition

Saturday we visited the Melbourne Museum where the Titanic artifact exhibition was being held. The exhibition featured real artifacts, room re-creations and personal histories. Each gallery highlighted a different chapter in the compelling story of Titanic’s maiden voyage. This exhibition has been running since 14th. May and is still drawing in huge crowds with bookings every 15 minutes. The problem with so many people it meant queues and congestion due to the fact that there was so much information to be read. This did take away from the overall experience.
More shopping followed by a meal in Max's and then we met Matt, a fellow Exchange Teacher from Canada, who had match tickets for us.

Mary Poppins

Friday July 30th.

Another trip to Melbourne, that makes about six in the last five weeks. Tried to book tickets for Mary Poppins months ago but it was booked out. The Gala Opening was last night, when all the celebs went and tonight was the first night for the general public. It started at eight and we pulled up outside the door at twenty to eight. I was double parked while Ann went inside to see were there any tickets. While she was inside the person on my inside pulled out and I got to park right outside the door. Then we also got really good tickets but it was so tight that we had to rush to get in before the curtain up. Sometimes things just work out. I was expecting the show to be good but it was very good. We knew all the songs and the choreography and special effects were amazing.

School Satisfaction Survey Part One

Monday July 26th: About a week ago I got an email telling me about a survey that the school was asked to participate in due to the fact that we will be having a school review next year. It came in the usual plethora of emails that come on a daily basis most of which I delete without opening. Luckily I had not deleted it. I presume that principals familiar with the system would recognise important ones as they come in, but I have deleted more than my fair share of important ones already.

Then on Friday last this big box arrived with 60 large white envelopes and fourteen little envelopes with windows and names. It also had a 'Survey Administration Pack'. I read this and was none the wiser. There was no cover letter for those of us who could not find where they had saved the email.

Then today an email arrived with Student IDs, whatever they were. I was unable to open the email so contacted the sender four times to get my questions answered. For example the staff were to be given their surveys at a staff meeting and those not in attendance given them later. All have to be back by August 6th so I spent the morning finding out that as we have no staff meeting before then just to give them out. Parents and students are to be selected randomly to take part. The idea is that parents, students and staff fill out questionnaires to 'identify things that could be improved and things that are already appreciated.' Another example of lack of clarity, was a new teacher did not have a form and another came for Mark. More phone calls and I now understand where to get a form for the teacher and that I can complete Mark's form. There is also a website to compare results of previous surveys and where you can check the response rate so that you can remind those who have not completed the 'voluntary' survey. Another example of the overload of bureaucracy here.

Another email arrived to tell me that the survey website was now 'live', which I eventually discovered meant that the online surveys could now be completed. This was then followed by another email from the CEO apologising for the number of surveys. This is the fourth one that some schools have done this year.
[Principals' End of Contract Review; Catholic Identity and Drug Education Program!]

So I now have to randomly select 60 families and 40 students (we have 80 families and 138 students).
All to a deadline of Friday August 6th.

Sydney

Fri: Got off school early again and headed to Melbourne for another Tiger Airways flight. They are the equivalent of Ryan Air and the flight to Sydney took about an hour and a quarter.
Arrived late so a rush to get a meal before the restaurants closed. Massive queue for taxis at the airport. White taxis here as distinct form Melbourne where they are all yellow. Hotel very central within ten minutes walk of Darling Harbour and Central Quay. Meal in a nice Italian restaurant in Darling Harbour. Left two $50 bills on the plate and the waitress lost one. She came back to say that I had only put one on the plate. Lucky for me someone picked it up and handed it in. Don't know what I would have done otherwise. It would have been a good test of the customer always being right. Pouring rain, unable to explore so took a taxi back to Menziez Hotel.

Sat: Train to Central Station and Hop on Hop off tour to Bondi. 45 mins in Bondi. Much smaller than I imagined but the surf was really good. Photos and souvenirs and back on bus.

Got off at Central and hopped on City tour. The Rocks: Nice market and had late breakfast in ‘Pancakes on the Rocks’. Little gem of a place. Good food and good value, signs on as there was a long queue outside.

Walked to Circular Quay to find that there was a free cruise of the harbour but we did not have time to take it. Got back on Hop and toured for another 45 mins to end up five minutes walk from where we started, at The Opera House.

Great photos of the Opera house with the bridge (‘Coat Hanger’) in the background. Walked back to Circular quay and booked harbour cruise for later.

Sydney is a more European looking city than Melbourne. Melb has streets mapped out like American cities but Sydney does not have the simple grid-like streets. There are bridges and tunnels everywhere and huge skyscrapers side by side with historic buildings. It is all very squashed.
The Harbour Cruise with dinner and entertainment was wonderful. It has got to be the best in the world. They were advertising for New Year's Eve already but I was afraid to ask the price!

Sun: We spent until three o' clock back at Central Quay and The Rocks Aroma Festival. The festival was good and all the better as it was free. Coffee outside The Opera House overlooking Sydney Bridge wasn't bad either.
Left for the Airport around three but did not get back to Warrnambool until after eleven, for the third Sunday in a row. Pity we are three and a half hours from the airport.

Tassie Signs and Just-a- Minute Quiz

That's short for Tasmania, btw.





Quiz: Can you make sense of the 'original'? Please enter your answers in the comment box below.

Sunday in Hobart

TF Meaghar and Smith O Brien

I am relying on memory again here but the two lads were deported instead of hung. They were in reality, as both were landed gentry, treated as gentleman prisoners. Even though they were in two separate areas and not allowed to fraternise they used to meet in the middle of a certain bridge for Sunday tea, each sitting on their own side of the centre line. This may have been the bridge, I will need to check "The Great Shame" when I get home (written by the Australian Thomas Kennelly of Schindler's Ark fame).

Anyway Smith O Brien because he refused to sign a bond promising not to attempt to escape, ended up in Port Arthur but had his own cottage and most certainly did not experience any of the hardships of the other prisoners. Thomas Francis Meaghar was able to move about within his designated area and met and married a Miss Catherine Bennett in 1851. The lads sent a boat from The States in 1852 and TF escaped from Tasmania to New York where he received a hero's welcome. He wife was at the time four months pregnant but their son died aged four months of influenza. He was buried in St John's Church in Richmond.

Shortly afterwards his wife left for Ireland and from there joined her husband in New York. She returned to Ireland to TF's family in Waterford due to ill health (or some say estrangement) and died there in 1854 at the tender age of 24 years. T.F. went on to become a General in the American Civil War, commanding the famous Irish Brigade (I am a Civil War buff!) He obviously could not return to Ireland so after the war he became Governor of Montana. He drowned falling off a river boat on the Missouri River in 1867 but his body was never recovered. Some say that he fell overboard, some say that he was pushed and others say that he was blind drunk and fell overboard (I told you that I am a buff!) Thus this tragic family were separated not only in life but also in death. One lies in a grave in Richmond, Tasmania; the other in Waterford Ireland and the Irish patriot in the bed of the Missouri. What a sad story.

Tasmania

Saturday 17/07/2010 16 oC Warm & Sunny

Hobart Market





Early Saturday morning after a very substantial breakfast we took a stroll around Hobart's Salamanca Market. This was no Fairy House Market, much more 'upmarket' with lots to tempt the customers. They even accepted credit cards (see photo, click to enlarge). Unfortunately as we only had an allowance of 7Kg’ we could only buy some postcards (remember them?) to send home.

Tour of Hobart and Port Arthur
At 11 pm. We met Martin our guide for the day and set off with 11 other tourists on our Mega Day Tour and Ghost Tour of Port Arthur, which included Richmond Colonial Village, Australia’s oldest bridge, Pirates Bay Lookout, Eaglehawk Neck, Tasman Arch & Devil’s Kitchen walk, Port Arthur historic Site by day and guided ghost tour by night. There was a lot of Tasman's this and Tasman's that so there was no doubting his importance or legacy. There was also a noticeable absence of indigenous names, most of the street and town names were British, there was no doubt that this place was set up as a home away from home.

Richmond

Quaint and picturesque but what interested me most was St. John's church and the connection with Thomas Francis Meaghar-more later. Nice bridge on the way out of town.

Oldest Bridge in Australia - 1823

Tasmanian Devil

The Tasmanian Devil is now an endangered species. It is more like a little pig and an ugly one at that! It squeals worse than any pig ever did. More than half of all wild devils have perished.
Tasmanian devil facial tumour disease is a unique contagious cancer, which is always fatal.
It is transferred directly by biting during feeding & mating.

Tasman’s Arch & Devil’s Kitchen
After thousands of years of erosion Tasman’s Arch & The Devil’s Kitchen were formed. Real scary standing here!!!

Eagle Hawk Dog Line
At Eagle Hawk neck a line of 18 ferocious dogs extended across the narrow isthmus preventing any intending escapees.

Port Arthur

This was an eerie place not least because of it's recent tragic history commemorated in the Memorial Garden. On Sunday 28th. April 1996, a tragic chapter was added to Port Arthur’s history when a gunman took the lives of 35 people and physically wounded 19 others in and around the Port Arthur Historic Site. The memorial garden incorporates the shell of the Broad Arrow Café, where 20 people were killed during the massacre.

But its fame extends way back to the mid nineteenth century. Port Arthur was named after Van Diemen's Land lieutenant governor George Arthur. The settlement started as a timber station in 1830, but it is best known for being a penal colony. Some cynics (like the tour guide in Hobart Prison) say that it was set up there because of the value of the timber.

From 1833, until the 1850s, it was the destination for the hardest of convicted British and Irish criminals, those who were secondary offenders having re-offended after their arrival in Australia. Rebellious personalities from other convict stations were also sent here, a quite undesirable punishment. In addition Port Arthur had some of the strictest security measures of the British penal system. A kind of Alcatraz.

One example is the "Separate Prison" system based on Pentonville prison in London. The Separate Prison (sometimes known as The Model Prison) was completed in 1853 and extended in 1855. The 80 cell prison was built in the shape of a cross with radial exercise yards around a central hall and chapel.It signalled a shift from physical punishment to psychological punishment. It was thought that the hard corporal punishment, such as whippings, used in other penal stations only served to harden criminals, and did nothing to turn them from their immoral ways. Under this system of punishment the "Silent System" was implemented in the building. Here prisoners were hooded and made to stay silent, this was supposed to allow time for the prisoner to reflect upon the actions which had brought him there. If you ask me it was a worse punishment. Outside this building was "Quigley's Cage" but I could not find out any information about it. Also saw 'Smith-O Brien's Cottage' one of the leaders of the 1848 Rebellion who was 'imprisoned' there. If my memory serves me correctly seven Young Irelanders were transported to Van Deemen's Land and they were called 'The Van Deemen Seven'.

The peninsula on which Port Arthur is located is a naturally secure site by being surrounded by water (rumoured by the administration to be shark-infested). The 30m wide isthmus of Eaglehawk Neck that was the only connection to the mainland was fenced and guarded by soldiers, man traps and half-starved dogs. (see above).

New Zealand Signs and Just-a-Minute Quiz

Quiz: What is unusual about the picture below? Please answer in the comment box.

Last Day in Auckland

It was a little sad leaving Leonard and Denise-the perfect hosts as usual. Looking forward to seeing them again in October when they are due to visit me here.

Three and a half hour flight followed by a drive of the same duration. Home after eleven-school the next day! Tired.

Saturday July 10th

Mount Eden 8 oC

It was a beautiful sunny day today with a clear blue sky so we headed up Mount Eden for a birds eye view of Auckland. From the top of Mount Eden, which is an extinct volcano it is possible to see the sea on both sides of Auckland and crater after crater, all dormant none extinct. If one ever goes off there will be some mess! None are due to do so for another 100 years(see below)

Mt. Eden, Vocanic Cone
Auckland has 49 volcanoes. They include the citie's 11 volcanic cones, most famously One Tree Hill (U2 wrote a song about One Tree Hill), Mt Eden & Mt. Hobson.

Eden Park Rugby Grounds

Rangitoto

Rangitoto is the youngest of Auckland's volcanoes and it is predicted that it will erupt within the next 100 years.
Did some last minute shopping and then headed out to Plato's Restaurant to watch the All Blacks play South Africa in the rugby. We were unable to get tickets as Eden Park is being refurbished and there was a shortage of tickets. The next best thing was a meal and front row for a big screen viewing. The ABs won and won well and the atmosphere in the Restaurant was electric. They really love their rugby here.

Friday July 9th

3 oC and moving up to a high of 12 oC as we drove north.

Five hours back to Auckland but no hurry on us. The drive was very picturesque and we stopped at Kia Café for lunch and eat the most wonderful food, read the paper and crashed for an hour and a half. About twenty minutes later we stopped again at the glow worm caves. I stopped at the local I-Sight and was wondering why that lady in the parallel queue was smiling at me: turns out that we sat beside her on the flight from Melbourne. A teacher attending conference-the Aussie teachers seem to head to New Zealand a lot for conferences. Anyway, this is where I tell you that we joined her family and spent the day together, swapped phone numbers and email addresses and promised to meet again some time in the future. But we didn’t! Just a quick ‘hello’ followed but ‘fancy meeting you here’ and we were both on our way. I don’t even know her name.
The tour of the caves was very interesting, better then Alliwee Caves at home and that is saying something. The narrow passageways eventually open up to a massive cavern and I felt like singing-but I didn’t. The guide even invited any of us to and I was going to sing ‘A Mhuire Mháthair’ which would have been very appropriate as it is a Maori tune, but I chickened out. Next time! We exited the caves through the river’s exit and observed the glow worms on the roof of the cave. The whole experience surpassed my expectations and the remainder of the journey to Auckland passed quickly due to the feelgood factor of very pleasant days activities. Leonard had lent us his car which was a great bonus.