Wollongong Diocese Athletics Trial

Sam did it again! He got 1st place in the shot put at the Wollongong Diocese Athletics Meet. He improved his throw by over 1 meter. At regionals, he got 8.03 meters and today he was at 9.16 meters. Today, it was the best 8 kids out of 29 schools in the Wollongong Diocese. And he got 1st place! (can you tell we are a bit proud?)

He will go on to the New South Wales MacKillop Athletic Carnival --which is all Catholic Schools in New South Wales (our state, there are 7 states in Australia) on September 5th. He will represent the Wollongong Diocese and will get a Wollongong team uniform.

If he gets to go on, he will go to the New South Wales Primary Schools Sports Athletics Carnival (NWS PSSA) representing the Catholic school team: MacKillop Team, named for Mary Mackillop, who is in the process of becoming Australia's 1st saint.


Sorry no pictures, my photo did not turn out that great.

South Coast Athletics Trial

Sam got 1st place in shot put when he represented St. Francis Xavier at the South Coast Athletics Trial.
He is #9. He threw the shotput 8.03 meters. That is 26ft 1 inch. The shot put is 2 kg or about 4.5 pounds.
He got a blue ribbon and a letter inviting him to participate in the Wollongong Diocese meet on Tuesday.
Sam and Alexandra. Alex gets to participate in the next level in 100m.

Sam turns 10!

Sam's birthday was August 1st and we had his party on 08-08-08 at Hangdog an indoor climb venue in Wollongong. John, Sam and Kait were checking it out before everyone else arrived.
With parents belaying the kids climbed up really high. This is Sam on his way up.
That is Kait way up there showing no fear!
Sam is free climbing with no belayer.
Everyone takes a break for pizza, cake and icecream. Bronte and Kait are on the right and Isabel, Jackson, Sam, Brock and Alex are on the left. Liam and Rhys had to leave a bit early. They had an awesome time!

Carolyn lost her front tooth in Australia!! She was determined it was going to come out while she was here. She wanted to find out if the Australian Tooth Fairy would bring Australian money. On Thursday, the last full day they were here--Carolyn lost her tooth! She was so happy!

We arrived back in Wollongong on Monday night. On Tuesday we went to Symbio Wildlife Park, so Carolyn could feed the kangaroos and pet the Koala's. Wednesday, we did the Southern Highlands. We went to a winery, saw Fitzroy Falls, Belmore Falls, Minnamurra Rainforest, and Kiama Blowhole. Thursday, we had breakfast on the beach and walked around the lighthouse. We had an early evening as we had to take them to the airport early on Friday morning. It was a tearful goodbye. It was so great to have the Moon's here. They are such great friends and it was awesome to share our Aussie experience with them.

More photos from the disposable underwater cameras. We did find out that to get the brilliant colors that we see of the reef in the media, you need to dive at night with underwater lamp.
All of those "dashes" in the background are a school of fish.

The colors of the fish were so brilliant. A school of these blue and yellow ones swam up from behind Sam and I, they swam around us and then moved on into the distance. They were about 8 inches long.

The shapes, designs and colors of the coral was extremely varied.

Underwater--really down under!

We bought some underwater cameras so we could record some of what we saw. The colors are not as vivid but it will give you an idea. This is Sam --he and I were buddies.
This is coral-look to the right and you can see a giant clam. It was about 2 feet long.
Double click on these to see fish and other things on the the reef.
The fish swam right up to us. Sam just reached out and petted them.

At the top, there are little yellow fish. Sorry I do not know the correct names --there were so many different types.

The Great Barrier Reef

We took a boat from the resort out to the Great Barrier Reef on Saturday. On our way we saw lots of whales. They are hard to photograph but, if you double click on the photo you can see a whale blowing.
After about a 1 1/2 hour trip we arrived at the Reef. We parked along side this anchored platform called reefworld. We were given snorkle gear, wet suits and sent off to see what we could see. WOW! This was truly the highlight of the trip and absolutely amazing.

Here we are paddling around and looking at the reef. I tried to get photo of the brilliant turquoise blue colors of the reef. The colors don't show up well through the camera. It is something I will never forget--the intensity of the blues as far as I could see.
This is a photo of our trip home as the sun began to set. We have returned from the open sea and are back in the Whitsunday Island Group. Captain Cook discovered these Islands on the fifth Sunday after Easter--Pentacost or Whit-sunday in England. So he named them the Whitsunday Islands.

Everynight, dinner had a different theme. One night we were to wear all white. Barb and I hatched a plan to wear our bed sheets as we did not have anything else to wear that met the theme. Kait and Carolyn got into our antics too. We definately got some interesting looks from other guests--but after a few vodka tonics who cares! Other themes were pirates, circus, all black, elegant, crazy hair etc. We had evening entertainment that was fun. The resort was all inclusive--so all food, drink, activities were part of our package. It was really nice to relax and not stress about where or what to feed the families. The kids loved the unlimited slushees and milkshakes.
Sam and Helen tried windsurfing. Both did well but found it more difficult than they anticipated.
Helen, Barb, and I enjoyed the pool bar. John, Shaun and Don did also!
Sam and John are set to go kayaking. They went out several times but on this trip they saw sea turtles. Sam went kayaking with kids club to another island and then hiked to the islands beach.

The resort photographer posed the girls, Kait, Carolyn and Emma at the pool bar. The kids could go in and out of age appropriate kids clubs throughout the day. They did archery, trapeze, crafts, hikes, golf or just hang out and watch TV in the teen room.

Whitsunday, Lindeman Island

On Sunday Morning, July 20th, we headed to Lindeman Island, Whitsunday, Queensland. From the right front Helen, Alex, Emma, Carolyn, Kait and Sam. In the back, Shaun, Don, Barb, Sharon, and John.
This is the view from reception. This was an absolutely magical part of the world. Tropical island is within a larger group of islands. Most of the islands are deserted and all are part of the Australian Royal National Parkland.
This is the resort from the water. It only had 250 rooms and was perched on the edge of Lindeman Island.
Kait took this photo on a hike to the top of Mount Oldfield, the highest point on the island.
I took this one on a rainy day hike to coconut beach. Barb, Don and I hiked to this beach and I swear there was not a single noise. The rain was starting so the birds were quiet, the ocean still as there was no wind.

The Moon's are here!

Barb, Don and Carolyn arrived in Sydney on July 18th. We had a hotel in Sydney and so after settling in at about 8 am, we toured Sydney. we walked down to Darling Harbour and took a ferry to Circular Quay.
Kait and Sam were so happy to see Carolyn! I think they just could not stop hugging her for at least an hour.
At Circular Quay, the kids made music with the aboriginal didgeridoo player!
We took another ferry to Watson's bay and hiked around the outside of the "heads of Sydney Harbour" It was beautiful. Then, we took a city bus to Bondi Beach. Here we are having fish and chips at Bondi Beach. Of course we order way too much. The fried fish and fries come wrapped in paper and are traditional Australian beach fare.
Carolyn was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO excited to see the ocean. We gave the kids permission to walk down to the water and get there feet wet. I did not worry as it is the middle of winter here and about 68 degrees. Carolyn went all of the way in! Her jeans were soaked. Here she is in her underwear very happy. Barb had to get her new clothes at a surf shop at the beach.