Indomitable Russell comes to Sydney

It's been totally wonderful having my good friend, Russell, to stay in Sydney.  The last time I saw him was in April 2007 for Colleen and Steve's wedding in Cape Town which was far too long ago.

Here are some highlights of Russell's stay in Sydney:

• Lying on our bellies photographing mangrove crabs from the boardwalk at Bobbin Head.  Who cares if everyone had to step over us - we got some great shots.
• Finding our first geocache in Sydney at the Baha'i Temple in Narrabeen and finding out all about this interesting religion from the man in the bookshop.
• Practising Myburghian leaps at sunset at the Narrabeen rock pool - the two original jumpers re-united again
• Making fun of silly Australian signs
• How Mack took to Russell from first go - dogs have an instinctive knowledge of character
• Discovering a rocky outcrop high up on the cliffs above Manly with amazing views of the sea.  Once again, we had geocaching to thank for discovering this place.
• Geocaching in the dark in Manly.  We felt our way up a steep, dark path to a statue of a kangaroo on the top of a hill overlooking the town.  Feeling around in the dark under the rocks in search of the cache was a scary experience.
• Geocaching at Chinamen's beach and discovering an old, forgotten light house that I never knew existed
• Clambering over rocks covered in bright green algae in Manly in pursuit of yet another cache.
• An amazing three hour hike in the Blue Mountains down into the valley created by the amazingly beautiful Wentworth Falls.  We teamed up with another friendly chap called Terry.
• The bracing exhilaration of skinny dipping in an ice cold mountain pool and swimming beneath a beautiful waterfall.
• Discovering a rustic restaurant in the Blue Mountains and enjoying a delicious dinner of pork, followed by a decadent chocolate dessert. 
• Making lots of use of my new GPS navigation system to help with directions.  The navigation system has a sexy, female voice with an Australian accent.  We called her Sheila.
• Our raucous laughter when I showed Russell the toilet at our local park that talks to you in an American accent and plays an elevator music version of "What the world needs now is love, sweet love" while you spend a penny.
• Leaping from the top of a waterfall into the emerald, green lagoon of Watamola in the Royal National park followed by a laze on the beach.  We went there with Lisa, a friend of Russell, who has a lively, sunny personality.
• A walk along the cliffs of the Royal National Park with its beautifully shaped and colourful rock formations and doing more Myburghian leaps.
• Russell's head for heights and me feeling extremely nervous just watching him sitting and standing on the edge of extremely high cliffs at Manly and the Royal National Park.
• Bomb dropping into a mountain weir in order to wet poor Russell.  He wasn't very impressed.
• Visiting Brendan and Eva and Ella for tea and kayaking along the beach with Russell and Ella.
• Russell and Ella playing together in the sea off the rocks, followed by leaps into the pool.  Ella has great  potential as a leaper.
• Playing three great games of tennis so I could work on my forearm in order to play tennis with a girl I fancy.  My forearm is still extremely dodgy so the only way I was able to beat Russell was with tricky slice - not exactly beautiful tennis.
• Dinners at our local Thai restaurant
• Brainstorming riddles for use with my class.  Two heads are definitely better than one.
• The comment that someone left on one of Russell's easier caches that he set up a while ago: "At last a Discombob cache that didn't fill me dread or confusion."  Russell is famous in the South African geocaching community for leaving caches in very tricky places to get to.
• Playing retro cool, old arcade games on Craig's computer.

Narrabeen and Surrounds

Russell loves heights

Making fun of Australian signs

Hiking in the Blue Mountains

The Royal National Park

  

Tea at Brendan and Eva

Strange signs

Erotic boulders at Sculptures by The Sea

What saucy stones!  Great if you want to get your rocks off...

I saw these at Sculptures by The Sea 2010.

Sculptures by the Sea 2010

Sculptures by the sea is an annual event at Bondi Beach. Lots of different arty sculptures are erected along a beautiful cliff walk and the sculptures can be admired against a dramatic background of sea and rock. It attracts huge crowds, especially on its last weekend so I went to see it very early this morning. It was a gorgeous day for it - summer has at last begun in earnest after a very wet start.

Teaching English: Vision Statement

I have an invaluable and constantly growing treasure trove of multiple high quality, proven English lessons on every area for every level at my finger tips wherever I am in the world. 

Preparing is almost instantaneous.  I just print and photocopy and / or boot up and go... 

As a result, I have plenty of time for a balanced and free life and to continue to invest in my teaching resources and other skills. 

I continually invent, experiment, adapt and grow my teaching skills and materials. 

I am an extremely effective teacher / trainer and make a real difference  to my students' lives.  I build up a network and keep in contact with many of my students. 

I branch out into other forms of training, including coaching and personal development. 

I act as a consultant in teaching and training and earn significant money from my skills, materials and resources.

Exploring and photographing Australia

NSW

• Sydney
• The Blue Mountains
• Capertee Valley
• Kiama
• Forresters Beach 
• Terrigal 
• Port Stephens

Victoria

• Great Ocean Road
• Tasmania
• Melbourne

Queensland

• Northern Queensland

Northern Territory

• Uluru
• Kakadu

Western Australia

• Perth
• Rottnest

Fascinating facts about the Melbourne Cup

This is part of a piece I wrote for my students about The Melbourne Cup to get them in the mood for the race.  We stopped our lesson early and all went to the local pub to watch the race together.  Of course, needless to say, we all had a bit of a punt (I organised the class "sweepstakes") but my horse came second last.  Oh well, gambling and fishing just don't seem to be my thing...

• The Melbourne Cup is Australia's most famous horse race. The race always happens on the first Tuesday of November and it starts at 3 p.m. This is the 150th year that the Melbourne Cup will be run. So, you are here in Australia at a historic moment!

• The Melbourne Cup takes place in (yes, you guessed it!) Melbourne at the Flemington Racecourse. Horses have to be three years or older to take part.

• The Melbourne Cup is known as "The race that stops a nation." That's because just about every person in Australia stops doing whatever they are doing to drink beer or champagne and listen to or watch the race.

• A recent survey calculated that the Melbourne Cup costs the Australian economy over $ 1 billion in lost work. That's because no-one does much work on the afternoon of the race (not even English students) and it’s a public holiday in Victoria. But who cares! It's lots of fun and an excuse for Australians everywhere to have a party.

• Australians love to gamble on any day and especially on the day of the Melbourne Cup. The "sweep" (sweepstakes) is particularly popular where each person puts in some money and they are given a randomly chosen horse. The person with the winning horse wins all the money. Then they get to buy everyone drinks!

• The Melbourne Cup is not really about horse racing at all! It's about having fun and drinking champagne and eating canapés and looking beautiful in the latest fashions. It's one big fashion parade and it's all about being noticed. And often the most popular way to do that is to wear a huge, exotic looking hat.

• Sometimes the fashions at the Melbourne Cup influence what people wear all over Australia and even in other parts of the world. In 1965, everyone remembers when Jean Shrimpton, a model from England, wore a miniskirt. The skirt went just above her knees (shocking in those days!) and caused a worldwide sensation. Soon everyone was wearing them.

• The first Melbourne Cup was run in 1861 and was won by a horse called "Archer." Archer lived in Nowra in New South Wales so he had to walk 800 km's just to get to the start of the race! Seventeen horses took part and the prize was a gold watch and £170 ($ 300).

• In today's race, 24 horses will take part and the prize money is $ 7.7 million and $ 4.5 million of that goes to the winning horse. Even if you come 10th, you get $ 160,000. Over 100,000 people will attend the race.

• The Melbourne Cup is one of the most difficult and challenging races in the world. The race is run over 3,200 metres and it is a handicapped race. This means that the better the horse is, the more weight it has to carry in the race. In the 1890's there was a particularly strong horse called Carbine who won many races. He had to carry a weight of over 66 kg in the Melbourne Cup (that doesn't even include the jockey) and yet he still won the race!

• Only four horses have won the Melbourne Cup twice and only one horse (Makybe Diva in 2003) has won it three times. The distance and the handicap make it very difficult to predict who will win the Melbourne Cup. Any horse can win. Who knows, maybe it will be your horse than wins the race today. Good luck! And if you win, remember to buy your teacher a beer.

Jean Shrimpton in her “shocking” miniskirt that caused a worldwide sensation.  Get a life, people!

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