August 2005 Archives

This is my first daffodil for this year.  Last year the plant produced one flower, this year it looks like it will be two - this one and a bud that is about to open (the variety is Ice Follies).  It's in a big terracotta pot with Ranunculus and Babianas.  I planted Jonquils in the garden bed, but they don't look like they'll oblige me with flowers this year.

I've been very quiet lately.  It's likely to stay that way for at least a few more weeks yet.  I'm drowning in school work mainly - just about every waking hour seems to be filled with it.  All work and no play - very dull really.

My school has been hosting 23 students and two teachers from Japan for the last two weeks.  Last weekend I had one of the teachers, Hiroko, stay at my place while the students were billeted out with our school's students.  We had a fun time.  On Saturday, after a good sleep in, we drove to Dorrigo and visited the the Rainforest Centre in Dorrigo National Park.  Unlike last time, with Tim and Jen back in January, this time the weather was perfect with barely a cloud in the sky, and certainly no rain.  So the view from the skywalk (above) was much more scenic.

After lunch at the Rainforest Centre, we did the walk to Crystal Shower Falls and back.  We saw or heard many birds, from brush turkeys to the tiniest finches, including two birds calling back and forth to each other with calls that sounded like a baby crying!  The trees, ferns and climbers were spectacular, and the falls themselves quite scenic.  Once we returned to the Rainforest Centre we spent some time in the shop before heading back towards Armidale.

We stopped at Ebor Falls on the way back (having demonstrated that Armidale is, in fact, a sizable town by comparison to Ebor) and viewed both the upper and lower falls in the late afternoon light.  As the sun set very soon after, we did not get to stop at any of the other scenic spots on the way back to Armidale, so Hiroko has an excuse to come back some time!

On Sunday we went to the monthly markets, followed by a visit to Petersons Winery for a long and leisurely lunch with the other teacher from Japan and several other staff members from school.  They did some wine tasting, and I bought a few bottles of wine for when I have visitors and a bottle of Grand Marnier and Chocolate sauce from New Zealand (which is very yummy - I had some with strawberries and ice cream this evening).  Before returning to school we went to Coles for some essential supplies, like chocolate...

And it has taken over a week for me to get around to writing about it because school is keeping me very busy.