Saturday, July 30, 2011

Day 3 &4 Denham/ Shark Bay/ Monkey Mia

Shark Bay encompasses 2.2 million hectares on the far west coast with diverse ecological areas of sand, surf, and sea.  It is recognized as a World Heritage Area (Land) and World Heritage Area (Marine) because of it's natural beauty, earth's history, ecological processes, and biological diversity.  Denham is the town centre for the area and was once a pearling and fishing port.  First touristy thing we did was going to Ocean Park Aquarium.  It has about 8 or so different tanks with only locally found fish, rays, turtles and marine life.  The best part was their hourly shark feeding.  The marine biologist guide was super enthusiastic and great with our boys numerous questions.  In the video, you can see how clumsy the shark is at feeding.
That evening we traveled to the other side of the peninsula to Monkey Mia Resort to participate in an aboriginal cultural bushwalk.  Darren 'Capes' Capewell, a former footy player and aboriginal guide took us on a hike to find and eat bush tucker (nature's edibles), tell us about Shark Bay history, aboriginal songs and dreamtime stories, and we even learned a few words of the local Manga language.  Capes was awesome!  This was one the best highlights of our trip!  Watching the sun go down, sitting on the red, red sand crowded around a fire, learning about the local first peoples, cooking fish over the coals, and seeing the interest that Caleb showed was so amazing.  Jackson had a great time too.  He tooted the conch shell louder and longer than anyone else, but most of his time was spent making sand angels and digging.
Sunset at Monkey Mia

Capes, our wonderful guide burning the sweet smelling smoke of the sandalwood.
 
Collin opening up his fish after being cooked over hot coals.  YUMMY!

Caleb demonstrated how he was taught to find fresh water in the desert.
 Aboriginals used fire to crack tops of big rocks to create depressions that captured fresh rain water.

Jackson dig, dig, digging!

Kalbarri to Denham (Day 2)

    After packing up in the rain, we headed on our way through Kalbarri National Park.  Due to the rain, some of the roads to popular river look-outs were closed, but we still had the chance to stretch our legs and enjoy some beautiful scenes of the Murchison River.  At the farther end of the national park we still got to stop at Hawk's Head and Ross Graham Lookout.

Murchison River

Instead of "Where's Waldo?" - or "Where's Wally?" in Australia- it is
"Where's the Walkers?"   There are all four of us in there somewhere!

  
Quick potty break and stretch at the Billabong Roadhouse

Another interesting stop  was at Hamlin Pool to visit the Stromatolites and Shell Quarry.  The Stromatolites are considered a living fossil.  These tiny single-celled organisms are millions of years old and one of the first life forms on earth.  
Double click the picture to learn more about the Stromatolites

Newer "young" Stromatolites are still growing, adding less that a mm per year.
Older "dying" stromatolites, stained red by iron oxidization.

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

CountryWeek 2011 Video .wmv



Country Week 2011 - Above is a video created by Mr. Newton the country week coordinator for 2011.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMwCHQ2OEOI

The opening scene reflects the absolutely crazy bus experiences we had during the week in Perth.  To be brief (literally I could write for pages on just the bus mishaps) we had a driver sleep in, drivers arrive late or went to wrong stadiums, one bus with mechanical problems, and one new driver that took us on a detour through Perth suburbs and a naval base, just to return us back to original pick up.  Ironically, I, a foreigner, was giving her directions to get back to the hotel.  She was so jerky on shifting gears that we had 4 players vomit from motion sickness - needless to say that was a 90 minute bus ride from hell.

The rest of the video follows the four sports teams from our school:  Boys Basketball (First Place in C Division), Girls Volleyball (First Place in E Division), Girls Netball (Third Place E Division), and Soccer Team (Third Place D Division).

Highlights of the Week
1.  Students were well behaved and excellent ambassadors for Harvey.  They were polite, picked up after themselves, showed great sportsmanship, were friendly, and followed the rules and guidelines set out for them.  It was good to see and other coaches and coordinators even commentted on this.
2. Opening and Closing Ceremonies.  To see over 900 atheletes dressed in their school uniforms from all over Western Australian, cheering and showing pride of just being there to participate in their sport, was inspiring.
3.  Coach Walker leading his basketball team to an undefeated 7 - 0 record.  Really, I inherited a very talented team with previous experience.  So it was easy.  This small town team had previously played  matches against bigger population schools and came out with a win or a draw.   Therefore, we could of played in a higher division and possibly been just as successful.
4. Facilites were top notch.  I loved playing in the basketball stadium.  Having eights courts playing at the same time is an awesome building to host a carnival (tournament).  Challenge stadium in Perth has swimming pools, soccer pitches, football ovals, rugby, field hockey, and volleyball courts all in one area.  Truly impressive sports facilities here in Australia.

Lowlights of the Week
1, 2 and 3 all happen on Tuesday.  With the crazy bus driver getting lost, having sick kids and nearly crashing, it made us late to get back to the hotel.  Therefore, we were late for the movies, missed the food court hours, ended up watching 3 hours of THE WORST MOVIE EVER - Transformers 3 and eating McDonald's at midnight. 

P.s. All in all, I wouldn't change a thing, because it makes for such a good story. It was an awesome week and I am glad to have experienced Country Week 2011.

Sunday, July 24, 2011

Harvey to Kalbarri - Day 1 of our Aussie Road Trip

After last minute shopping, cleaning and packing the day before, we finally left our house in Harvey for our great big 4000+ km Western Australian Road Trip.  We were on the road by 5:30 am on Sunday, July 10th before the sun was up.  We had planned to get to the small fishing and resort village of Kalbarri by sundown the same day - some 720 km away along the Indian Ocean Drive.  Besides fuel and pee breaks, our first stop was the Pinnacles Desert near Cervantes.  These amazing limestone structure (some taller than a man) were created by ancient shells and marine life and over many millenia the surrounding material has been eroded by water and wind.  We visited it on a cool and windy, and somewhat wet day.  Still, it was otherwordly!
Caleb is becoming the family photographer.
 
Jackson and his 'baby' pinnacle.


The elusive Caleb came out from behind the lens.

A rock turtle in Geraldton.
North of the capital city Perth, towns become farther and farther apart and the and great openness of WA becomes more real. We continued driving to Geraldton, a port city of more than 26 000 and the regional centre for the coastal midwest.  Most travellers stock up here before heading inland to the outback or north to the coral coast.  We only hit the vistor centre and a playground on the foreshore for a stretch.  It was 13 degrees, wet and windy, but we needed some fresh air.  The kids travelled so well considering the time spent in their seats and the distance driven our first day.
A rock dolphin in Geraldton.

Saturday, July 9, 2011

Country Week 2011

Country Week is an annual state wide week long sports competetion in Perth.  There are about 900+ athletes from WA country schools competing in about a dozen diffrent sports.  Harvey Senior High School entered boys basketball and soccer teams plus girls volleybal and netball.  And a Canadian coach guided an Australian team to the 'C' division victory!  With a 7 game undefeated record the boys basketball team won their division and made Harvey proud. 

More photos, videos, and stories about Country Week will be added later.

NOTE:  We are now leaving on a 12 day 3400 km road trip along the coral coast to Kalbarri, Shark Bay, and Exmouth.  Then returning inland through Karijini National Park, the Pilbarra and the outback of Western Australia.  Therefore, we won't have many entries until the end of July.  Please come back as there will be numerous posts at that time.

Sunday, July 3, 2011

"Sir, did you pack your own bags?" "Why, yes Mr. Customs Officer, I did."

Actually.....

On Collin's arrival home, Caleb and Jackson were not only excited to see him, but also to see what goodies he brought for them from Canada.  We thought his bags seemed quite heavy, and the following video will show you why.


Love you lots Ken, and thank you for the "care package"!

Clinton James Walker, My Brother and Best Friend

It is a fear that when you travel abroad for a year that someone close to you will fall ill or pass away.  It shouldn't stop you from travelling, but it is at the back of your mind.  Sadly, my fear came to light.  My brother, at the age of 35, passed away suddenly.  He was killed in a work place accident.  Tragically, he leaves behind a beautiful wife and two small children.  I flew home within a day and spent one week with my immediate family in and around Saskatoon. 

Below is my reading from the funeral that my sister Charlene and I wrote.

Words are so hard to describe the loss of a person you hold close and dear to your heart.  I love you, Clinton and hunting and family gathers will never, ever be the same.


Thank you to our family, friends and co-workers who have supported us in numerous ways.

Childhood Memories of Clint
Clinton and I are 22 months apart in age and growing up we were close.  Peas in a pod as my dad would say.  Reflecting back as far as my memories can go.  My first memory is when I was about 3 and Clinton about 1 years old.  And my memory takes place in Bradwell, in the old trailer were we used to live. Someone shouts out that Grandma and Grandpa Walker are here.  And Clinton runs to the front window in the trailer, climbs up on top of some shelves or maybe the old style cabinet stereo, with just a t-shirt on.  Bare bum to me and full frontal to the grandparents in the driveway; waving away happily.  It is fitting that my oldest memory is of my brother.
As toddlers I am told that we were hell raisers.  Not bad or troublesome, but busy and active boys that were into everything.  It wasn’t until I became a parent myself of 2 active and busy boys that I realized how exhausted my mom must have been with a new baby girl and also raising a 4 and 2 year old.  God bless you mom.  Clinton was so busy and considered a runner as a small boy that my grandma Walker put a leash on him and my Grandma Syrjanen called him Bam Bam.  Another persona of Clint was Super Gitch.  He invented that super hero himself and his costume was a towel tied around his neck as the cape, a pair of gotches on his head and running up and down the hallway.
Growing up in Bradwell was awesome.  There were so many families with kids our age that you were never alone.  Always had someone to play football with or scrub baseball or army in the park.  Year round we had so much to do.  In spring time we had our pedal bike gang.  Once the snow melted and it left big puddles all over town, we would waddle into them with rubber boots.  Clinton was always the first to get a boot-full.  Back to the house we would go to put in a bread bag as a sock and then back into the mud.  Once me, Clinton and Charlene collected frogs in ice cream pails.  We then brought them into the house as our new pets.  Unfortunately they all escaped and weeks later we would find dried up amphibians in the basement.   The ditches would be full of run-off and we would ride our bikes into it, challenging each other not to get wet.  The game was to pedal as fast as you could go, hit the water  with your legs spread out soaring in the air and hope that had enough momentum to coast through it.  Another thing about our pedal bike gang was that the boys of Bradwell had to have a card in the spokes to make motorbike sounds.
Summers were spent outside.  As a child, Clinton was known as the dirty little boy from Bradwell.  He always had a snot run down his upper lip and usually with a black dirt sticking to it.  His kisses were wet, but loving.  Summers also brought family vacations.  The best vacation was driving in a truck camper all the way to California in 1984.  We listened to Sesame Street Sings the ABCs cassette over and over and over again and dad wanting to secretly destroy it before it destroyed his brain.  We visited Disneyland and all the tourist sights of LA.  But, one memory that stands out was seeing a homeless man in San Francisco eating a sandwich from a dumpster.  Us 3 kids were shocked and humbled as were never once complained about what food we ate for the rest of the trip.  Another trip was to South Dakota.  At Mount Rushmore, Charlene and Clinton were so bored and didn’t know what the big deal was with these guys’ heads up on a mountain wall.  Meanwhile, dad and I were reading every article, studying every museum artifact, taking our time.  Usually that would happen when we went to museums, Charlene and Clinton would literal run through it, telling us to hurry up, while me and dad doddled.
Winters were spent building snow forts and ski-dooing.  Snow would often drift from the fields and build up big snow drifts in our yard.  We would jump off our garage or house roof into them.  On cold winter mornings us three kids would fight over the register closest to the TV to watch Saturday morning cartoons in the warmth.  As we got a little older family trips turned from summer road trips to winter ski vacations.  Clinton would get so excited about the mountains that when he saw the ski runs, he would literally get the runs! Pun intended.  On snow days we would be indoors making air bands with the Hartz’s or home videos.  The absolutely funniest home video is when Clinton, Charlene and Jody Sparling were singing a bible camp song ‘Fill Up My Cup’.  Clint was nervous and to soothe himself he slid his hand down his sweat pants.  Playing with the elastic waist and what else he could grab. Later on, he punches Charlene when she show boats dancing centre stage, all the while the song played on. 
We often played on the same sport teams.  And with Clinton being the better athlete, it made me jealous that my younger brother was stronger and faster; would hit the homerun or score the goal before me.  Whatever team he played on or group of friends he was with, if you look at the pictures he always has an arm around somebody.  Not necessary the same person each time, but hugging nonetheless.  Clint as a kid would often stick up for the little guy at school and even later in life.  He was also a daredevil.  At Harry Bailey pool he was jumping off the 10 meter platform before he was 10.
As an adult one of the best memories of something we both did together was sharing the responsibilities of MC at our cousin Sherri Ann and Jason’s wedding.  We had such a fun time and enjoyed doing it together.  Another early adult memory was when we went goose hunting at the Walker farm in Borden.  Clinton was more excited about me shooting my first Canada goose than I was.  That day was one of only two times ever that I out shot my brother as he usually out shot me 9 to 1.
Charlene and I want to thank you for the memories you gave us.  Thank you for being our protector, in every area and you made sure that we were safe.  And we promise we will pass on these memories of laughter.  You are an awesome uncle and you love our kids so much.  They will truly miss you putting on the comfy clothes to get down on the ground and just playing with them.