Dear Valued AHVISE Community,
This blog post we are going to share a photo story from one of our wonderful AHVISE Volunteers, Margot. This is her experience on a placement North of Charters Towers, QLD through our program. Enjoy.
Birth of Milkshake calf – This calf was eagerly awaited as the
mother – Mary, had been a poddy calf for the girls a few years earlier. The
tradition in the family is that the name of any calf must start with the
same letter as the mother – hence Mary —- Milkshake (Milkshake was a
heifer)
Cookies birthday – I had a birthday whilst with the family and the
girls worked for several days before hand on making cards and various
presents. It was a wonderful surprise that morning at breakfast to be
presented with headbands, bracelets, a dreamcatcher made from a horseshoe
and cards. Very thoughtful and caring girls. *( My nick name is Cookie)
Walk with the girls – We went for many walks with the girls after
school and on weekends. They had fantastic imaginations and made up fabulous
stories as we walked. Creepy Gully was one of these special places they had
on the property and in this photo they are in their “kitchen” making “soup”
out of grass/bark/moss/flowers etc.
Cold start to school – The weather did get quite cold for a week
towards the end of June and the girls on this day donned
socks/jacket/dressing gown and obviously Gary was cold as well – note beanie
and jacket. We usually started school outside with a PE session followed by
their spelling/times tables on the decking.
Georgie at the desk – Georgie working on her multi-modal project,
which she received an A for.
Greenvale Campdraft – the mother – Maree was working at the Greenvale Campdraft with 6 other mums. They cooked and served all the meals for 4 days as a fund raiser for the ICPA. The family came as well and Dad drove the truck that delivered the cattle for the Campdraft. So … we went to help out with the meals and enjoyed looking around Greenvale and watching some of the events. It was a crazy 4 days though and we were all REALLY tired when we arrived back home. Great experience and we really admired the commitment of this group of Mums to raise the necessary money for ICPA.
Photo of the cattle – for us these 2 magnificent beasts seem typical of stations in FNQ.
One of the many walks we did while at Lynden Hills – This dam was just too inviting for the girls to stay out of – the feel of mud between the toes would have been lovely 😊
Love this photo – I would call it “mud boots”.
Obviously, this photo was taken after the previous one – when the girls got out of the dam.
This is Georgie jumping into a small inlet of the dam – just enough water to make a good splash. The 3 girls all tried to make a big splash and this photo just typified the result.
Ravenswood Township – Some weekends we visited local sights and one of
those was the old goldmining township of Ravenswood. We love these quirky
little places and these “models” gave us a laugh.
The Spurdle girls all rode horses regularly and one day Brianna showed
us some of her skills. This was one of them.
This rock was found by Georgie on one of our walks on the weekend on
the family property – to Mt Success. The shape of the rock certainly
encapsulates our feelings of outback Australia and volunteering for isolated
families.
Old cattle yards – Another weekend walk – to the river and looking at
old station ruins. Again this typifies the outback for us, lots of memories
and reminders of boom & bust.
Georgie practising for the long jump event – at home on the
roadway with a board dug into the ground by Gary (Tutor)
Eldest girl Brianna winning the 400M race at the school Athletics.
This was one of a number of events Brianna did well in.
Georgie winning the High Jump event at the school Athletics. Post
story to this photo – Georgie then went on to compete at the regional sports
in Townsville and then another round in Cairns. As she kept winning – she
was selected as part of the Primary School Athletics team that is in
Melbourne as I type this email. She will compete on Monday- 26th Nov – in
the 10 years high jump. What a story from a girl who has had no formal
training and just practises in the paddock!!
At the end of the Athletics sports the LOTE teachers put on a musical
performance. This was one of the staff members playing a “drum” – an old
tyre covered VERY tightly with clear Packing tape (I think). It made a great
sound too. The things we experience when tutoring – wouldn’t miss it for
anything.