It’s the return of my Australia chronicles! Now, I recognize that it’s a little ridiculous that I was in Australia in November, and its now June and I haven’t finished the blogs about the trip. But, it’s also kind of nice because not only has anticipation been obviously mounting, but it keeps the trip fresh in my mind and heart all these months later. I have to say, as I’ve just begun to scrapbook this entire trip, I’ve been running across a lot of my Australia souvenirs, and every time I do, my heart gets a little gooey. But now, on to Day Six!
Day Six began pretty leisurely, with a nice breakfast of my favorite toast and Nutella with Steffanie and our host sisters. After breakfast, Alana headed off to college, while Leah elected to escort us around for the day, along with Deidre’s friend Lee.
Earlier in the week, Deidre had made arrangements for me to speak at Leah’s old school, Kooringal High (isn’t that the best, most Australian name ever?). Lee drove the three of us to the school, where I then met with the principal to decide what would be the best speaking option. He also asked me about my school back home, and my own principal, Mr. Ryan. We decided that it would be really nice for me to sit down and speak with their group of 15 or so leadership students. This idea was really attractive to me, because Alden employs a very similar approach to student leadership groups as Kooringal does.
The kids were so excited when I met them. We did a round of introductions and then I spent a minute or two describing my experience with the Miss Teen of America program. The next hour and a half or so was spent having a really open discussion, where they asked me questions about my Miss Teen experiences, what it was like being a teen in America, what my school was like, and about student leadership opportunities in Alden. I, in turn, asked them a few questions about growing up in Australia. Through the discussion, we found that while there are differences between Australian and American teen years, there are a lot of basic similarities. As for differences, I discovered that Australian schools are in session all year round, and kids get a few weeks of break after each marking period. Its is a much longer, and tougher process to get your license in Australia, making Australian teen drivers probably much better drivers than their American counterparts. Australian school days also typical start and end later than American ones.
After the discussion ,the kids took me on a tour of the school. The layout was similar to a lot of schools on the West Coast, where classrooms are not connected within one large building and students most walk outside to get to their next class, which was fantastic, since it was such a beautiful day. Kooringal didn’t even have a cafeteria, since during lunch, and “morning tea” and “afternoon tea” (basically 15 minute breaks in the middle of the day), students could eat and hang out outside or anywhere else on school property. I got to see their amazing state of the art theater, where the students put on their own production of “Across the Universe” this year (amazing!). I also got to see their recording studios and a student run farm!
I really had a great time getting a closer look at an Australian high school. To read about my visit from the perspective of one of the leadership students, visit: http://www.schoolwebsites.com.au/web/Site/69/Files/c7141110bc6c4fb2b041496334f667e1.pdf .
From Kooringal, Lee drove us to go visit the Murrays, who invited us to their house after meeting them at dinner the night before. Though their name sounds Australian, they’re actually from Iowa and having been living off and on in Wagga for the past twenty years! They are the sweetest couple, and their lives are just so remarkable. They managed to build themselves a beautiful house on a hill overlooking all of Wagga Wagga. The view was just breathtaking. Over a snack of Tim-Tams, they showed us photo albums of their time living in Australia, including their “pet” kangaroo that they saved when he was only a joey, and now runs free in the area surrounding their house, but always returns home every once in awhile. They had assimilated to Australian life so well, and I really tried to pry their secret of how they did it out of them! I really hope I can live like them some day.
We bid goodbye to the Murrays and headed back on the road, towards the famous Junee Licorice Factory. Steffanie and I aren’t crazy about licorice, but apparently, it’s huge in Australia! It was about an hour to Junee, so my twin host sister had prepared a CD with classic Australian songs on it, such as “We Are Australian” and “Waltzing Matilda”, which is definitely about stealing a sheep. I absolutely loved the music, especially Leah singing along, and explaining the meaning and history behind all the songs.
I guess I was expecting the Junee licorice factory to produce some Twizzler like product, but I was very ,mistaken. Australian licorice is actually this very thick, gooey black substance, that Junne likes to coat in chocolate. It’s very interesting, to say the least! We took the tour of the factory, which ended with a game of licorice bowling…oh, I love Australians!
On our way back to Wagga, we stopped at the Charles Stuart University Winery, so Steffanie could experience a quick Australian wine tasting. The drinking age in Australia is 18, so the award-winning university winery is run entirely by college students studying to be winemakers!
We arrived back at the Tome home and quickly changed for the mayoral reception. In honor of our visit, the Mayor of Wagga Wagga held a special reception at the Wagga Wagga Art Museum just for Steffanie and I. It was really neat. We mingled for a few minutes with different members of local government and a few Miss Wagga Wagga candidates, before I was asked to give a speech. It might sound pompous, but I think that was the best speech I had ever given, and probably will ever give, which is pretty impressive, because I wrote most of it during the car trips earlier that day. I expressed my gratitude for being so greatly welcomed into the Wagga community, and how visiting Australia had always been a lifelong dream of mine. For proof, I read two “essays” I wrote in 2000, when I was in second grade. In the papers, I talked about how if a genie could grant me any wish, I would wish to go to Australia and what I would do in Australia. It was very cute, and the crowd just seemed to love it. After my speech, the mayor presented me with a plaque bearing Wagga Wagga’s crest, as well as a goody bag with a lot of local specialties, in particular a stuffed crow! (Wagga Wagga meaning “city of many crows”, after all.)
From the reception, Deidre, Steffanie, and I headed to the park across the street to help assist with the Miss Wagga Wagga ceremony rehearsal. I mostly watched, and Deidre told me where I would stand and such, but I did get my hands a little dirty helping pack everything up!
When rehearsal finished, Deidre and Phillip showed us around the different war memorials throughout the park. We then headed home to start the barbeque.
The “barbie” that night was a ton of fun! Our little family (for by then, Steffanie and I were Tomes, plain and simple) was joined by three exchange students from Belgium, Switzerland, and Brazil, as well as Amanda, from the Miss Wagga Wagga committee. We had some great lamb burgers and shared some great laughs. In all, it was a fabulous night spent under the beautiful Australian sky.
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