Byron Bay

I mentioned before that Wendy has been our resident travel agent. Last weekend we ventured down to Byron Bay. It is about 50 minutes south of our Gold Coast home. It is a real hippie place on the coast and has a reputation for being a backpackers paradise. We ventured over to the LOCALS ONLY surf beach called Tallow Beach and didn't stand out too badly! As well, we did a few tourist things like walk the lighthouse. This is the furthest east point of land in Australia. Weather Report... Sunny AGAIN!

Straddie Wildlife

While up on Staddie Island on the open day Wendy got some amazing photo's walking on the beach. We were facinated with the Soldier Crabs. My sister Wendy would have loved watching them!

Travel Agent: WENDY

Wendy has evolved to be our family travel agent. She lines up weekend warrior trips to new and crazee destinations. last weekend we blasted up to NOOSA which was a regular hang out for us last time we lived in Australia. Here is a video of MOUNT COOLUM, our old stomping grounds!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auK7LB81gZQ
Enjoy Youtube Clip !!

Simmer at Work

Well the way I see it Kev has two main offices this year. Last week we had a chance to visit him at the interior mountain location at Hidden Creek and then on Sunday we had a chance to go out to the ocean location on south Stradbroke Island. Pretty rough set up......



Looking pretty cool , especially wearing the camp hat he found in the back of the truck!




Heading out Sunday morning. The school ran an open house day so families could come out to the camp and see the facilities.













Kev walking to office #2. Not a bad view!

News, News, News

Hey Everybody,

Just a few tidbits of News from the Simms Family!

• Noah... Great speech in front of class hoping to win and go on to the next round (topic.. solving the world's problems with Rock Paper Scissors), Makes the basketball "A" Team for Year 6, BMX racing continues, signed up to play rugby in the spring season.


• Hannah.... Track and Field continues at the district level with 4th place in 1500 m and and 2nd in Triple Jump - meaning she goes on to the next round again, signed up for gymnastics once a week, signed up for rubgy spring league, wins school volleyball game with 15 straight serves, started racing BMX with new friend Abby.


• Wendy.... going to Pilatez with Steph, tecahers card arrived and will be working soon, found us a cool place in Noosa for the weekend,


• Kevin... Finished camps for August!

Teaching Goals - Year 11 Camp

My new job fits well with my overall career teaching goal..."spend more days on Field Trip than anybody else in the World, ok, maybe just my school board"! At The Southport School in Australia my main job is taking kids on camp experiences. For the last 8 days I have been on a canoe trip with the Year 11's. Job description.... get 34 students departing right from the boat ramp at the school, trip with them through the coastal water way to Cabbage Tree Point 4 days away then meet another 34 students who had buses up to meet us and swap over a new group and paddle back to the school. Learned HEAPS about the tides in the area. I got to bomb around in a little zodiac boat to make sure everybody was safe. When the tides got crazee and kids had to paddle against them we did some towing of canoes. My rule... If you don't tell me a storey about what it is like to live in Australia and attend TSS then there was NO TOW! I have now met many of the TSS year 11 class and can walk around campus seeing some familiar faces. Next week I head off to the Hidden Creek site with GRADE 4's! Its all about Field Trips!

More Random Shots

Surfing Continues

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNYd4YOIaBM
Check out the link for the surfing session Hannah & kevin had yesterday morning.

Hannah - Sports Carnival

The schools run a sports day (aka..."carnival") each year and Hannah was a major player! Hannah is in the O'shea house and gained a bunch of points for her "house". She came 3rd in the overall category for 13 year old girls. A few of the teachers have taken notice of the new kid!

Visiting Higher Elevations

Great weekend just past.

we ended up checking out the mountain region just behind our house. We visited and hiked this cool place called a "Natural Bridge" and the went up to MT. Tamborine which had amazing views west of our house. Hannah has decided on her new sport... Paragliding. There was a few people hang gliding right off the top and having a 10-15 minute fly before landing down at the bottom!