Scaring Up Some Canadian Culture

It is a sad state of affairs when kids have never had the pleasure of experiencing trick or treating. We set about to rectify that. About six months ago when we were getting ready to go back to Canada and discussing our return date we decided that we would be here for Halloween. Aiden was disappointed when he found out that most Australians do not celebrate Halloween. So even back then, we had plans to throw a Halloween party. Not such an easy task when there is not much Halloween stuff in the stores. Roz and I were both on the lookout for Halloween themed party supplies and as the date approached we were lucky enough to come across a few things.


The entire school, nineteen families in total, were invited as well as the principal and teachers. The school was generous enough to let us use the shed (gym) for the activities even though it was not a school function. The shed proved to be a little difficult to decorate with limited supplies and such a high ceiling but I must say Roz and I didn't do too bad of a job with balloons and a few other decorations.

We were pleased with the turnout and the effort the parents and children put into it. All but three families were able to make it. Amazing by all counts since it was considered a long weekend. November 4 is Melbourne Cup Day and many will take the Monday off as well to make a long weekend of it (but that is another blog).

All the kids came dressed for the occasion and many of the parents got into it as well. Witches were popular among the girls and vampires with the boys but there was a cat, a spider, a few skeletons, the Hulk, a mummy, pirates, zombies, and cricket players. The parents were very creative with the snacks they brought: Scabs and skin flakes with blood and guts, pus and gangrene fingers served up with blood, spider, bat and black cat sweets, Mad Professor Corrigan's gut samples, ghosts, worms in dirt, boogers on a stick, eyeballs and all sorts of creepy things.



We played a number of games through out the night. While it was still daylight we played eyeball relay races out on the oval. There was a little bit of technical difficulties with this one. We found the ground was a little harder here and caused the eyeballs to burst when dropped and soon ran out of eyeballs. We tried to convince the crowd to donate some but none were willing. I guess they were not as into it as we thought ;-) Next we moved onto the Mummy wrap and it is amazing how long kids and not so little kids will play with a roll of toilet paper.

After that we had pumpkin bowling (until the pumpkins broke), Mad Professor Corrigan's Lab, Trick or Treat Riddle game and pumpkin carving. Yes, we were able to find two pumpkins large enough to carve. There were not orange but a light grayish green. I believe we call them ghost pumpkins back home. Very thick skinned – a small carving saw and a knife were broke in the process. In the end they turned out well but unfortunately on Sunday we forgot to get a picture before Sean hacked them up to make pumpkin pie.

We ended the evening with Trick or Treating. How you may be wondering? The school is a number of separate buildings all with doors to the outside. We had a number of parent volunteers man the doors and sent the children around in small groups. It is hard to say who had more fun, the kids getting the treats or the parents playing tricks on them. It was a great end to a fantastic evening.

Swarmed by Pirates

Ahoy thar Matey! Captain Aiden and his crew of 13 pirates celebrated his 6th birthday in grand style.

They came as sweet young things but were soon loud, wild, rambunctious pirates. It is amazing how a bandanna, an eye patch and a balloon sword can transform a person.

The activities started off with a fierce sword battle of bubble popping. It was a close one but I think the bubbles may have won. The wind was in their favour.

The decks were swabbed and the flags were laid out to have each pirates personal symbol added to them. The bubble battle and flag making turned out to be hungry and thirsty work so some grog and pirate pies were served.

There was no rest for the pirates for next they needed to defend their selves from the oncoming cannonballs.

They were then off to collect a piece of treasure map and find three others who had a piece of the same map. Once they pieced the map together they went to hunt for treasure.


After the booty was divvied up, there was happy birthday to sing, birthday cake to be had and prezzies to open. Last but not least, there were ship races to prove which pirates had the fastest ship and Captain Aiden had each pirate walk the plank in order to collect more booty and then head for the high seas. All in all it was great fun and the kids had a blast.

Stawell Show

Roz, Daryl and the kids invited us to spend the day with them taking in the Stawell Show. The Show was an interesting mix of activities and very similar to the Brandon Summer Fair or the Grande Prairie County Fair.

There was a variety of competitions for the locals to enter. You could try your hand at: Round Hay Bale Rolling Competition where cash prizes were awarded to the pair who was able to roll the bale around an obstacle course in the quickest time; Local Sheaf Tossing Competition where one could show off their muscles and precision in trying to toss a sheaf over a very high pole vault; Rock drilling competition- no experience necessary just $40 for the entry fee; Beaut Ute and Street Machine Competition, if you had a fantastic ute, or a classic car or muscle car you could put it on display and try and win a trophy. There was a huge Photographic Competition with 31 different classes to cater for all types of photographers from the experienced photographer to someone just beginning to use a camera in primary school.

There were a number entertainers and performers, a wide variety of indoor trade stands promoting their wares as well as a wide range of art, craft, photography, hobbies, cooking, flowers, knitting, crochet, and home brew displays.

The best part for the kids was the rides. Like all fairs, there was a number of rides for the kids and kids at heart. One difference we did notice was stands selling 'Show bags'. This Australian tradition originated as a way for companies to put together samples of their products and showcase them. Today they are much more commercialized so we opted not to purchase one. After talking to a number of friends, show bags used to be of great value and one of the highlight of a show.

Becoming Aussies

We were lucky enough to be invited to a Citizenship Ceremony. There are now two new Aussies in Halls Gap. The ceremony was quite interesting and although a few friends hinted that we should step up there too, we just observed this time. Congratulations Daniel and Franz.




Here is the Australian "Pledge of Commitment":

From this time forward, under God,
I pledge my loyalty to Australia and its people,
whose democratic beliefs I share,
whose rights and liberties I respect, and
whose laws I will uphold and obey.

All new citizens have the choice of making the pledge with or without the words 'under God'.

The ceremony was held at the end of the school day and the students participated with singing and a few speeches. Earlier this year the senior students went through the steps of becoming an Australian citizen with Daniel and Franz as part of their curriculum, so it seemed fitting to have the ceremony at the school and have the students participate.

After the official ceremony, a number of us hung out and partook in a number of Australian pastimes such as cricket and a sausage sizzle. Fun was had by all.

Count Us In!

Phew!! With Aiden's birthday party and Halloween out of the way I can now focus some of my time on blogging. Sorry about the lapse but there were parties to plan.

On Thursday, October 23, at 11:30 am all the kids in Aiden's school along with over 350,000 other children from 1,700 schools across Australia participated in the second annual simultaneous sing-along "Music ... Count Us In" event. It is aimed at highlighting the need to boost music education in schools. From tiny rural schools to big city schools, ‘Music. Count Us In’ gave principals, teachers, parents and students a focal point for discussions about the value of music in schools - and an opportunity to collectively, loudly, celebrate it and make the call for more.

All the students sang the song, called 'Sing', a joyous, upbeat song composed by four Victorian high school students in a songwriting workshop led by John Foreman (MD, Australian Idol).

The Halls Gap kids walked down to the Venus Pool bridge and sang there. There were a number of tourist who stopped to listen and enjoy the singing. The kids did a wonderful job. 

Track/Trail works in the Grampians

While in Canada we distinguish trails from roads from highways, in Australia most roads and highways are sealed bitumen (not much worry about frost heaves) and anything else you can travel along is referred to as a track. This is further broken down into vehicle tracks and walking tracks. The Grampians has a wide array of 4x4 tracks and caters to 4x4 clubs although they are not allowed to travel off of formed tracks. The tracks are much like the old dirt roads we used to have criss-crossing Riding Mountain that were subsequently converted to trails. The Grampians has a lot of them, as many of the tracks double as fire breaks.


Out of curiosity I ran a quick query on all the tracks, roads and highways in the Grampians and they total close to 2000 km which compares to the 500 - 600 km of trails, roads and highways in Riding Mountain which is twice the area of the Grampians. So 4 times the length in half the area in a park much more challenging to put roads and tracks into.

Speaking of which, one of the track recovery crew leaders (thanks Graeme) sent out these photos of a piece of equipment they use on walking tracks to move stone steps and gravel around. It is called a power barrow and as you can see they use it in some pretty challenging terrain.







The Grampians have some extra funding to recover many of the tracks that were impacted by the Mt. Lubra Fire. They have crews to do the impressive work on the walking tracks which involves stone steps, steel railings and grate or boardwalk portions that are being designed to be more immune to fire. Outside of this special funding there is basically one person responsible for walking tracks and three people who look after the mowing/slashing/grading of all the roads and vehicle tracks the park is responsible for. The state of Victoria, VicRoads looks after the paved roads in the park.

Hit the Ground Running

It is so good to be back, and it's just like we never left. Tyler, Joseph and Grace are taller, like I suspected they would be. The rocks out back are still there, Sylvia and Frank took great care of the car, the house is ours again. There has been some change. Our house is now sporting a new deck that extends to the South side of the house along with a new patio set. There are 4 new students in Aiden's class and a new principal at the school.

The weather has been fairly cool since we arrived, highs only around 20 but no rain. The area had a fairly dry and cold winter. Sean and I chuckle when the locals comment about their 'cold' winter, only receiving frost about 5 or 6 nights all winter although they did get snow on Mt. William twice this year.

Aiden is great. Happy to be here and back in the swing of things. He did not waste any time and started back to school last Monday and was warmly welcomed back. I think he was a little overwhelmed by all the attention he received on Monday morning. His regular teacher, Frau Stoffel showed up to greet him even though it was her day off. He felt very special about that. He had a busy first week with after school play-dates and two birthday parties to attend. He slid easily back into the school routine and seems to have adjusted without any problems.

Sean is pleased to be back at work. It is a very busy time at the office right now. They have a number of projects on the go and are trying to get ready for the release of the bush-tailed rock wallabies in early November. Sean's main assignment will still be macropod monitoring but more analysis and writing this time. I'm sure there will be more to report on that once he gets himself back in the groove. It's nice to be just picking up where we left off, and not rediscovering the wheel, so to speak. It is fun to be tossed into a new situation, but it is a lot of work, and this time we just skipped back in. We have felt very welcomed.

WA Wildflowers

Being in westren Australia during spring allowed us the opportunity to see many beautiful wildflowers. I don't have a clue what most of these flowers are called but thought I would post them. It was amazing to see so many striking colours in the bush.