Everybody's happy, just swimming in the (thermal) tub

In a belated post (which is my usual style), we visited Mataranka Primary School yesterday. The kids were ok but the teachers were great and invited us around for dinner. So we went and visited the touristy thermal pool called Rainbow Springs and then ducked out to this Queenslander just around the corner. Chickens, rabbits, horses, cane toads... this place had it all as well as about 20 kids running around and funnily enough no adults seemed game to claim them as their own darling offspring. Was great - and then we were entertained to a slide show by an up-and-coming palentologist who had a set of dinosaur slides and one of those plastic projectors - and he could name just about every single one (and they weren't your common, everyday variety of dinosaurs... no triceratops here)

Then back to Kindergarten today and the kids were great - it helped that there were only five of them. So spent an hour with them, ducked off to Bitter Springs which is the more naturalistic thermal swimming spot in Mataranka, and took videos of us swimming underwater. Have i mentioned i love my camera? Was using it to take photos of underwater handstands on Monday afternoon and everyone was looking at me odd, then someone asked if it was my camera and whether it should be in the water... And the pools were so clear. Also, they are this deep opaque blue colour because of all the limestone dissolved in it - the water is about 30 degrees and feels disturbingly like Erindale Pool (and the southsiders will know what i mean)... there were a LOT of kids at Rainbow Springs...

Well, spent the morning swimming in thermal springs and lunching at the old Mataranka Homestead so I guess it's only fair that we arrived at a school that didn't remember we were coming, hadn't organised accommodation and then procceded to upset half the staff by telling them they had to billet us... so we just said we were happy sleeping in the kitchen. It's a very big kitchen so it's not like i have to curl up on top of the stove so it should be fine. The only thing that worries me is that when we arrived there had just been big fights at the school so half the students had left and the teachers were wondering whether we should be there or not...

Am now at Barunga, the aforementioned 'confused' school. Should all be fine, not sure how tommorrow will go since today was by all accounts a bit of a shocker so will be interesting to see how many kids turn up and what happens during school. As long as no-one riots because they can't make a square with the 3 red pieces, it should be fine.

Oh, and R! the guy i'm working with keeps sneakily putting photos on his blog. I'm too busy doing real work but check his out.. and then you can all tell me how much better his is and how i never ring my mother and that i've been looking a bit pale lately and so on and so forth.And will try to get a link to the Cow-orker site...

love ya and leave ya,
Net