Emerald

From Brisbane I took a very easy domestic flight to Emerald, Queensland. I'm not sure what domestic travel is like in the US, but Qantas beats Ryanair (Europe) in full. Plus they even have my favorite ginger beer in wee cans for free!

The metropolis of Emerald boasts a two room airport with both male and female toilets, a snack bar AND exceptionally speedy baggage return. This is where I met and was collected by the Watson's. The first few minutes were a little bit awkward, as it can be when all of a sudden you meet someone you're going to be working and living with for the next 6 months.

That lasted about 5 kilometers. Before long the girls were asking all sorts of questions and telling me about what life was going to be like at Carnarvon. Once at our accommodation, it took about 10 minutes to get into our 'swimmers' before we hit the pool which washed away any unfamiliarity that had existed. Note to self: Make new friends by swimming with them for two hours straight. Really relieved to say that since then the girls and I have got on famously with statements like, “I'm so glad you're our governess” “You should live with us forever” and “Can we pretend your our big sister” within the first few days. D'awww.

We spent two days in Emerald for a school workshop attended by most of the families in our distance education program. After the girls fought over who would get to introduce me to their friends first, they went off with classmates and teachers, while the home tutors had a workshop of our own to familiarize ourselves with the program. The school looked a lot like my own middle school – but the design fits a lot better with the climate here than Philadelphia!

Probably the best part of our time in Emerald was getting up early with the girls to have a visit with the locals. We happily dined with sulphur-crested cockatoos, rainbow lorikeets, and an old scrubby kookaburra on our last night!

The bashful kookaburra

Mr. Cheeky Cockatoo who stole a whole piece of bread

With the truck packed to the brim we headed out on a four-hour trip for the station right after school on Wednesday. If nothing else, please take the following from this post: it is always a good idea to ask “Is X tied down to the roof?” because sometimes people put things up there and completely forget about them. The face of realization is also not to be missed.

I'm at the station now and will be updating you guys soon on my first few days here...much to action packed for one post!