Meg and Bob do Australia!

Byron Bay in the background- gymnasts in the foreground
Meg and I on Byron Bay beach
crummy weather in Byron Bay- group shot
Meg doing her best Robin Hood imitation
Shannon and I getting ready for the ropes course
Meg and Gaby celebrated their birthday's 2 days apart so the Outdoor Ed. retreat had a cake done for them
Meg on the zipline ( flying fox) at Tyalgum Ridge
My travel partners- Mike Balo (Windsor, Ont) and Shannon Kerry( Portland, Ore)- too much fun
Up Mount Warning- 5 K straight uphill
Mount Warning on the horizon- we did the knob on the left
group surfshot
Meg heading in to the surf for her lessons
body boarding is way easier than getting up on a surfboard- I can guarantee you that
Between the flags on Surfer's - designated swim areas
Beach hike
Loads of canals in Surfer's - on our way to shotover jet boats
Meg and Gaby ( her best friend) in downtown Surfer's Paradise
A shot of the beach in Surfer's- 26 miles of the most beautiful beach I have ever seen
One of those moments a daughter loves to share with her dad on a school trip- maybe not
Surfer's Paradise
Another beach shot
Meaghan and I had the opportunity to spend 8 days in Australia as part of our school's Experience Week program. Similar to last year, Meaghan has been busy leading up to Experience Week- in the past 4 weeks she has been to Hua Hin, Thailand (family holiday), Singapore ( Under 20 girls volleyball SE Asia Championships- they finished 4th) and now Australia.

For those not familiar with Experience Week, our school shuts down for a week in November to support creativity, action and service based trips around the world. All students are expected to participate in a trip and staff are assigned trips to chaperone, unless they choose to lead a trip- in this case the only limit is what you are interested in doing and whether students will choose the trip. I have been to New Zealand the past 2 years on adventure based trips, so thought this year it would be fun to try Australia. Our trip was focussed in Queensland and New South Wales. We spent the first half of our time in Surfer's Paradise doing all the surf based activities you would think of- surfing, jet-boating, hikes, bodyboarding etc.. The second half of the trip was at an outdoor education retreat in the Tweed Valley- Tyalgum Ridge. The kids were pushed hard for 3 days- climbing ( we did a 5 km climb up to summit of Mount Warning), hiking, high ropes courses, mountain biking, archery, flying fox etc... Finally, we ended our time in Australia in beautiful Byron Bay. The first half of our trip was gorgeous- hot and very sunny. The last 3 days were cloudy with a bit of rain, but it didn't dampen the kids spirits. Another great Experience Week in the books!