Home, home on the range....

No dear or antelope but have had a "great outdoors" evening tonight. I am reeking of wood smoke but to back track... am sitting here like a stunned mullet after being awake since 5am. Had girls being picked up for sport at 6pm!!and 6.30pm. The earlier ones were quiet, then three girls decided to chatter and have a shower right next to my room - AGAIN - (Old mother flipper, flopper jumped out of bed breathing smoke and fire )so I gave up, woke up properly and finished my book whilst other girls got started for the day. Was meant to be my day off, and it was kind of. I did get home for a 10 min shower and change before going to Gton with the workmate's family while she drove the bus in to town with the girls for the first time (with an extra staff member we have for a short period of time). Passed bits of two dead kangaroos on the way in - one remains had a very large, black, bird sitting on it and we were passed it before realising it was an eagle - in the same spot that we saw the eagle (flying)last time so maybe it is the same bird and that area is its territory.

Just as we got to Gton it rained a bit but all good as the wheat is shooting up everywhere on the way in - all very exciting indeed. We headed to Bunnings as a couple of the staff and three of our girls were doing a sausage sizzle as fundraising for the school. They were going great guns and so by way of a donation, we all had one on the spot (as you do). To be fair to the Sallies who were also collecting just inside the door, found some change in my wallet for them too.

Of course, if one arrives at Bunnings, one has to look through the place. Managed to escape with only 5 herbs: 2x basil, parsley, coriander and chives - the beginners guide to a small herb garden LOL and a can of something similar to CRC which was on sale to put on squeaky doors and such like. I then drove the workmate's beast of a car to Spotlight just further up the road (could there be a more perfect placing of shops heh, heh) and bought cottons, needles, x stitch fabric, wool and embroidery hoops to stock pile for the girls to begin their craft bits and pieces with.

We met up with the bus at a local park and for a treathad bought pizzas for the girls for lunch so it was a nice change from taking stuff to make our own sandwhiches. It had fined up by then so spent about an hour at the park with the girls throwing a football around and generally mucking about in the playground. Left there for a sorti into Harvey Normans as there was a sale on! Finally got myself a new blow wave to replace the one that burst into flames in my hand the night before I left for NZ last hols. Got that for half price and also bought a slow cooker type crockpot type thing that will hold 6L. I plan to use this for soup etc so I can have things cooking on my days off when I go into town or on the weekends (I live in hope). I was looking at getting a TV so I can return the one being lent to me but there is actually a spare one going in the boarding house so may swap things around a bit. That being sorted, I only need to work on getting a sound system.... I bought a DVD/CD/Video over with me so looked at tuners and speakers briefly today without any luck. I was over shopping by then ( I know, very scarey) so got all the brochures from each shop to compare notes and left to come back to school. Again I was meant to have the night off but we had a campfire so could not pass that up. Hence the reference to Home on the Range.

The workmate had collected wood earlier in the evening and made a fire down the back of the girls boarding area and past the last staff accomodation. I went down with a long sleeved jumper on and only my wrists and chin upwards uncovered (that was taken care of by a slathering of insect repellent) so I could actually tackle the 'great outdoors' at night. Once the fire had burnt down to coals, we got some very long sticks off some dead trees lying about the place and toasted marshmellows off the end of them. OMG, melted marshmellows with a hint of caramalising and wood smoke - devine. But wait there is more. The workmate also made up this HUGE mixture of damper and once the fire had burnt down even more - we wodged (hope you like my word) damper in a ball down over the thick end of the stick until it resembled a sausage and then held the stick over the coals rotating it slowly until the damper cooked. You knock it and when it is cooked it has a distinct sound. When you take the stick out of the middle, you fill the hole with butter and golden syrup or butter and jam or butter LOL. Managed to cook two for myself and had damper with butter, warm (and with butter)and a little bit of jam with the second one (Laura, I hope you are reading this LOL) and was in hog heaven. The perfect end to an over indulgent day.

The heat from the fire was just right, and the night was still, not so cold tonight and no bugs (yay) except a gazillion small ants that I disturbed by moving a rock to sit on (they were living underneath it)- decided to stand after that LOL. The workmates dog managed to wolf a few mouthfulls of damper mix out of the bowl that we had resting just out of range of the fire so spent the rest of the time holding that until someone else took pity on me and I got to cook mine unimpeded. I remarked that, at home, a fire like this would usually result in a singalong so started it off with a rendition of Pokarekare ana which they all liked and then we had a nursery rhyme sing off with the workmate and half the girls trying to over sing myself and the rest of the girls. I rather think we did the best with I'm a little teapot, short and stout... - (with actions). All the girls joined in with Bob the Builder, can we do it - yes we can. All very silly but lots of laughs and it would appear not something that these girls are used to - singing that is. (They had lots of opinions about the correct way to build and light a fire and how to cook damper - various grandmother's ways were quoted). So, even though I wasn't working, I was there and had a great day. It was also great tonight as different girls asked me about NZ and were telling me about their families, how they camp (go bush) and the different things they would eat. It is quite special as girls who do not often say a lot opened up a little bit and talked about where they come from and about their families. All agreed we should do it again after Boarders Weekend (the equivalent of our Exeats or Leave weekends).

The Dvd has just finished and the place is silent - I think everyone crashed before the end of it tonight so will dive for bed myself. Another day tomorrow.