Hi everyone,

"Horror stories"

Hopefully, I can send you some pictures this time.  For the technical people: we have the loan of a digital camera from Kate's brother - RCA 2.3 mega pixel/3* optical zoom.

It's now Monday (labor day holiday) and I was able to catch up the Aussie news on the net including footy results from Broome and the AFL and a replay of Collingwood v Essendon (thanks Warwick)- "go the pies" 

You know when some tourists come to the Kimberley they have already been worded up on the "horror stories" - crocs, sharks, stingers, spiders, cyclones etc.  Well, I got my dose on Saturday night when we went to Church.  We have a chapel on campus and we had about 35 in the congregation.  It's a beautiful church inside and they asked me to do the reading.  I thought - "well, yeah, OK- if you think you can understand me".  Afterwards, I was speaking with the priest who has to attend to about 6 parishes in this area.  He worked in the Nuclear Industry for 30 years, raised a family and now has been ordained 2 years ago.  At the moment the weather here is beautiful - warm days and coolish nights but he told me what it can be like here in winter.  30 degrees below zero, winds 60 m.p.h. and a chill factor of minus 70 degrees.  He informed me that one of the religious sisters is buried in the nearby cemetery because she tried to walk from one building here to another - lost her way and froze to death.  "Jeez - what am I doing here????????"  "Oh, yeah" - he went on - "the snow was so high one year it covered over one of the buses" "Yikes!!!! - what have we let ourselves in for????"  When I spoke to Kate's sister last night I was seeking some reassurance and she added as few stories of her own.  Two ladies were travelling down the Interstate and were caught in a snow storm.  It covered over their car.  Fortunately, they had a broom handle in their car (one wonders why).  Well they poked it up through the snow and the next morning the authorities were alerted to the strange site of the top of a broom handle above the snow.  They were dug out and found to be OK.  There are lots of safety things to do apparently - burn a candle in your car, have a sleeping bag, mobile phone, water can be obtained from the snow etc.  Well, that gave me something to think about.

This morning I got up early and was pleased to see the 7 sisters in the night sky as well as the saucepan.

The rainfall here is 15 to 20 inches - so its fairly dry.

Can someone flush the toilet in Australia and let me know if it is anticlockwise - it's definitely clockwise here.

Half/Half milk here means half cream and full strength - as I found out when I made my cup of tea.

I'm almost ready for the students on Tuesday - should be interesting!  I'm teaching Algebra 1 four times and geometry twice.  That makes for easy preparation.  There is a reading period every day for 20 minutes and I get one prep period per day.  There is a 7 period day of 50 minutes.  I'm teaching music in the evening a couple of times a week.  They haven't found a music teacher this year - so I guess I'll do this and for such occasions as singing the school song.

Kate is going fine - there has been a lot of work to do in the library.  Heaps of stuff to throw out and reorganise.  It looks really great now and Kate is looking forward to doing a top job in there.

Well, I hope you enjoy the photos and that they download quickly for you.

Love and best wishes,

Kate and Brian (ready for the big "chill" - the last 2 years here have been mild but we have been warned that this could be the year of the "horror stories"