Berakiah Community

Hi,

     It has taken awhile to get back here, but yes I am still alive. :D The week after we got back from Melbourne was crazy busy. I'm going to do a day by day account of that week in a moment.

But first Melbourne. Where do I start? With the trip there ( on Saturday the 14th ) I suppose. That was as fun as a nine hour trip can be. We stopped to go swimming once. We'd planned on two, but it wasn't hot enough for the second one. We made it there alive which was very nice. We unpacked, ate dinner, and went to bed. A great start to a week away. On Sunday we went to visit a family who live around there. And then we waited till the conference started that evening. Monday and Tuesday were intense days with five sessions a day which went for the average of one and a half hours each. During that time I also played soccer and chatted with the people I see only once year. Wednesday I was tired of taking notes and just listened. And then we had the presentations of Sunbeams ( up to age five children's programme ), Pathfinders, orchestra, and choir. It was all very good. I thought all the talks were challenging and very good. And that was the end of Annual Family Conference 2017. The topic was Walking in the Light by the way. But then there was more! Yep, Student Conference started on Thursday. I was on a team with nine other girls roughly my age, and Rachel was our leader. We listened to more sessions that day and the guys served the girls at lunch time. The next day, Friday, us girls served the guys. And in my opinion we did a better job. You should have seen the place, we decorated the dining room aussie style ( it was nearly Australia Day ). There were more sessions that day too. Some of the fun things we did included playing games and writing lyrics for classic aussie tunes with the topic being about the Wallers. They were one of the lovely couples who flew over with three little children under the age of five, with one being three months old, to speak to us. Our team chose Waltzing Matilda. Let me tell you it is very embarrassing to get up on stage and have your whole team forget the tune of the CLASSIC Waltzing Matilda, not have an intro by the violin because the pianist was supposed to do that ( except she sang instead ), and then I started on the wrong key to the violin and everyone else. * smashes head against desk * I forgot the tune because we'd just been listening to other teams sing different songs. Needless to say, we tied for third place. But it was very funny to listened to the others. We got ice cream and so many unhealthy toppings on Thursday night. It all finished on Friday evening. We left for home the next day. That journey was pretty much the same as the first except we didn't go swimming, and Carl had the whole back row of seats to himself, because he got sick Friday night. So travelled lying down for nine hours. Most of my team got the bug. Rachel, the leader, and three team members.

Now when we got back. Sunday: We had a family from conference stay over night, because they had to travel to Queensland. The family staying and looking after our animals were still here so we had three families. I slept on my brother's bed ( he is away ). Izzy slept on the trampoline which she's wanted to do for ages. Monday: I came down with a cold. Tuesday: The other family left. Mum, Izzy, and I went to Dubbo for dentist and orthodontist appointments. The rest came in later and we went to the movies and we watched Moana. Then we went to the Matilda Motel, and to the restaurant, Tilly, for dinner. That was super fun. The waiter was very nice, and funny. I was dying during this wonderrful experience, so I had a luxurious bath, and went to bed. Oh, what a bath! Who knew show gel made such great bubbles! It was heavenly. ( we don't have a bath, if you haven't guessed :P ) ( by the way all the above pleasures were paid for by the roadworks people to get us out of the house for a day and night, so they could do something noisy. We were so blessed! ) Wednesday: Mum and Izzy went to Mary's to get the puppies ( we have three litters at the moment ), and the rest of us went home, after we had breakfast, which I barely touch. I never thought I'd see the day when I would leave bacon on my plate. I took a hot chocolate with me though. I was also dying that day. When one must have a nap at 10:30 a.m. in the morning something terrible is happening to that person. Two hours later... I chilled for the rest of the day. Thursday: I woke up and proceeded to decorate with blood everywhere. Mainly my pillow and my ( brother's ) bed. But I was skilled to miss my pj's completely. I hate to think of what would have happened if I hadn't had a roll of toilet paper up there. How would you climb down a triple bunk ( I was on the top of course ) with one hand catching all the blood dripping from your nose? Without falling on your face? Or putting blood everywhere else? Tough. I've had two more nose bleeds since then. Grace mopped all the floors and I chilled in the granny flat with air conditioning, and my sister's book. I wasn't slacking mind you, she was to do that. And I was still dying. Feeling slightly better but still dying. 

I'm am glad to announce I survived the above events..... Just. :D

Wow, this is probably the longest thing I have ever written. Enjoy reading it!

Over and out,

Antonella Rose.