Sydney!

This past weekend we visited Sydney! It was amazing! We saw everything from the Sydney Opera House to the Sydney Harbour Bridge! Everyone had lots of fun!!!

Here is the Sydney Opera House at night!



The Sydney Harbour Bridge!



An Aborigine and I!



Inside the Sydney Opera House!



Group picture on the Sydney Opera House tour! It was sooo cool!



Sydney was such an awesome city!

Great Barrier Reef!

This past weekend we traveled up to Caines, Australia and went scuba diving on the Great Barrier Reef! The reef was pretty amazing! Lots of coral and fishies! I completed 2 dives and took 1 snorkeling trip over the reef!

Here is my favorite picture from the Great Barrier Reef! Our boat docked directly in front of this coral reef spot!



Sea Turtle feeding on the GBR!



JD scuba diving on the Great Barrier Reef!



Nemo's relative swimming on the reef!



This is a really good group picture of everyone at the pub on St. Patricks Day!

New Zealand

Last week we went to New Zealand! It was a beautiful country! They have more sheep in the country than they do people!

I did three crazy things while in New Zealand!
1. I went White Water Rafting!
2. I went SkyDiving....I jumped out of a plane 12,000 ft. in the air!
3. I took a 6 1/2 hour hike!


Here is a mud pit in New Zealand! Dad can tell you all about it!



Here is me White Water Rafting! It was fun!



Here is a picture of me before I went skydiving! It was the coolest thing I've ever done!



Enjoy your week!

Elementary School in Australia!

Every Tuesday afternoon I have the opportunity to visit the local elementary school, observe the students, and help as a teacher's aide. I am helping out in a 1st grade classroom and am having alot of fun! I usually help with reading and spelling right when I get to school. The students have a 45 minutes break for lunch and recess and then the teacher or I usually read them books until P.E. time. Last Tuesday, I made a powerpoint presentation about the USA for the students. They had lots of good questions for me and were amazed about the snow! So far volunteering in the schools has been an amazing opportunity!

Here is the front of the classroom where I am volunteering.



Here is the back wall with all the student's art displayed on it!



Here is the school "hallways". Everything is outside!



This is a picture of some of my 1st graders actively listening to the P.E. teacher, Mr. Cook!



Here are four of my students showing off their awesome hula hooping skills during P.E. class!



Can you observe any differences between the Australian school in the pictures and Deerfield Elementary?

Visit to the Australia Zoo!

Last weekend we traveled to the Australia Zoo which was owned by the Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin! Have any of you guys seen his TV show before?

Here are some awesome pictures from the zoo!

Here is a picture of Steve Irwin: The Crocodile Hunter with a koala!




This is a tortiose from the zoo. It is over 100 years old!!



I got to pet a kangaroo at the zoo!! It was really cool! They can jump higher than a basketball hoop!



This is one of the zoo employees feeding a crocodile! Remember seeing pictures like this on the Crocodile Hunter T.V. show??



This is a koala from the zoo. Koala's only can be found in Australia unless you see them in a zoo back in Indiana. They are really cute! We got to hold a koala and take a picture with one!!



The zoo was really cool! Hope you guys have a great Friday and an amazing weekend! More picture from Australia next week!

More Australian Creepy Critters

Here are some more creepy crawlers from Australia!!!

This is a bearded dragon! It can make the area around its neck big so it can scare away predators!



This is me with a common tree snake! It was my first time holding a snake so I was kinda scared!



This is Phil. He is our wildlife expert here in Australia! He knows EVERYTHING about animals here at the camp! He is holding a giant 8 ft. long python in this picture!



I heard you got a blizzard back in Indiana!! Have fun in the snow for me!

Surfing in Australia!

Today we took surfing lessons!!!!



We surfed some waves and had a great time in the ocean!




Surfing is harder than it looks!! It takes alot of energy to paddle out to the waves and then ride them back to the beach.

Have fun at school this week!!

Animals from the Ocean and the Air!

AUstralia is hot!! It has been in the 80's almost everyday this week!! I hear it is very cold back in Indiana!! Bundle up when you go out to recess!


Here is a Kookaburra! I bet you have never seen this type of bird before!



Here is a picture of a stingray we found on the beach!



Hope you are having a great week at school!!

-JD

Colts Win!

Colts Win the Super Bowl!

I got to watch the Super Bowl down here in Australia!! It was on at 10:00 am Monday morning!! Everyone was excited that the Colts won!!!

Scuba Diving and a Lighthouse

Hey Guys!!

This weekend we went to Byron Bay! We visited a lighthouse and we went scuba diving in the Pacific Ocean!

Here is a picture of me Scuba Diving in the ocean!



Here is the Byron Bay Lighthouse that we saw!! Its saves ships from crashing into the bay everyday!



Here is a huge lizard we saw! It is called a monitor!



This is a leopard shark we saw in the ocean! It was scary!



Have a great week in class!

More Fun in Australia!

It's Thursday morning here in Australia!

Here is a cool pictures of the food that is served here in Australia! It is crocodile!! Would you like to eat some crocodile for lunch today?? Maybe the cooks will serve some!



Here is a picture of the cabin where I am staying!!



Here is a picture of the beautiful beach!! Have you guys ever been to the beach and seen the ocean??



The temperature rarely drops below 50 here, even at night!! The high today was 88 degrees!! HOT!

Have fun at school!!

-JD

More Australia Photos!

MR. Keller's Class,

Here are some more pictures from Australia!! Hope you enjoy them!!!!!

This is the snake that was in our laundry room!!! AHHHH!!!!




This is some of the money they use here in Australia! There are 5, 10, 20, 50, 1$, and 2$ coins. There are 5, 10, 20, and 50$ dollar bills!! Doesn't it look cool!!




Have a good week!!

-JD

I'm in Australia!

Australia is really cool!!

Here is a picture of the snake we saw in front of our cabin! We think it was a brown carpet boa! There are 3 poisonous snakes near our camp so we have to be careful!!



Here is a road sign from Australia! There are NO stop signs! This sign means "Yield" or stop for traffic!



I will be traveling to Brisbane sometime on this trip and will visit the Australia Zoo! I will get lots of picture of the place where Steve Irwin is buried!

Hope you are enjoying school! I will get more pictures up as soon as I can!!

-JD

Welcome to Australia

Hi everyone!

I am going to Australia for 10 weeks! I want all of you to be able to experience everything I learn in Australia through this website. I will be posting answers to the questions you asked me, pictures, and fun facts about Australia almost everyday that I am "Down Under". Hope you enjoy it!!