One of our beautiful outback sunsets - taken from our verandah!

Well, It's been so long since I updated our Blog that I had trouble finding it!! I was finally successful however, so now to try and re-cap the last 3 months! Looking back, the overwhelming impression is, that it has been really hectic. We flew back home on 12 December and on the 15th headed south for our first of two trips to Merimbula. We returned home for Christmas and on 27th were Merimbula bound once more. We had a great time with Tim, Cameron and Noah and then on 10 January, we drove north to my brother's farm near Forster, to have a few days with Debbie and her boyfriend Steve and his family. My Mum was there too and it was a great time of 'chilling out' and enjoyng one another's company. On the way north we caught up with Luna and her family just south of Bateman's Bay. Luna is from Denmark and was a Rotary Exchange student in 1992 and we were one of her host families. It was lovely to see her and her husband and to meet their children.

Cameron starts school

Warwick had about a week back home before returning to 'Alice' and I had another quick trip to Merimbula to spend time with Cameron and Noah whilst Tim did some more work on his house. I was lucky to be there for Cameron's first day at school and it was just lovely to see him go off so happily!! I flew back to Sydney from Merimbula and straight on to Alice Springs the same day.

So, it's back into life at Yirara College and for me, it means spending more time here, as they offered me the job of 'Library Assistant'. I was happy to accept the position, so now I work 8am - 1.30pm Monday-Friday in the Library and Saturday mornings and Sunday evenings in the Girls' Dorm. Saturday mornings involves getting anywhere between 30 and 38 girls up and ready to go shopping at 9.15. The girls and boys all go shopping, so you can imagine the scene when around 160 aboriginal teenagers hit the shops!! They can meet up with family and sometimes they run away, as 2 girls did yesterday. They usually return within a day or so but if it happens repeatedly, they will probably be returned home

We have plenty of students at present - more than usual apparently which is good! We have over 100 in the girls' dorm and there are about 90 fellas, with a few more expected. I am seeing it all from a different perspective now as I see the students during the day in the library. The staff here are very dedicated and they all put an enormous amount of love, energy and resources into these kids, whether it be academic and administrative staff or boarding staff.

Warwick has 17 fellas at the moment and has one of the senior boys staying in his dorm as an assistant. He's coping pretty well on the whole but it is a very tiring and challenging .

My increased work load here at Yirara means that I don't really have time for any shifts at Old Timers which I am missing a bit but I think I would be worn out if I tried to do that too!

Well, that's about it for now ......... Until next time..............

Cheers from Yvonne and Warwick