Soccer Match

Today I went to Callan Park for my sisters soccer match against Balmain it was the first game of the season. She scored the one and only goal. The other team won with 2 points.

My sister was number 8. She is a mid fielder.

Before the game the team did some warm ups.


After that we went to the sideways cafe I had a great day.

Blue Whales

The Blue Whales Extinction

Blue whales are getting extinct because of fishing nets, pollution, and illegal whaling.

Description:
The blue whale is the largest animal ever to inhabit the Earth. This gentle giant has grayish- blue skin with light spots. It has about 300 to 400 baleen plates instead of teeth which it uses to strain food from the ocean water.



Size:
Measuring 70 to 80 feet in length, the longest recorded length was 106 feet. Blue whales can weigh as much as 90 to 150 tons. The female is larger than the male.



Food:
A blue whale can eat up to 7,715 pounds of krill (small shrimp-like organisms) per day!

You can find more information here.

The First Fleet

This week we have been learning about the First Fleet. It has been very interesting for me because my ancestors came to Australia on the First Fleet. Last weekend I went to the markets in Marrickville to find some clothes to dress up in for our First Fleet re-enactment. I also bought some things for building shelters.

After we had done our shopping we went to the Chai Tent for some refreshments.

This is the outfit my Mum designed for me.
The First Fleet arrived at Botany Bay on January 18, 1788.
This was one of the world's greatest sea voyages — eleven ships carrying about 1400 people and stores had travelled for 252 days for more than 24,000 km without losing a ship. Forty-eight people had died on the journey. Given the difficulties of the voyage, the cramped and foul conditions of the ships, poor planning and inadequate equipment, this was a remarkable achievement.

When they landed at Botany Bay on the 18th of January 1788 it was open and unprotected, there was not much water, and the soil was poor. They met the local indigenous people, the Eora, for the first time. They were curious but suspicious of the newcomers. The area was covered with enormously strong trees. When the convicts tried to cut them down, their tools broke and the tree trunks had to be blasted out of the ground with gunpowder. The basic huts built for the officers and officials quickly collapsed in rainstorms so immediately they decided to sail further and landed at Port Jackson (Sydney Harbour) on the 26th of January 1788. Two Aborigines nearby shouted “Warra ! Warra !” (Go Away !) but no one listened.

After they had unloaded everyone, they had a big party. This day is still celebrated as Australia Day. Life for the convicts was very hard at first. Everything seemed to be opposite to life at home in England. In England it was Winter and in Australia it was Summer. The swans were black instead of white and they had never seen gum trees before. They didn’t have many builders or farmers with them.
I am descended from some of the First Fleet convicts:
Matthew James Everingham who was the first white person to explore the Blue Mountains
Henry Kable and Susannah Holmes who had the first baby in the colony of NSW.

Broken Arm!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

On the 22nd of March I broke my arm! How? well I was at school and I was riding on the flying fox when all of sudden I slipped off. Because someone had sweaty hands when they had their turn.So now I need lots of help with lots of things and I have to type with one hand. The really bad thing is that I broke my writing hand so I can't write, draw, play music only listen and I can't dance. I practise writing with my other hand and I am getting used to using it.

My Camp

On Saturday the 17th of March I went to Band Camp with my School. We did lots of rehearsals and on Sunday we did a concert. For lunch on Saturday we had lasagne which is one of my favourite foods. For dinner we had meat with potato, I love potatoes. For breakfast on Sunday we had toast and cereal and at lunchtime we had toasted sandwiches. I play saxophone in the concert band and the intermediate band.


Gabby and Rika are friends of mine, we slept in the same cabin. They play clarinet.

This is our conductor Mr Isaac. He likes to make up funny jokes.



This is the cabin I stayed in with my friends. We didn't go to bed until 10.30 and we got woken up by the year sixes and year fives having a party at 1.30 in the morning.

This is where I slept, I had the top bunk. We were supposed to go for a bushwalk but it was raining so instead we played scout games because the place we were staying is a boy scout centre. We also had a singalong with a pretend fire, it was too hot for a real fire and we were inside because it was too wet outside. We had to do lots of tutorials and rehearsals with only short breaks so I was very tired by the time my family came to pick me up.
There is a very naughty boy called Andrew in the training band, he plays percussion. Once when he was playing the drums he jumped on one of the pedals and knocked over the drum kit. He did another naughty thing when he was playing hide and seek, he asked my friend Lawrence where a good spot to hide was, Lawrence jokingly said down at the end of the forest so Andrew said "Thanks." Lawrence said "But you can't go down there it's out of bounds" but Andrew just shrugged and ran off saying "So what" and two of the parents had to go and find him in the bush.
We had lots of fun and I didn't really want to go home, when I did get home I curled up in my bed and read 'Judy Moody' which is one of my favourite books.

Photos from Germany

Today I got an email from my friend Oliver in Germany. He has sent me some photos.

Froggy face

Oliver saw this frog in his friend's garden. It must be a German frog.

The moon, Oliver wondered if there was a magician living in the crater.

This is a picture of some Indian women, Oliver saw my blog and thought I might find this picture interesting. I love the colourful saris the women are wearing.

All about India

Map of India

Today my Mother brought home some new bedside tables.

We had to unpack the old Indian chest that they had been using to put their books on so we could move it.

Inside we found lots of treasures that my parents brought home from India. They travelled there before I was born. There were lots of beautiful things and so my sister and I dressed up as Indian princesses.

We did designs on our hands. Indian ladies use henna but we didn't have any of that so we used a pen.

We were asking a lot of questions about India. My Dad decided to teach us some things about the way people live in that country. He read us some stories from this comic book about the life of the Buddha. We knew a lot of the stories from going to Buddhist scripture class at School.

In one of the stories it mentioned that someone was a Brahmin. We asked Dad what that was and he explained about the caste system. I thought it would be interesting to tell you about what we learned.

The Caste System
In India there are four groups, the Brahmins (Priests), the Kshatriyas (Soldiers), the Vaishyas (shopkeepers) and the Shudras (farmers and servants). Another group is under all of them called the untouchables who do all the most horrid jobs like cleaning the toilets and picking up dead animals. People from a lower caste are not allowed to visit people from a high caste. Untouchables can't even let their shadow touch a Brahmin. It is a very unfair system because if you are born in the low castes you have to do nasty work. Buddha did not like the caste system and it is not part of Buddhism.

Mahatma Gandhi tried to change the Caste system and stop people from being mean to the untouchables.

Crafts

Today I made this lovely little cupboard.

This is what is inside.


A little box for homework.

And a little box of pencils.

Pictures of me and my sister

Winter in Ashbury.(very cold)

Zoom....

Not spaghetti again...

We can see you Katia.

Eleanor's dad took this photo.

lying in the sun.

Sounds funny but i've got three more sisters.

Very cold tonight.

I'm cold too.

Katia's broken arm.

Me and Jack in our buckets.

Having a cappucino.

Me getting painted for the Sydney Body Art Ride.

In the bath with Eleanor.

Me and Cindy having a sunbake at Bermagui.

Angry little sister.

Me at Pearl Beach.

This is when I painted the famous reporter, Liz Jackson at the ABC for the Chaser. The painting was entered in the Archibaled Portrait Competition but it didn't win.

Me with my Grandad when i was a baby.

This was taken at Eleanor's house. The only colour is in my eyes.

In the spa at Aunties house.

My two cousins.Ariane and Imogen.

Face painting by Auntie.

At the beach with Cindy.