I read, I write, I roller skate.

I read, I write, I roller skate. Caroline’s thoughts, observations, mischief and adventures of the second half of life.

Melbourne 640 kms.Today we drove, and drove and drove and drove some more. How amazing are bus drivers, especially ours...
05/09/2025

Melbourne 640 kms.
Today we drove, and drove and drove and drove some more. How amazing are bus drivers, especially ours?!Melbourne 226 kms.
Feeling such a sense of accomplishment having survived and thrived on Year 9 camp. It’s so fun building connections with kids whilst you shoot them in Laser Tag, have them teach you a new card game or share a pizza on a windy hill.
Melbourne 86 kms.
School staff are freaking super humans. I’ve seen selfless acts of care and concern all week long. These kids were in great hands.
Warrnambool 105 kms.
I never want to eat hot chips again. I miss my husband. I have distributed most of a packet of Panadol but saved the last two for myself!
Warrnambool 46 kms.
I’ve not seen any news and wonder if they’ve found that bad man in the bush. I haven’t checked my Powerball ticket.
Warrnambool 0 kms.
Home! Thanks for the memories. It’s time to unwind with a bath and bed.

Chapter 6 of the big Canberra Adventure. This morning I got one blissful, peaceful, quiet hour to sit and read a book. ...
03/09/2025

Chapter 6 of the big Canberra Adventure.
This morning I got one blissful, peaceful, quiet hour to sit and read a book. Technically I was supervising a sick child but whilst they slept, I enjoyed some tranquility, which is usually unheard of at camp. But then it was go, go, go with The Zoo, Shopping and the Arboretum. Another HUGE day. I needed the large size 600 mls of Pepsi max to give me some pep this arvo. I’m a bit knackered. Am I too old for this keeping up with teenagers gig?
Whilst I have enjoyed the meals, (after all, I love any meal which I don’t have to cook myself) here are some descriptors of tonight’s burritos by the kids :
“It was some kind of indescribable meat”
“It was full of beans and I hate beans”
“I think there was cheese in it but I can’t be sure”
A student managed to drop their iphone into the African antelope enclosure today! Here’s my zoo pic of the day - the h***y rhino!

My fifth Canberra story for those following - made it to mid week! Last night we had some raucous card games of Spoons, ...
02/09/2025

My fifth Canberra story for those following - made it to mid week!
Last night we had some raucous card games of Spoons, Spit and Cheater. It was old fashioned, no phone fun with a group of teen girls. I’m not sure if they think I’m cool or cringe! 🤣
A really smart dude who knows Jacob G and was in his fifth year of eight years of study showed us the moon at Mount Stromlo Observatory. Our kids were a bit ambivalent but I thought seeing it up this close was pretty impressive.
I woke up this morning to the delight of discovering our toilet won’t flush. The joys of school camp life.

Canberra ACT - Episode 4 Mobile phones are collected each night however one lonely mobile phone was left uncollected thi...
02/09/2025

Canberra ACT - Episode 4
Mobile phones are collected each night however one lonely mobile phone was left uncollected this morning, clearly highlighting the fact that someone had handed in a decoy phone. It’s an old trick but a good one - until you forget to collect it in the morning!
My mate Bath at Civic Subway was a champ making us 19 platters of subs, wraps and cookies for lunch and he helped me carry them all to the car. The behind the scenes logistics of organising these camps are mind blowing.
I got to Parliament House to distribute lunch but was too late to see Dan the Man. Staff reported being so proud of our students for grilling him about the state of our roads.
What a day that also included a walk up Mt Ainslie, The War Memorial and a mock election at the Electoral Commission .
It’s a big call and an early call but these kids we have taken away are super.

Our nations capital - Episode 3. Someone thought it was a good idea to give me the school car keys and I battled with t...
01/09/2025

Our nations capital - Episode 3.
Someone thought it was a good idea to give me the school car keys and I battled with the keyless entry, the park brake button, changing gears and setting the sat nav in an unfamiliar vehicle very different to my own little red car. This was all just driving it two blocks to a parking garage! 🤣
What a good staff crew I’m sharing this Canberra adventure with and last night we started a serious game of cards. When it was lights out for the kids, it was we staff making the noise as we won and lost hands of a game called Golf. There were lots of giggles and slamming cards down on the table as we shushed each other with reminders to keep it down.
My dear room buddy let me take the queen size bed whilst she settled into a bunk bed, in a definite case of age before beauty!

Canberra Trip - Episode 2 - The Eternal Bus Trip8:07 am : For want of something to do I read our Canberra handbook cover...
01/09/2025

Canberra Trip - Episode 2 - The Eternal Bus Trip
8:07 am : For want of something to do I read our Canberra handbook cover to cover.
8:36am: Our first stop and I rush to purchase service station headphones for $40. Was I ripped off or were they bargain of the century? Time will tell. There were two choices, and all the same price. This took away any indecision on which headphones to buy - a great way to shop!
Are we there yet? I look forward to a day where I don’t have to queue up along with 30 girls to go to the toilet. Three cubicles at a service station are simply not enough.
A podcast and a few chapters of my audiobook later and we crossed into NSW, where everyone knows the roads immediately improve.
4:09 pm and I’m still on this bus! But I do have a can of Pepsi max in hand.
5:21 pm Still on the bus but just saw a sign that says “Welcome to Canberra.”

School Camp Road Trip to CanberraEpisode 16:15am : We head off from school. Some of Year 9 are pyjama clad but there is...
31/08/2025

School Camp Road Trip to Canberra
Episode 1
6:15am : We head off from school. Some of Year 9 are pyjama clad but there is low level excitement!
I’ve realised it is the first of the month and I forgot to pinch and punch RG before leaving for the week.
6:37am : Are we there yet?
I look in my bag for my headphones to listen to the array of podcasts and audiobooks I have lined up for the 12 hour journey ahead. I discover I’ve left headphones charging at home.
6:47am : Are we there yet? The realisation that I have to raw dog the entire bus trip and we are only just passing through Terang.
7:01am : Camperdown. By now I should have been one episode deep into listening to “Erin Patterson - The Mushroom Killer” podcast but instead I’m noticing the sunrise and misty fog that is covering the top of Mount Leura.
7:03am: I check my bag one more time in the hope that just maybe my headphones have magically appeared somehow. Alas, they are still left behind. This is dire.

24/08/2025

Sadly, due to painful plantar fasciitis, my skates have been few and far between this year. Fortunately I am on the improve and tested out my feet today with a sweet skate in the sun. Yeh, it hurt, but it was satisfying to feel the joy of gliding along with the sun on my back. 🛼🛼

Holiday life becomes a go slow, holding hands, good vibes state of being, which I love. Although sometimes, even on hol...
11/07/2025

Holiday life becomes a go slow, holding hands, good vibes state of being, which I love. Although sometimes, even on holidays, things don’t go to plan. We sat for 30 minutes in the queue to the car park for Eumundi Markets - annoying! We went to have lunch in Noosa and the traffic was backed up so far we had no chance of getting anywhere near Hastings Street and abandoned our plan - that sucked.
However there are those special times when the blend of weather, timing, place and nature all collide to create holiday perfection.
This evening we walked to Alex Bluff Lookout to watch the sunset as did many other tourists, locals and Instagrammers. We had no picnic rug to join others on the grass however a park bench remained empty, as if waiting for our arrival. The Winter sunset warmed our skin and painted the sky colours that cannot be adequately photographed nor described. Suddenly dolphins swam into view - nature was putting on a show just for us. As we walked down the beach to make our dinner booking, a fire juggler lit his staff and began twirling and whirling, his flames making magic in the darkening sky.
Our last night on the Sunshine Coast made so memorable, although our luck did not extend to winning the meat tray at the Surf Club. Maybe next time! 🤪

Tomorrow my baby turns 21. It just can’t be true. I recall my little boy dressed in Dorothy the Dinosaur pyjamas. I’m...
30/05/2025

Tomorrow my baby turns 21. It just can’t be true. I recall my little boy dressed in Dorothy the Dinosaur pyjamas. I’m pretty sure it was just last year.
I remember watching my chubby toddler push Thomas, Percy and Diesel 10 around elaborate train tracks that filled the lounge room floor with ABC kids on the TV in the background. It feels like it was just last month.
I can still see my tween boy on Christmas morning disbelieving that Santa had delivered the LEGO Sydney Opera House. Wasn’t it just last Christmas?
I watched on with my heart in my mouth the first time my teenager ran out with the DFNC Senior side. It had to be just the other week.
I wiped away tears when my grown up boy drove off in his newly purchased car to live and work in Geelong. I think it was just yesterday.
Suddenly, unexpectedly quickly, my jaundiced, wrinkly skinned, overdue, ten pound baby is a twenty one year old man.
And in the millions of little moments and thousands of little memories and hundreds of Facebook posts along the way, there was such joy and there was pride and there was love. And through it all, my boy was growing, learning, becoming. Now he is simply amazing.

Concrete steps are my seat in the sunshine. Pigeons fill the air seeking scraps to steal. There is bustle all around. ...
08/05/2025

Concrete steps are my seat in the sunshine. Pigeons fill the air seeking scraps to steal. There is bustle all around. Hustle and bustle. It’s lunchtime in the city. A lad in my charge counts trams, noting the class, route and number as they rattle past. He loves trams, and trains and transport. Sitting here discovering them through his eyes, so do I.
We are having a break so it’s the perfect time for a Kit Kat. The oldest miss brought a share pack - how kind, how thoughtful, how delicious right here, right now.
Moving words of slam poetry and the new novel of a gently spoken indigenous author are food for thought as I sit, in the sun surrounded by book enthusiasts.
Write something today, poet Raphael Solli challenged the audience at the Melbourne Writers Festival.
Task complete. ✅

Another glorious day in the Yarra Valley commenced with an early morning wander around Mooroondah Reservoir, climbing up...
09/04/2025

Another glorious day in the Yarra Valley commenced with an early morning wander around Mooroondah Reservoir, climbing up to the dam wall.
Our first destination, Blue Water Lotus Farm, was surprisingly fun. 14 acres of water gardens, lotus flowers, a dragon garden and a cute fairy garden to explore.
We drove on to the Yarra River Regional Museum for an exhibition about Dame Nellie Melba. She was an interesting character and I felt she may have been a kindred spirit as it was said she “glided into a party like she was on roller skates.” 🤣 There were old time games and dress ups to enjoy, so we did!
We ate a late lunch at Coldstream Brewery followed by ice cream at Yarra Glen. We purchased a tattslotto ticket there too because this life where RG and I gad about feels so nice that we want it to continue!
RG wore his cycologist t-shirt today and for some reason people kept stopping us to compliment him. What’s that about?!

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