Cynthia

Here is Cynthia looking super cute drinking (or not drinking) her milk. Cynthia came to the orphanage having been abandoned by her mother, she was extremely malnourished and had problems with her legs. After lots of hardwork and love from the staff, you can see, she's doing really well!

Just after I left Cynthia was burnt quite badly, thank goodness she is apparently recovering well.

Tea time

Everyday at 10 and 4 all the family, volunteers and some of the staff of the farm get together and have tea, or juice. I only drank tea if the fans were on! A bit hot for that sort of caper. Sometimes there are a few extras sharing...

Skip-Bo

I took my game of Skip-Bo along and the small boys really loved playing and beating me usually. Not how I usually play.. Not a wine in sight!

Year 10 girls

Even though it was school holidays, the girls were keen to get a kick start on their Year 10 studies. Their English is excellent but the Business Studies text book is quite a challenge, so we spent every afternoon reading and learning about business in India.

Looking after baby

So everyone that is able takes turns in looking after the babies over night to take the pressure off. They usually sleep seperately as they fuss and wake each other up. For some unknown reason I volunteered my, ermm, services...

Here I am set up ready to go... With Saloni thinking 'I hope this woman knows what she is doing!!!' Anyways, all went fine. Saloni slept fine but i barely slept cause I felt bad about putting my earplugs in (lots of girls sleeping nearby). I looked after Shivani over night later on, slapped my plugs in and slept like a baby, mostly!

Bookworm - Just too cute

Mangos

There are many, many mango trees on the farm. I think it's something like 30 trees with 12 different varieties (may have made that up...) Lucky me I arrived just as mango season started! I ate a lot of delicious, juicy mangos fallen straight from the tree. Here are the Nursery kids enjoying their daily dose. They are wearing their 'swimsuits' and are about to go in the pool, someone thought that one through!!!!

Bada rongadonga badaronggadong

This tractor...

Should not really have bothered carrrying this warning...

When 9 of us.....

Gladly hitched a lift back to the farm from the jungle plot.

My heart is beating like a jungle drum...

As I have mentioned, the orphanage is on a farm, which provides some of the vast amount of food that is consumed by about 150 people every day. The farm backs on to jungle. At the moment the mission is leasing a 'jungle plot' where they have been growing extra crops. It's not quite jungle as i expected but they do often see elephants and not so often tigers on and near the plot. We set out one Sunday afternoon to see what we could see.
Lorraine bravely strides into the jungle....

The jungle plot... Looks a bit dismal at the moment as all the crops have been harvested and they were wiaitng for the monsoon before planting could begin (I believe the monsoon has since arrived).

The only wildlife we saw...

Not that suprising as there were about 15 of us making a terrible racket and we ended up leaving before twilight!

DVD room

So if the power manages to stay on for long enough the kids love watching DVDs. It was summer holidays during my stay so if the chores are done and the chorus of 'lights came on' rings out everyone heads for the tv room. Here are the Nursery kids and some of the girls watching. Anything goes, cartoons (english or dubbed in Hindi), and the older girls love romantic comedys and Hindi movies. everything is watched 100 times, some of the girls know all the lines to their favourites (and all the dance routines aswell!)

Living it up in Banbassa

Gail (on the left), Lorraine and I headed into the nearby town of Banbassa to do some 'shopping'. Gail is one of the older girls on the farm and one of the girls I studied with (pics to come). Lorraine is another volunteer at the farm as part of her Media degree. Lorriane is Indian born but grew up in Dubai! I travelled with Lorraine to Delhi at the end of my trip.

I didn't take any pics in the town for some reason! You'll just have to imagine... Lots of small shops selling just the neccessities really! And the occasional cow mooching about. It was super hot so we rickshawed back. Gail squeezed on as well can you believe. Poor guy earned his 60 cents/2 dhs.

Kevin'n'Raymond

Here are my friends Kevin and his little brother Raymond. Such super cute little boys. Kevin takes a while to get warmed up but we were good mates in no time. I did ask him if he'd like to come home and live with me but he said a most definite NO! (as did someone else when I suggested it LOL). The bottom photo cracks me up, they honestly smile like this all the time. I'm sure you'll see those cheeky grin again!

Cots... India style

I laughed when I first saw the girls cots, but they actually work really well keeping the flies and mosquitoes away but the breeze coming through... If there is any breeze that is!

Shivani and Saloni

Just about a month before I arrived on the farm Shivani and Solani moved in. They were originally very unwell and malnourished but despite a few small set backs the girls are looking healthy and happy. The twins must be about 3 months old in these pics.

Pool time!

Here I am swimming in my pyjama shorts (dress is VERY conservative in this part of India). The pool has been purpose built and uses the farms irrigation system to fill. It was so hot while I was in India, around 40 degrees and often there was no electricity so what a relief to leap into the cool water and have a splash.

Put this shot in cause you can see the cow shed behind. The mily is all boiled and then the milk and cream used every day on the farm.

Shucking

So here are the small boys and I having a shucking competition... The small boys are 10 yo +. Such lovely boys and lots of fun. In this pic there is Kamal, Diridge, Jacki and Clifford.

Here are the real workers.... Chris in the background who was the driving force behind the operation, Clifton in the foreground lending a hand, and a variety of other small boys and hostel boys (the older boys). The pile you see in front is of course, all my work....

India

Well... Let's put Australia on hold for a bit. I feel like I'm falling behind as I haven't even mentioned our 4 days in Istanbul last month, but there's only so much I can write about! I am back from India and just about rocovered from the bout of Delhi Belly that thankfully did not hit untill I was back in Dubai... Despite me eating every type of street food I saw and doing rash things like brushing my teeth with tap water. So think I am going to give you a photo a day type thing of India. My Dad wont be happy, but he'll just have to put up with it!

Lots of kid pictures from India! You might get sick of them!!! Here are 3 of the small boys shucking corn. Dirage (sp?) Clifford and Jacki. The corn has been grown on the farm, there was more than we could eat so they are drying the excess to try and make corn flour (I think... Farming, not my strong point....)

Here is the link to the orphanage's website, I'll link on the side when I remember how to do it!!!

Cataract Gorge ~ Launceston

One of my favoutite places, we spent a lot of time here when we were teenagers.

My faves...

Zadok and I were married just near here and had photos just here.

Swan River and Rottnest Island

Day 3 saw us cruising the Swan River, out past Fremantle and over to Rottnest Island, just off the WA coast. It was a public holiday so it was pretty busy. We hired bikes and snorkles and set off in the 40 degree heat... Was lovely on the coast but super hot when we took a wrong turn and found ourselves cycling up this huge hill!

No pics of me on the way back as I looked a right state having cycled 20kms and snorkelled in the sea! We cruised back up the river and got into Perth just in time for a sundowner. Perfect!

That was it for our whirlwind stay, hopped on the plain the next morning to fly to Tassie via Melbourne. Would definately go back, hopefully with a little bit more time to see Margaret River and those things a little further away!

Kings Park

Up on the hill looking out over the lovely Swan River and over the city of Perth, Kings Park is a must see in Perth. We took the free bus which dropped us at teh BOTTOM of the hill... Leaving us to climb who knows how many steps to the top, much more slowly than some of the locals who were out for their morning run! I am trying not to look cranky in that first one, lol! We met Auntie Phil and Auntie And up here for a picnic, but I didn't take any snaps!

Perth

Zadok and I were lucky enough to spend March in Australia. As neither of us had been to Perth before, we planned a 3 day stop over before heading back to Tasmania. After landing in the wee hours we dragged ourselves from our bed and headed down to Fremantle. We took a tour of Fremantle Prison and then meandered through the markets and along the coast. Fish and chips is a must do (for me anyway....) Then we headed back to Subiaco on the train and watched the West Coast Eagles play very badly in an AFL match... Still fun to watch though!

India

Today I am flying to India. Driving from Delhi up north to an orphanage run by a friend, check it out here... So another gap in posts! Hopefully not 2 years long like the last one.

Having said that, blogger is driving me mad with uploading photos, if I try and format differently the pictures/text never does what I want! Grrrr...

Camel burger..

Forgot to say... I ate a camel burger in Muscat... Yum yum!