The Adventure to Erskine Falls

On Saturday 11th of March, my family went to Erskine Falls in Lorne. It was so EXCITING! First we got prepared and got dressed. Then we drove to Bellarine Village to buy some fruits. While mum was shopping, dad told me what time it was, the distance and where we were. I wrote it down in my notebook.

We travelled 20 km to get to Torquay; there we saw the sea – the Southern Ocean. It looked so beautiful. Then we drove along the famous Great Ocean Road. It only took 15 minutes to get to Anglesea. Next up was Aireys Inlet. This time it only took 10 minutes! In Aireys Inlet I looked at the trees and saw that they were burnt at the bottom but the top was normal. I’ve never seen trees like that before so I thought it was because of the bushfires but I wasn’t sure.

After an 18 km long we saw Lorne. The waves were really good to do body surfing I thought. When we got to Lorne we parked the car and walked into the information centre. We got two maps, one so we could go to the waterfall and the other one showed us the whole town of Lorne. We followed the first map, which led us to Erskine Falls. The waterfall was 30m high but unfortunately there wasn’t much water because of the drought. When I smelt the forest I just couldn’t leave because it smelt like moist and damp trees. Caca my little sister jumped on the rocks and I followed her. The rocks along the creek were slippery and had fungi, algae and mushrooms. We followed a path that led us deeper into the forest. There I saw a log that ran across like a bridge. I balanced on it and it was very slippery. I only got to reach the middle because the rest of the log was rotting. Soon I found a little cave and it had drawings on it.

When I got back and saw the waterfall I leaped from rock to rock until I got tired of doing it. Then I got back to mum, but I saw that Caca and dad were walking very close to the waterfall. When they got back I remembered that we had to climb about 300 stairs! Caca ran up like a Cheetah and I thought that she’d be exhausted when she reached the car. Well she was but not like I was. Did you know that she won a gold medal in the junior Olympics for her age group last year?

Well I was relieved that we were going to have lunch because I was starving. We had Macaroni Cheese for lunch and enjoyed it while looking at the surfers at Louttit Bay. When we finished eating everyone walked to the fair and brought some Fairy Floss, it was yummy! Then we looked around. Caca and dad went back to the beach while mum and I bought 2 corn–on–the–cob. When mum and I got back, Caca was making a sandcastle and dad was reading a book. When I finished my corn–on–the–cob, I helped Caca make a new sandcastle and we found lots of interesting things. When I found a huge pile of seaweed I grabbed it and called for Caca to help me. We tugged at it and then suddenly we fell backwards and got ourselves dirty. Then I got some water from the sea and cleaned my clothes. After a little while mum and dad called us back. First we had to clean our feet so it wasn’t sandy, then we got changed.

Next we had to go home. When we were going back home we took another route – the inland route . This is the story of how we got home. First we departed from Lorne toward Deans Marsh. While dad were driving along the winding road of Otway National Park, Caca and I ate an Easter egg each. Then we found the leftover Fairy Floss and ate the rest. After that we sang some nursery rhymes and sang a silly song! For about 44 minutes we did that and then we reached Winchelsea. There we ate fish & chips. All of us thought that the chips were horrible! In the car, Caca and I did a silly game and we were laughing about it when arrived at home. Home Sweet Home! The whole adventure took us 7 hours and 51 minutes and it took 173 km to Lorne and back. (By Chika Sunarto)

General Excellence Award

Matahari pagi bersinar cerah, menebarkan udara hangat khas musim panas di Geelong . Hari ini hari terakhir tahun ajaran 2008, hari yang ditunggu-tunggu para pelajar di Victoria. Saat ini Chika duduk di kelas 2 (Year 2) dan Caca di preparation class (persiapan masuk kelas 1). Chika dan Caca sudah tidak sabar menunggu apakah tahun ini akan mendapatkan General Excellence Award (GEA). GEA adalah penghargaan untuk murid terbaik di kelasnya. Kami bersyukur melihat anak-anak berani bermimpi menjadi yang terbaik. Disisi lain, kami tidak tega melihat mereka kecewa ketika gagal. Oleh karena itu, sejak kemarin kami sibuk mempersiapkan Chika dan Caca tentang etika menerima award: kalau berhasil kita bersyukur, kalau gagal kita terima dengan lapang dada, dan yang penting kita tetap bergembira dan memberikan selamat kepada orang lain yang lebih beruntung.

Pengumuman dan penyerahan award di Newcomb Park Primary School biasanya dilakukan di hari terakhir, pada saat general assembly. Penyerahan penghargaanpun dimulai: attendance award, citizen award, sport award, computer award, most improvement award, dan strive for knowledge award. Award tersebut diserahkan oleh Mrs Warren, wakil kepala sekolah. Chika tampak sumringah mengantungi attendance award dan sport award, tetapi wajah doi masih menunggu puncak acara, pengumuman GEA - juara umum! Akhirnya saat yang ditunggu-tunggu tiba. Dipenghujung acara, Mr McPherson (kepala sekolah) maju ke mimbar mengumumkan GEA untuk setiap kelas. Dan … nama Chika dan Caca disebut. Saya jadi teringat lagu pengiring wisuda pengambilan sumpah dokter hewan di FKH IPB dulu:

... di sore hari yang sunyi

ibuku bertelut, sujud berdo'a

kudengar namaku disebut

dido’a ibuku, namaku disebut.

Four Seasons Poem

Winter
Snowflakes fall from the frosty sky.
Children toboggan down a snowy hill, and
ice skate on a glistening, frozen lake.
Warm heaters are turned on after a cold play outside.

Spring
Baby birds are hatching from their eggs.
Butterflies roam gardens.
Flowers bloom to decorate gardens.
Days get warmer every sunny day.

Summer
Rosy, ripe apples are picked in orchards.
Splash, swim and have fun in a nice cool pool.
Surf the big waves at Bells Beach.
Choc-chip ice creams are sold in hot, sunny days.

Autumn
Bears prepare to hibernate.
Red, brown, gold and yellow are colours of gardens.
Jump in the colorful, crunchy leaves.
Colorful trees make a good background on photos.

(By Chika Sunarto)

Chika Sunarto

Chika. Gadis kecilku ini baru saja 7 tahun. Hitam manis dengan mata berbinar menunjukkan kecerdasannya. Sekarang ini sedang susah diatur dan sok tahunya itu lho yang selalu membuat aku gemas dan selalu timbul keributan kecil antara kami. Ingin selalu independence tetapi setiap kali habis mandi masih minta diolesin minyak telon atau lotion karena tangannya gak mau lengket (aku selalu melakukan dengan sedikit gemes , karena tubuhnya yang singset sejak kecil membuatku selalu ingin mencubitnya). Buku…buku…. dan buku…. Itulah yang selalu membuat matanya semakin berbinar setiap kami pergi ke perpustakan atau toko buku. "I want to be an Author". Itulah salah satu cita-citanya. Aku sebut salah satu karena selain menjadi penulis, Chika juga ingin menjadi Vet seperti ayah-bundanya. Selain itu Chika juga ingin bekerja di CSIRO, lembaga riset terbesar di Australia tempat ayahannda melakuan riset untuk meraih PhD-nya. Karena …"CSIRO has a big and tall tower, which I can see it from my school". Setiap kali dia menjawab itu, aku baru sadar dia memang gadis kecilku yang masih polos dan lucu, dan pasti aku segera mencubit atau mencium pipinya yang menul-menul. Chika adalah chika yang selalu menyukai tantangan baru dan selalu ingin menyeselesaikannnya sampai sempurna tetapi selalu lupa meletakkan topi di sekolah sampai Miss Ross dua kali menemukannya. Entah tertinggal di mana…. Sepatu ballet yang ternyata tinggal sebelah, pasangannya tertinggal entah dimana. "May be in the change room". Itulah jawabannya sembari matanya berkaca-kaca karena takut bundanya marah. Itulah Chika (cinta kami).