Holidays should be classed as educational. Part 1.

I recently came into contact with the profile @steemiteducation and after no debate at all, I have decided to face my Demons. The requirements needed to qualify for promotion, by this group, are daunting to say the least. English was never my strong subject, but I specialise in challenging myself.

I have taken a look at my options and decided to start with something light, but something hot!

@steemiteducation have set the group all kinds of homework and the one I would like to hand-in, is a project that will hopefully be displayed on the classroom walls, forever...

It's on the block-chain now, so I suppose that is a moot point, but we can just play along regardless.

It has been just over a year since my daughter and I visited Australia, for a whole month. I am no rich-man and this was definitely considered as a once-in-a-lifetime experience by us both. Put simply, I got a lucky, financial, break and I took it with both hands, regardless of the bills and red letters.

As it turned out though, the bills weren't the only ones demanding money from me, before we left.

Because of the spontaneous way in which the holiday was booked, it didn't give my daughter's school much time to think about the situation. I am not sure whether it was the Head-Teacher or the BOG(Board of governors), who made the rash judgment. What I do know, is that the school not only threatened me with a fine, for taking my daughter on a life changing experience, but also tried to use the threat of a fine to bully me into paying a, £100, school-dinner debt.

I won't go into it further as I would like this post to be a positive one. Needless to say, I took my daughter to Australia for a whole month and it most certainly was a life changing experience.

I would like to take you through some highlights of our wonderful trip to 'Oz' and describe some, immeasurable, experiences that have helped give my daughter a wider perspective on the world, in a way a classroom will never be able to do.

It was all smiles on this picture, but this was not long after a tearful goodbye with her Mum and a 12-hour flight from Hell. Although we had been seated, between 2 grunting beasts and the food was more like something that comes from a child's oven, my daughter showed huge patience and determination to get to the other side of the world.

What a thought that must be for a child to comprehend, it must be magical, and I am glad I was as lucky as her, when I was younger. They may not have been holidays to Australia, but Tenerife and Skegness have still given me some precious memories. It doesn't matter where you go, it's just a matter of experiencing love, life and a lot of laughter.

That is, after, another 12 hours flying though.

Determination +10 _ Independence +10 _ Self doubt - 50_

Note - I will refer to my daughter as Mia, from now on. (This is a fictitious name)
For our first destination, I had booked us into a quiet mountain lodge. I have totally fell in love with Binna-Burra. It is an absolutely magical place and I can not wait to return. Mia, although she wouldn't admit it to me, loved Binna-Burra, too. The place may have been tranquil but it certainly knew how to knock your socks off.

On our first night, I had organised for a surprise visit from her, long-departed, best friend. These two were inseparable from the day they met at Nursery, to the day their wonderful family departed, to go live in Australia. Through Mia's friendship with Zoe, I developed a close bond with the whole family, and we are all very good friends to this day.

As though it was fated to-be, I managed to, unwittingly, book into this, inspirational, place and it just so happened to be 2 hrs drive away from where they lived and right next door to where Alan, Zoe's Dad, grew up as a child.

Alan may have grown, up. But he never grew-up.

Our first day was spent, being guided around this, gorgeous, farming town. I wish I could recall the name of it. What is hard to forget, is the surrounding countryside that is, wonderfully, shadowed, by Tambourine mountain. The day was unforgettable. We visited his childhood school and his family-farm, that had since been sold, after his Father pasted away. It was an emotional day for Alan, as it was the first time he had returned to the farm, for some time.

We were honoured to have been given a glimpse, of a lifestyle I never knew existed and the day, still, had a few more surprises in store.

Now, I wasn't scared, honest. In hindsight, I was amazed at how the youngest sister, moments before, had, calmly, said

"Hey, Daaan, I just saw a liddle spider on the door"

At the time, I just laughed off the comment, but then I turned back around in my seat and laid my eyes upon what a half Australian, half English, 5 year old Child, thought was a "little spider"...

After our day together, at Binna-Burra, we said our goodbye's. We had organised to spend a day together, once we had arrived at the Gold Coast, for the 2nd part of our adventure, Binna-Burra was just a, wonderful, bonus.

For now, it was back to our cabin, nestled in the beautiful, Tambourine mountainside. We had 2 day to explore this new world and my daughter was right up for the challenge(I actually got goose-bumps, typing that).

Part of the experience, when staying at Binna-Burra, is to take advantage of the spectacular sites to be found.
Mia and I chose to walk to a destination called Coomera Falls. This was a medium level hike, that seemed to be achievable, but challenging at the same time. I was sure that this, extra effort, would reward us when we reached our destination. But I could never have predicted the bounty of nature we were about to experience.

After a, VERY, long walk, we finally arrived at Coomera Falls and it became apparent that the pictures, inside the map we clutched, did not do justice to this enchanting wonderland.

The look-out point, overlooking the waterfall, was supposed to be the end of the trail. While there we were passed by a group of, elderly, walkers. As we all said hello, one of the group advised us to carry on down the path, to the bottom of the valley. She did mention it was "a little tricky", but I can say that it is in fact, shit scary! The path narrows and to your right, is a mahooosive drop!

A little tricky? I want whatever they had for breakfast.

My daughter, laughing all the way, had to coach me down the path, I have no love of heights, at all. I won't use anymore expletives, because even they aren't enough, but OMG! (Well, that's how my daughter put it)

While there, we spent time playing in the creek and sat down for a picnic. We were joined by a family from Scotland, who were on holiday to visit their Son, who had come out here to live. After this, we packed up and began the LONG walk home.

The reason I keep using Capital letters, to emphasise the distance we walked, is at the request of my Daughter. I can't defend myself as it was I, who read the map wrong and HUGELY under-estimated the distance.

We ended up walking 17.5 K!

But we made it, in the end.

Moral of the day. The more you put in, the more you receive.

What a day it was! One we still talk about today.

So have you enjoyed our adventure? If so, please give this post your support. This was all in the first 3 days, believe it or not and you may be glad to hear that I will be posting part 2, very, soon!!

So maybe it's worth following @article61.

In part 2, I will be taking you through 3 days of craziness, spent at Australia's Gold-Coast and our stay with friends in Sydney! However, I will be saving the best for last. Part 3 will show you the small town of Woombah, NSW and the 12 days we spent living with Alan's Family. This part will include how I had organised for Chloe to attend an Australian School, with her best friend!! You really don't want to miss it....

My point to this article, is to show you how taking your kids on any kind of holiday, is massively beneficial and should not be frowned upon by society.

As this post is about responsible parenting and education, that doesn't fit with the status quo, it is appropriate that I end with this with a picture of my, wonderful, brave, determined, curious, intelligent, Daughter, keeping her feet on the ground and, RELUCTANTLY, doing her homework.

Sorry, I can't do it. I can't end it this way...

Although we must be responsible and some of us may have to jump through hoops, to please the Government, we must remember, that is not what life is about.

I will not end this, wonderful, adventure, by showing you the most tedious part of the holiday. No, instead I will end with this...

Educating our Children is about more than test scores and exam results. More than getting into the right University. Life is about experiencing the world and everything it has to offer. No matter how extraordinary that may get...

So much for the fictitious name. Never mind, I am not editing all now.

I doth my cap to you, Chloe, you are my world and without you these memories would not hold the magic they do. I love you more than life itself.

@steemiteducation - I hope this is to your standards, I have tried to push myself to the, low- limits, that are available to me. If there are mistakes in my spelling and grammar, I can only apologise and hope you can give me some tuition.

For the rest of you, I wish you all the happiness in the world and hope for the future.

PTYAY

Written by, Rebel Dan. @article61 @team-solutions

Source for Title picture - http://www.townfield.doncaster.sch.uk/page/?pid=89

All other images owned by @article61