Fraser Island for Schoolies
Sun 19 Nov 2006#3 Son finished high school on Friday, and Mrs Fitz is cheering loudest of all. Special thanks with gold stars are due to two special teachers. First, Bronwyn Masterman, whose dedication to her students, helped #3 son through so much of his final year. Second, Jenny Middleton who has now helped all three of our sons to excel in their IT related subjects. Thanks ladies, and may Googling your names reveal a thousand praises.
I have just returned from a big day’s driving. I deposited #3 Son and a pack of his (now ex-)classmates at my favourite place on the planet, Fraser Island, for the schoolies week. Fortunately, there was a low tide in the middle of the day, so I could get on and off the island on the same tide.
I was prompted to write about this by fellow Brisvegas blogger, MadameBoffin, who wrote about the joy of watching her two-year-old nephew explore Brisbane’s Botanic Gardens. It’s so important to let youngsters explore the great outdoors. Otherwise, they grow up believing the four basic elements are concrete, steel, glass and electrical cables.
I was personally very lucky to have spent every school holidays on a farm and then see lots of our environment by working for the army and the mining industry. But, fair dinkum, when I moved to IT 30 years ago, I found myself working with young people who grew up in Brisbane and not only had they never been to Lamington National Park (O’Reilley’s Green Mountains, Binna Burra Lodge and walking tracks), not only did they not know where it was, but they didn’t even know it existed! To them, the concept of bushwalking was reserved for documentaries of great white hunters on safari in darkest Africa.
I expect my son and his mates should be much safer on Fraser than in the crowds on the Gold Coast. For a start, there’ll be a lot less concrete, steel, glass etc for them to hurt themselves on.
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Update: Mon 20 Nov 06
I see nephew Tiernan Fitzsimon scores a quote and photo in press coverage of Schoolies celebrations at Surfer’s Paradise.
November 20th, 2006 at 11:03
I was lucky - my parents tried to do day trips on the weekend every once in a while, so I got to bushwalk Cunningham’s Gap, see the glow worms at Natural Arch, feed the birds and do the treetop walk at O’Reillys and had probably 5-too-many close encounters with cows! lol
November 30th, 2006 at 11:21
Yeh Fraser definitely sounds like a nicer atmosphere than the Gold Coast for schoolies. Not that I would know, because I never even went ot schoolies, but that’s just my perception.