Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water....

Australians like to play down danger.

This is no surprise really, given the number of creatures they share their land with which could slay them in one bite or sting. They even have a bird that could kill you, for God's sake.

So, although everyone knows the sharks are out there, it's not stopping anyone from going in the water.

Until now, at least.

Recently we have had 3 attacks in as many weeks, one of them a great white on a beach local to us. There have been more sightings than usual from the spotter planes, and anecdotally, people are reporting far more interruptions to their enjoyment of the sand, sea and surf by the shark alarms.

We are told that improvements to the water quality and the establishment of a number of aquatic marine reserves along the coast are to blame. With the cleaner water come more fish, and with more fish come more predators. It's a feeding frenzy, and if you are looking anything like something tasty for a passing shark to nibble on, you are in trouble.

The people who look most like something worth nibbling on are the surfers. Apparently their boards make them look like seals from below, and there is nothing a shark likes more for supper than a nice, rubbery seal. Most shark attacks are on surfers, who tend to be in the water at dawn and dusk, when they get the best waves. It's also when sharks feed. You'd think then, that surfers would be starting to take the hint....but no. In true Aussie style, when the alarms go off, the swimmers duck out, and the surfers ignore it. And despite the 4 or five beaches surrounding Avalon, where the latest attack took place, were closed for 2 days while the authorities looked for the offending great white - the surfers were still in the water.

And despite the warnings about being in the water at dawn and dusk, it's still the busiest surfing time of day.

For me, it hasn't helped my nervousness about the sea in general. You don't generally get a warning when there is a shark about, unless you are lucky enough to be in the water when the spotter plane goes over. And don't be thinking that you'll see the fin like in Jaws. You NEVER see the fin. Sharks attack from below, and the first you'll know about it is when you feel the bite. Interestingly, once they've taken a few bites and discovered that you are not in fact a seal or any other fish, they will usually discard you - but by then it's too late.

So, should you visit Australia whilst we have these unusual numbers of sharks around, you should remember the following:

Don't do anything that might make you look a bit like a seal. If you look a bit like a seal whenever you put your swimmers on - stay away from the water!

Always swim on a patrolled beach in between the flags. This is where the most swimmers are, and statistics tell us that someone else will look like a seal before you do.

Never get in the water at dawn or dusk, unless you are prepared to be a shark smorgasbord.

Try not to swim with seals. I say this because at the moment there is an advert on TV trying to persuade you to go on holiday to South Australia by showing how you can swim with seals. Are they mad?

This has been a public service broadcast.....

Education, education, education....

Of course, in Australia, the academic year runs alongside the calendar year – which means that the New Year brings lots of new starts and new opportunities.

In our household, then, the New Year brought quite a few changes. Anna moved from the private St Lukes Grammar to Beacon Hill Primary School, which is our local state school. She’s much happier there, so far, and repeating Year 5 seems to be delivering the benefits we had hoped for. Anna is regaining confidence in her academic ability, and making lots of friends who developmentally seem to be much more on her level. Instead of welcoming young women into our house, we are now seeing lots of children once again, and Anna seems less anxious in her friendships.

She has joined lots of extra curricular groups, as it seems that the things on offer at this school are more up her street than the majority of those available to her at St Lukes - a dance group, which will perform at J Rock, a local state school spectacular showcasing performance talents, and one of two choirs, in which she will sing at the Opera House towards the end of the year. This is at a concert of choirs from around NSW public (state) schools, and she is auditioning for one of the solo spots.

It's great to see Anna throwing herself whole heartedly into school life again, and this was never more evident than in her performance at the school swimming carnival the other day. Now Anna loves the water, but she would be the first to admit that she is not the greatest of swimmers, especially by comparison the the Australian kids who start learning in Nazi style swim schools at the age of about 3. But did this stop her from competing in every possible event? Not likely! She kept herself busy all afternoon doing breast stroke, freestyle (what they call front crawl), back stroke and then - the 200 metre medley! This involved doing 50 metres of butterfly, which she taught herself in our pool (less swimming than anti drowning really...), then 50 each of back stroke, breast stroke and freestyle. Only 5 people from the whole school entered, one of whom was virtually a fish, and she came second last, but was she bothered? I don't think so! She was just thrilled to have taken part and couldn't wait to tell her dad about it. What a girl!



Other interesting things are also happening on the education front for George, who is still at St Lukes. His task this year is to get organised and start giving a s**t! I'm told this is a common problem with 12 year old boys, and so far he is responding fairly well to our nagging, managing to get to school most days with what he needs, and producing his first ever 'A' grade piece of work for a project in technology. He has also really pushed himself out of his comfort zone by joining the school debating team, which had its first round of the Independent Schools Debating Association tournament last week. George was first speaker for the negative in a debate on 'the wealthy should be given incentives to donate to charity'. The teams of four are given the debate proposition and then are shut in a room without an adult and with pens, paper and a whiteboard to put together an argument. Given that in George's team none of them actually knew what 'incentives' were, they acquitted themselves quite well! They didn't win, but for a first attempt as a team they did brilliantly. For George, we know this was a real challenge as on the whole he likes to stay in the background, so we were especially proud of him.

And so onto me - who is also enjoying pastures new on the education front. A few weeks ago I started post graduate training in psychotherapy which will, in two years, qualify me to practice. It's all been really interesting and enjoyable so far (particularly in the absence of having to hand anything in just yet!) - especially the group therapy element of the training. We have to sort out our own shit before we try to sort out anyone elses, so this part of the training is very much compulsory. The first session was pretty nerve wracking....I think I am going to find out or face up to uncomfortable things about myself....life's a journey eh?

As part of that journey, and also because if I spend any more time doing housework or drinking coffee I will seriously go mental, I've started volunteering one day a week at a special school - Arranounbai School for Specific Needs. This wonderful school provides for pre schoolers to Year 12 who are physically and/or intellectually disabled, and for children with complex medical needs, and I am working alternatively with a preschool class and a senior class. The 5 children in the pre school class all require one to one help in the classroom, but are cute as buttons and enormous fun. The senior class has a group of 7 children with differing physical and intellectual needs, and yesterday I enjoyed helping Georgia with her Year 7 work. On my first day, the headmaster, Garry, took a picture of me with the gorgeous Zoe, which you can enjoy here....



Everyday in that school, I am reminded of how very lucky I am....