For my last day I sat in the town reading and taking in my surroundings one last time. The weather was the hottest it had been since arriving in Australia, with just the cool sea breeze coming through the town every now and then to remind me it was still winter.
Paddy from Kooringal would be collecting me from my hotel at 5 pm.The time past quickly and before I knew it it was time to pack and check-out ready for his arrival.
The sun was still warm, although setting, as I waited with my luggage at the side of the road. He arrived at 5 pm as planned and soon I was once again on my way to Dwellingup. Moray, where I had stayed last week, is on one side of this small town, whilst Kooringal occupies the other. Both of these centres use the Murray river for their activities; Moray uses the Upper Murray, whilst Kooringal uses the Middle Murray.
Our one and a half hour journey to Kooringal was generally concerned with introducing ourselves to each other, my research to Paddy and the programme at Kooringal to me. Before long the sun had set completely and we were driving up a long dirt track to the centre. Along the way we past a burning group of trees, perhaps a 'burn off', perhaps not. Either way it appeared too small and too close to the road side for any sort of concern to be induced.
I didn't see much of Kooringal when I arrived, it was already far to dark despite it being the early hour of 7 pm. Tomorrow I would see it more clearly when I met Mark and the boys arrived for the start of their 9 day program.
Paddy introduced me to Anna, a girl training at Kooringal this year. Kooringal has three full time staff, Paddy, Mark and Kate, and two trainees making up their staff count each year. Like Moray they operate with only one school, from year 5 through to year 10. Year 5 to year 9 programmes are compulsory, whilst year 10 is optional.
After cooking dinner, Paddy, Anna and I sat down in the staff living room area, the fire burning and the TV going, sitting in warmth and relaxing as we watched a wide range of Australian TV shows.
It was a pleasant and comfortable night which ended at around 10pm when we each retreated to our beds to rest before the iminant arrival of the boys in the morning. For tonight, and the next two nights, I would be staying in one of the dorms off of the main hall, in a pleasantly comfortable bunk bed usually used by the school boys. Anna kindly gave me a hot water bottle to keep me warm, in addition to my sleeping bag, liner, thermals and pjs. Tomorrow would be my third outdoor adventure in Australia and the longest so far, I needed to be well rested and prepared for what was in store.
