When asked to try to make sense of 93 survey responses about alternative education choices (aka progressive and as it turned out, more specifically the Our Choice stream) I thought it would be an overwhelming task, a little like herding cats! But as I read through the answers to questions such as why the particular school was chosen and whether it met expectations, it was amazing how like-minded all the respondents seemed to be, regardless of age. In fact they seemed to be speaking in one voice, a voice that expressed a shared and unequivocal philosophy, set of values and the vision of what education could and should be.

Please believe me when I say I did not want to over simplify nor detract from the unique and personal answers I am trying to summarize here as that would, above all other concerns, be totally unacceptable to alternative ways of seeing and representing the education world. However, in the interests of flow and brevity, I have constructed a response one person speaking, liberally quoted from the actual responses received. I have made sure though that I have included all degrees of responses, from the exuberant to the not so.

In terms of structure, I have addressed the answers making the following assumption –
”OK, so you’re definitely interested in exploring alternative education, what if…”

An apology upfront, but to those who participated only. If I have quoted you but have not named you in particular, sorry! All quotes are in red. Not intentional, but then I’m no journalist either! Having said that, all contributors (who gave us permission to) are listed towards the last pages.

Where there is a reference to a particular choice trait, I have left it if it made sense to do so. For example, the Steiner stream has the teacher with the children from years 1 to 6. This may not apply to all streams.

All photos/pictures included are of a personal nature, and therefore Real!

Some schools have dual curriculum ie government-run schools that run both mainstream and alternative options, and others only the one. I’ve attempted to reflect a blended and balance viewpoint from both. I hope I’ve done them justice.

I trust that what follows is an engaging, informative and helpful guide to your “what if…” questions that you may consider if you head down the path of alternative education.

Download “Swimming Against The Current” Ebook

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What a delightful little spot this is…
Didn’t know what we were getting ourselves into when we booked it, but then that’s what makes up half the adventure when traveling, isn’t it?

We’ve not done much.
The beauty of a week like this is to STOP!
Actually taking the time out to do nothing is most important, and not done nearly often enough. Mind you, we have been writing and thinking and reading, but all in our own good time.

What we have done? Cuddled a koala, and a snake, and a red-tailed black cockatoo, and a blue-tongue lizard. Gorgeous photos to follow. We’ve walked, talked and bought. We’ve ate, drank and been merry!

We’ve spent time with friends, the Palmers. A delightful and most missed friendship, since we all live so far away from each other these days. Hopefully we will all get to rendezvous again in the not too distant future.

Heading back to Melbourne is not what we want to be doing right now, but alas, reality sets in way too soon. Back to the height of winter is not something we’re looking forward to, given we’ve been living in a balmy 25oC. Oh well…

Will we come back? you bet ya!
Until next time…

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(Her) STEINER school operating out of the historic Abbotsford Convent faces closure after local residents successfully rallied against its expansion into an adjacent paddock.

The Sophia Mundi Steiner School sought to build five new classrooms on Abbotsford Convent land next to the Collingwood Children’s Farm.

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/schools-hard-knock-over-field-of-dreams-20110611-1fymz.html

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Last weekend was one of the few celebration days for my birthday (don’t ask!).  I decided that I would treat Daughter and I by having a sleepover at the 5-star Hotel Windsor in Melbourne. Onto to wotif.com I went, securing us a “Superior Room” with 2pm check out and 2 full buffet breakfasts. Excellent shopping.

Daughter and I then dawdled in around 4pm. The main man asked us to wait a moment, and then presented us with keys to a suite as our room wasn’t available! So we went in search…

Low and behold, we arrive at the stain-glass door of the Sir Winston Churchill suite. As the key did fit, and did work, we went in.

This was not your average Superior Room, oh no no no. It was an apartment, complete with lounge, dining, 2 bedrooms and bathroom with spa. We couldn’t believe our eyes.

As we had already planned to meet a few VBFs (very best friends) for drinks and dinner, we changed plans slightly and invited them for pre-going-out drinks in our room, without revealing the full extent of what they were also to experience. Suffice to say, they got as much of a surprise as we did.

I must say we all thoroughly enjoyed sitting around the dining room table sipping champagne and scoffing canapes!

What a way to be able to celebrate. What a way to be able to entertain good mates. What a way to lead into a delightful, albeit filling, teppenyaki dinner in Chinatown. What a way to do coffee and birthday cake upon return.  What a way to spoil yourself, because you can!

Given we were on a roll, we invited the family to come and join us Sunday morning for the full-buffet breakfast in the restaurant – 111 Spring St. They did and all was very pleasant. We of course invited them for coffee and cake upstairs, after breakfast was consumed and a little newspaper-reading was done. They too were chuffed once they settled in the leather chesterfield lounge suite! “We could all get used to this”.

Sadly, the time came to check out. As much as we resisted it, the clock ticked closer and closer towards 2pm. That was the time to turn back into mere mortals; ready to jump on the train at Parliament Station and head on home…

How ever that was arranged, I thank you!

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The flight on Aerolineas Argentina was right on time, and they looked after us well (except the food is crap, and they need to get the TVs in the back of the seats…). We were most pleased to be sitting together in our own little twosome, which made sleeping, using the bathroom and general lounging somewhat easier and more comfortable.

After sleeping as much of the 13 hour leg to Auckland as possible,  it was then try-and-stay-awake time for the remainder. We arrived Sydney on time at 11:00am (in fact, it might have even been a little early).  We got through Customs without any drama, double bag checks or declarations of any kind so breezing through was just as we wanted it, and as it should be.

But then we had to sit in Virgin Domestic for 2 hours – bugger! and then there was a delay of another hour – double bugger! Hard to stay awake by this stage though, but then the airport chairs are not known for comfort! Plus, we did have the Australian Open tennis to keep us entertained. We eventually got to Melbourne’s Tullamarine Airport around 5pm, just in time for Grammy to pick us up out the front.

All in all, an eventless 29 hour journey all up (thank goodness).
Now to the catch-up of domestic and business chores… they never go away do they!

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After finding our way to our last B&B, Palermo Viejo in the district of the same name, we got ourselves settled and showered, and headed out to dinner. We were famished after our Iguazu Falls very full play day!

Not sure where to go, we wandered aimlessly for a while, even tried on an outfit or two until the hunger pangs kicked in, and then we got down to finding food business. Found this great little restaurant off the main drag, not far from where we were staying, which had a courtyard out the back, mood lighting, a great menu, and a waiter that spoke fabulous English. Just what the doctor ordered. To top it all off, it was classic Argentinian ice-cream for dessert on the way back… perfecto!

Given how hot it was, eg 35 oC one day and 36 oC the next, we structured our sight-seeing accordingly. Which translates to mainly moving from shopping centre to shopping centre, checking out the main bits on the way.

Day one was in Recoleta mainly. El Ateneo – the most amazing bookshop based in an old theatre, gorgeous. Lots of great shopping at Patio Bullrich, which we had been starved of up until this point. Just a great area to spend time in really. We could have all done serious damage to the credit card… well we did do a little, but nothing to savage!

Day two was spent in the city centre; the Obelisk, the Plaza del Mayo, the Presidential abode etc, but then it got too hot again. So another shopping centre was sought. Only lunch this time, no shopping. Had another good look around, and then went in search of ice-cream to top it off. Once done, we piled into a cab to head back to our pad. Nearly didn´t make it though as the taxi-driver almost took on a bus with the nose of the car, but no harm done and we made it back safe and sound.

After a little R&R, and a preliminary packing of the bags, it was time to wander the local streets in search of whatever really; oh and dinner. Our return flight heading to Melbourne was at 2:30am, meaning we were leaving the B&B at approx midnight, so plenty of time to loiter with intent!

Except… we got caught in a full-on storm, wind and heavy rain lasting approx 30 mins, and serious enough to make all of us really wet. Fortunately it wasn’t cold, other than when the breeze blew, so we decided to push on regardless. We did know though that we were not after a dining place with full-blown air-conditioning blasting away. That would have been too much like torture!

Given how early we were by Argentinian standards (ie restaurants open for dinner at 9pm), we found a delightful place not far from our pad that were serving “snacks”. Now I have to tell you, we’re talking full on hamburgers and sandwiches which were enormous, but nothing overly fancy schmancy. We were by this stage, more than happy with that arrangement.

So we scoffed our snacks, used the time to reflect on the highlights and the not so experiences of the previous 5-6 weeks, moved on to the ice-cream shop for our one last chance at dessert (my, the Argentinians do a fabulous ice-cream) and headed back to finalise flight preparation! You know, showers, comfortable clothes, last decent cup of tea…

Before we knew it, the taxi was out front and we were piling into it. Said all our goodbyes, congratulating ourselves on yet another successful adventure and then we were whisked off into the midnight sky, on route to the airport.

What a trip…
What an adventure…
What to do next?
Antartica is on the radar. Alaska would be good too. Back to South America, like Brazil and Chile, would also be wonderful… so many choices!

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The bit we loved the best though was the getting wet part – this was achieved by being in a boat and going straight under two of the falls. No doubt they were probably the lamest two on offer, however, they were big enough to give you one hell of a fright, a notion of the power in the big kahunas, and get you incredibly wet without trying too hard. We had planned to do this so had our bathers on together with clothing coverage. But, we forgot to take the shoes off. I swear we were walking around in our own puddles for the rest of the day…

Mind you, the National Park itself is tourist heaven. There´s a train and guided walks and fast food; very theme park really.
Nonetheless, you cannot take away from the splendour of the Falls themselves. Another reminder of Mother Nature at her most majestic.

We stayed at a great little hotel, the Rio Tropic. They were so helpful. Just another example of Argentinian courtesy. Except for our border crossing, and subsequent passport control episode when first re-entering, many of the locals could not be more helpful.

We only had 24 hours in Iguazu, so we made the most of it. To the point where we got changed at the airport into dry clothes, before loading the bags and boarding for our last internal fight to Buenos Aires…

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After our border dramas, all we wanted to do was curl up in a feotal position and sleep!
Actually, it wasn´t that bad really, but our bodies were craving the need to park somewhere for a few days, not have to pack a bag, and do some laundry and generally sleep until you woke; and Salta provided that.

We stayed in a lovely, family run B&B Posada de la Nubes.
Even had the two family dogs bouncing around. And we experienced rain again. Not that we hadn´t on the trip to date, but the sound of it on your roof as you woke (as opposed to on the tent top) really was a most pleasing sound.

Suffice to say, we didn´t do too much, other than walk around, eat, drink; oh and enjoyed a little Brazilian type ¨carnivale¨. That was fun.

The R&R set us up perfectly for the next leg….Iguazu Falls

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We left Tupiza at approx 9am and got to the Bolivian border at approx 10:15am. Working out what to do and in what order was not easy. Some of the border police saw us walking around a little lost, so directed us to a queue, the going-into Argentina queue. It was soooo long. And it was sssoooo hot. We joined the end, and knew we were in for a bit of a wait…

Whilst doing so, we noticed a queue on the other side of the road, which looked like a going-into Bolivia queue. Upon further investigation however, it turned out to also be the leaving Bolivia queue too. Blimey!

So we left a couple of us with the bags in the first queue, while 2 of us went in search of getting a stamp finalising leaving Bolivia; which in effect meant we joined queue #2.

In the middle of this 100m strip of road, there is a sign with Bolivia on one side and Argentina on the other. Unfortunately for us, we were on the Argentinian side when we joined. The local Bolivians however did not want to be seen crossing over to the Argentinian side, and therefore created their own entry point to the queue at that sign, meaning they were pushing in front of us! ggggrrrr… We ended up getting pushed back to twice as far away from where we started. Well we were not happy I can assure y0u, but we had people in front of us allowing it to happen. So we started to make a fuss. My new best friend and I that is.

She was standing behind me and she spoke Spanish, which was most helpful, and she knew I was getting cross with the locals pushing in, as was she, so… she started to make noise in Spanish, and I in English. So much so that one of the police came to find out what was going on. Once explained, he relayed the message to the locals to go to the back of the queue, but only for the locals from now on; which meant we were no closer! ggggrrrr

With that, after a cold, thirst-quenching, life-saving coca-cola, we took issues into our own hands. Whilst I kept our spot in the queue, my partner in crime slowly but surely regained our original position. Then when the time was right, we all moved forward. We as in us, my new best friend, and her counterparts. And we got away with it, thank goodness.

Fortunately, when at the window inside the office, the Bolivian officials were more interested in talking amongst themselves when checking our passports, that even though they were stamping 5 passports with 2 people in possession of them, they didn´t seem to care.

Goal achieved; passports stamped. We had officially left Bolivia and were now in no mans land. With that, we regained our spot in the going-into Argentina queue, with our bags and the rest of us. Phew!

Ahhh, spoke to soon though. This queue was soooooo slow.
There were hundreds of people queueing and  1, sometimes 2, immigration police only manning the window. Excruiatingly slow. Every time one person got their passport stamped, the queue, per individual, inched their bags and their bodies along a little. And it was getting hotter…

Then we had more locals trying to push in ahead.
There was no way we were going to tolerate that a 2nd time, so this time we started the noise, and then the Spanish speakers, once they understood what was happening, joined in. Police arrived again, only to have this new lot moved to the back of the queue. Only they didn´t.

We spotted the same family sometime later not far behind us, but in front of our new best friend and her Argentinian buddies. So we took it upon ourselves to inform her. She then relayed it to the Argentinians and they went off!! Making more noise than we could ever have made. It worked though, and they were moved on again. We suspect though that they would have just tried again further down the line. But by this time it was not our problem as we were edging closer to THE window…

We finally got there, in front of the window, and then the young bloke serving me decided to tag-team with his comrade half way through and the process had to start again. In the meantime I had a local push in in front of me trying to do something quickly. Well that was the last straw, and he coped both barrels as did the immigration chap.

¨Go away and wait your turn; I´ve been here for 4 hours; don´t you dare¨ etc etc and then to the official ¨give me my passports now, stamped right now; don´t you dare either¨ etc etc. Suffice to say the local left, and passports were stamped, and we were finally done…

We were officially in Argentina. Now to the bus station as we had to get a bus to Salta. Fortunately we found one that was due in approx an hour, so we took that option. We had to changeover at Jutuy but that was OK. We figured we have a bit of a wait at that spot as it was only a 4 hour drive, we were departing at 4:45pm and changeover wasn´t until 11pm. Little did we know…

An hour into the journey and we were pulled over by passport control. Each and every one of us had to leave the bus, collect our bags and stand in the queue in front of their office; boys to the left, girls to the right. It was like something out of a movie, seriously.

Anyway, they checked passports and went through every bag of every person. Not a pleasant experience at all, but by then we were so over it by that stage that we would do almost anything to just get where we needed to get too. Was this incident related to our noise making capability at the border? I don´think so, but the thought did cross my mind…

We eventually arrived in Salta Argentina at 1:30am.
What a day…

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We got from Potosí to Uyuni, which all went well. A real backpackers hub is Uyuni, but it is from there that you need to start any of the Salar de Uyuni – the Salt Plains tour. Our guide Archie, and our driver Rubin from Tupiza Tours met us at our hotel bright and early the next morning. We loaded our stuffs into the 4WD and off we went…

Day 1
Salar de Uyuni is rather amazing. Click on the link to find out all about it. But from our perspective though, it is the best place to take the most creative photos, which of course, we took full advantage of (samples to come).

Lunching at the Isla del Pescado was gorgeous too, but a little ridiculous in so far as we shared this remote part of the world with approx 40 of our closest 4WD vehicles x 5 persons each! The island is made up of cacti and coral, but honestly, there were so many people on and around this tiny island, it was busier than Bourke St! There was even a queue to use the salt-constructed picnic tables!!

And then, when we had enough of standing in the sun, additionally strong with the reflection from the salt, we headed to our hotel. Now I have to admit, we weren´t expecting too much by way of ¨luxury¨, but I have to say, we were most pleasantly surprised.

Hotel de Piedra stands on top of a little village in the ¨middle of nowhere¨, and provided a most unexpected respite from the harshness of the salt plains. Really very impressive. The water was solar-powered and therefore had to be used as soon as we arrived, and power went off at 10pm, but that was all part of its charm.

What´s also impressive is the way this hotel, and the following two Tayka Hoteles we were to stay at, have been set up with the community. Each of the hotels have been built with the full support of the locals, and with the view to have the locals fully owning and running their own hotel within a 10-year period. They too were running out of ways to create their own revenues, and the plans have been hatched and executed accordingly. Another good reason for us to spend our money here…

Day 2
Once leaving the Salar de Uyuni, we were pretty much on our own, except for the occasional 4WD drive-bys. Today, we spent lots of time looking at Lagunas and flamingos! How many photos can one person take, really! We did have lunch with local wildlife though, greeted by Viscacha´s and little teeny-weeny mice that looked like Miss Tittlemouse from Beatrix Potter. They were certainly happy to scoff any lunch we didn´t!

Hotel Desierto was the hotel of choice for sleepover. This time we couldn´t even see the village that was looking after this one, so as we went up the drive, after finding a solitary sign in the middle of the desert, we were presented with this large hotel all by itself, unbelievable. It literally stands alone at the base of a mountain, at the edge of the National Park. Quite the mirage!

Day 3
Today was more lagunas, and flamingos, and llamas. Lots more llamas.
Lunch was with the llamas, lieterally. We found the most amazing spot in the middle of desert surrounds, green, lush, with llamas feeding and drinking from a flowing stream. Again, lots of photos taken, what more can we say!

Prior to that though, we spent time at Stone Tree, and then at the geysers. Even had a little soak in the hot springs. Sol de Mañana, despite being very smelly,  certainly revealed how the earth handles some of its own waste! The hot spring however was clean and balmy 36 oC; rather warm given how cool it was considering it was a desert morning. Well worth visiting though…

Our last hotel on our ¨luxury¨ tour was the Hotel de los Volcanes. Again, this one was as impressive as the other two. Such a delight!

Day4
More of the same really. Then as we were heading towards Tupiza to conclude our round-the-desert tour, we were introduced to Quebrada de Palala, with spectacular red rock formations that resemble needles reaching 4200m high. El Sillar, or more commonly known as ¨moon valley¨, where, as a product of erosion, show the most amazing formations Mother Nature can produce. A scene to be seen, and truly appreciated. Wonderful.

Altitude sickness played a part again in this leg of the trip, but this time I was ready. We started at 3300m and reached as high as 4950m! Fortunatley this time it was in the 4WD and not on foot. Thank goodness for Diamox!

Back to reality came with a thud. The Hotel Mitru in Tupiza was a bit of a let-down after the desert trio, but nevertheless functional. This is where we rested our weary heads, ready for the next part of our adventure, crossing the Bolivian/Argentian border…

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