Up on the Border

I know I promised a blog posting at least once a week, but unfortunately I'm not totally sure what I can be writing about right now because really, this past week has been all about me catching up with friends.

It's hard to believe, but it was nearly 17 years ago now (1996) when I did my first teaching exchange and for the past week I've been back in the town where I lived for that year - a place called Albury/Wodonga.

Albury and Wodonga are actually two different towns, each one on a different side of the border between the states of Victoria and New South Wales.  Wodonga is in Victoria and Albury is in New South Wales, and the Murray River runs between the two.  The year that I was here I lived in Albury and worked at a school here in Wodonga - this time I've been mostly in Wodonga because that's where most of my friends are living now.

Wodonga is a country town, with a population of approx. 40 000  (and Albury has about 80 000). Unlike being in a big city my days have been pretty quiet since getting here.  That being said, one of the local coffee shops has given me one of their 'frequent buyer' cards so who knows, I might even be able to get a free coffee by the end of the week.

And although I say my days have been quiet I've also been very fortunate to be able to catch up with many friends who I taught with the year I was here, some who are still working and some who have now retired.  Last Friday I was invited out of lunch to find that there were about 10 people joining us, all either retired or working part time, so lunch was an excellent way for me to touch base with them.  I've also been treated to dinner at many friends' houses as well.  I definitely must say I'm eating (and drinking) well!

To try and give you a little bit of an idea what the area is like here are a few photos.
This is the old water tower in the middle of Wodonga, which was built in 1923.

These were taken as I was walking from "downtown" back to my friend's house where I'm staying.  One of the things I always loved the best about this area were the hills surrounding both towns.

These are taken from the top of Monument Hill in Albury, looking down over the town.  I will be very interested to compare it to photos I have from 17 years ago, taken from this same location.

It's been a while since I took a photo with me in it, so I thought I'd better let confirm that I really am here.

(Nice bra straps, yes I know.  No one needs to say anything!)

It's been a very warm (aka hot) week this week - temperatures well into the 30s and by the end of the week we might be hitting 40 degrees.  I know, you're all saying; "that's just too bad", but it does (obviously) have an impact on how much I can be outside and walking around.  That being said, I am hoping tomorrow or Thursday to get down to the Murray River and take a few photos of it to share with you as well.  In addition to the hills, the river was another favourite spot of mine when living here.