Everybody with an interest in anthropology and archaeology who isn't lost in some green summery haze far from the nearest internet connection -- it's time to contribute good new blog entries to next week's Four Stone Hearth blog carnival. You needn't have written them yourself: if you've found something worth reading recently, submit it to Tim at Remote Central.
More like this
I thought we'd go with a change of scene for this week's baby blogging, so we took Appa out into the back yard. Trouble is, it's a little hard to get a good Baby Blogging photo there because there are so many other things to catch SteelyKid's attention:
Earlier today I went up the street to Town Hall Grill and saw their white-board where they write the descriptions of Dinner Specials....and there is a new one today with the name "Special for Bora"! Wow!
The other day, I made a suggestion to one of my research students of an experiment to try. When I checked back a day later, she told me it hadn't worked, and I immediately realized that what I had told her to do was very stupid.
"green summery haze"
Green? in summer? Summer here is brown. In fact it's still rather brown, the haze is mist and drizzle rather than rain, so the winter green isn't growing.
Hadn't thought of that! Tell me, when do Australian schools, and Australians generally, take a longer break? In Europe, it's June, July, August.
Our long break is over summer. The school year finishes around the 20th December, and starts at the end of January or begining of Feb. The year is divided into four terms with two week breaks between each. My kids went back to school and kindergarten yeserday after the winter break. Uni classes start at the end of Febuary and final exams are in November.
Many people take holidays during that time. It ties in really well with public holidays of 25th, 26th, Dec, and 1st Jan, generally with a weekend in between, so you don't need to use up as much of your annual leave as you would other weeks. (Easter is popular for the same reason, especially as it coincides with school holidays in most states.) It depends what industry you work in. Tourism and retail (because of the post xmas sales) are very busy and take on extra staff.
The other time people from the south-eastern states (the most densely populated areas) take holidays is winter, sometimes to go to the alpine ares or New zealand for skiing, and sometimes to go north, especially to coastal Queensland, where it's warm. Brisbane (in Queensland) will probably have a maximum temperatue of 22-25 deg C this time of year, whereas central Victoria, where I live, reaches 8-11 C. The apparent temp (according to the Bureau of Meteorology) most days in the last week has been in the negatives. The wind sweeps across the ocean from Antarctica, along the southern coast and up into the ranges, normally producing heavy rainfall. This year it's been cold, but there's been very little rain.
Most employees get 4 weeks annual leave, and generally when you take it, is flexible, so you could take two weeks in January, another in May, and another in August, although some employers require you to take it all at once.
Thank you!
Why do you ask? Is it insatiable curiosity or are you planning to visit some time?
Just curiosity, though I would of course love to see Australia sometime. It hadn't occurred to me before that since your summer is 6 months ahead of ours, perhaps your entire annual business and academic schedule would also be different.