Rowing BBQ at the Melbourne High School Tower

On my last day in Melbourne Joe’s rowing group planned to have a barbecue to make up for the failed attempt to have a barbecue at the end of the rowing camp due to storms. In some ways this was a blessing in disguise because when the last barbecue was scheduled I was still in Darwin and also this time the barbecue was to be held at the Middleton room which is in the tower at Melbourne high School.

Needless to say I took my camera along and took some photographs. The tower at Melbourne high School which is central to its architecture has a parapet that goes around three sides of the tower and provides great views over the cricket grounds, the Yarra River towards the skyline of Melbourne city.

The barbecue was a chance for parents of the year nine students and the year 10 students to meet and socialise. It was great to hear the experiences and tips from the parents of the year 10 students in regard to how to be involved with rowing. As Joe has never rowed before there are a lot of things we are learning about.

The vast array of cultures reflected in the heritage of parents and children also shone through in the food that was brought along for the barbecue. Home-made delights like quiche pastor Mexican food Japanese food and of course the traditional sausage sizzle.

It was interesting to see how the year nine boys and the year 10 boys gathered in respective corner recesses of the Middleton room.

There were some great talks by the rowing coaches and it was clear to see that they love their job. Krista who is the year 10 rowing coordinator spoke of how parents can be involved in supporting the rowing activities. New words like erg, zootie are now in our vocabulary.

Like the students we sought out other parents in year nine. The school is proving to be a great place to meet new friends. We all want the best for our boys and that sets the common ground for all of us.

We were invited to go up to the top of the tower and we all tracked up the narrow staircase through the staff room up to a further curving staircase onto the rooftop. In the early evening light of a Melbourne summer the scenes were spectacular. Joe, Helen and I had arrived at Melbourne high School for this barbecue as a group but as a sign that our son is becoming more independent he spent his time with his rowing mates and we spent our time meeting and chatting to the parents.

7 PM came and it was time for me to make my exit to the train station so that I could catch the sky bus out to the airport and make the way back to Darwin for my next month of working renovating and hopefully flying my small plane.

During this last month Joe has attended his camp at Millgrove which included raft building, mountain biking and a number of team building exercises. Within his form he was elected form captain, he has restarted his karate training down here in Melbourne and he has been assigned his violin teacher who will be taking him to grade 8.

While in Darwin I will be missing out on a parents and friends games night and also the singing competition which apparently is an incredible event.