National Team 2011

(Front L-R) Karla Hood, Melinda Henry, Jen Colmer, Caryn Tennant
Middle (L-R) Kalen Grondin, Odyn McInnes, Daniel Shaw, Frederick Munbode,  
Back (L-R) Megan Janic, Stephanie Parkin, Lucy Taeuber   
Not pictured: Jonathan Vigor           
 

Team Blog
 

October

So we started this month out in Tasmania with the cold weather that some people were not really used to.  It was heaps of fun getting to teach people to layer so that they could stay nice and warm.  We travelled a little bit up and down Tasmania but lots of the team were sick which was not fun.  We left them at home to get all better! 

Tasmania was beautiful and we were so happy to be able to make it there.  When we left Tasmania we stayed at Fred’s house again which was so much fun and so amazing as his family is so awesome.  Our traveling this month has been more of going to small towns and staying there for a couple nights.  This makes the time go by much faster which is good and bad as it made the end of the year come much sooner.

We went and stayed with the Sydney team for about two weeks which was so much fun as we had 17 people living in the same house.  When we were with the Sydney team we split up and did a three day retreat.  We went to Bondi Beach on the last day to celebrate Steph’s unbirthday which was an amazing day full of sunshine.  Now we are just heading back up to Brisbane to finish up with a week of retreats and then debrief. 

Through talking with the team we decided that our three best memories from this year were:

1.  Going to Uluru as a team and spending the day there walking around. It was such a good time and a great bonding experience.
2. In Tralagon we did a rally there which was the most incredible experience ever.  This was so incredible as the students all chose to come and they had such a good time.
3. In Darwin, Fr. Dan took us to Litchfield National Park.  We saw termite mounds and then we got to swim in water holes and jump down miniature waterfalls!

Thank you to everyone who supported us this year. We’ve all had amazing experiences and take away so many good memories from this year.

God Bless

2011 National NET Team

September

We have had a month of adventure and fun traveling in Queensland, New South Wales, Melbourne, and Tasmania.  Travelling has been incredible this month and we have been able to see such a wide variety of landscapes and weather.  We have also been able to meet so many incredible students.

We stopped off in Coff’s Harbour for about two weeks and had our supervisors come and visit.  Coff’s Harbour was absolutely amazing and the beach was so beautiful.  We spent time on the beach having barbeques, making sand castles and body surfing.  We sadly moved on from Coff’s and had to say goodbye to our supes and get back on the road.  We continued on to Sydney and met up with the team there for a few days which was so much fun having 17 people live in the same house. 

After Sydney we made our way down to Melbourne where Fred’s family graciously hosted all 11 of us.  It was such a blessing being able to stay with Fred’s family - it was like being in a home away from home.  From there we jumped onto a plane and headed off to Tasmania and we are all staying in a house as a team. It’s been fantastic! We are looking forward to traveling around Tassy a little bit more. It is definitely colder here than the other places that we have been but we have been loving our warm clothes and sleeping bags. 

Until next month.

August

We started this month off in Roma where we stayed for a week doing retreats at the local school.  We had an amazing week as we got to eat together at the school and we were able to spend heaps of time with the whole team.  After Roma we didn’t really stay in one place longer than one or two nights.  We went to heaps of very small country towns and had fun getting to know people and were sad when we would only be there for one night. 

We have met amazing people this month and have been in so many schools. With all the traveling this month we were able to make it to Townsville where we saw and stayed with the team there for a few nights.  We also went to Emerald where we stayed with the Emerald team.  While we were in Rockhampton we did an overnight retreat for World Youth Day with all the youth of the Rockhampton Diocese.  We did a rally with all the youth and it turned out really well and we made lots of friends. 

We ended the month on our way to Coffs Harbour where we will be able to stay for a while and settle down, working at the same school for the week, seeing the beach and hang out as a team! 

Until next time. God Bless!

July

So we all had a lovely midyear break being at home with families or with friends.  We all came back very rested and were all reunited at our midyear training.  The whole lot of us traveled out to Mount Tambourine and stayed there for a week to evaluate the year so far and see how things will go for the next half.  We had a really fun time playing sport with everyone and swimming in the freezing cold stream.  We were all very sad to have to leave one another although we were restless to get back on the road on doing retreats again.

We got back to Brisbane where we stayed for a week to do some retreats and get the van all ready to head back out onto the road.  While in Brisbane we had team time - we all got to go bowling! It was heaps of fun to get out and see the competitive side of everyone.

We then headed to Toowoomba which was really exciting to be able to reunite with the young adults group there. While in Toowoomba we had a three day retreat which was with a school from Ipswich.  This being a new thing for most of us were extremely excited to be able to stay and get to know them just that little bit better.  After the retreat we had some time to kind of rest up and get ready to pack and get on the road. 

June

We started off this month with a bang as our supervisors were here for a visit!  We were able to have a nice relaxing visit with them as we had a break from retreats for a week and we got to sleep in a little bit.  The supes cooked us an amazing steak dinner on our first night which was epic as Mikey made a steak hill!  We also celebrated Melinda’s birthday for which we had a movie night and had a really good time just chilling as a team.  We were sad to see the supes leave but it was only a few weeks until we would be back in Brisbane. 

We left Perth and started our six day journey across the Nullabor back to Brisbane.  This was definitely an interesting and team bonding experience as we generally stayed all together at caravan parks or presbyteries.  It was lots of fun shopping for dinners and cooking and cleaning.  We will probably never forget on our second day having to pay for showers. I think that it was about $1 per shower and we were at a gas station. Whoever thought you had to pay to shower…

Once we made it back to Brisbane we had our Netters retreat it was amazing to see everyone! We also found out that we were going to welcome the incredible Megan onto our team and sadly farewell Christine and Jonny. Christine has joined the Melbourne team and Jonny has returned home and we wish them all the best! We had a very relaxing few days and were excited to go back home and visit our family and friends for midyear. 

Until next time.

May

At the beginning of this month we were still in Alice Springs for a few days but very soon we headed up to Darwin!  The night that we arrived in Darwin we got to go and hang out with Fr. Dan, which was really good as we had not seen him since he had joined us at our initial training in January.  Darwin was a really amazing experience as eight of us were staying with the indigenous boarders at St. Joseph’s School.  We were able to do some Encounter days while we were up there which was a really good and such a different experience as the culture is so different to what we are used to.  Fr Dan, and Br Vincent took our whole team up to Litchfield National Park for a day.  During that day we got to see some termite mounds as while as swimming in water holes and getting to sit in mini water falls.  The sunsets up in Darwin were absolutely spectacular and we were very lucky to see a few of those. 

Next up we were on the road for a few days before we made it to Broome (travel days with a team of twelve are always a fun adventure).  Our first day in Broome we had a team day at the beach which was lots of fun.  We made tunnels in the sand, buried people, and of course went swimming in the ocean.  We ran Encounter Days all week at the same school which was really fun as we got to see some students more than once. On our last night in Broome we had a BBQ with all of our host homes and the whole team.  The next morning we left from Broome and started our four day journey to Perth.  We had some really nice stop over’s in some small towns. 

Once we made it to Perth we were all so happy to finally be settled again as fun as travel days are it is good to have a break every once in a while.  We were lucky to be able to stay together in a convent which meant we could cook and eat meals together each evening after we had finished our Encounter days.  We have only been able to see a little bit of Perth so far but what we have seen has been gorgeous!  We were lucky enough to have an overnight Encounter day in Pemberton which is about a four hour drive out of Perth.  The drive out there was spectacular and the town was so friendly and welcoming and it was just such a blessing to be able to go out and minister to such amazing youth.  We have had our first rainy days since being in Perth which has been a new encounter as someone on team pointed out that we have not seen rain since we left Brisbane.

June is almost here, and we are excited for the adventures to come!

Random story of the month

So because we are on the road so often and don’t have much time to exercise we started a new tradition on long travel days called ‘Van Aerobics’.  This is characterised by some upbeat music and one of the team leading us to get our bodies moving.  It must be hilarious to be driving by and watching everyone throwing their legs and hands in the air doing exercises while trying not to hit other people in the face!

April

On the first of this month we arrived in Dubbo were we all got to stay as a team for the first time in a presbytery and we all got to make dinner together which was fun. The next morning we kept making our way to Ballarat and we finally arrived in Ballarat to do a week straight of retreats for Grade 10 boys.  On our last night in Ballarat we celebrated Odyn’s birthday by having a party with all of our host families. 

From Ballarat we headed straight down to Adelaide to do a few retreats and hang out with some young adult groups.  We started off with an overnight retreat which was Lucy’s birthday.  Then we met our supervisors and had a week spent with them in which we made some very good memories such as going out on a ferry and seeing dolphins. The guys completed an obstacle course and the women went to the mall for coffee and a movie. We also went for many dinners at different people’s houses.  We played a basketball game for team sport with a final score of 20 – 4, a tough game.  Throughout the game we had a few injuries but in the end we were all intact so we couldn’t complain.  We were very sad to say goodbye to our supervisors but we spent the last dinner with them celebrating Jonny’s birthday of fish and chips on the beach.  For the Easter Triduim we headed out to Goolwa which is just a bit outside of Adelaide.  While we were there we went for walks on beaches and went to the stations of the cross, and did music at mass.  We had an amazing Easter  and also went to an ecumenical service on the beach in Adelaide and then we all cooked bacon and eggs for brekky.  And one of the host homes back in Adelaide were generous enough to have all of us over for an Easter feast. It was really nice to spend Easter with the whole team.  During this time some of the team became sick and we ended up having to leave two team mates in Adelaide while we headed off to Alice Springs.

On our first travel day we made it to Coober Pedy which is a town which has some parts underground, so we ended up in a hotel that was underground.  It was definitely an experience to remember! During the night a little part of the roof was falling onto the top bunks of the beds.  A few of us were lucky enough to head over to the underground catholic church which was stunning.  We left Coober Pedy and made it to Alice Springs and our host family hosted the whole team which is such an amazing blessing.  On the second day two more of the team got sick so later that day we headed off to Santa Teresa Community with a team of 8 instead of 12.  We ended up having an amazing time up in Santa Teresa we had a night out under the stars in a place that has a lot of mice! It was an amazing experience for all that made it out there.  We slept on swags on the ground and stared up at the stars as we fell asleep and we woke up with the sun and were able to climb a mountain in the morning and see the sunrise.     It was definitely a team building experience as we all helped each other up and down the hill.  We then headed back to Alice Springs and when we got home the two boys we had left in Adelaide had once again joined us and the two girls were feeling better so we once again had a full team!  The next day was team day and we all headed out to ULURU!!!!!  It was definitely one of the most amazing experiences ever!  There were four that almost made it to the top of the mountain and two of us made it halfway up and two that made it a quarter of the way and two walked around it!  It was a day that no one on team will ever forget.

March

We have had a very exciting month in Brisbane.  We have had a very busy but fulfilling month.  We had the opportunity to go to Toowoomba so we got to leave Brisbane for the first time.  The highlight of the month was when we were in Toowoomba with the young adults group out there and we got to go rock climbing, have a movie night, went to a place called Crow’s Nest, and on top of all of that we had a farewell BBQ.  On our day out in Crow’s Nest we had a picnic and we had a bonfire going even though it was raining.  We also got the opportunity to go motor biking on trails around the property, or there were also hammocks set up and we also just got to relax.  We had an amazing time getting to know all of the people there and are extremely thankful for everything that they did for us.  Also this month we have been very lucky to celebrate two birthdays and one unbirthday.  We loved getting to celebrate with Christine, Caryn and Danny!

We have had lots of fun doing all types of ministry this month which seemed a little overwhelming at first but we really pulled together to work well as a team and keep everything under control.  We have also joined in a few young adults groups this month which was really cool to be able to share our faith with people closer to our age and who were able to share their stories about their journey with us.  So we have to do team sport every week and this particular week Odyn and Melinda taught us ballroom dancing.  It was really fun and we were able to share what we had learnt with other people that we met along the way it was a really fun to teach other people the skills that we had learnt.  We also do team prayer daily and we went to a park one day and we ended up all climbing into the tree and having team prayer there.

Random story of the month

This month the whole team went to this event called Leven hour which is mass, then an hour of adoration.  But at this specific leaven hour there was the Friday night gig, firday night gig it happens once a month after leaven hour and what they do is they have live artist that come and play and you can just sit and watch for free, and the whole team stayed and watched it and we got to have sushi on the grass just outside St. Stephen’s cathedral while watching the gig!

Till next month

National team!