Planking and the Pinnacles

This past month has been very busy for Steph and I. I'm sure we've lost a large percentage of our audience due to our blogging tardiness. So without further ado, it is my pleasure to announce that we're back! Now, there's an entire month of news to share, so I shall start from the beginning; a very appropriate place to start. 

It is beginning to feel as if Steph and I finally have our feet firmly beneath ourselves. In early May, the schools commenced their second term of the first semester. Steph was excited as she was scheduled for relief work at Como Secondary College. Furthermore, a number of schools were reviewing her resume to fill teaching vacancies. Upon her arrival at Como Secondary she was quickly ushered to the office of the Deputy Principle. She was subsequently offered a 0.4 contract plus relief work over the duration of the second term with the possibility of a 0.6 contract in term three! She accepted. Her main responsibilities include teaching science to a class of year 8's and 10's. 


She immediately had to start gathering her resources and commence lesson planning for her classes. The school is also in the midst of a complete renovation to the science wing causing further chaos. Consequently, Steph's classrooms are located either in a portable classroom or a designated area of the library. Certainly not the most ideal locations to teach science. Coupled with a rowdy, hormonal group of young teenagers it is needless to say that it has been a very hectic time as she transitions into the role of a permanent teacher. 


It has been very interesting to listen to Steph's perspective and comparison of the Australian and Canadian School systems. Being on the opposite side of the world, one would expect some obvious differences. Although advances in transportation and communication have shrunk the effective size of the world into a global village, each location possesses its own unique quirkiness. And one of Australia's current quirks is planking.

Planking in the arms of Eliza.

I was first introduced to the nature of planking after reading an article in the Globe and Mail reporting the death of a young man. He died from injuries he sustained from falling seven stories off an apartment balcony. The reason for his fall: planking. Wikipedia defines planking as the act of lying face down with arms to the sides of the body, in unusual public spaces, and photographing it. It is a fad that is sweeping through Australia. Facebook groups with thousands of members have been created for people to share their planking pictures. Competitive human nature has pushed plankers to become more and more extreme, taking unnecessary risks in order to pull-off the best plank. 

BHP safe planking poster.

Surprisingly or not, its popularity has reached new heights after the publicity of the first planking related death. Soon after I had read the planking article, Steph was kept late at school because of staff meeting. The majority of the meeting was to discuss how the school was to handle students that decide to plank on school property. From Steph's account, students would sprint from class at the sound of the bell in hopes of securing the best planking areas on school grounds. The slower kids, left with nothing to plank, would simply lie face down on the ground with their arms by their side for the entire recess! Was the school going to allow such behaviour? The verdict: No. No planking allowed on school property! I found this decision to be a little unnecessary. I admit that I may not be the most informed on the issue, but despite the recent planking tragedy, planking seems to be a harmless alternative to typical school yard behaviour. I'd imagine students planking at recess would be a teacher's yard duty dream. No fighting, no drugs - just kids lying face down with their arms to their sides. Instead of banning planking, the students should be informed of the dangerous possibilities and taught how to make good and safe planking decisions. Much like what the employees of BHP tried to do (see image). Although an article was later published in the West Australian reporting that the employee responsible for the "spoof poster" was demoted and a further six BHP employees were fired for planking related activities. This prompted a professor from Curtin University to state, "In my humble opinion, BHP Billiton is completely lacking a sense of humour."

Pinnacle planking.

Over this past month, Steph and I have also had our first opportunities to explore regions outside the Perth city limits. We were invited by friends to take a weekend trip along the coast north of Perth. We stopped at many lookout points along the coast, but the main attraction was the Pinnacles located near the coastal town of Cervantes. The Pinnacles are calcrete structures. There is controversy over the mechanism responsible for the formation of these structures, but the common theme is that vegetation (either passively or actively) created recesses beneath the surface for calcrete to accumulate. Over time, erosion of the softer surrounding limestone has reveled these fascinating structures. We had a great time exploring and posing with our favourite Pinnacle. And just to top it off, we snapped a photo of another tourist planking on a Pinnacle.