Aussie School Children

I didn't get out of the house in time to take any pictures of the schoolchildren. And I really am hesitant to take pictures of them because if you were a parent wouldn't you be weary of some woman standing around taking pictures of your kids?

And apparently the Aussies don't realize how stinking cute their uniforms are because it was really hard to find a picture out on the web that showed the uniform off well. Here's one that I found out on the world wide web.

Usually the shirt is either a button-up like this little girl's or it's a polo with the school's name on it. The boys wear matching shorts or pants and the girls wear skirts or shorts. But ALL of them wear those hats. If the kids are outside, they have those hats on. I'm sure that it has something to do with the blistering Australian sun (Have I mentioned that I have shirt tan lines and I spend a maximum of an hour a day outside? And it's suppose to be fall?).

I've read that Dalby has 5 schools. I don't know how many of these are private (I *think* 3) and what ages they go through, but I haven't seen a single kid on a school day that wasn't in a uniform. So far, I know that we have a royal blue school, a yellow school and a green plaid school.

What makes me happiest about the school children here is that whenever I got out of the house around 8:00 am or 3:00 pm (and even today at 5:15 pm), I see the kids making their way home. And they are all either walking or riding their bikes or moving along on their scooters (very popular here). I'm so glad that (1) our town is SAFE enough for parents to allow their kids to make the at most 2 mile trek home and (2) that the kids do this happily. They seem to love making the trip home with each other. It's such a different experience than in Atlanta where you drive to the grocery store across the street and even LaGrange where the school is too far away so you have to drive (except for my Daddy of course - uphill both ways, snow, rough life). It really is small-town living at it's best.