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Leo, Roving Reporter Report from: My desk Story filed: My life in 30 seconds I'm so excited and I just can't hide it, only two more days of school until the holidays. I'm so ready for a holiday - just to be able to sit back, relax and not worry about too much at all. You still have to worry (there is never no worrying ie climate change) but in the school holidays there's just less worrying. For school on Tuesday I have to play with the pipes and drums band at the Junior School Speech Day and on Wednesday I have to play in the school concert band and big band for the Senior School Speech Day so there's that to look forward to. After this week my family and I and a friend of mine are off to the coast to Bermagui. If you've read my column before you've probably heard me talk about Bermagui before -if not it's a beautiful coastal town that we go to every Christmas holidays .It's a really nice place to relax and unwind. It can get a bit lonely for me up there with no friends to talk to so this year we thought of inviting one of my friends, and we're both really excited to get it all going. I'm also looking forward to Christmas and the new year. For Christmas we are going to my Grandma's house, it will be great to see her again. So to everyone: Merry Christmas and have a happy new year. Until next time Leo Roving Reporter

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Leo, Roving Reporter Report from: My desk Story filed: Taiko Hi people Leo here, I've just recently come back from a weekend in Dubbo. I went out there to do some taiko performances. I believe I've talked to you about taiko before but just in case you've forgotten or you're new here, taiko is a form of Japanese drumming and I am in a group called Kumi Taiko based in Dubbo. On Sunday there was a bit of a workshop or more of a drumming session with another taiko group called Taiko No Wa from Sydney. But that wasn't the main reason I was in Dubbo. My group was invited to perform at a special dinner to celebrate a Mayoral delegation's visit from Dubbo's Japanese sister city Minokamo. So the taikos were very fitting. By the looks of things, everyone liked our performance as after we had performed for our distinguished guests and representatives they told us how they all loved the performance. We received some lovely gifts and then we had some dinner which was provided by the venue. I proceeded to have a good night's sleep. The next day we had a drumming session with the other taiko group I was talking about earlier. It was a lot of fun and I enjoyed playing with some older and more experienced taiko drummers. Our next event was to play at the gates of the Japanese garden in Dubbo just as the Japanese representatives arrived for a tea ceremony. It was amazing seeing people walking in wearing their kimonos and the garden was absolutely beautiful. After the event, mum and I got back on the road to head home. I had a lot of fun and really enjoyed a new experience, and I would love to do it again someday maybe even in Japan. Until next time Leo Roving Reporter