6th October 2012

6^th October 2012

Well first and foremost … a big shout out to my brother and HAPPY BIRTHDAY to him. Hope you are enjoying the holidays and hi to Laura!! Your present is on the way. Anyway I hope you like what I’ve gotten.

Secondly, MASSIVE BIG HAPPY 30^th Birthday to Miss. Hilary Hughes!!! You are officially in your 30s…. there is NO going back now. AND Bee… happy birthday to you too!! J

Finally- Alex- excellent news. Congrats and Dia Dhuit a cara!?

Well now that that’s all done and done - how is everyone? We are doing great here. Gary has finally arrived and our little ozzie family is starting to grow!! Wooo. Next, Fiona’s arrival in November and we shall be complete and then the real fun will begin. Gary arrived well over a week ago now… for some reason we were convinced he was arriving the day before and luckily enough we realised on Sunday otherwise there would have been a wasted trip to the airport Monday morning. So far I think hes settled in famously!? Not a bother on him J He is happy out! Fiona you will be glad to know that we won’t do much touristy stuff etc. as we will wait for your arrival.

Since I was last writing Mick and I have both been kept going with work and life in general. I must say we are not very exciting these days so don’t be counting on us to have any mad ozzie stories or the likes!! We are counting down the weeks until we arrive home for Christmas and are super excited already. Micks work is flying thank god and he is enjoying it… maybe enjoying it is the wrong word but hes happy out and getting blacker by the day!!! (TAN….im still pasty white L ) Work for me is getting busier and busier. I’m loving it but its hard going and everything is urgent. I’m basically setting up all the sku codes for Australia/New Zealand as well as running packaging projects for retail promos… and some of you know how fast THAT turnaround is required!? And as of yesterday I’m also going to be running product sourcing projects so much so… I’m getting a temp to manage all my day to day work. Can you believe it- me with a temp!? Who would have thunk it!!! For those of you who don’t know I was sent to China for two weeks at the last minute. It was unexpected for me and for my boss but there was no one else who knows the system and people needed training in it. It was an experience to say the least. I was sent to an industrial town called Dongguan, about 3hours from Hong Kong. To say that the China boarder control is intimidating is possibly an understatement. I thought Oz passport control was awful when I arrive into Perth… and now I take that all back and it makes the Irish passport control look like knocking on the door of an old friend you used to know just to say hello. I don’t remember it being that bad the time I went to China with Moya. We had to get out of our taxi from Hong Kong and walk across boarder into China and then were stopped two more times as we drove to show our passports and also we got scanned for our temperature. MENTAL. However, I did get the pleasure of travelling business class and staying in a swanky hotel. Ten hour flight and business class is really the only way to go for long haul flights I have decided… pity it’s so god dam expensive for normal people!? I didn’t get to do much at all except work work work and also get a head cold. Exciting. The area was very industrial, you couldn’t see the sky due to the pollution and the heat was unreal and at the weekend there was nothing to do or see. Humidity was through the roof… minute you stepped out of the hotel door you were drowned. I have the say I missed the fresh air of Sydney and fresh air in general. I was sent to China to train up a team of ten people. LOADS of questions, long hours and eager people – the team there are really good. But the proof will be in the coming weeks as we start to work with them. I must say, I was glad to come back to Mick and our apartment. One thing I did notice which blew me away was the amount of building going on there. On our drive from Dongguan to Hong Kong there were 100’s and 100’s of 60 storey apartments being built or at least already built and empty along with empty factories beside them. I couldn’t get over it. I had heard that China has ghost cities built and ready to go with no one living in them… but to see it along the motorway was unreal. Whatever they are gearing up for (world domination or whatever) they are well prepared. J This time I brought back no souvenirs or green tea only shampoo and stuff from the hotel!? Haha.

And alas as regards news- that’s about it! Our most exciting news was the arrival of Gary and we have been spending our time showing him around Sydney and sorting him out with his bits and bobs. We managed to see the All Ireland Final there a few weeks ago- had to see it for Mick and Mayo-we got home at 2.30am after a good match despite the loss. Booo. Poor Mayo but congrats Donegal. Maybe next year Mayo. We went into the city to a pub called Cheers and it was nice to hear the Irish accents and also see everything on TV. It wasn’t too busy which we couldn’t get over and we had full view of the TV. Work the next day was painful for me…. I was never so tired. I’m definitely not used to this staying up late lark anymore!!!

Tonight, we are heading out down the city to meet up with young Mr. Erik Broad, a mate of Micks from home. He has a horse running in the Sydney races today. So it’ll be nice to catch up.

Righteo- ill will let you go! Looking forward to hearing your newses- so send me some emails!!

Love K xxx

19th August 2012

19^th August 2012

Hello Everyone, it has been soooooo long!!

I have been very bad at keeping in touch lately as so much has been happening. However Mick and I are alive and kicking and in great form.

So how are you? I hope everyone is doing well and that all is going good for you in your lives. Email me your news as soon as you can, I love reading it and makes me feel like im at home!!

Right… where do I start…                       

Well firstly, we will be seeing you at Christmas if any of you are about!! Wooooo!!!! Our cunning plan to put everyone off by saying we were heading to New Zealand for Christmas didn’t last long. A family wedding, a christening and retired parents all got in the way, but we were only too delighted to let the news out and tell our families we were coming home- especially to celebrate these events- means so much to us. Keeping that big of a secret that we were coming home was just too hard. We had booked our flights in February and since then have been counting down the weeks until we fly. We will be home on the 20^th December and will fly back again on the 17^th Jan – so we have a good month to catch up with everyone. We cant wait to see our families and all I can say WATCH OUT PENNEYS!!! Bring on Christmas eve drinkies, steves night and New Years…CANT WAIT!

Our second piece of news is our most important- I have been officially sponsored with Reckitt Benckiser and Mick as my partner so we are now both on a new visa- the 457 visa which means we can stay here and work until 2016. (And I don’t have to do the regional work) We found out on July 17^th when we got the official notification and to say we are over the moon is possibly the biggest understatement. In two years time- in 2014 we will be able to apply for Permanent residency which is the ultimate goal at the minute. I got the notification just in time, two days in time in fact… I only had two days left of the 6months Working Holiday Visa allocation in RB and if I hadn’t heard anything it would have meant that I would have to stay at home unpaid until it came through but thank god that didn’t happen. I just carried on as normal. I didn’t even realize that it could have been an issue.

Too say that the minute we heard about the visa everything changed is also an understatement… immediately that same day I applied for an apartment. We hadn’t applied previously as you need to have an employers reference and it was better to have one saying I was a permanent staff member rather than a contractor.... and the following day we found out we had been accepted. Weeks before Mick and I had been apartment hunting and checking them out. I had found one in Balmain that was partially furnished, which suited us down to the ground only to find out that once we moved in the furniture would now be ours and we could do with it what we liked. EXCELLENT!! Within a week we were out of the sharehouse (THANK GOD) and now we are in our own place. It is fantastic. Dont get me wrong, the sharehouse was great for what it was but I cannot stress enough the following : 1. Being able to leave your toilet roll in the bathroom and it not to be stolen 2. Being able to have a clean kitchen 3. Being able to watch TV when you want. 4. Being able to leave your food in the kitchen and it not being stolen and finally 5. Being able to leave your cups on the draining board and no one taking them. Oh and also having a steady supply of knives and forks in the cutlery drawer!!! It took us a full day to move and clean out the sharehouse room and then another day to put it all way. I cant believe how much stuff we have accumulated already – correction how much I have accumulated. My parents will be able to understand this!! So since moving into the new place we have been decorating and preparing for our soon to be housemates- Gary and Fiona! So bring it on ;) And having our own place is BLISS beyond BLISS. The peace is unreal!

Work wise all I can say is that my job has exploded and so far im loving it. Im still half packaging half master data but its going to go more into master data in a big way over the next few months… im liking the challenge and of course its keeping me busy. Mick has changed jobs and is now back bricklaying and is happy out. So all is going well for us and we have been very lucky so far. Fingers crossed it all keeps up!!

Otherwise we don’t really have much more news if truth be told. We are just working and living. We have been exploring Balmain going to a few pubs and cafes and walking around at the weekends. Yesterday we went to ANZ Stadium and saw the Ozzies play the All Blacks. It was a great experience and not too cold. The Ozzies lost booo. But the All Blacks are the All Blacks… sure you know yourself! We spent yesterday in IKEA getting a few final bits for the apartment and today we headed to Manly Beach for fish and chips. Yummy. (I think I got a wee bit sunburnt!) And now I finally get to contact you guys!

And with that I will bid you goodbye! I will try and make contact sooner the next time. I look forward to your emails.

Much Love

Karen

26th May 2012

26^th May 2012

Well Hello There Northern Hemisphere!

Well the cold has arrived here in Sydney and as promised so has the oil heater and electric blanket for our bed... Karen and Mick are in heated room bliss!!! Now when I say the weather is cold, I suppose the truth of the matter is that it’s not really IRELAND cold – but it is definitely chilly. Every morning now I have my scarf on and my ski style jacket and all I can say is that 10 degrees here is not that same kind of cardigan/jumper weather as it is at home. It is COLD! To highlight the plight of our situation – I must explain that we headed to Surfers Paradise three weekends ago... it was a simple 12hours away north and it was more than 10 degrees hotter- 26 in the day and 22 at night and it was heavenly! More about that soon.... and our back to reality hit after that weekend away enforced on us how cold Sydney really is. On the plus side... we havent had rain for ages. Brilliant I say!!! Wellies (or gum boots) have been banished to the back of the wardrobe, but I bet you money ive just jinxed myself.

Anyway before I get into my waffle and news- how is everyone? How is Ireland and how are you where ever you are in the world?? How are the Superquinn babies getting on? And the Moms of course? How are all my lovely friends? How is Donegal? Miami? Scotland? Kilcock? Canada? Monaghan? I hope life is going well for you all and I can’t wait to hear all the newses! So email me when you get a chance even if it’s just a few lines.... I love hearing from you.

Life for us over the past few weeks has been nothing but a rollercoaster and all I can say is what a ride it has been. We are both in fantastic form. Before we headed to Surfers Paradise, Mick and I were gearing ourselves up for leaving Sydney, finishing work, looking for farm work and about to plan the trip to wherever we were going to end up. It was scary and exciting and we were actually looking forward to it and we had ten weeks left... we were on a countdown. Surfers Paradise was a cheap holiday package + flights I found online which we just couldn’t say no too, after all, we didn’t know what direction our regional work would take us AND we still want to see this lovely country if and when we can. (Plus we needed the break!) We took two days off work and made it a long weekend for ourselves. We arrived up early Thursday morning and found that our apartment was right smack in the middle of Surfers Paradise surrounded by pubs, clubs, restaurants and shops with the beach 5mins behind it. To say it was awesome was an understatement. Blue skies, not a cloud in sight, 26 degrees. The apartment itself had just been renovated and it was lovely. Thursday we didn’t do much at all, except walk the length and breath of the beach... well not the full beach, its well over 29km but we covered a fair distance and took it all in. That night we met up with the lovely Jimmy Keane (a friend of Micks) who is at college up there- we found the local Irish bars (4 alone in Surfers) and relaxed. It was a lovely night and we had a very nice sleep in the next day. Friday we attempted to book ourselves into a jet-skiing session however, it was too late and booked it for 9am Saturday instead. The rest of the day we spent in the ocean and chilled. We were very lazy altogether. That evening we went out and loaded up on sausages, veggies, burgers and rashers and along with Jimmy Keane and a few drinks, headed to the beach for a BBQ. It was amazing. Believe it or not it was my 1^st BBQ since arriving in Australia, I have had more BBQs at home than here. The BBQs are hotplates that all set up along the boardwalk by the beach and are free to use- all you need to do is clean up after yourself. It was fabulous and im getting myself hungry just thinking about it now. Ha. Saturday morning we unfortunately had an early start but I have to say it was one of the best early starts yet. All I can say is if you ever get a chance to go jet-skiing... DO IT! It was fast, bumpy, scary, and exciting. There were only four of us- Mick and I and another couple. We had an hour safety talk with a test at the end followed by practicing around a race track in the middle of the sea. Once we were confident enough at that... off we went and by god we went off fast. Mick was second and little old me was paddy last. Not that I minded. I was the most nervous out of everyone and the guide told me to go at my own pace but I have to say the whole experience was thrilling. We had a total of an hour and half trip along to and from a point along the coast. We had to watch out for swimmers, sail boats, speed boats, trawlers and anything else that it was in the water. It was nerve racking. Involuntary screams would pop out of my mouth every so often and there were times I was sure I was going to throw myself off my ski, but it never happened (we had life jackets on anyway if it did happen!). The trip up was less scary that the trip back. The trip pack there was a lot more traffic on the water so it was very choppy and so many times I took the ski up into the air that I wasn’t sure if I was ever going to land. The thrill seeker in me LOVED this. When we got back to base every part of me ached from being so tense. But it was worth it!! After that I was wiped out for the day. Haha. It was an incredible experience and I would definitely do it again. Sunday morning back to Sydney we went, back to the cold and did I say the cold! Surprisingly the weather was lovely in Sydney. The following Monday morning it was painful to actually have to get up and go back to normality but such is life.... and all I can say is what a Monday it was!?

The whole supply team had been at a conference on Thursday and Friday when I was off on my holidays. They were doing some team building exercises. I was given the option of attending, working or taking annual leave- so I took the latter, as after all I was supposed to finish up July 20^th and really didn’t feel it was all that appropriate to attend as I wasn’t really a member of RB and leaving soon – that was how I felt. Plus I wanted to go away! Long story short- that day I had two meetings. The first was a morning packaging only team meeting- which consisted of my manager, my work colleague and i. In that meeting there was no update on anything just that I was leaving on the 20^th and that my colleague was taking over another part of the business due to someone being made redundant. I offered to take on any extra work that both of them needed me to so that the colleague could get trained up on his extra work. Everyone was happy, me included as I like to be busy. My day continued as normal and nothing interesting happened. I caught up on my work and at lunch, read the Irish Indo online to see how you all are getting on at home. I overheard the head of my department ask my manager to get me and come into his office. UH-OH was all I could think. Something has gone wrong. Crap. I have had minimal dealings with the head of my department. He is a lovely man and his wife is Irish. He’s talked to me every so often and the week before all this happened I thought he was trying to suss me out a small bit about my situation but I quickly dismissed it as I’ve come to realise that Ozzies are very nosy at the best of times. Into the office I was invited and immediately told that I was doing a great job and asked if I would be interested in a permanent job with sponsorship. I think the word YES slipped out of my mouth so fast neither manager nor the head knew what to say. For those of you who don’t know, which is slim, a permanent job with sponsorship means that you can stay in Australia. It means no regional work for me. It means that Mick will not have to go home come April as he can come onto my visa as my partner defacto. He can work where he wants for as long as he wants. I will be secure for as long as im not made redundant or fired – which hopefully neither will happen. It means that after two years on this new visa type we can both apply for residency and then we are plain sailing for there on out. As per the Working Holiday Visa we can also come and go in and out of the country as we wish. It is a complete and utter weight off our minds and provides us with some stability. To say we are delighted is somewhat of an understatement. And personally this is not the best bit... the best bit is that I get a permanent job, with my OWN office and I will be super duper busy which you all know means a happy clappy Karen. I will have opportunities to develop myself further and my role is something needed in all supply/manufacturing industries. Luckily enough I am still part of a packaging team and am also now part of master data. Full title: Product Change and Master Data Coordinator. I and I alone will run this part of the business here in Australia as well as project managing packaging change ... so I am delighted. The contract was signed, sealed and delivered Tuesday two weeks ago and Monday 21^st, the migration lawyer was in contact and the sponsorship dealings have began. Yesterday I emailed all our bits and bobs to them. THRILLED!!!! We are both so over the moon. Everything has changed for us and all our plans have gone out the window. Sydney is now to be our home for the foreseeable future and we can start to make real plans. We haven’t really celebrated our news yet and I think until I get the confirmation in my hand... only then will I order a bottle of champers and we will celebrate it in style! So I will keep you all posted!!! So since all this change has happened, I have been flat out in work! I was in training for two days. I wouldn’t call it proper training, rather a here are the notes, here is where I am with the work and buh-bye! So its all been a bit of a whirlwind trying to get my head around it all... but so far so good. There is another Irish girl there Ash, who has been there over and year and was sponsored three months after she started. She is delighted as is everyone else. With all the talk of the manufacturing closing down, the news that they are keeping someone has come as a nice surprise for some people.

And that my lovelies is about all the news I have for you! Life continues on here as per normal, eating, sleeping, not sleeping, bus-ing it, driving and working. The house is going grand, fellas upstairs are making it hell the odd few times by being really loud and noisy late at night. We still have a food thief and some people who don’t do their own washing up. Same kinda dramas you will get in any share house. We headed out last weekend to the pub in Balmain, similar to bradys and had a grand time. Mick is still working away hard at it. We are missing you all but look forward to the emails, skyping and whatsapping!!

Ill let ya go,

Love K 

12th April 2012

12th April 2012
Hello World!!
How are you?? I hope you all are well. Happy pre/post/belated
St.Patricks Day/Easter/Birthday/Mothers Day/Wedding Anniversary/Birth
of Baby … and if ive missed anything else or anyone else…Happy
Everything and Anything!!!

Apologies that I haven't been in contact sooner than now, but we have
both been on the go since I last wrote and in the evenings im too
tired to type let alone think!? So I will try and summarise the events
since the last correspondence…

Life has been abit crazy down under… in a good way of course! Mick and
I are now both fully settled into work, sleep, eat mode
(Unfortunately). Hours are long and I believe will slowly kill me… you
know how much I love my sleep. But otherwise all is going great. This
week we have seen a massive change in temperature from 22-27 degrees
to a low of 11 degrees this morning with a chilly wind… and to say it
is cold is an understatement. Freezing comes to mind and shock… you
see we didn’t really expect it or for it to happen so soon! Mick had
the pleasure of a "hot-ish" winter last year when he was in Perth so
he thinks he will have a hard time adjusting. I have just adjusted to
the heat- it has taken me the full four months and now… the weather
has turned… so im back to square one. This morning I stepped out of
the house in a hoody, scarf and a jacket… and that was just for the
walk for work. It's lovely and sunny… but the wind is sharp!? I even
had a hat in my bag …. But even I thought it abit excessive to put it
on. Yea im a wimp when it comes to the cold. God help me when it gets
colder!! Plus the whole idea of not bringing any winter clothes over
with me…. BAD IDEA!!!

Anyway, enough about the weather… Paddys Day/Weekend went well for
us!! Mick and I headed to the Randwick races on the 17th for
St.Patricks day itself… we may as well have been at home as it seemed
as if every Irish person in Sydney and surrounds were there and to
boot it was lashing rain. Typical Irish day out. We dressed in our
best suit and frock and got half soaked. Disappointment in the day was
an understatement, however we did win some money on a horse and met up
with the lovely Kevin and Laura (mates of Micks) from home. We quickly
moved from the cold windy rainy races to an Irish bar called Scruffy
Murphy's in the city and had ourselves a grand auld time drinking,
fighting and smoking. (note to parents- Mick nor I smoke …. Yuck !?)
It was a great evening and the pub was packed! Sunday, we decided that
we would head into the parade in Sydney. The sun was shining and the
forecast great. The reason the parade was on Sunday, is that Saturday
is considered shopping day and Sunday is considered more of a party
relaxing day so the likes of parades or big functions are restricted.
Unfortunately… we missed the parade by about an hour… and saw the last
5minutes tail end of it just has we got off the bus!!! It was gas to
see the town hall area cornered off and a sea of green or gaa jerseys…
there were even chinese people in Offaly jerseys!? There was a free
function on the in Park so we headed for that… my bag got searched on
the way in (this didn’t happen on Australia Day and this event was
similar?!) and the area was full of Irish music, bars, food, tayto
crisps, club orange and Guinness … magners was not to be had so I had
to settle for a strongbow knowing Sue would be proud… brought back
memories and London and the wasps as well as a few from Salou?! We
hung around the park for about 2hours and Mick met a few ex-Kerry gaa
players. It was nice to hear all the familiar accents with the ozzie
twang thrown in. As well as get in some Tayto and Club Orange. All in
all it was a good weekend and our aim is to make to Melbourne for the
Melbourne Cup in November for a proper race day out!!!!

After St.Patricks day I received some good news from work… my 4 month
contract had been extended to the full 6 months and I signed my
contract extension. Im delighted. However there is no chance of
sponsorship…yet (I still remain optimistic… even though I don’t think
it will happen!?). I finish up on the 20th July and 2nd week in August
I will have to start my regional work. Which we both are kind of
looking forward too. Sydney is lovely and all but it is big and vast
and everyone is busy busy all the time so maybe the pace of life might
be different in the regional areas plus I want to have a story for
years to come to be able to say I did this and did that and have the
regional experience. Also, depending on where we go, we will most
likely drive to it and get in some sight seeing and adventures along
the way which is the most exciting part!!! Otherwise, work is work.
Its definitely not a hectic as Superquinn, and im finding it hard to
adjust. Im not the type to be idle and try to look busy. Everything
happens a lot slower and they all seem happy enough with that… which
amazes me completely (Pace is very similar to Diageo). But maybe its
just a cultural thing or a manufacturing thing or the fact that
everything feeds down from a global level. Anyway, I look on the
bright side and say to myself… im getting paid aint I and am secure
until 20th July and to boot im getting experience in a global
company!?

As for the lovely Michael, work for him is flying!? Overtime etc and
loads of work so he's happy out. He is on the tools all the time now
which he is delighted about.

Things in the house are fine.  There are 23 people total in a house of
13 bedrooms, 5 toilets and 5 showers, one kitchen and a common tv
area/dining area. The fridge we share is on its last legs we think and
is about to conk out any day now. We have a few new faces around the
house, some of the couples have moved out and singles have replaced
them- one has moved over us and bombs go off late at night above us.
He is a single guy and well I think he literally clears out his
wardrobe or presses nightly and just throws stuff around the room for
the craic. For us, it’s a pain and if it continues I think im likely
to kill… however this week so far so good. I suppose this is what you
will get in a share house!? There are still people I see that I don’t
know that walk by when im making my breakfast, lunch or dinner…
seriously… lol. Also we have a food thief (who steals mayonnaise
(ours) and jam (another couples) and god knows what else) and a person
who refuses to wash up after themselves- half the sink is full at the
end of each week with their disgusting stuff (which the cleaner is
left to clean and she shouldn’t have to do it). Some of us had been
washing it up but that has stopped now as those of us cleaning it just
want to throw the whole lot in the trash… and it may happen yet.. Who
knows?! I decided to buy our own cutlery and dishes etc so that we
just have to look after our own stuff and we can keep it in our press
and no one goes near it and also then we don’t have to go looking for
knives and forks… forks go missing weekly…. Loads of knives… but all
the forks seem to go on holidays to peoples rooms… we have to eat our
dinners with spoons once!? Also a member of the house has a form of
OCD. Regularly comments on the dining table and if it has been shifted
to the left… he spent a Saturday morning reorganising the common room-
did a fantastic job and got rid of all the crap- but I have never seen
books and magazines so well organised in my life. Im surprised they
weren't in alphabetical order by title or by author. Its funny and
here I thought I was the clean organising one!!!! But other than silly
issues, we still have it pretty darn handy. The room is defo more
homely now and we have everything we need. City is a bus stop away-
darling harbour and shopping and in the other direction work and more
shopping…. What more could a girl ask for. Actually…. due to the
weather… an oil heater and an electric blanket… which I believe will
be got this weekend hahaha.

As I was telling a few of you, I have gotten up off my back side and
started to organise a few more trips, gigs and matches for Mick and I
to go see and do- as we have just been all abour work work work. We
have a few comedy gigs organised (Jason Byrne and Jim Eoin) and also
have a rugby match booked for our new team the Sydney Waratahs. As
well as organising a few trips for long weekends - Blue Mountains and
Brisbane- I organised a trip to Newcastle just North of Sydney- more
about that later. A few weekends ago we found our new local in
Balmain… similar to Brady's… same cool music as per back in the day
only minus our lovely friends and a ten minute walk away. So we are
now sorted for any alcoholic beverage or soft drink refreshment when
required. We also finally made it to the Zoo!!! Woo!!! There about two
weeks ago we took a water taxi from Darling Harbour over to it.
Luckily we had awesome weather so the trip over was brilliant. Taxi
man positioned us right under the Harbour bridge for photos and stuff.
Took loads of pictures and even managed to dodge the rain on the way
back. The way up to the entrance of the Zoo was via Skylift, it was
cool, we got to see an aerial view of all the animals. The best were
the elephants. There were two baby elephants playing in a pool of
water, pushing and jumping on each other. I kid you not. It was so
cute and every so often the poor elephant who was being jumped on
would stick its trunk out of the water for a breath and would attempt
to walk away out of the pool only to trick the other one, turn around
and push it back into the water. It was gas!? The words BIG KIDS was
an understatement.

Last week and this week we both had/have four day weeks... brilliant i
hear you say!!! Good Friday and Easter Monday were public holidays
here and to say we needed a break/holiday is maybe an understatement.
We booked a hotel 3 hours north of Sydney in a place called Newcastle.
The night before we left we met up with Micks cousin Grace and her
friend Vicki and toured around the Irish pubs... typcial i hear you
say... but they are the only pubs we know!! It was lovely to meet up
with them.
Friday we got up early enough and we left Sydney in what we thought
was excellent timing... for an Irish person... obviously it wasnt
early enough for Ozzies... it took us almost 5 hours to get to
Newcastle if not more ... due to traffic accidents and everyone having
the same idea to get out of the city. It felt like being stuck on the
Enfield road heading west oh so many years ago. Only good thing was
that it was sunny and i could stick my feet out the window!!! We
stopped for coffee half way through only for Mick to have the
strangest experience between the woman working in the road house.. who
he gave the order too who told her male co- worker who then left the
shop...she then decided she would to the order herself only to find
out they had no coffee left... well only had one shot of it left and
halved it for our two coffees... she then proceed to tell Mick that
her day had been awful, that her indian co-worker wouldnt take any of
her orders even though she was the senior staff memeber andhe her
junior, that she was considering quitting ... i thought he was
harvesting the coffee the length of time he was gone and when he came
back to the car with the coffee flavoured milk he nearly died
laughing/crying with the scary helaritory of it all trying to explain
it to me. We got to Newcastle just before 5pm and booked into our
hotel. Newcastle is very industrial. It is a big coal exporting port
and all the coal from the mines filters to it and is distrubuted from
it by train or boat. Also it used to be a big steel manufacturing area
but hasnt been since 2002. Cargo ships are constantly chugging across
the horizon. The place itself looked like a summer place that was shut
for the winter thus not alot was on or open unfortunately. But that
didnt stop us!! Friday night we drove around in the dark to get the
feel of the place... and had our dinner on the main wharf.
Saturday we had a wine tour booked in the Hunter Valley and we couldnt
havent gotten a better day for it. AWESOME. Sun sun and more sun!! A
tour bus picked us up at 8.40am. We hit 3 winerys all before lunch,
all serving about 6-7 shots (tastings) of wine at each. All fabolous
and tasty with a few not so nice. After lunch we hit two more followed
by a visit to a cheese shop and a chocolate shop. We didnt get home
until late and for dinner we had wine and cheese. Well we thought we'd
carry on with our tastings. The whole day was wonderful!!
Sunday we ventured out for a walk on Nobbys beach and visited the
lighthouse and walked along the wharf. We saw dolphins hearding a
school of fish out of the harbour. It was cool to see and i tried to
take photos but i missed every them time!!! The fish were like a dark
shadow in the sea and every so often the dolphins would jump up and
the fish would go crazy!!! After, we headed further north to a place
called Nelsons Bay and went body boarding in feezing cold water!!!
well its wasnt freezing but it took a while to get used to it.
On our way back from Nelsons Bay we found a few options for Mondays
adventure... and decided on quad biking!!! After check out and a
lovely breakfast we headed back along the road to Nelsons Bay and
booked ourselves into an hour of quad biking on Port Stephens famous
sand dunes. They were amazing!!!! It was as if you were in the dessert
somewhere and the sand was lovely. We spent at least good hour and a
half speeding around a sandpit style dune (more time than we had paid
for- score!) watching other groups memebers falling off their quads or
getting stuck. The whole experience was cool and once over we hit the
road again for Sydney. boooo. Our holiday was over. Traffic was bad
enough- it took 4hours to get back to Rozelle and we were wrecked
after all our travels. However, it was well worth it!!!

Anyway now it is Thursday... only one more day left until its the
weekend again! wooo!! At the minute we have no exciting plans and are
happy enough with that. We are exploring our options for the next few
months and hoping to make some firm plans in the coming weeks. Come
August we will be heading to the outback to do the farm work and for
Christmas we are going to go to New Zealand on a bus trip - we may
even see some snow if we are lucky. We had hoped to come home but
flights are massively expensive and if neither of us get sponsored, we
will be home in April 2013 once Micks visa is up regardless. So its
scary and exciting all rolled into one! At some time in June, Im going
to attempt to cook a Christmas dinner once it is suitably colder and
we both are looking forward to that... its the simple pleasures you
see!! haha. And with that my friends... is all the news i have for
now. I look forward to your responses and i hope that all is well with
each and every one of ye.

Email me when you get a chance.
Love Karen xxx