25th Feb 2012

25^th Feb 2012

Hello Hello to ye all!!

Well how are you? I hope you are all well and that everything is going fantastic for you!! I haven’t written in a while so here comes the rambles...... not much has been going on down under but we are settling in and getting on great!

My news is thin on the ground so to speak. We haven’t really been up to much the past few weeks- moved into the new room and I have to say, so far so good. I’ve put up a few pics on facebook of the room as it was before we moved in and as of yet it’s not tidy enough for the after shots... but lets just say we are both very happy here and it’s a massive room!!! The only complaint I have is that the bed is a simple double bed, not a queen and not a king... nowhere near my super... so its small and a bit cramped but we are getting used to it again hahaha. But I’ve made the most of it... it’s an ikea mattress so was very basic... I’ve done it up and added a topper and two mattress protectors (just in case of creepy crawlies and our experience in elwyns) and also bought us new pillows, sheets and covers... it looks amazing now and its super duper comfy!! So we are happy out. The room is cool and then can also get very hot. We have two windows, one at each end of the room, which are open every night and a floor fan which we turn on and it keeps us nice a cool... it also acts as a buffer for any night time noise if you get me. The room is sound proofed enough but not so much that you cannot hear noise. We are between the kitchen and the main front door so there can be some traffic outside our bedroom door but the fan dulls it all out and we hear nothing. It’s great!!! Fan noise didn’t take long to get used too at all... similar to an air conditioner noise and now I fear I can’t sleep without it!!! The routine of the house is fairly normal. Everyone is working so people are coming and going all the time. Mick and I get up at 5.30am every morning and are the 1^st up... I get up with him as it’s a pain to fall asleep after and then wake up again... I usually feel awful when that happens. Anyway, it means that we can potter around the kitchen people free and I get to have my shower without water interruptions with cold water or having to que for the main shower inside. So it works for us!! The rest of the house start getting up once Mick is gone at 6am... I usually am doing some washing or tidying or general day dreaming and eating my breakfast or making my lunch.... The shower situation is unique... there are 5 toilets and 5 showers... toilet/shower downstairs, toilet/shower upstairs... and then three separate toilets and three separate showers in the out houses outside. All work fine... but it’s nice not to have to go outside in the morning... so I don’t mind getting up that bit early if you get me. Anyway, it also means I’m not wide awake later on in the evening when Mick is wall falling asleep!! I usually catch my bus at 7.10am and then off to work I go. The view on the way down to the bus is cool- ANZAC bridge is smack bang in front of me as I walk down the hill... and once I reach the bus stop the view in the distance is of Harbour Bridge... all I can say is that it’s AWESOME. I will get photos... but I normally forget the camera and only remember it as I board the bus and I tell myself... don’t forget it tomorrow... but I always do!!! Sigh... such is life!!! The new room is one bus stop away from the city centre and away from the night life of Darling Harbour... buses run through the night which is handy and it’s not that expensive which is great. In the opposite direction is Balmain and Rozelle, we haven’t gone out locally yet but they too have good pubs and cafes and stuff so we have been told. Watch this space!!! On my journey halfway to work the view is awesome as the bus travels over some of the inlets from the sea and I see loads of people rowing or running or swimming and hundreds of white boats... big and small – everyone is up early and out and about working out or chilling... the other half is industrial estate which isn’t pretty great to look at!! I finish work at 4.30pm and Mick picks me up, traffic is usually heavy as we are heading for the city but we are home early enough to miss the dinner madness of the house which is handy- it gets very busy from 7-10pm with everyone trying to cook. But it’s all part of the fun and people are milling around the kitchen and tv room chatting and having the craic – normally we are watching some tv while it happens and then we retire to our lovely cosy bed for sleepy sleepy nighty night snoozy snooze... So in all... we love the room!!! The people so far are lovely. There have been no real issues. Someone has complained of food being robbed to the landlord... so a big email was sent out... sigh... anyway... nothing of ours has been touched so drama over!! The layout, fridge, shelves etc is all over the shop. The landlord has it all labelled by room... but do you think people have stuck to it... nahhhh.... when we first arrived our shelf in fridge and in cupboard were used and well we didn’t want to move it or throw it out.... as it happens a girl from another room has taken over both. Anyway- we found and made our own space so we are sorted now!! So I think this is a big factor for food stealing... people don’t put things in their own place and it goes missing or gets lost. There are at 6 couples here including Mick and I. Then there are four single people... its a massive house I tell you!!! Spanish, English, Aussie, German and Italian.. plus us Irish. Its a nice mix!!

Life in general is pretty much similar to at home, sleep, eat, work, gym, eat, sleep... we haven’t been up to much. The day we moved into the new room, we met up with Alex and Maggie down in an area called the Rocks, it’s kinda like Temple bar... or how it used to be. (for those of you who don’t know, I used to work with Alex in SQ and he left around the same time as me and Maggie is his lovely girlfriend!) It was fantastic to meet up with some people we actually knew. We have kept very much to ourselves since we got here as we are focused on work so it was lovely to hit the pub and relax. We went to an Irish pub called the Mercantile... I smile when I think of this pub as Judy and Ash we had some good nights starting off in it at home before we hit Capital or the Village!!! Haha. Anyway we aren’t the party animals we used to be and at the minute it suits us just grand. We are enjoying the house, the new people and also.

Work is same old same old. Mick is getting on fine. The hours and days are long enough and he really only has Sunday to recover but so far so good. Work and I... the only two plus points are that I’m getting paid and getting the ozzie working experience!!! Lol. The site I’m working on is being shut down June/July time so the place is on a massively depressing in there. It’s awful. It was announced week two of me starting. So my contract won’t be renewed unfortunately which to be honest suits me grand. Packaging Engineering is too slow for me... I like the buzz of retail now and Ladies in SQ- I MISS YOU!!! Thus I’m keeping an eye out for a new job!!

Last weekend was the weekend after Valentines... and this was our first real weekend on the tare... well... going out and having a few drinks! For Valentines day itself we didn’t do anything except exchange cards in the morning, I cooked dinner that evening and we had a glass of wine. We didn’t really want to do much because we get up to early and really... it’s not worth the tiredness... so we saved our plans for the weekend. And all I can say is GO MICK!! He had booked us dinner and a cruise on a show boat... all kept secret until we got to the wharf. We started off in a bar just beside the boat. Unusually we got seats at the bar. 2 drinks in the owner of the bar was chatting away to us, and handing us free drink!!! Drink he was brewing and wanted our opinions on beer, cider and some stout... we were in shock but delighted. It was very nice of him. We boarded our show boat at 7pm and it was AWESOME. Food was pre ordered- so we didn’t have a choice of what was on offer... suited us fine and the food was lovely. Wine was part of the package... anything on one list was free all night... two bottles later and after watching a “Moulin-rouge-style” show and sailing around Sydney Harbour, strolled off the boat happy out haha. We didn’t stay out much longer after that and were home by 12. Short night but wonderful. Sunday was a scorcher. We had planned to go into a free film festival with a few from the house... but we got ourselves cosy sitting outside in the sun and decided to stay put. Later that evening the heavens opened and it POURED rain and there was mental thunder and lightening.... the house mates got soaked. The weather here is not all sun sun sun as you a lead to believe... it rains just as much as it is sunny and its not raining like at home but its torrential and can strike at any minute without any warning. Ive gotten rained on here more times than I even did before!!!!

This week the weather has been great.... I even ran home from the gym on Thursday! Today and Sunday are meant to be gorgeous so fingers crossed. I may get more sun kissed! This weekend we haven’t got much on. I’ve decided to get up this morning with Mick to write a few outstanding emails and finish off this blog/email entry. I’ve a hair appointment at 1pm – scary and exciting all rolled into one as its not Pat cutting my hair..... and this evening we are hoping to go to a rugby match. Rugby league is about to start over here and we have to pick a team to support!!! Tonight two big teams are playing... I don’t know who... but there is a pre-match and Balmain are playing in the pre-match... and much to our delight... for one night only the French player Chabel is playing for Balmain... so we are really going to see him!!!!! Fingers crossed for us and that we find our way to the stadium and get tickets!!!

And that ladies and gentlemen is all I have for you now.... bid you all a happy Friday night/Saturday morning from the future!!!  

Much Love k

xxx