26th 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 1st
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 20th 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 20th 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
21st, 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
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