I've made myself a vow, I'm not going swimming in the sea again in Australia. There has been quite a few shark sightings in recent weeks, there was a tiger shark at Bondi, it was sighted 50 metres from the shore. Then our friend Sean, who lives right near Coogee beach here said there were a couple of warnings there, apparently the sirens went off and everything.....never again I say.... I'm sticking to our swimming pool!!

I've been really good with my exercising this week, I've been to the gym twice and Jason and I played tennis tonight. I really enjoyed it actually...I haven't played tennis for about 15 years, and I'm still rubbish at it! Poor Jason was probably really bored, it's not as if I couldn't hit the ball at all, but I did miss a lot!! We've decided to try badminton next week as I told him I'm a bit better at that...we'll see! The last time I played that was in Germany with my brother, he was really cruel to me and made me run all over the court trying to hit the shuttlecock...I was knackered after!

I joined a gym this week. Well it's not really a proper gym, it's called Curves and it's just for women. It's a circuit of strength training machines. I really like it there, they measure and weigh you every month to keep track of how you're getting on, and it's really personalised, normally at a gym you're just another face, but here they really speak to you to see how you're getting on. They promise you that you only need to go for 30 mins, 3 times a week, which sounds good to me! One of the staff promised me lots of toned, lean muscles, which is great! I'm trying to persuade my Mum to join the one up the road from her in England, hopefully she'll give it a try.

I met Sue after work last night, we went to some new bars in the city which were really good. Whilst we were walking to a different bar, I bumped into Satomi (the Japanese girl that I lived with when I first moved to the city...remember she speaks Engrish!!) we were both really shocked to see each other after so long. She was telling me that the house where we lived had been set on fire. One of the girls that lived there left a candle on when she went out...she also left the window open so the wind blew the flame and the place caught fire! This was back in April and Michael, the landlord still can't live there as it's still being renovated, so it must have been really bad. Satomi said he was even thinking of sueing the girl (who is now back in UK) I'm so lucky I wasn't still living there...Satomi said a lot of her stuff was ruined. So that was a bit of gossip. It was funny, I had walked nearby to the house a few months ago and I thought that it looked like it'd been in an explosion!

Anyway, after that we had a few more drinks, but unfortunately Sue had had a really busy week, so she went home at about 11.30...I was a bit disappointed as I was in the mood for a boogie, but it was probably a good thing, I managed to be in bed at a reasonable hour, which meant I could get up early this morning and go to the gym. It was quite tough finding the energy to exercise, as it was really hot (today and yesterday there was a high of 37 degrees!) ...but I did manage some and felt really good after. I was quite flattered...one of the women there was saying how slim I looked, but that was probably because I was so young...she then asked me how old I was and I said 32, she couldnt' believe it, she thought I was about 22!! I just thought to myself, she must be a bit blind, hahaa!!

So after that I got home and we went for a dip in the pool (my first one) it was absolutely freezing, but so refreshing after being in the heat. We stayed there for about an hour, then had some lunch. This afternoon we've just been to the shops to buy some cds and our weekly shopping. Just tried to phone my brother, but I guess he's gone out. Maybe will try again tomorrow. Not sure what we're doing tonight...we're both pretty hot sat at home...the good thing about living in Australia is you can always go to a bar or to the cinema to find some relief from the heat with the aircon, so maybe we'll do that!

I'm just trying to remember what we did last week! I can remember the weekend, so I'll start there. Friday night we went to Bondi to meet up with Mike who was back from the mines for a few days, we also caught up with Gemma and Garry, our Irish friends who we always have trouble meeting up with. It was a pretty quiet night tho, we were home about midnight.

Saturday night we entertained Linn and Martin, they came around for one of Jason's specialities, tuna and tomato risotto. Linn had already drunk a bottle of champagne before she came around, so she was very amusing! I'd been speaking to my brother on Skype just before they came around and was telling them about it, they'd never used it before, so I decided to show them how it worked. We phoned Chris up and Linn was just amazed, then I put the webcam up so she could see him and she went mental, it was so funny...she was right up against the camera waving at him..no wonder he couldn't see us! It was so weird to be able to introduce my friends to my brother over the internet! After dinner I had a singing lesson, Linn is a trained singer, so she was giving me some tips, it was really funny, she showed me how to breathe correctly and then we sang. She said I have a really good ear for music and that my pitch is really good, I was quite chuffed. I'm going to try and have another lesson soon.

Sunday we all went around to Curly's girlfriends friends house, for a bbq. The house was huge and really beautiful, they had a swimming pool too, but unfortunately as soon as we got there the weather turned rubbish. It was a good day though, lots of nice food.

We've got our tickets for New Years Eve now, we are going to see the Basement Jaxx on Bondi Beach, so it should be great fun ;o)

It's been a pretty busy week and weekend. On Wednesday night, Jason and I went back to the Lowenbrau for the Oktoberfest. There was a big table of us, it was quite good fun. The entertainment was fun, but it wasn't very authentic German, more like Swiss or Austrian. The band were playing tunes on the cowbells, then Sue and I and 8 other girls got dragged up to play them...when the guy pointed his microphone at us, we had to ring them....we played Edelweiss very well!! Then they had beer drinking competitions. The food wasn't the best though, I don't think we'll be going back again anytime soon, and it's really expensive too!

here are some pics.....(sorry, I'm having trouble resizing them)

Playing the cowbells

Sue and I with our cowbells

Having a beer

Friday, I won the raffle 1st prize at work ($80) I was well chuffed, so I took Jason for a night out in the city. We went to a few bars along Oxford Street, it was good fun. We didn't get home til really late so we had a lie in on Saturday. We had to go to the supermarket as we were entertaining in the evening, so we bought lots of yummy dips and nibbles. We had a really nice evening, Rach, Stu, Curly, Sue and Roger all came around, they really liked our new home, Rach says it's really welcoming which is nice. We've got even more photos up now, we've ran out of shelf space!

Sunday we went down to the pub in the afternoon to meet Jason's cousin who was over with the navy, we also met up with Sean and his friends. It was a really good afternoon....even better was that there was a public holiday the next day. We stayed there until about 12.30 when it closed, I didn't want to leave as we were having fun :-( it's probably a good job that we did though, otherwise today I would have been even more knackered. We haven't done much today, just lazed around watching tv...I love days like that!

These weeks go by so quickly, it's Monday before I know it, and again it's been a week since updated my blog! I can't even remember what I did last week. I think it was Thursday we had Rod around for dinner as a thank you for helping us move flat. I bought a new cookery book, so Jason cooked us a nice meal from that...I'm really getting too used to being cooked for all the time, I really can't be bothered to cook anymore. Friday after work I went for a couple of drinks with the guys from work (me and 6 men!). We went to the Customs House which is a really popular bar in the summer, it was packed outside cos the evening was so warm. After that I met up with Jason. I had booked a table for the Oktoberfest at the Lowenbrau bier keller in town, but when we got there we got shoved into the back room of the place and not in the hall where all the entertainment was. I wasn't very happy as I'd booked the table weeks ago! In the end we just decided to have a drink there and then go back on Wednesday night as Sue's friend had booked a table for a big group of us, so we went for a curry instead.

Saturday I went shopping for some new work clothes. I had quite a successful day, I bought some nice new things, I still need some more work shoes though. I really do struggle with the shoes over here, I've bought that many pairs, and I can't think of one pair that don't hurt when I wear them...even the bloomin flip flops hurt! Jason picked me up when I'd finished (5 hours later!) and we briefly went to the pub to say goodbye to Linn and Martin who are off to New Zealand for their holiday. Then we went home and Jason cooked for me again, we had chick pea salsa in tortillas with sour cream and avocado amongst other lovely things. After that, we decided to pop down the road to Coogee for a few drinks as it was such a nice evening, it's the first time since we've moved that we've been out on a Saturday night!

Sunday it was boiling, 33 degrees with a really hot wind. We had to shut the windows to keep the hot air out. We decided to go to the cinema to keep cool, we saw An Inconvenient Truth, the documentary about global warming by Al Gore. It was really interesting, but also frustrating at the same time....why can't these polititians do more to acknowledge what is going on in our world and do something about it, things would be so different if Al Gore had been voted President and not George Bush...at least he cares about what is going on! It showed that America really is the worst offender. Anyway, that was about it for Sunday, we just watched a dvd in the evening (after Australian Idol). We were watching the news and there were lots of bush fires yesterday, I can't believe it's only just spring and they are having these problems already. It was a very oppressive day.

I'm feeling very tired and sleepy today, even though it's a lot cooler, I think yesterday took it's toll on everyone. I managed to go for a run after work, don't know where I got the energy!! I also finally got my New Zealand residency application ready to send off this week... that's been a long time coming, so much info to get together, all those police checks and medicals...cost me a fortune!

The weather here was beautiful over the weekend, considering last weekend was wet, cold and windy, it goes from one extreme to the other!

Didn't do so much, on Friday night we went around to Rach and Stu's as they had just got back from their 3 week trip to UK, we had a few drinks there. Then Saturday day we spent a fortune on getting my pictures developed and photo frames to put them in. I spent the afternoon putting them up around the house, and I must say, I'm so pleased with them. There are a lot of landscape pictures from my trip, lots of sunsets and beaches....they really look quite professional, I can't stop looking at them I'm that pleased!!

In the evening we just watched a dvd (it was the 3rd Saturday night we've stayed in!!). Sunday we went to Newtown, there was an Earth festival on which involved lots of djs and loads of hippies on drugs! It wasn't my thing really, but it was nice to catch up with our friends. I didn't stay that late, I got home about 6pm and watched Australian Idol, I've never really got into it before, but it's easy to get hooked.

That's about it really, back to work today and busy as ever!

Well, considering we've got the internet at home, I've been neglecting my blog a bit! I managed to get on Skype to speak to my brother which is great, it's actually very clear, even better than on the phone...I also got a webcam, so we've been chatting and it's great that we can see each other too.

We had our friend Sean around for dinner on Thursday night as a thank you for letting us stay at his. Jason cooked some sweetcorn and tuna balls and then we had cannelloni....really yummy. He's actually been great with the cooking, most nights my dinner has been ready for me when I get home from work as I don't finish til after him. Last night we had tuna and tomato risotto and garlic bread, I could really get used to this ;o)

So, what else have I been up to...well, work is great, still really busy, learning lots everyday. I met up with Sue on Friday after work, I also invited a friend of Alex's (who I know from Munich) Dan has just arrived here on a 4 year work contract and doesn't know anyone, so Alex gave him my email address. We had a few drinks with him, then he left us to it. We ended up having a really fun night, not that I can remember much! we hadn't been out like that for a long time and it was great....so great, I didn't get home till 4am!!

Saturday I wasn't feeling the best, we popped to the shopping centre and then we had to come back home...I needed to lie down! We had a lazy afternoon and got out a dvd in the evening. Then yesterday we went shopping for a coffee table and some cushions....very domesticated!! The weather has been so bad that we haven't wanted to go out anyway, winter has come back and it's been really wet and windy.

I'm sat here writing this in the luxury of my own home...yes, we finally got broadband!!! We got the modem in the post today, and we set it up straight away...easy peasy!

It's been a really busy day at work, I'm trying to suss out paying the invoices, it's really complicated cos they get split between about a million cost centres, and I have to work out all the amounts...it's a real stresser, but I'm slowly getting there, I'm lucky in that I can still contact Roxanne (my predecessor) and she can help me out.

I went for some more acupuncture tonight, it was ok, apart from there was a woman in the next bed moaning and shouting to see a doctor, in all the fuss they forgot about me and I had the needles in too long (not sure if that matters, but it made me feel a bit queezy!) anyway, no harm done.

I'm now going to try and log onto Skype in the hope of chatting to my brother. We hardly ever speak cos the phone costs are so astronomical....so fingers crossed!

It's the 2nd day of spring today and it's boiling, 28 degrees! Typically for here there wasn't the gradual change of seasons...it just goes full on from one day being a cold winter day, to the next day spring (well, feels like summer!) it's pretty mad.

It's been another very busy week. I had my first full week at work and I must say I did really enjoy it. There is so much to learn, but it's a real challenge and I really thrive on that. The people are really nice, and my boss is great to work for (well, so far anyway!). The days are flying by because I'm so busy, I'm not used to that at all.

The flat is great, it's really feeling like home now. We finally got the landlord to send a pest control guy around last Thursday, he put some gel down to get rid of the cockroaches...so far so good, touch wood, it's been ok. We do still have a few ants, but he suggested to put some lemon oil down, so I bought some today.

We had a few friends around for drinks last night, we have decided just to invite a few people at a time to keep it quietish, Linn and Martin are going on holiday soon, so them and Neill were the first on our list. It was a really nice night, was great to be able to entertain when and who we wanted, it's so good living on our own.

Today I came into town, I've been having trouble with my lower back for a few months now, I had an xray, but nothing showed up, so the doctor suggested acupuncture. I was a bit dubious at first, I really hate needles, they always make me go a bit queezy, but I went on Wednesday after work. It didn't hurt at all, I had about 6 needles, 4 in my back and 2 in the backs of my knees, but it was the thought that made me feel funny. It took about 20 mins for me to feel ok after. Anyway, back to today, I was supposed to go back today, but I got there and they said you have to pay $70 as it's a Saturday, so I said I'd go back next week. My back does feel a little better, but it's still aching....Jason keeps telling me off for bending over without bending my knees...oops! So instead of going to the doctors, I went shopping and bought lots of Cds and some sunglasses. I haven't spent any money on myself for ages, so thought I deserved it as I got a new job. Now though we have to buckle our belts and start saving for our wedding.

I'm soooo knackered! This last week has been so busy, what with moving flat and starting a new job. I must first correct myself regarding my new job title...I'm actually a Senior Product Administrator (scary sounding!) I had 2 days handover with the girl that's leaving on Thursday and Friday and my brain feels like it's going to explode!! There is so much information to learn, I'm a bit worried that I won't be able to do it all, but I guess that's the same whenever you start a new job. The team are really nice, they are all really young and good fun, which is different from working for a government company. I had 2 lunches already, they had a PA lunch on Thursday and a leaving lunch for Roxanne on Friday, so I got to meet some more people. I'm a bit worried about going in tomorrow as I'll be on my own...scary stuff!

We've had a busy weekend too, yesterday we caught the bus to Palm beach for a friends birthday and leaving do, we had a bbq and then went to the pub for a bit. Today we've got more of the flat cleaned up and it's looking pretty good now. We've just got back from shopping now with some more essentials, so hopefully we'll get a nice relaxing evening with a dvd (I haven't had one of those for ages!!)

Here are some pics from the flat

The kitchen

Main bedroom

Spare room

Lounge

Balcony

Our pool!

I finally got offered a job yesterday! It's a 12 month contract, but it's great as I get all the perks of a permanent job (holidays, sick pay etc). It was all a bit last minute, I was supposed to finish at Sydney Water on Friday, but they desperately needed someoneto start tomorrow as the girl is leaving for her maternity leave. I felt a bit bad leaving early, but I have to do it and they understood...so I start my new job tomorrow. I'll be a PA for one of the heads of department at a company called Clearview (financial services). I'm a bit nervous, but that's normal and I'm so used to starting new jobs. So it seems finally everything is coming together at long last!

Some more good news, my Mum has booked her flight over in Feb next year ;o)

It's been a very busy weekend, but we've finally moved into our new flat! We were given the keys on Friday night which was great as we managed to get most of my stuff moved from Seans. We had quite a late night, and up again very early on Saturday. First priority was to get a fridge and a washing machine and a bed too, looking back now, it was silly to go shopping for stuff actually on the day, but really that was the only chance we had due to opening hours and also we wanted to save on delivery costs by using the van. Eventually, we got the bits we needed, we got a really good deal on a new bed too which was great. Jason's friend Rod helped him move the furniture while I stayed at the flat to clean and sort all the stuff out...not an easy task. We didn't stop until about 6pm, I had to go to the shops to pick up some more bits too. Then we had to drive to Jason's work to drop the van off, by the time we got back it was about 8pm so we decided to get some food at a restaurant (looking like tramps, but we didn't care!) When we got home, first thing I saw in the kitchen was a load of ants and a few cockroaches not what I wanted to go home to, I started going a bit mad, well I wanted it all to be perfect! I had seen a few cockroaches on the previous night which had got me a bit worried, especially as it isn't even summer yet. Anyway, Jason managed to calm me down...that was until we wanted to have a shower. Jason went first and came out saying the water was a bit cold...he'd only been in there 5 mins...so I had to have a cold shower....not happy about that! so that started me off again. I thought it might be better the next day, but I'd got half way through washing my hair and it went cold again. We did check the water tank, which is really tiny, so now I'm worried thats all the hot water we will get, there is no way that 2 people can live there with that tiny amount of water, anyway, back to that later. So I managed to calm down again, but had a fitful sleep (not the fault of our new bed..it's so comfy!) I was just waking up worrying about all the things going wrong (there is also no water coming out of the hot tap in the bathroom sink) I even went into the kitchen a few times to see what the bug situation was!

Anyway, Sunday we got up and sorted the lounge out into a reasonable order so it actuallylooks liveable now, we got the kitchen up together too, but we put all the boxes into the spare room, so that looks like a bomb has hit it..I think we will tackle that tonight. Our bedroom looks great, especially with the new bed, I have a whole wall of wardrobe all to myself...that's my favourite bit (Jason has got the wardrobe in the other room) I have spread all my stuff around and bought about 40 coathangers so I can now hang up all my clothes, which is great cos before we moved most of my stuff was folded which made me forget I had them!

In the afternoon, we went to the shopping mall to pick up some more things we needed, including loading up with cockroach and ant traps!! We spent an absolute fortune,and we still haven't got any food in our nice new (well, 2nd hand) big fridge. That is to be done tonight. So apart from the obvious problems, I really like it there so far, it's looking really nice and I've only seen one cockroach since we've sprayed the place. I have phoned the estate agent today and gave him the long list of problems, so hopefully he'll get back to me with some good news!Tonight we're going shopping to stock up the cupboards, I haven't been eating properly for ages, it's a bit difficult when you're living at someone elses house..so I'm looking forward to eating some healthy food again.

We've bought a laptop...yaay! so when we get the broadband set up I'll be able to chat to everyone more, can't wait! Only 3 more nights til we move into our flat, it's going to be so great. I can't believe I'm still in Sydney and I'm leasing a new flat, you just never know what's going to happen in life.
There was a massive hail storm yesterday afternoon. I'd just got out of work and the heavens openened, I had to wait around for ages otherwise I think I would have been injured! I had to go to another recruitment agency to sign up, I tell you most of them are pretty useless,they say they have loads of jobs, yet when you register all of a sudden things have dried up, maybe I'm just gullible! I had to do a few more skills tests, which I've done before, but they're a bit old. My typing was good and my word was advanced (which I can't believe) but my powerpoint was pretty rusty, I think I need to do another course. Mind you, I'm used to using Windows XP, most of these agency tests are on 2000, which is really very old and things are slightly different... not that I'm making excuses! I didn't finish till late and afterwards I felt like my head was going to explode...I've got so much on my mind now, my phone is constantly beeping with reminders of stuff to do, I will be glad when we've moved and I can concentrate properly on finding a job.

We had another busy weekend. Saturday was spent driving to different shopping centres to buy stuff for our new flat. We wanted to buy a new bed, so we went to IKEA, but there weren't any decent mattresses there, I think we need to spend a bit more money on something decent. We did buy some throws for the couch and some saucepans, and a kettle and toaster....not very important, but you have to start somewhere! We have to look for a fridge and a washing machine too, but we can't buy anything til Saturday as we only have the van then. It's all costing a fortune, luckily I had that tax cheque and some savings. But after all this, I have to pay loads for my New Zealand residency too. I've got my medical on Friday, thats $500!

So after Saturday, I didn't feel much like going out, but we did go and meet Linn and Martin, it was supposed to be a quiet drink, but we ended up staying out til 3.30! I still don't feel right now...not good! On Sunday we went to Bondi to meet Sue and a couple of other friends who'd done the Sydney City to Surf run. It's a 14km run, and I think over 60,000 people did it this year. Bondi was full of people. We had a couple of drinks at the pub there, then Jason and I went back to Coogee to meet Paul, who is back from China for a couple of weeks. I really didn't feel like going out, but I had to show my face. I stayed about an hour, then went back to Seans to veg in front of the TV, I'd been dying to do that all day!

So we got our application accepted for the flat last night...yippee! But I'm not going to get too excited until we've signed the lease, don't want to tempt fate! If everything goes to plan, we can move in Aug 19th. Hopefully Sean won't mind us staying at his for an extra week...he's due back tomorrow, so we'll see. I'm really pleased about the flat, it's got 2 bedrooms, with huge built in wardrobes in both of them (that sold it for me!) it has a balcony, which unfortunately faces south instead of north, so we won't get the sun in the evening...but to be honest, it gets so hot in summer anyway it'll probably be a relief! There is even a pool in the complex, a small one mind, but nevertheless a pool. We're very happy people now ;o)

I had a laugh last night, I had to go to the police station to get one of my police checks for my New Zealand residency. First off I filled out the form, when I sat down one of the policeman said to me 'you're not that young'...I'd written 30.6.2006 for my date of birth!! Then I had to go through and get my fingerprints done, not as I expected with ink, but on this digital machine. It was pretty cool actually, but not very easy to use, the policeman said that it's even worse when you've got really drunk people trying to fight you whilst you're trying to get their fingerprints....I can well imagine! It took ages to do all the prints. The last prints were of my palms, he was taking the mickey out of me cos I couldn't get my palms flat on the machine and there was a big white gap in the middle of my hand print. We had to do it a few times, as the machine wouldn't accept them, in the end he had to really push my hand down as far as it would go so it would be flat, it was quite painful actually! I asked him if that was normal for that to happen....he said no...he thought it was very funny, so I've got abnormal hands!

Another busy weekend of flat hunting. Friday I left work early to see a couple of flats, including one that Jason had seen the previous night. Jason was supposed to pick me up from work and we would go and see them together, but he was stuck in traffic so I had to get a taxi, which was a nightmare in itself. It was absolutely throwing it down with rain, and it took me 20 mins to get a taxi, by this time I was soaking wet! Anyway, I went to the first flat, but it wasn't that nice. I was hoping to see the other flat that Jason had seen afterwards, but the agent couldn't get us an appointment. I did get a bit worried as that flat was due for an open inspection the following day, and even though I hadn't seen it I thought we should get our applications in for it straight away so we didn't miss out. We got our applications in, hopefully there aren't any problems with it, the only worry I have is that my job is only temporary, but we'll see. So after that I was supposed to come back to the city to meet some people who I worked with last year, they were having drinks for Phil who is going away to get married. But by the time we'd done all our stuff I was still wet and I just couldn't be bothered to go out again. We dropped by Rach and Stu's for a bit, then I went back to the flat and Jason went to see the Strokes.

Saturday we looked at about 10 flats, luckily I managed to see the one we'd applied for and it is really nice, I hope we get it. The rest were really awful, I don't know how these people charge so much money for these places, they are so not worth it. Most places in Coogee are really old too, you don't get many modern kitchens and bathrooms here. It wasn't the best day, we were both really stressed, you literally have about 5 mins in between each viewing, luckily we have a car otherwise it would be impossible. In the evening we went around to Rach and Stu's for a bit, then onto a bar in Coogee. Yesterday we went to the shopping mall (to look at puppies) I don't know why we do it to ourselves, we can't get one yet!! there were loads of them, bless them, I feel so sorry for them in those little cages.

Last night we went to the city to meet Jason's auntie and uncle who were over from New Zealand. We went to the Rocks for a drink and some dinner, it was really nice. We ended up eating at the Loewenbraeu bier keller, it was very authentic, like home from home! I ate Kaese spaetzle (bit like macaroni cheese) it was nice, but no way near as good as the one's I've eaten in Munich or the one I had recently in Vienna.

So that's about it. Work is a lot busier which is good, mind you if I'd been busy before I wouldn't have been able to do all this searching for flats and jobs on the internet!! I actually have been offered a permanent position by one of the Managers downstairs, it sounds like a good job - Office Manager - but I'm really not sure about working for a government company again, it's what I was trying to get out of, I want to work for a young company with a bit more of a social and fun scene, and people around my age, so I'm not sure. I have been offered a few more interviews from other applications too, two of the roles are at a magazine publishing company, the one that publishes Australian Vogue and all the big magazines out here, so I'm quite interested in that, but the money isn't as good. Normally that wouldn't bother me so much if it was a good company, but now I need to save as much as I can for weddings, house deposits etc etc, so I'm not sure!

I dragged Jason along to a Buddhism and meditation course on Monday night. It was actually very interesting. It was all a bit profound, trying to understand the subject on Practical Patience was a bit hard to get your head around, I won't even try to explain it! she also talked a lot about Karma. I think I will definitely go back again, plus we did a couple of meditations and I had the best sleep ever!!

Things are still really busy, I've been looking for a permanent job, plus looking for a flat, not really a good idea to do both at the same time, but unfortunately I have no choice! I've registered at a few new agencies, but nothing interesting has come up yet, I'm starting to worry I might not get anything and will have to continue temping. As for the flat hunting, Jason has looked at a couple this week, it's so difficult to see these places as they mostly just show them in the day or late afternoon, so I can't go. We have a couple more tomorrow, and some on Saturday too, so hopefully something decent will come up. I hope we didn't make the wrong decision in not taking that other flat from last week!

I'm so loving staying at Sean's, it really has made such a difference just living on our own...I actually look forward to going home now.... no more sharing flats for me!!

I didn't really have the best weekend. I had a huge row with my flatmate on Friday night, she has been driving me crazy since I've lived there. I haven't mentioned it before cos she is going out with my friend (but now I don't care!) Basically what started off as me just asking if she could use her key and not always buzz on the door when she gets home (I'm trying to be assertive)turned into a big argument when for some reason she started having a go at me, she said some really nasty things to me and also about me to Jason, she really was below the belt. She really upset me. So anyway I moved all my stuff out on Saturday morning, it was a bit like a prison escape, we got up early cos I didn't want to see her!! Luckily a friend of ours has just gone away for 10 days, so he said I could stay there until we get a flat sorted out. I'm still in a bit of shock about it all, I can't believe she was so horrible, but to be honest, I'm so glad to be out of there, she makes mine and Jason's life hell, she's so miserable. It was so great to have a flat to ourselves over the weekend, it feels a bit weird at the moment, but it's really nice.
So on Saturday after that debacle Jason and I went flat hunting. We looked at about 8 properties, only 2 of those were ok, but still not perfect. Some of the places were such dumps, we realised we'd have to put our budget up a little bit to get somewhere half decent! We've applied for one of them, and they have offered it to us, but now I'm not so sure as there isn't much storage space...and you have to go through the bedroom to get to the bathroom...not so good if we have people to stay. We're still looking anyway.

Here are a couple of pics of the cavoodle

I know I keep going on about time, but really, I can't believe it's Thursday already, time seems to be going exceptionally fast since I've been back at work...and it's not because I'm having fun, that's for sure!! It's been a pretty busy week, I've been trying to sort out things for my residency application to New Zealand and also trying to look for flats (we've only got 2 weeks to find somewhere decent and I'm a bit worried). Tuesday night we went around to Sean's for dinner and did a photo slide show of our holiday pics...I hope we didn't bore him too much! Today I went out for lunch with my old work colleagues from another department, it was nice to finally catch up with them again. Tonight we've got a flat viewing, it looks really nice on the internet, it's a little bit more than we want to pay, but it's either that or moving somewhere not so nice. We'll see. I'm thinking about getting a kitten if we're allowed pets...we both really want to get a puppy, but we're both working and unless we get a garden at our new flat, it wouldn't really be fair on it. I've seen so many cute ones at the pet shop, it kills me to leave them there. We like the designer crosses, like cavoodles and beagliers, our immigration agent has just bought a cavoodle, Jason showed me some pics he took with his phone when he went around the other day...it was sooo cute ;o)

I can't believe another weekend has passed us by...where do they go?! I should try not doinganything one weekend and maybe it'll go a bit slower! As it was, this weekend was quite busy. I met up for a night with the girls on Friday after work. We went to a pub at the Rocks first, then we walked up the road to the Shangri-La hotel. I've been wanting to go there for such a long time, but this was only the first opportunity to go. It didn't disappoint either, the bar is on the 36th floor, and the hotel is right on the harbour, so there are some fabulous views, it really is a cool place to go for a drink...and it has to be just for one drink cos it's so bloomin expensive! The cocktails cost about $25, I just stuck with a glass of wine, which I could have bought a bottle for the same price, but who's complaining, it was well worth it for the view! So, as I said, we had one drink there, then we jumped in a taxi and headed to Surry Hills to Hollywood, then to another pub for some live music and a boogie. It was such a good night, there were 6 of us that came out, a couple of them I hadn't met before, but we all had a real laugh.

By the next day I'd managed to lose my voice, I guess I shouldn't have gone out drinking Friday cos I didn't feel that good, but I'd been looking forward to it all week, and it was worth losing my voice for! So, Saturday we had to get up early to see the tax man to do our tax returns. I thought I wouldn't be as lucky as I was last year, but I was, I got loads of $'s back, really happy about that, so it's going towards our wedding. Jason got a bit, but not as much as me ;o)

After that we did the usual shopping and cleaning and then Jason and I went out for dinner in the evening. We went to our local Mexican restaurant, the food was yummy. We saw one of the Big Brother evictees there, I've seen so many of them around about town, they pop up everywhere....apparently one from last year is working in a shop around the corner...being on Big Brother obviously brought her lots of opportunities...not!!! They are having lots of sex scandals too, 2 of the guys got evicted from the show a couple of weeks ago....now everyone is trying to ban it, even John Howard..funny! Anyway, back to Saturday...we went down to the Palace after dinner, but I tell you we were the oldest people in there, we felt like we were teachers chaperoning at a high school disco.... not good!!

Yesterday was a lovely day, so we went for a walk along the coast. The beaches were packed, it was very warm considering it's winter, it was nice to get some fresh air. I was busy taking lots of beach pics on my new phone, although I've no idea who's got a camera phone for me to send them to.

That's about it really...back to work today, my sore throat has turned into a cold now, but I'm feeling a lot better than I was.

I've just realised, it's a year ago since I went up to Cairns for my east coast trip....wow I can't believe that it was that long ago, where does the time go??!!
Not much going on this week, I was a bit sick on Tuesday, I had a funny spell at work, it must be this place, this is where I had the migraine when I worked here last year - perhaps I'm allergic to it!
My mobile phone died yesterday....absolutely gutted...it's not so much the phone that I'm worried about, it's that fact that I've lost everyone's phone numbers :-( I stupidly saved them to my phone and not the SIM, then even more stupidly didn't write the numbers in an address book...doh!! (So expect an email asking for your phone numbers!!!) Looks like the money I saved this week will have to go towards buying another phone, but I guess I can't complain, my one has lasted a good 3 or so years, about time for an upgrade.
On another note, I've found out that our passage to New Zealand will probably not be as easy as we anticipated. Apparently it can take up to 2 years to get my visa granted, so we have to start applying very soon. I have to get police certificates from UK, Aus and Germany (and get the German one translated)then we have to provide evidence on our relationship and I have to have a full medical (loads of money!) I don't want to go through all this again, we've only just got over applying for the last visa, what a nightmare!! Can't I just come back and live in England??!

Had a nice weekend. Jason and I went for a quiet drink on Friday night. Saturday we got some cleaning in the flat and washing done, very domesticated! In the evening we went into the city to meet Gemma and Garry, we hardly ever get a chance to catch up with them, so we had a fun night. We went to a few different bars, then Garry had to take Gemma home, so Jason and I went to the old favourite, Burdekin bar.
Yesterday had a nice lie in, then we went to see Click at the cinema. I would recommend seeing it if you can, it was a really good film, and suprisingly deep (for an Adam Sandler film!). It really made me think about my life (and made me blub too!). In the evening Jason met up with some friends for dinner and I stayed in and phoned my Mum and Chris for a catch up. I'm really happy, my Mum has said she'll probably come to visit in February next year, and my brother and Martina are thinking about coming over too...which would be great! It'll give me something
nice to look forward to. Actually Jason and I have come to the decision that we will only be in Australia for another year (so if you want to visit OZ, keep that in mind!). We are going to move to New Zealand next August and look for a house as you can get a really nice house there and it's lots cheaper. Well, that's the plan anyway!

I got my first wages today....yaay!! I'm so happy to be getting paid again, and the money is great, I've got the same for 3 days that I normally get for 5, so I can't wait until next week to get paid, I'll be loaded!! Work is going ok, it's not that exciting tho. I actually had a phone interview for a travel agency yesterday, I really want to try something a bit different careerwise, so I thought I'd apply. It was quite a funny interview, it's a really sales orientated role so it wasn't what I was used to. I had to do a role play with the interviewer, I had to chose to sell either a camera, a backpack, or some sunglasses....I chose the backpack and I did quite well, I guess cos I only bought one last year so I knew what questions to ask...I think she was quite impressed, she asked me back for another interview in person next week! I've been thinking about it though and I don't think I will pursue it, the basic wage is very very low, you have to earn on sales (which I've never done before) and also, you have to work 10-12 hour days and 2 weekends a month, so altoghether it's not really what I want, especially as Jason and I really need to save as much money as we can for weddings and the future. Oh well, maybe something else will come up soon.
Apart from that, the weekend was quite good, I met Sue on Friday night, then on Saturday we had a couple of birthday parties to go to. Sunday we went to see Pirates of the Carribbean 2, it was really good. I went for a run on Monday night with Jason...I'm still aching now, but I'm going to try and go again tonight. I have to get my Europe photos put online at some point too, I have loads of them, it's gonna take ages!!

I've just finished my first week back at work (well half a week!), it's the first job I've had in about 4 months, so I'm really tired. I'm still suffering a bit from
jet-lag too, I'm getting really sleepy from about 6pm every night, it's really hard for me to try and stay awake until bedtime...I've been going to bed at 9.30 most nights! Work is going ok, it's always a bit difficult doing someones job when you haven't had a proper handover, but so far so good. On Wednesday I even got 2 massages....they employed a company to come over and massage everyone's shoulders as it's the end of financial year (I'm in the finance dept) they were a bit painful though, I felt like I'd been bruised!
We managed to go out last night, a friend of ours had organised a launch night at a club, we were VIP guests, so we were treated to free drinks all night...not that I made the most of it, we left earlyish as we both had work today...I'm so well behaved!! It was a good night,it was at the same place I'd celebrated my birthday last week.
I'm meeting Sue tonight for a catch up, I'm sure we'll have lots to gossip about!! I'm quite chuffed as well, lots of people have been saying I've lost weight...I can't quite understand how, I always put on lots on holidays,especially when I go back home...can't complain tho!!

Another update....
On the Monday morning, Jason and I sad our sad goodbyes to Mum, Chris and Martina caught the boat up the Danube from Bratislava to Vienna. It was nice way to finish off our Slovakian trip!

it was a bit windy on the boat!!


Vienna was really hot too, we managed to lug all our bags to the hotel which was a lot of effort, then we walked to the Prater where we looked around the funfair and then hired a 2 person bike... for a ride around the park.


After that it was a shower and change then we walked to the city to find somewhere to watch the Australia v Italy match, we found a great big outdoor screen which was good..but we weren't impressed with the result of the match. Afterwards we walked around the city to find somewhere for dinner. It was great to look around...I've been to Vienna before, it still amazes me what a fantastic city it is, all the beautiful architecture is amazing, I really could live there if I had the choice. We had a great dinner, we went for the authentic Austrian food, Jason had Wiener Schnitzel and I had Kase Spatzle...yummmm!! We rolled back to the hotel...we were very full up!
Next day we were up early, we had a very cultured day. We walked around some of the historic buildings, then we went to the Vienna Arts and History museum for a couple of hours (I would definitely recommend the museum). In the evening we went to a Mozart and Strauss concert at Schoenbrunn Palace....



The recital was very good, we thoroughly enjoyed it. There was a storm brewing at the end of the second half, it was a mad storm...it added to the passion of the music!
Weds it was time to leave :-( We were up early to get to the airport...Jason had to practically drag me on the plane...I really didn't want to leave and was very upset. The trip back was ok, it seemed to go a bit quicker than on the way there. There was a few big bumps tho which was a bit scary. So we got home on Thursday afternoon absolutely shattered.
Friday was my birthday, I had a really lovely day, Jason really spoiled me, and took me out for lunch. In the evening, we went to Cherri jam, we had the best night, and it was nice to see Sue and everyone again, we had a good catch up. After the club we went to Rach and Stu's to watch a footie match they'd taped, we didn't get home until 6am, so Saturday was a bad day, didn't feel well at all, was in bed most of the day!! We managed to stay up until midnight on Saturday, then we walked to the pub to watch England's last football game (which I don't want to talk about!) Got back home about 4am, so another late night, again Sunday was a write off!
Yesterday was busy, speaking to agencies about work etc and sorting some bits out. I've got a job today, I start tomorrow, just for 2 months to get me back into the swing of things, but the pay is great. It's at Sydney Water again, so it's a bit familiar to me.

This is the first chance I’ve had to update my blog since last week, things have been really mad!

I’ll start with the Wedding…

Last Friday morning, Chris, Martina, Mum, Jason and I drove to Martina’s parents house in Komarno, which is an hour from Bratislava. We had lunch there and Martina finished a few bits and pieces, then we left for Palarikovo to the place of the wedding. It was nice to see Martina’s parents again, although we cannot communicate very well as they don’t speak English…but we managed as best we could. When I saw the place where the wedding was to be held I thought wow, this is going to be cool, it was a huge hunting lodge, which looks more like a palace or something similar, and inside, the bedrooms were so huge it was unbelievable. We managed to get unpacked and sort out some things, then everyone that had travelled from Germany and England arrived on the coach. It was great to see them all again, it was a bit hard to chat with everyone though as they all arrived at the same time. It was so nice to see some family whom I haven’t seen for a few years. Most people went to find their rooms and then we all met up in the evening for dinner. I managed to do a lot of my catching up then, so it was cool. After a few drinks, I managed to persuade Martina that she should really go to bed so she wasn’t knackered for the next day, as I was her bridesmaid, it was my job to boss her around and make sure she was ok. So we got an earlyish night (I was staying in the wedding suite with her, as of course her and Chris were not allowed to see each other in the morning).

Saturday morning we woke about 7am because of the church bells and all the excitement. It was a busy morning running around making sure some last minute things were done, and of course most importantly, getting ready. I was really impressed with Martina, she managed to stay really calm and didn’t really panic at all, she held herself together better than I did! It was an absolutely scorching day, so we did get a bit hot and bothered trying to get Martina’s dress on, and then mine after that, but we got there in the end! Seeing Martina in her dress and all her veil made me choke, she looked so beautiful, a really stunning bride. I had to leave a bit earlier than her with Chris and Mum (who both looked amazing) in the car, this was the point I started to get really emotional, it didn’t help that my dress was so tight, I could hardly breathe, so I started hyper-ventilating in the car…..Mum managed to sort me out tho and calm me down a bit luckily!! (I do get very emotional!!) When we arrived at the church, Chris, Gary (the best man) and I had to stand at the front of the church, again, I started crying, I looked over at Mum and my aunties and started all them off too, it was a bit like a chain reaction (god, I don’t know what I’m going to be like at my own wedding!!) and there were loads of cameras and a video camera there, so I’m dreading seeing that footage. Anyway, Martina arrived shortly after with her Dad, everyone was in awe seeing her come down the aisle (especially my brother!!). The ceremony was pretty short, even considering it was all being translated (badly) into English (the translator guy is another story!). After the ceremony, Gary and I signed the book as we were both witnesses, then we all went outside to wait for the bride and groom. In Slovakia it is a tradition that guests bring the bride flowers, so when they were congratulating them, Martina accepted all the flowers (I’m not sure what happened to them after).
We went back to the hunting lodge after where the pictures were taken and then a few toasts, then it was off to the reception. The room was decorated beautifully, they really did an amazing job, I think everyone was impressed. First off, Gary did his best man speech, which unfortunately went on for ages because of the translation, I felt really sorry for him, but he managed to get through it. He also said some really nice words about Dad, which made us all emotional. Then it was time for the food, and my god, there was lots of it! I think over the whole night, there were seven courses, and the portions were absolutely massive, we had 4 or so meals that were like main courses, and tons of cakes too. Another tradition is that the Slovakians bring cakes to the wedding, these weren’t even touched, but put on table for everyone to see, they were beautifully made cakes. I was actually quite relieved my dress was so tight, it meant that I couldn’t actually eat much at all, I think otherwise I might have been sick from eating so much food! In the midst of all this food, Chris said his speech, Martina ended up translating in the end (otherwise he may have been there all night too) and it worked out really well like that, it was a lovely speech, and funny. Chris and Martina gave me a lovely necklace for being the bridesmaid and some flowers to our Mums etc.
After all the formalities had taken place, it was time for the real party! Chris and Martina had their first dance, then Chris also had a dance with the flower girl, who was such a sweet girl, it was hilarious, he was picking her up and throwing her around the dance floor, very amusing! Then we all joined in the dancing, trouble was it was so hot in the room, noone really lasted for too long….most people had to go outside and risk getting eaten alive by all the mossies! Later on during another meal (I think this one was about 1am) there was another tradition….a group of folk singers came into the room up to the top table. First off they had to ask Martina’s Dad if he would give her away to Chris, they asked him 3 times (he had to say no twice, then yes the third time), then they asked my Mum the same about giving Chris to Martina, then when she said yes on the third question, everyone was really happy. We went to the dance floor after that for the next tradition. Chris and Martina had to sit down opposite each other, then they took Martinas veil off and put some funny hats on them and then drink some boravichka (?) a Slovakian shot and the folk singers sung some more (not sure what about) then everyone stood up, then all the guys had to put some money into the hat to be able to dance with Martina. After ages, and lots of dances, Chris in the end put his whole wallet in the hat to buy Martina back, I think it was after that that he took off her garter with his teeth! It was a really nice tradition, it was so interesting to watch all these differences in cultures.
The whole night was great fun, we were in and out of the house, we did lots of dancing too. Even Mum was up for a great night, I've never seen her have so much fun!! When we were outside later on, the video guys came around and asked us all to say something to the bride and groom. I won't say what I said, but it ended up in a singing session with Andy (I'm dreading seeing the dvd!!)
I think thats about all I can remember for now. We had a fantastic day, and I'm so happy for Chris and Martina, I know they'll be truly happy together.
Next day we travelled back to Bratislava (having to say goodbye to most of my Munich friends :-( ) We had a bit of a party at the flat in the evening, a few of the guys came back to watch the England game, then I was given an early birthday cake from my family which was sweet. Having to say goodbye to them all was so hard, especially after such a great holiday, I'm really going to miss them all. Chris was so great, it was really nice to spend so much time with him, as he was in Munich with us too ;o)
Next installment is Vienna, I'll write that up soon....

Here's just a few piccies of the wedding

The bride and groom


Jason and I


Chris, Mum and Martina


Me and Chris

We've been having a really nice time in Slovakia the last few days. Tuesday we did a bit of sightseeing, we went for a walk around the old town, it really is very nice, lots of little roads and alleys with loads of cafes and restaurants. We took some nice photos of all the old buildings, although we had no idea what they were as we didn't have a tour guide! In the evening we had a nail biting time watching the England v Sweden game, luckily we didn't lose as if we had England would have been playing Germany on Saturday (which is my brothers wedding day, and nobody would have been happy!) but as it turns out they play on Sunday, which is great news.
Yesterday I went with Martina to try on my bridesmaids dress, it was really lovely, mind you I wished I was skinnier, but you can't have everything! Then we went to try on her dress (I'm not giving away any info on that one - all I'll say is she looked stunning!!) When we got back Jason, Mum and I went to the castle which is really close to my brothers flat and had a look around there. Last night we met up with my brothers friends who had come over from England and went out for a meal.
Today Jason and I went for another walk around town and had a look at the river Danube. I am really struggling with the heat, it really is so hot here, there was a huge storm last night which has cleared the muggyness, but it still is boiling.
We are off to Martinas parents tonight, then the big day on Saturday! I have to go now as I'm melting!!

What a busy and brilliant fun week in Munich we've just had, we've been right in the heart of the world cup, we couldn't have picked a better time to go. We arrived in Slovakia yesterday evening and I'm feeling a bit sad at leaving Munich and my friends.
We had a late night on Wednesday after watching the Germany game. The streets were full of people partying, it went on till the early hours.
We were up quite early on Thursday, we had arranged to go up to Nuernberg which is where the England v Trinidad and Tobago game was being played. The atmosphere there was amazing, there were so many England fans travelling up from Munich, we had such a laugh. We went to the main square first which was heaving with people, they'd set up a beer garden there and everyone was drinking and singing away. It was such a hot day, absolutely boiling. We had a few beers there first, and then we got on a tram (which was crammed full and boiling hot) to the fan fest which is just by the stadium where they set up a huge screen so everyone could watch it. It was absolutely packed there, there were about 25,000 people (most of them England fans). The game wasn't the best, obviously until England scored twice at the end, that bucked everyone up!! After the match we got the bus back to the centre of town, it was heaving there, everyone was singing and dancing, we were having such good fun waving our flags at everyone when we went past them on the bus. We didn't stay in town long as we had to get the train back to Munich. It was a nightmare train journey, it went on for ever....when we got back to Munich most of the people that got off were England fans.
On Friday Jason and I took advantage of the weather and went to one of the outdoor swimming pools. It was very busy tho as all the kids were off school. In the evening Andy came back from Bremen (we were staying at his and Nicolas) so it was great to catch up with him again. We went to Tollwood which is an outdoor festival with lots of beer tents and food stalls, but typically for Tollwood no sooner had we arrived it started to rain, unluckily we were outside so had to shelter under the umbrellas. When it had calmed down we made a run for one of the tents and met up with all the other guys. After a few beers we went to Murphys for old times sake, and then to the Shamrock, we had such a laugh, Andy and Jason did a dance off, it was hilarious! It was a pretty late night so we were knackered the next day. Jason and I went to the Olympic park and then had some food at Tollwood. In the evening, we went to Ned Kellys for a few beers... it was really great as a lot of my old friends turned up to say hi.
On Sunday we went to the Fan fest at Olympic park in Munich for the Australia v Brazil game. We got there about 2pm and it was already full for the Croatia game. We eventually managed to get in and found somewhere to sit for the long day. It was a really hot day so none of us were drinking any beer, I was even sat under my umbrella to get some shade. I think there were about 20,000 fans there, all in yellow and green (for both teams), it was an amazing atmosphere, we had a fantastic day, what a great experience. We went for dinner after and saw all the Brazilians celebrating on the streets.
Yesterday we were just travelling to Vienna on the train. Chris picked us up and then we picked Mum up from the airport and went to Chris's flat, which is lovely (I daren't touch anything for fear of breaking it!). It is really hot and muggy here, I hope it cools down a bit, it's quite unbearable. We're off out this afternoon for a look around town, then it's time for another England game tonight.
Keep posted for some photos, I just haven't had a chance to do them yet. I've got some good'uns!!!

oops, I haven't written for a while, it's been really busy!
We watched the match on Saturday, I was pleased that England won, although the game was a bit boring in the second half. After the football we went home quickly to have some food, and then Mum took us to Wimborne for the folk festival. We had a great night, we went to a few different pubs, they all had tents and bands in the gardens. We bumped into some people I know who work with Mum, we had a laugh with them.
Next day we went to visit Jasons friends for an hour and then I drove to Sarah's as I didn't get to see her at the football game, so we said our goodbyes. Then it was home to pack all my stuff. We managed to get most of it in a vacuum bag I bought and we weighed both our bags and they were the right weight for the flight which was lucky.
Monday we were up at 4.30 to catch our coach to the airport. I was really sad to leave England, it just wasn't long enough, but I was glad that I'd be seeing Mum again in a week, she really looked after us both really well, as per usual. We had a bit of a nightmare with our flights, for some reason there was a problem with our tickets and they couldn't check us in, so we had to go to the ticket desk, then we went back to the check in and Jasons ticket was ok, but mine wasn't, so we were hanging around for ages, they closed the check in and there was only 20 mins for our flight and I still wasn't checked in. By now I was panicking thinking Jason was going to go without me and that my brother would kill me for not being on the flight. Anyway, we eventually got it sorted and had to run all the way to the boarding gate.....what a nightmare...and we weren't sat together. Luckily my flying nervousnous isn't as bad as it used to be.
So, we arrived in Vienna at 1pm and we met my brother. It was so good to see Chris again. We drove the 4 hours to Munich and Chris dropped us off at Nicola and Andys to unpack our stuff. It's really great to be in Munich again, it feels like I've never been away! We went out in the evening to Tijuana cafe, just Jason, Chris and I, we had a really good time catching up and a few drinks! All the cafes on Leopold str have tvs for the football, so its absolutely packed everywhere. After Italy won their first game all the Italians (there are loads of them out here) were celebrating on the street, they closed the street down, which is quite normal here, except we thought it was a bit extreme for the first game...anyway, it was good fun to watch.
Yesterday Jason and I did lots of sight seeing. We caught the train to Karlsplatz and walked down the high street to Marienplatz. We stopped and looked in lots of churches, they really are lovely here, as they are catholics the churches are full of gold and are really beautiful. We were real tourists and took lots of pictures. Then we walked back through the Englischer garten, it's a really huge garden, I think one of the biggest in Europe. We walked by the nudist part too which was very amusing, full of old men standing up in all their glory!!
We met everyone at the beer garden, Pete came, and Lisa and Steve, Brian, Jason, me and Chris, we got there for the first match of France and Switzerland. They have huge screens at all the beer gardens too. We also watched the Brazil v Croatia match. It was so busy down there, but it was nice to watch it out in the sunshine. We all had a good catch up and a few beers, it was great. We were in Leopoldstr again and there were loads of Brazilians celebrating.
Today we went to the Nymphenburger Schloss (palace) which is very beautiful. Then we went to my old work so I could say hello to my old work friends, it was so nice to see them all again, they were really suprised to see me. Now we are going out to get a place for the German game, so I have to run.

Yesterday was a good day, we managed to get to the beaches. First we went to Sandbanks, it's the 3rd most expensive place in the world to buy real estate, we had a look in the estate agent windows and 6.5 million was the top price we saw (a bit out of our price league!!) and that was only for a 4 bedroom house. We took a walk from Sandbanks to Shore Road and then back along the Marina, then I drove to Branksome Chine, another beach where I used to go years ago. They really are lovely beaches, very different to Sydney where there are lots of small beaches, down here they are long beaches all joined together, huge stretches of white sand. I did take lots of photos, but Mum's computer is so slow I haven't got the patience to download them onto my blog now! We sunbathed for a couple of hours, it was so hot, we even went in the sea to cool down (it was pretty freezing tho!!). And I managed to get a sunburnt face, I couldn't believe it, I've been in Australia for over a year and only managed to burn accidently once, but I come here and I've burnt my face twice already, it's not that I haven't been careful either, very strange. It's been the hottest couple of days this year, the heatwave is supposed to last till the weekend.

Today we were up early to catch the train to Bath to meet up with Jason's family. We had a lovely day there, the city is really nice and it was nice to meet his cousins and aunty. We went to see the Roman Baths too. Again I took some really nice photos which I will try and download soon. I came back this afternoon, Jason will come back tomorrow morning, it gave me a bit of time to spend with my Mum tonight .....mind you, we've been busy trying to sort out all my clothes that I want to take back. I've got so many clothes you wouldn't believe, I'd forgotten I had so many, it's been really hard deciding what to take with me. I had to buy one of those suction bags so that I can shrink all my clothes to make them smaller, what a nightmare! It's not fair that I can't take all my stuff back. Anyway, we've managed to sort that out, so off to bed soon. Looking forward to the England game tomorrow....come on England!!!

We had another busy day yesterday, I was up early to go and get my hair cut, then Jason and I went into Bournemouth. I had an appointment to get my colour done too, so Jason just had a look around Bournemouth while I was at the hairdressers. I managed to get a little bit of shopping done too, but I have to be careful with my money, so I had to hold back a bit unfortunately!

We met up with Sarah and Ady last night at one of our old local bars. It was really great to see them again. Sarah was a bit crafty, after we'd been there 10 minutes, the rest of the girls all came out from hiding to surprise me, and then came their husbands and boyfriends! It was so nice to catch up with them all, it was a great night. We had a bit of dinner and some drinks and a gossip. I've found out that a lot of my friends who I'd lost touch with had had babies and some were getting married. I also met my friend Hayley who I used to hang around with years ago, she said it was really bizarre as she'd just thought of me earlier that day, and then I go walking into the pub!! She tells me that one of my old best mates from school has had a baby too. It makes me sad that I've lost touch with so many people since school, I'm not sure quite how it happened, it's a real shame :-( Anyway, it was a nice night.

I'm going to take Jason to the beach today, we're still having lovely weather so we're going to make the most of it...besides I want to get a tan, eveyone keeps saying I'm not brown, but they're forgetting it's winter in Australia now!

Yesterday we went into Poole and did a bit of shopping, the shopping centre actually seems a lot smaller than I remember, I guess I’m used to these big Australian shopping malls now! One thing we’ve noticed here is that everyone has gone absolutely football mad….the shops are full of England t-shirts, flags, towels, anything you can think of they have, and the amount of cars with the St Georges flags sticking from them is just mad, some cars even have 2 or 3 of them, it’s very amusing!
I was very good at the shops and I only bought a top (not for the want of trying tho!!). Jason bought quite a lot of stuff. I had to go to the dentists in the afternoon, I thought I was only going to have a check up and a scale and polish…I ended up having a bloomin filling…not happy! After that we drove home for some dinner, then Jason and I went to see Elaine and her family. I showed Jason my old schools on the way there, and our old house we used to live in with Dad, it was really weird seeing it again, I haven’t been past since we moved out nearly 20 years ago. It was lovely to see Elaine and everyone again, I saw Katie too, who is my step-niece I guess, she is nearly 3 and so cute. We got home about 10, it’s funny that it doesn’t get dark till that time here, coming from Australia where at the moment it gets dark at 5pm, it takes a bit to get used to, the days seem a lot longer.
This morning I was up at 6.30am, I wanted to get tickets for the Robbie concert in Sydney, I was very lucky and got 2 tickets…I even managed to persuade Jason to come, which I think is a miracle! So I was very happy about that!
The weather is still gorgeous here, we’ve been so lucky, it really does make such a difference when the sun is out. We had a nice drive today, we drove to Wareham first and stopped there for a bit and had a look around. Then it was off to see Corfe Castle which is an old medieval castle, there is so much history around this area. I’d forgotten how lovely the village was there, it was so pretty, there are lots of oldy worldy cottages there. We went into the model village too, it showed the castle before it was attacked. Next stop was Harmans Cross where we got on the old steam train to Swanage (we were being very touristy!) It does make a difference when you’re showing someone around tho, you really see things that you probably wouldn’t normally see or do. Swanage was really nice, we walked to the beach, it’s not quite Bondi as Jason said, but it was nice. We stayed there for a couple of hours, then headed back to catch the train. On the drive back home, I took Jason to Blue Pool, but we didn’t go in as it charged £4.50 and we only wanted to have a quick look (another thing Jason noticed, they charge tourists for absolutely everything here). So we drove to Kimmeridge next, the countryside really is beautiful around here, I’d forgotten how lovely it actually is, it really made me appreciate it a lot more. We drove through the country through Kimmeridge and had a look at the beach. Then it was time to start driving home so we’d miss the traffic.

We had such a lovely day, it was really nice to go to all these places again (all these places I’ve talked about I used to go to with my Mum, Dad and brother when we were small, so it brought back a lot of fond memories). I have to sign off now, as I’m feeling very sleepy again, it didn’t help getting up so early this morning! The jet-lag isn’t actually as bad as I thought, I’ve just been getting tired early evening, and I think driving today didn’t help either. Another busy day of hairdressers and meeting friends tomorrow, I've hardly seen my Mum, hopefully we'll get to spend some more time together at the end of the week.

We finally arrived in the UK at 1pm on Saturday. It was such a long journey, it took 34 hours door to door, we were shattered! Our first flight was ok, a bit bumpy to start off with, but not too bad, we did have a bit of bad luck with our fellow travellers, I had a Russian lady sat behind me who kept moaning at me to put my seat forward, cheeky bloody woman, at one point she actually tried to push my seat forward with all her might, I had to turn around to ask her to stop, when she didn't, Jason told her off and she stopped, it made matters worse that she couldn't speak English! That really wound me up, I could have punched her! also Jason was sat next to a gay guy who wouldn't stop asking Jason questions about the flight and he kept tapping his legs to his music, he looked like he was on drugs! so that flight, which was 8 hours was a bit crap. To top it off, for the following 11 hour flight we had the same plane and the same passengers. That woman again kept tapping me and asking me to move my seat, I mean, why should I, I paid the same as everyone else and I wanted to be comfy too, she had her seat back. Anyway, we didn't get much sleep as it was a really bumpy flight practically all the way through, I was so glad I had read my 'how to enjoy flying' book before we went, it really helped, I think if I hadn't read that I would have been going out of my mind with worry (it's the turbulance that I hate). I did have some problems with my legs as well, they were really aching the whole journey, and my knees were killing me, that didn't help with trying to sleep, I felt like an old woman!! That flight was such a long one, I really didn't fancy getting on another plane again, but of course, we had to when we landed in Vienna. Luckily it was only a 2 hour flight, which went really quickly, thank god. When we landed in London it was a beautiful day, the sky was cloudless and blue, we were pretty suprised. We caught our bus to Bournemouth where Mum picked us up. It was really nice to see her and get home again, it's been so long since I've been here.

Didn't get much done yesterday as we were so tired, I still felt like I was sitting on a plane....because of the turbulance my head still felt like I was going up and down, not very nice! We tried to stay awake as late as we could, but by 8pm we had to give in, we did manage to get 13 hours sleep though, which was great, but I still felt a bit groggy this morning.

As it was a lovely day today, Jason and I got on our bikes and rode into Poole, we went to Poole Park, Baiter Park and Poole Quay. We had some chips at the quay which were yummy (best chips in the world) we had a walk around, Jason couldn't believe how many pubs there were within such a small area, I guess I'm so used to it I never noticed before, but he was right, there are loads, and restuarants too. We had a drink in the lovely sunshine and then had a look around Poole Pottery, we rode back via Upton Country Park, which was nice. It's so good to be able to ride a bike again, I really enjoyed it, we can't do that in Sydney as it's too hilly.

Got back home about 4pm, I've really caught the sun, my face is a bit sunburnt. I've sorted out all my cds, I bought a case back with me so I could take them back, Jason was taking the mickey out of me, he thinks I've got bad taste in music (little does he know, it's his bad taste, haha!) My brother phoned too, I'm looking forward to seeing him in a week. That's about it really, it's now 10.30pm, and I'm really stuggling to write this and keep my eyes open so I'm going to sign off for now, I hope it makes sense!!

Our holiday is nearly here, we're flying tomorrow afternoon. I'm so excited, but also really nervous about such a long flight, we have 3 flights altogether, so it's going to be a long, long journey. We have some crossword books and cards and there will hopefully be lots of films to watch. I'm a bit disappointed tho as we only have a 20kg baggage allowance, which doesn't give me a lot of scope for bringing things back from UK, oh well, I'll have to figure out something!

We had our visas put in our passports today, so I finally believe it's happened. I did have butterflies when we were at the office tho, I thought they were going to find something wrong and not give them to us!!

Fantastic news!!!

We had the news we've been waiting for for months today. Jason and I finally got our visas approved!! It's been such an uphill battle, we've been so stressed about it for nearly 6 months trying to work out what to do. I haven't been documenting our struggle on my blog as I wasn't sure whether it would get accepted and I wanted to wait until we had some sort of news, so here's the good news ;o) The visa is valid until May 2008, so it gives us time to decide where we want to live. It also means I can finally work and earn myself some money. What a big relief, and just in time for our holiday, so we can enjoy it more and not have the worry in the back of our minds!

I had a major achievement last night... I made my first homemade soup!! I never thought I would have the patience to make soup before, but I wanted to give it a shot! And it was bloomin lovely (even if I do say so myself!) it was red capsicum and sweetcorn. I must admit though that half of it ended up all over the kitchen floor when I tried to blend it, and I did ruin Jasons cookery book....but apart from that, it went very well!! Jason cooked the main course, filo pastries with feta cheese and yummy veggies....mmmm!! I led in bed last night thinking of what other soups I could make (how sad am I!!).

Earlier I phoned up one of the recruitment agencies I go through to get a summary of all my pay from the last year and I had a really nice compliment. It was a woman I've never spoken to before, she asked me my name, when I told her, she said, oooh, I've heard lots of good things about you. She said that TAFE, where I worked at the beginning of the year have been saying very good things about me. So that made my day, it must have been good that she recognised my name to tell me!

Countdown is on....only 7 days to go till our holiday ;o)

We had the coldest day on Tuesday....it was down to 15 degrees....brrrrrr!!

I went out with Sue last night, we met up at our local bar for a few drinks, had a bit of a catch up.

Just found out that Robbie Williams is coming to Sydney in December, he's finishing his world tour here, so I'm hoping to get tickets for that. It will be a great couple of months in Nov and Dec, we have U2, Pearl Jam, maybe Kylie, and now Robbie too...cool!!

Thats about it for now.

We went to see the Da Vinci Code last Thursday, we really enjoyed it, although the reviews weren't the best.
Friday night we went out with a few friends. Paul had just returned from China, so we caught up with him. We just went out for a meal and a few drinks. Saturday Jason and I went for a drive to some of the posh parts of Sydney, we had some chips at Watsons bay (not normally part of my diet!). We took a diversion to Bondi shopping mall, they have a couple of pet shops there, and we always check them out when we're passing. They always have really cute puppies there, most of them are those designer dogs, like laboradoodles and cockerpoodles!! This week we saw the cutest yet, beagliers (cross between a beagle and a king charles cavalier) I just wanted to take them both home with me, they were the loveliest dogs I've seen. I've got this thing about pets at the moment, it must be because I'm a bit lonely what with not working. There's a really sweet friendly cat downstairs that I'm quite attached to (this is very strange tho as I don't really like cats...they scare me a bit) like I said, I must be very lonely!!

I just realised, it was 6 years ago yesterday that I moved to Munich....wow, it seems like a lifetime ago, and I still haven't stopped travelling!!

Anyway, I'm just off to buy our travel insurance now....only 11 days to go ;o)

It's turning cooler here now, winter is definitely on it's way (thank goodness!!) it's still pretty mild, but I'm sure it won't be long now.

I'm getting really excited about our holiday, we're leaving in 2.5 weeks ;o) I can't wait to go back and see everyone, and it's a real bonus that I'm able to go to Munich too.

Apart from that, not too much going on. Jason and I went out on Friday with Linn and Martin for a friends birthday, we went to a bar I'd never been to before, it was good fun, they were playing loads of 80's music which I'm sorry to say I really love! Saturday, I got the ferry over to Manly to visit Sue. We bought lots of food and dips and had a girls night in. We had all good intentions of watching a dvd, but as always, we talked all the way through it, so we had no idea what was going on in the film....so we had to watch it again the next day (we managed to shut up for it!) and I'm glad we did watch it again as it was really good. After we'd watched that we walked down to Manly beach and had an ice cream and sat watching the world go by. When the sun started to go down, we went to a bar for a couple of drinks before I went home. It was great fun to see her again.

We had a lovely weekend. One of Jason's friends won a competition for a stay at a holiday home at Smiths Lake, (which is 3 hours drive north of Sydney) and they asked if we wanted to go with them. We jumped at the chance of a free weekend out of Sydney, so we all drove up on Friday night. The place was really lovely, the back door opened straight out onto the lake. We unpacked all our food, then settled down to a night of eating lots of yummy food and drinking wine, we didn't get to bed till about 3am! Next day, Natalie wasn't feeling too good, so Jason and I decided to go off on our own to see Forster, which is the next main town up the coast. We stopped off at a viewpoint on the way, where I managed to get eaten alive by all the bloomin mossies, I've never seen so many and in the daytime as well, Jason was swatting them off of me as I'm very prone to getting bitten. I thought I'd gotten away with getting bitten until yesterday when they all came out..my arms and back are covered in them! Anyway, after the lookout we made our way to the beach. There was hardly anyone there, we had our lunch and chilled out on the beach for a few hours. Jason went for a snorkel, but I wasn't feeling brave enough to venture into the cold water! On the way back we stopped so I could take a picure of one of the many kookaburras, eventually I got a good pic (it kept moving it's head) but I think I must have disturbed it with my flash and he flew towards the car, I screamed as it was so close I thought it was going to fly in the car window, they're not small birds, I wouldn't fancy that in our car! Jason thought that was very funny!! When we got back, a friend of Linsey's had arrived, we cracked open the wine again and started off the evening with some board games. It was a great laugh...I realised how hopeless I am at Trivial Pursuit...but am a lot better at Pictionary and Outburst!! After another long night, we headed for bed.

Yesterday we had breakfast and then made our way to the local beach (Sandbar beach). It was really lovely there, again hardly anyone there, except for some surfers. The surf was really good, so the boys jumped straight into the sea....again I just watched, but it was nice just sitting on the lovely beach. We stayed there a couple of hours, then Jason and I headed back to the cottage and packed up all our stuff for the drive home. We had a really nice weekend, it was so nice to get out of the city and see somewhere different, and I really loved just sitting around talking and playing games, it was so relaxing.

The view from the lookout

The sunset over the lake

Kookaburra

Sandbar beach

Jason getting battered about in the water!

Had enough....

View from the back door of our holiday home

I managed to get to the cinema a couple of times last week which held the boredom at bay a little! Saturday night, Jason and I went to Gemma and Garry's for a bbq. Jason used to work with Gemma, and I met them at the races last year, we've been trying to meet up for ages, but only just got a chance this weekend. Had a really nice evening, Gemma cooked some really nice food, she went to a lot of effort. The only thing that ruined it was all the guys just had to watch the football...I don't know, I just don't understand it!

Yesterday I was a bit worse for wear...I didn't realise I'd drunk so much. I managed to get myself out of bed and we went to the Kings Cross Food and Wine fair. I had a few sips of wine which made me feel so much better. Later on, Curly, Rachel and Linn turned up and we had a catch up with them, then I just had to go home as I was really tired. We watched the Whale Rider when we got home, it's a story about the Maori in New Zealand, it was quite a good film.