It's been quite a busy week, I've been to the gym lots, I'm really enjoying it, although I'm not looking forward to my weigh-in next week! On Wednesday night, we went out to meet Martin's parents who are over from Sweden, we went to the Cushion Bar, they had a couple of guys playing guitars and singing, they were really good. Martin's parents were lovely, they kept inviting us to stay with them if ever we were in Sweden.

Friday at work we had a picnic in the Botanical Gardens, it was a really nice couple of hours, I don't really make much of an effort to go out at lunch, which I should as I'm only a 2 minute walk from Circular Quay where the Opera House is (you can see the Harbour Bridge from my office window, how lucky am I!!). I met Jason after work at Darling Harbour, we had free tickets for the Imax, a film called Extreme, it was really good, lots of rock climbing and snowboarding, cool! After we went to dinner and to a couple of bars. We also popped into the casino at Star City, it was heaving, lots of Asians gambling away their money!

Yesterday I went to the gym in the morning, then cleaned the apartment, then Jason and I went for a game of tennis. We played a proper game this time, and it was much more interesting than just volleying. I was actually quite ok at it, Jason was suprised, I managed to serve pretty well. I won a few sets, but I think Jason was being nice to me! We are playing badminton on Wednesday.

I met up with Sue in the evening to go to my friend Gemma's flat. She had organised a 'girls night in' in aid of the Breast cancer charity. She went to a real effort, we had a really nice evening, she'd made all the dips and breads and lots of other tasty nibbles. I was quite chuffed too, I won the main prize in the raffle (I've been quite lucky lately) one of the girls who works at a day spa got them to donate a spa treatment for the cause, so for $10, I won a $100 Full body exfoliation with mineral salts, followed by a Vichy shower water treatment (sounds intriguing!) everyone was really jealous!! We raised over $400 for the night which we were really pleased about, all in all, a great night....but it wasn't over, I had arranged to meet up with Linn and the guys in the city afterwards to celebrate her 30th birthday, so I had a fun night with them too, didn't get home until about 4am, plus daylight savings started today, so we've lost another hour. It's 2pm, and I've only just got up and showered!!

I've got a busy week ahead. My ex-boss from HP, Munich is in town to visit his daughter, so he is taking Jason and I out for dinner tomorrow night, I'm trying to think of a nice place to take him. Then Nicola, a friend I know from Munich also is out her to visit her sister, so I'm sure we'll meet up a couple of times. And next Friday night, we are off for a weekend at Hunter Valley (wine region). Linn organised it as part of her 30th birthday celebrations, I think there are quite a few of us going, so it should be good fun. We have a wine tour booked for the Saturday which I'm really looking forward to!

We had Rach and Stu around for dinner on Friday night, Jason cooked a nice curry and some mushroom chips. Next day I went to get my eyes tested.... now I've got my health insurance I thought I'd make the most of it. Apparently my right eye has got a bit better and my current glasses are too strong so I have to get new lenses. I was going to keep my frames and just change the lenses, but I started looking at the frames in the shop and mine looked really old fashioned compared to them (seeing as they are about 8 years old, I guess that makes sense!). So I found a really nice pair, I just have to wait over a week while they get made.

Saturday night we went to Curly's for his girlfriend Sabrina's birthday. She is Brazillian, so there was lots of dancing and food and strong cocktails. We ended up getting home about 2.30.

Yesterday we had a lie-in, then we went to the cinema to see a new Australian film, Boytown, it's a mickey take of a group of middle aged guys that were in a boyband in the 80s, they got back together for a comeback. It was very funny, some of the songs they sang were hilarious, instead of aiming for the younger audience, they were dedicating their music to all the older woman that used to be their fans (there was Pussy whipped, Love Handles, Special time of the month) very amusing. After that we took a walk down to the beach as it was a lovely day and sat down with the papers, it was nice to get some sunshine, the weather has been up and down for about a month, you don't know what it's going to be like from one day to the next!

I've just been listening to the news, they are saying that the price of bread and milk is going to increase because of the drought. It's been raining lots, but the dams are still only 40% full. There is a joke that people should go on holiday to the catchment areas cos it never rains there!!

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.