Another Weekend in the Lucky Country......!

Hi!

Well. Sunday late afternoon. Weather has been absolutely perfect, gotta love any season but summer here! Got some groovy 80's tunes courtesy of SomaFM (the good alternative punky stuff, not the crappy gag-me-with-a-spoon-like-totally top 40 stuff, tho I must say this station has a preference for rare Heaven 17 and Human League tunes.......... hmmmm), got the cool glass of stand-by white wine, the little apartment gets more and more tidy, clean and organized as my guest's arrival approaches this coming Friday, the cat and plants have all been fed and watered, gotta baked potato doing its thing in the good ol' toaster-oven..... life is good! And hey, am checking in on time - life is good!

So work. Yep. Is way good. Learning new stuff which just makes the week spin past. I have Friday off (sweeeeet) to play Chauffeur and Perfect Hostess, so yes, all is well with work. As ever, always happy to have gainful employment and bonus if I don't mind the work and like the people! 

And then there was a weekend...... another too-quick weekend if you ask me. I'm still so tempted to have Mondays off but the bank just frowns and shakes its head. Fair enough, especially if I think I want to buy a house....... But oh to have 3 days to get stuff done...... Oh well, must streamline those errands! Saturday was busy with the usual chores, thankfully the weather improved from Friday's showers and wind and coooold - it was the opposite - the sun was out, the temperature was warm  - perfect for drying 3 loads of laundry on the ol' hills hoist (local speak for round, spinning clothesline - invented here in Australia no less)! And next thing I knew it was Sunday. Time to organize..... amazing how long it takes me just to organize a couple of bookshelves........ But it looks fine for now, need to buy some frames and actually print out some photos of friends and family to display. If you think about it, it really is kinda wierd when you go to someone's house and they have no photos of friends or family hanging around the place. My excuse is that I'm a renter, and that's the lamest excuse on the planet, more so in my case when I just don't give a crap about drilling holes into my walls let alone hammering in a few nails. So up with the pictures! Just as soon as I buy some frames, print out the pictures that I like..........

And that was the weekend really. See why I kinda don't check in every weekend? Dullsville, USA. But hey, if all 3 or so of you are still paying attention, well done. I should send you guys and any regular readers a prize...... like a little boomerang (or something equally as exciting and local) as a reward for keeping up. Honest. This new and improved whiz-bang blogger has stats and even a world map so I can see who checks in where, which apparently most folks (or rather, person) is/are in the US and of all places, Russia. Huh. Well hell, if you're still with it, a prize to you, my one or two friends!

Otherwise, all is well down here. I hope you're all well up there and have perused the handy web links I provided (and updated) over on the right side there - like Qantas, Getaway, The Great South East, etc, and are excitedly planning your next trip down here to Australia. It's a happy place, a place where the politicians seem to spend a lot of time arguing who paid for what hooker on which corporate credit card, as opposed to who was born where and if women should have rights - it's a happy, lucky country, with a subsidized medical system, decent public transport and good, fresh food - I highly recommend coming for a visit!

BYE!
J!

P.S. Here's a lovely article about a guy and his motorcycle trip around Australia, just to give you an idea...... "Finding America's Past In Australia's Present".

Reshuffling Weekends........!

Hi!

Well. Here we are. A little late tho...... am sorry..... but we're here now - the sun isn't really shining, cloudy, but the birds are happily twittering away out there, doing whatever birds do on a Monday afternoon. It's lovely and warm and breezy, got some hip n' groovy streaming internet 80's tunes courtesy of SomaFM's "Underground 80's", have a lovely small glass of Hardy's Merlot to go with my late lunch - life is good!

So work. Yep. Is good. Not been crazy busy, which is good, gives me more time to focus and learn new stuff. And because it's been kind of quiet I took today off as my one 'free' day off a month (man I miss working for the State Government where we got 3 days off a month.....!) so I could finish getting stuff done, because yes, one weekend just wasn't enough. But yes, work is good. Still ever so happy to have been adopted by this team. And, as always, happy to have gainful employment, until the end of March next year that is!

And then there were a couple weekends in there..... So last weekend, the reason why I didn't check in was because I woke up Saturday morning and decided that in order to perhaps create more space for guests to stay, I'd "flip" the bedroom and the living room as it hadn't been done before and I wanted to see. By myself. I started at 10am and didn't finish until 9.30pm. To say I was beat is an understatement. And get this - when I finished and stood with a well-deserved glass of wine surveying all my hard work, I realized I didn't like what I'd just spent all day plus doing and instantly wanted it back the way it was. Crap. And come Sunday I was too tired, I absolutely ached (those muscles hadn't been used since that year's stint back at Centennial in 2005-6 and boy were they shocked) and was also a little depressed in a "this damn apartment is too small, I wish I had my own normal place where people could stay in comfort, etc" kinda way. So I sat and watched Mad Men instead of checking in. Am sorry. But I did make sure to take pictures for posterity and to remind myself why I shouldn't swap them around if I ever get that urge again. Doubtful, but just in case. Hopefully next time I have to shake my furniture up it'll be to move to mah own place once and for all (working on it but hey, Rome wasn't built in a day and neither has the "perfect" villa in that Brendale complex come available for sale). One thing I did learn is that I really don't have as much stuff as it looks like I do. Sweet! One benefit to living in a teeny place with zero storage!

So this weekend, on Saturday, Kim was kind enough to come around and help me undo what I'd done last weekend. Thankfully it took a third of the time to put right as it took to mess up (I should ask for help more often). And to celebrate we went to - guess - Kookaburra for dinner. Man, I say every time I go there if I could marry that place I totally would. Love their food and the quirkiness of the space. Someday if you come down thisaway for a visit, we're totally going.

Then on Sunday it was up and out early to meet my friend Jan out in the lovely little village of Dayboro (about 45 minutes north-east of Brisbane) for their annual "Chook Show" as a friend of hers was showing some of his chickens ("chook" is local-speak for chicken. Cute isn't it?). It was a very small turn-out, apparently most years they get about 300 chickens being shown/judged and this year there were maybe 50; something about in-fighting within the local poultry club (people not chickens I assume), no advertising done, etc...... But regardless of the number of preening chooks on show, we had a good look around followed by a small homemade sandwich (chicken and egg - har har), cookies and a cup of tea from the local Country Women's Association (for a small donation) - Jan says it's what you do when you go to these little local shows - a sandwich and a 'cuppa' (again, local-speak for cup of tea/coffee/cookie. Cute.) from the old gals. Then, happily educated on the local chooks and who's on top of the roost, we headed "downtown" for lunch at Rendezvous Readers Teahouse cafe, which is a super neat little independent cafe/bookshop combination. Food was pretty good, staff were nice, and it was just nice to eat in a little bookshop that wasn't a massive big scary obnoxious chain. Go the little local independents! But then by the time I got home from there, cleaned up and organized the apartment a little (from the reorganization frenzy) it was too late to check in.... so I watched the Towering Inferno (original) instead. Have you seen it? It was really good! Tho how could it not be with a cast that included Paul Newman, Steve McQueen (battle of who has the most piercing blue eyes), Faye Dunaway, William Holden and even Fred Astaire! And a decent, even relevant story to boot. I know they recently did a remake, haven't seen it, and I'm pretty sure I wouldn't want to because the original was so good. Man, that movie really stands the test of time in my opinion. I highly recommend seeing it or seeing it again if it's been a few years. Which reminds me, I need to add the Poseidon Adventure to my rental list.......! And that was Sunday.

And today was a lovely little productive day off from work (I could so get used to having Mondays off....... tho the bank probably couldn't) to finish all the little things I just had no time to get done over the weekend - laundry, vacuuming, cleaning, organizing, etc - chore was fun (har har har....)! 

And so there you go. See? Again, you didn't really miss much. Contrary to current trends, I am trying to check in more often, exciting Adventures or not. I quite like my little Sunday ritual it's just that sometimes it's harder than others to muster the energy/time/enthusiasm to rabbit on about how I did or didn't do much over a quiet or exciting weekend...... But I will persevere! Things should get a little livelier come June when Mom comes to visit for a wee while - Adventures! Family! Hooray! So there you go - there's the solution to livelier weekends - come on down for a visit and we can go on Adventures, thus sparkling up the little blog! Hooray - c'mon down!

BYE!
J!

Time Flies to May..........!

Street Art in the 'Gabba

Hi!

Well. It's been a while.......  But first things first. The march of technology, in addition to Blogger in their infinite wisdom, has dictated that I update my little blog template. I've resisted it for a few years as whenever I've succumbed to their updates, baaaad things have happened in the background (as you may recall from snafus with uploading photos........ and it could happen again, we'll see.......). And, seeing as I went to school to learn how to make films and TV not computers, I can only fix so much. Now finally change has rendered my resistance futile and updated and modern I am. It's still a work in progress, so to use construction parlance - please excuse my dust. Either way, I hope you like it. Then again, you have as much choice in the matter as I do!

So, the delay in checking in........ there's really been nothing to report.

S.B. Palace

Every week has been pretty much like the last. And really, it's only been 4 weekends since last checking in, and over those 4 weekends, sadly, not much has been happening. My tiny, dumpy apartment block has seen two annoying tenants move out (OK, 4 if you count the fact they were couples) and 2 new tenants move in, including the unit next door to me. It's a young gal and she seems nice with her head screwed on (tho why she's living in this dump is probably the same reason I am and why I've failed to move - it's cheap and it's close). Our poor old suffering washing machine, killed off finally by one of the recent ex-tenants with her obsession with spinning everything numerous times, was finally replaced with a newer model. My lovely Indian neighbors to my other side have finally been given real jobs

Young Neighbor....

and are working on getting their permanent residency. He just finished his Bio-Engineering PhD and is working on post PhD stuff and she's a mechanical engineer thinking of going for more school. Put it this way - they're smarter than all of us in these units rolled together. I really quite like them and am very happy for them - they've worked hard and have had to suffer our racist, bogan (Australian for white trash/redneck) neighbor. My other neighbors below me, you might remember he ended up in a sudden, medically-induced coma for a few days around Xmas, they're expecting their first child and I think that's really cool, am very happy for them. But me, not much happening, tho all is well. Still kicking around the idea of buying a place, but it could be held off for a wee while yet as I have a few bills coming due (hello car registration and flights to Cairns and Lake Eyre), so I've been trying to be good about not doing much. That and I'm trying to save my vacation time. Which leads me to my next topic........

Worker Bees (in Melbourne)

So. Work. Is good. In fact, we have the day off today for Labor Day - Hooray! But yes, work has been good, busy, which is super nice. Did I mention they extended my contract 'til the end of March next year? And I told you I've moved permanently from my other team.... Still really happy to be working with my adoptive team. We're getting another editor gal back who'd gone away to have a baby, only two days a week (I envy her tho not her reduced pay check), which will maybe make my life slightly easier...... at least it's someone I can whine about punctuation with! And that's work.....!

And then there were a few weekends in there, but

Storm Clouds Over the 'Gabba

not much to report. Over most of those weekends the weather was appalling - rain rain rain and wind and cold and damp. This weekend has thankfully been perfect, so Saturday I took myself on a little bit of an Adventure walk - from my house over to Southbank to check out this year's Buddha's birthday celebrations (lovely, tho slightly crowded). Then I continued wandering to Woolloongabba..... not much to see or report from that really. I'd gone to a little cafe called Canvas (neat, hip n' groovy, nice little place, tho we weren't there long) for a drink with a co-worker a few nights previous (on our way to our totally riveting Qld. Editor's Society monthly meeting - yawn) and thought it'd be nice to check the 'hood out during the day. Meh. See, I used to take my wee scooter to the Yamaha dealer around there for it's check-ups and since I've sold it, well, the dealer moved and they've been fixing up that part of town like it's the Next Big Thing. Eh. For one it's right near the stadium where they have some pretty big cricket and rugby games, tho not around the same time because of the pitch or the grass or whatever... I don't know, I hit "mute" when that bit comes on in the news), it's around one of the biggest and busiest intersections in town.... ehhh, I wouldn't live over there, even if they do have the German Club, two whopping huge hospitals and a good bus-way!

Kitchen Organization.....

And then yesterday, Sunday, I took the car out for a spin and we ended up at Ikea of all places, oh dear. But thankfully the crowds were pretty thin (tho not all of them - har har har) and I was able to wander and redecorate to my heart's content - ideas galore. Picked up a new shelf thing for the kitchen, although I might have to make more of an effort and re-hang it with proper butterfly screws because I'm convinced it's going to crash down at any time because the drywall is super thin and brittle....... But I was determined, tired and slightly cranky that I don't live in a normal apartment..... But it looks great - more space, until it crashes down that is!

And today, a day off to do no labor has been pretty much just that. Checking

Small But Comfy!

in, emails.... might watch another episode of Mad Men (finally up to season 3!) and that's about it.

So there you have it. See? You haven't really missed anything. I did want to write but knew all 3 of you would be bored stupid, so again, I thought I'd spare you. You're welcome! But hope you're all well up there! Hurry and book that visit - the couch will be available August 9th, you'd be more than welcome!

BYE!

J!

Small and Pretty, Spiky!

P.S. So far so good with uploading photos, aside from some funky spacing issues....... overall, they must've listened to people's complaints because it was a thousand times easier than with template updates in the past! And bonus - captions that are easy to add!

Long Weekends with Friends, Walks and Wine!

Hi!

Well. Here we are. Late. Pretty late. Part of it is because of being busy and getting in too late and not having a maid, and the other part can be attributed to sheer laziness. But, we're here now - the sun is shining bright and happy, the birds, especially those chatty lorikeets, have been out there twittering away. It's a breezy, warm afternoon, but thankfully not too humid. Gotta love every season here that's not summer! Have got the groovy internet jazz tunes, tho it's a bit early for the glass of white wine.... even tho it's a part of the "ritual" that is checking in........ maybe just a small one........ I have a new favorite stand-by white wine - Jacob's Creek Cool Harvest Pinto Grigio - mmmmmmmmmmmmmm! Life is good!

So. Work. Yep. Is really good. A couple weeks back they FINALLY coughed up an extended 12-month contract and a permanent transfer from my home department (Communications) to my foster department (F/A18 Technical Publications). WHEW. Took them long enough. But, am very happy to have been made a permanent, although temporary, part of their team. They're super nice folks who work hard and get along well. There's always a ton of work to do so am never at a loss for something to do or someone to help. Ahhhhhhhh! Nice change from this time last year! And I know for a fact that my bank account is super happy I've moved too, although I'm sure my freight forwarder and numerous shops (I'm looking at you Walgreens and Bath & Body Works) are lamenting my absence. Still, am happy to have gainful employment for another year! Hooray!

And then there were a few weekends in there.... I'll do my best to cast mah memory back....... Oh, I remember, that first Saturday I went to a gal at work's baby shower (her first), which was nice but packed full of small, drooling people. Thankfully no mobile children, just boneless droolers who thankfully didn't cry too much (tho lots of them seemed to like throwing up on guest holders. I thought it was funny). It was a really nice afternoon. Tho I must say, baby showers are sort of strange things - "I got knocked up so give me stuff". Hmmm. Still, it was a nice afternoon with really good finger foods, no stupid games and lots of nice folks. Then after that, I went to have dinner with my friend David at his sister and her husband's house in the super nice 'hood of River Hills. They made Mexican (well, the best you can do when your only supplies come from the Old El Paso brand). Her husband has a recording studio in their house and does stuff for up and coming artists/bands. It's not a big studio but he seems to do well enough that he doesn't have to work - niiiiice. And in his spare time he's written a screenplay (and composed most of the music), The Lion Awakes, about the friendship between JR Tolkein and CS Lewis during WWII, and is currently being shopped around with interest from Oxford University - cooooooool! Good luck to him!

And then that Sunday I was unable to check in because I'd gone up to visit my friend Kim at her place in her 'hood of Brendale (the description at the link there doesn't say much but it's growing at the rate of a few new sub-divisions a year, in addition to the light industrial stuff), about half an hour north of my place, to scope out her gated community complexy thingy, called The Grange, as I'm considering buying a "villa" in there and didn't get back until late in the evening........ It's a long story but suffice to say I'm sick of my little place (and my neighbors), I want something nicer and bigger with more room (and a garage) and the only place in town where I can remotely afford to buy something is up around the area where she lives. Places in her complex are mainly 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, single or double garage, big, tiled, bright, with a decent-sized patch of grass in back to play with, all for around $240,000 - cheeeeeeeeeeeap for Brisbane. Plus, if I get sick of the commute (about half an hour on a very regular train) I can rent it out for around $335+ a week, which is pretty good according to folks I've spoken to who "know" about these things. I've already spoken with one mortgage broker (beats doing the work and dealing with banks myself, plus the bank pays them, not me - bonus) and am currently getting a second opinion about what I can or want to afford. Apparently, the banks will happily loan me like $400,000+ but oh no, am no dummy, I just want $230,000+/-! So we'll see how it goes. And too, I have to wait for the "right" unit/villa to come up for sale because currently the few that are going have been bought and the ones still for sale I didn't like where they were in the complex...... I have yet to speak to the on-site sales manager, but there's no rush until the money business is sorted. Sigh. It's either these hoops and waiting or renting and spending that much more money on something that isn't mine....... The debate continues, but it can't hurt to consider the options........! Will keep you posted!

And then there was last weekend.............................. Hmmmmmm....... what did I do......... Chores, laundry and even ironing....... because I was having yet another invasion from the property manger/owner that coming Tuesday (again, another wasted day off from work because of my trust issues). And then Sunday I spent most of the day on the phone catching up with friends/family overseas (Happy Birthday KT!)........... And yes, by the time we all finished chattering it was getting way past dinner time!

And then there was this lovely 4 day weekend - hooray for Easter! Friday I didn't do much at all. Read my book, thought about the new movie I want to write (have been inspired by David's brother-in-law), watched an HBO movie "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee" (pretty good but so sad) and a few episodes of "The Big C" (not the most upbeat of subject matters considering I have a good friend diagnosed with stage 4 Melanoma, but a most excellent show with good humor and a great cast). That was Friday - lovely!

Saturday was up and out early with Kim and her friend Roger who was visiting from Newcastle (you might remember it was a mini-Adventure of ours a few weekends ago) to show him around a bit of Brisbane, complete with ferry ride and a glass of beer at the casino before heading home to change to go out to dinner at Kookaburra (!) and then off to see Tony Bennett (yes, he's still alive, tho barely, at 85). I have to say he was EXCELLENT. He played for a good hour and a half without a break, and belted out the tunes like a guy 30 years younger. Geez Louise I was impressed. And my seat helped too I'm sure - second row center! It was a great evening. If you get the chance, and if he's still alive, I highly recommend going to see him. Not many performers out there at his caliber. Hats off to him!

Yesterday, Sunday, was a bit of laundry and a trip into town to meet up with a friend from work (one of the very few folks I'll hang out with outside of work) for a few glasses of champagne/wine and nibbles. Then, needing a change of scenery, we walked over the bridge to the super nice, "new" (refurbished) end of Southbank for more champagne and nibbles and to watch the sunset as it reflected off the buildings of the city across the glittering river. The restaurants were all busy but not packed, which was super nice. And then, a bottle of champagne and seafood terrine and haloumi nibbles later, we wandered back through Southbank with a pit stop in QPAC to scope out what shows are coming and to partake of their potties and then it was off to our respective buses home (at the respectable hour of 9pm). It was a fantastic afternoon/evening! Hooray for 4 day weekends! Man, I wish every weekend was a 4 day weekend!

And then today has been reading my book, doing more research for the movie I want to write and checking in with you! Whew! It's been a lovely break with just enough to do that I didn't get bored or stir crazy. Tho it's a bummer "vacation" has to end, we get another day off towards the end of the month for Anzac Day (kinda like a Veterans Day for Australians and NZers). Hooray for a break (and paid, no less)!

Oh, and a mini-milestone - for the first time in over 5 years I have finally been able to put my hair in the world's smallest pony tail. Am very happy. It's been 5 months since my last hair cut - I'm trying to hold out until mah birthday (July) to finally get it tidied up - thus making it 8 months of trying to grow it out and enduring numerous god-awful awkward stages. Plus, it doesn't help that my hair is naturally wavy and hates all styling products. Am not doing too bad so far...... Hooray! Not that I didn't like the short hair, loved it, but it's time for a change and options again!

And there you have it. See? You weren't missing much at all. Although there're no Adventures on the books yet (amazing!), with Mommy's impending arrival in June I'd better get booking..........! But am sorry for taking so long to check in. Hope you're all well up there. Now that the furnace of summer has been dialed down a little, feel free to scope out deals to come on down and visit! You've got from now until November/December - make the most of it! Tho, I am booked up from June to the beginning of August, feel free to come after then! It'll be fun!


BYE!
J!

The Chore of Adventure To Be Had... in Newcastle!

Hi!

Well. Here we are - finally. Sorry for the delay. One excuse can be attributed to sheer laziness, the other is that a small-ish Adventure was had, thus delaying my checking-in! But, we're here now on a lovely and, well, neither warm or cold, just about perfect temperature actually, tho very cloudy with the odd splash of rain now and then. But boy, those birds have been out there chattering away like mad all day. Happy birds with all the rain we've had, must be worms and little bugs everywhere! Anyways, we're here now with the lovely weather, got clean laundry and a clean little apartment, got the nice cool glass of stand-by white wine, life is good!

So work. Yep. Is good. They appear to getting one step closer to figuring out what to do with me. Last week my 2 bosses and I had a sit-down where they told me what my future holds... mainly that they've so far managed to decide to transfer me permanently to the F/A-18 Technical Publications team (my foster home since Sept), thus severing my ties with my former home with the Communications team - and would that be ok with me? I said sure. So their next step is to (eventually) write my job description and have HR draw up yet another 12-month contract. They (F/A-18) can't adopt me permanently due to the fact they can't have any more permanent editors, they already have 2 - one has been away on maternity leave, still to decide if she feels like coming back, ever. And the other editor works from a different city altogether and is waiting for a better offer from anywhere. Hence my life continues in contracts. Sigh. But hey, I'm in the happy place, never to go back to, well, where I was. And that's a good thing. And that's as far as things have gotten. Between them they seem to be able to accomplish one thing every few weeks. Rome wasn't built in a day but it certainly didn't have this much paperwork and hand-wringing as this place does. Hmmm...... Otherwise, work is fine. Busy, still learning stuff (always a bonus). Ultimately, {how does it go kids??} always happy to have gainful employment! Hooray!

And then there were the weekends. Last, last weekend was spent in Dullsville, which is why I thought I'd spare you the tedium. I didn't even do the chores - yes, it was that dull. Now aren't you happy you were spared that? But last weekend, now that was where the fun and Adventure were! So my friend Kim decided to go down to Newcastle to visit her friend who's moved over permanently from New Zealand (another Kiwi hops the ditch. It's an inevitable move for most NZers, as you well know). So she thought it'd be fun if I tagged along. So while she was off catching up with her friend, I wandered around and checked the place out on my own. We were only there for three days and two nights, so it was just enough time to get a quick snapshot of the place. Thankfully the weather was glorious, especially after the torrential rain New South Wales had been having, to the point where south-west NSW had some pretty bad floods. Thankfully Newcastle is about two hours north of Sydney, on the sea, so they're far enough away from those cranky river systems.

So Newcastle Adventure Day One saw us arrive later in the afternoon on Saturday with her friend picking us up at the airport (which also shares it's space with the RAAF - Royal Australian Air Force at their Williamtown base) and dropping me at my hotel in town. I got my room from (and this isn't a plug, even if it looks, walks and talks like one) LastMinute.com as one of their "secret" rooms, which, after you pay, you discover what and where it is, and I discovered it was the Crowne Plaza in town, right on the river! It was a niiiiiice room too, more like a one bedroom apartment. And at less than half their regular price. So if I'm plugging LastMinute.com, then so be it, because I've used them a few times now and haven't had a bad "secret" pick yet! I can highly recommend them! Anyways, I dumped my bag and trotted off in search of a late lunch. In my walk along the river I immediately discovered two things about Newcastle, or at least that particular section of Newcastle - they seem to be a capitol for weddings and all associated receptions, and that the locals, or Novacastrians as they're called, breed like bunnies with guns to their long eared skulls. The place was positively infested with small children. And any small child able enough was attached to a scooter (the kind that's basically a skateboard with a steering post/handle). They were everywhere. Both them and folks dressed to the nine's on their way to or from a wedding or a reception. At first when I saw all these folks dressed up in all the restaurants and bars along the river, I thought "boy they sure like to dress up to go out on the town here", until the penny dropped that it seems to be a wedding capitol of the world or at least Australia, apparently. Go figure. So, wanting to avoid a collision with a small child on small wheels or a taffeta'd up and tipsy bridesmaid, I ducked into the first place I saw, Silo, who advertized pizza at happy hour prices. I must say the beer was very good, the pizza was very not. But, happy enough, I continued on my stroll along the river to the end where it meets the sea at Nobbys Beach. The sun was thinking about setting and yet the place was still pretty busy (in the parking lot that is, not necessarily the beach, as you can see....). It's not a big beach, but it's lovely and clean and the sea was really very pretty. Cold too, I discovered as I quickly stuck my hand in. No wonder folks were just standing around looking at it eating ice creams, watching the few hardy young surfers having a go at the waves (some not so hardy were wearing wetsuits). So, back to my hotel I trotted, eager to have a glass of their local Hunter Valley wine and put my feet up - am on Mini-Vacation!

Day Two started with a room service breakfast (!!!!) and was originally planned to be filled with local wine from around the Hunter Valley, but unfortunately, at the last minute, the winery tour was cancelled. Bummer dude (tho I distinctly heard a sigh of relief come from my wallet). So, armed with a couple little maps from the front desk (lovely, helpful folks by the way) I set off on what was to be a very long day of walking. According to my trusty little pedometer, I clocked up over 21,000 steps. That's like almost 12 miles. Oh yeah. But during the day I saw everything you can get to on foot along the seaside (and bits of the city), and it was lovely and sunny and warm, it was a perfect day for going on an Adventure walk! I started out as any good tourist would at the Tourist Information Centre, not far from the hotel, where the guy/volunteer gave me a couple of very colorful brochures, flyers and a couple of very cumbersome map books with the suggestion that I head over to the 'hood of Hamilton, which promised a good market to be had that day (Sunday). So off I headed, walking along Hunter Street (not such a flash part of town). After a while I finally made it to Hamilton only to discover that not only were there no markets but that most of the shops were closed for the day, with the exception of a few cafes trying to be "hip" in that grungy-neighborhood-trying- to-be-hip-and-groovy kinda way. Not happy with that little discovery, I managed to flag down the "free" shuttle bus back to town where it stopped/ended at the city center and I continued on my way along the sea......

This is a good little map that shows where all I walked, you can see it best in the very last bit of the map called "Bathers Way". If you see the bit called "City Centre", I walked from there allllllll the way around the lighthouse ("closed" that day, so I went around, across the sand dunes. Note: sand dunes are a bitch to traverse in Chuck Taylor All Stars) and adjoining Nobbys Beach, and allllll along the seaside to the "end" at Merewether Beach/Baths. And then, because that wasn't enough walking, I walked from there allllll through town back to my hotel. My dogs weren't just barkin'. But it was lovely to see the beaches and the views from atop Fort Scratchley (tee hee) and the Strzelecki Lookout at King Edward Park. Although I must say, the highlight of the "tour" was the Bogey Hole. It's a convict-made swimming hole made expressly for the personal use of the Commandant at the time's use. It's now off-limits, but as you can see a few brave young folks still tackle it... I was envious to say the least as it looked like TONS of fun. Then, at Merewether Beach, I stumbled across the Chiko Pro Junior Surf Competition, where, because of the flooding along the rivers that empty out into the sea, there was a whole tree in the surf, right in the path of the 2 competing surfers. So I stood there for a little bit, catching my breath and resting my feet and watching what this tree (and the surfers) was doing, along with about 100 or so other folks......... It's all just basically a lovely part of Newcastle with lovely, clean and tidy houses (some very niiiiiiiiiice, lovely, clean and tidy houses!) Then, happily back in my room, I had a very nice hot bath, which I swear did wonders for my aching feet and legs. Gosh I sound like an old lady! But it really did work and for that I was eternally grateful. Happily refreshed, I got myself back together and went out along the river to a big seafood restaurant called Scratchleys, that had a little "take away" fish and chip place attached to it. So I got myself some crumbed fish and chips and perched mahself on the sea wall and looked across the river over to the lights of Stockton (will have to take the ferry and have a visit next time). It was a lovely way to end a perfect day. Scorching sunburn, aching feet, and all.

Day Three saw a very late start but still managed to get mahself down to the dining room in time to catch the end of the first wave of hungry tourists. Breakfast was very good and very filling with lovely views out over the river and harbor. Then it was back to my room to pack and await Kim and her friend Roger's arrival. Dropping Kim off, he went off to have a quick job interview while Kim and I stayed to have a drink in the bar. A little while later, job interview complete, Roger picked us up and took us along the river to the Queen's Wharf Brewery, where we had another glass of beer and a view out over the river towards the sea. By now the wind was kicking up and dragging some clouds in with it. So we headed off to his neck of the woods called Shoal Bay/Nelsons Bay, where, by the time we got there, it was well and truly lunchtime. So we had lunch there on the bay at a place attached to a hotel/resort (Shoal Bay Resort and Spa) called Mermaids Bar and Grill. Out on that little spit of land, it seemed impervious to the wind and clouds affecting the city and we were rewarded with a very lovely and sunny afternoon. But soon it was time for us to head to the airport and back to Brisbane..... All in all a great Adventure was had with promises to come back and see more!

And finally, that brings us to this weekend. Well, it simply pales in comparison to last weekend - it's been gray, rainy, and full of domestic duties like laundry, vacuuming and even dusting. But, not every weekend can be an Adventure, for even Jacques Cousteau had to slow down and wash his swimsuit at some point. Not that my little Adventure comes close to anything Mr. Cousteau ever did...... but you get my drift (no pun intended..... really....). Hmm.

So there you have it! Many apologies for the tardiness, but now you know why (usually always a good-ish reason). I hope you're all well up there. Say, now that we're well into March, I guess you know that means the hot humid of summer is past and that you're safe to come on down for a visit.....!? It'll be perfect until December or so........ Just sayin'.................!

BYE!
J!