Journal Entries
There's no place like home
Posted May 10, 2005
Well maybe it's a cliche, but it's definitely true.
NB this entry is not very interesting - I'm basically writing it so I remember what I did!
I had a great time back in Oz, starting as soon as I smelled the gum trees as I left Perth airport. My parents came up from Bridgetown and picked me up from the airport, and it was great to see and talk to them again.
The next day I went to uni and had lunch with Nic and Sarah, and randomly bumped into some other friends from college. Then I caught up with Vicki, before heading up to Joondalup to visit my Grandpa, then over to Vic Park for dinner with Helen.
On Friday we went back to the airport to collect Ian and my aunt who had been in south africa for the last 3 weeks. They emerged after a lengthy delay as Ian sorted out the duty on the 7 litres of alcohol he brought back. We dropped him back home then had dinner at Scarborough beach - mmmm steak 
Saturday we went out to Midland to visit my paternal Grandpa, then head home to the farm down south west highway - a nice scenic route along the edge of the Darling Scarp. I was home on the farm for most of the week - I slept a lot (goes without saying for anyone who knows me!), read a bit, sat out in the sun, talked to mum, dad and ian a lot, ate lots of yummy home cooked food (3 roasts, and steak every other night), went to town briefly a few times and drove past my old schools, celebrated my brother's 22nd birthday, fed sheep and re-organised the stuff my parents packed up for me when I left! It was a very peaceful and relaxing week. It's just the most comfortable place in the world for me, and I've always loved going back there.
On friday I got a lift back up to perth with Ian, and we dropped my gear at Helen's house, then he dropped me at Vicki's and we went out for vietnamese food in Northbridge. Saturday I went into the city to shop for the bits and pieces I needed, and discovered I didn't remember the PIN for my australian key card. So I caught the train up to Ian's and sheepishly borrowed some money... That night I went down to Freo and had a beer at Little Creatures with Terry and some of the other rovers, then went and saw the Hitch-hiker's Guide to the Galaxy movie - brilliant and hilarious.
Sunday was quiet - more shopping, then spent the evening watching Helen's Due South DVD It's a very funny and strange show about a Canadian Mountie in Chicago, who happens to be gorgeous and have a pet wolf.
Monday night I caught up with Nic and Sarah, then we went out for dinner with Shane, Bondy and Lexi from college as a going away for Nic, who flew out to Strasbourg the next day.
Tuesday night I had dinner in Leederville with Ian, his girlfriend Jerry and my Aunt Pat. Ate delicious Tiramisu and gelati for dessert
Wednesday evening I met up with Emily after her ballet class, and had coffee in Leederville, then went back to her place and watched videos of ballet concerts of last year and the one before (which I was in, but had never seen). The can can looked pretty good, and the costumes were fantastic! Em dropped me back at Helen's about 1, and as Helen had got home from working in South Australia that night, we ended up talking til about 5am...
Thursday was another quiet one - had dinner with Helen and sat around talking and watching more Due South.
Friday night I met my brother and his mates at the Rosemount Hotel for a gig where one of his mates was playing. Then I gave them a lift to the Como Hotel for the going away party of one of their mates, and caught up with her sister Kym, a friend from school. Then when the Como closed we went to Amplifier in the central city - it's been done up, but is still full of goths and rockers I was regrettably sober as I was driving, but it was a really fun night.
Saturday Ian picked me up and we went for lunch with Heth, Andy and Chris - pizza as usual and got a proper invite to the wedding in July. That evening had dinner with my parents, who were staying in East Perth again.
Sunday my folks picked me up from Helen's and I re-packed my gear before having lunch with Vicki, then heading up to Joondalup to see Grandpa. The rest of the afternoon and into the evening I was at Ian's getting more music on my MP3 player including some favourite CDs I didn't get before I left: Bodyjar's best of, Something for Kate's Official Fiction, Feeder - Echo Park, and an album from Infusion, who I saw live in Perth twice and loved. That evening mum cooked dinner and we headed out to the airport around 10.30. Checked in without any of the trauma of last time, had coffee and cake upstairs, then big hugs all round, a few tears, and I was on my way again.
Discuss this Journal entry [1]
Latest reply: May 10, 2005
More Plans
Posted Apr 8, 2005
Well, I opened this window half an hour ago, then didn't write anything cos I got sidetracked into actually planning what I'm going to do - mainly, looking at where the cheap airlines fly with a view to:
early July - visiting Nic in Strasbourg.
9th July - being in Newcastle (upon Tyne) for Heth and Andy's wedding reception. Then maybe go find the village where my Dodson great-grandfather was born and see if I can find out a little more about his parents and family.
15th-25th July - catch up with Kris and Ryan somewhere in the UK...
end of July - meet a friend in Brighton and go cruising round the south coast for a few days (his company car is a Mazda convertible sports car
August - get a job!! Maybe up north somewhere - bar work in Edinburgh, or maybe somewhere rural. Or perhaps work on a cruise ship, preferably one that visits the Mediterranean
Early September - catch up with Craig (while he recovers from his Contiki tour).
Meanwhile, I'm really looking forward to coming home and catching up with people!
See most of you soon!
Discuss this Journal entry [1]
Latest reply: Apr 8, 2005
Plans for the future
Posted Mar 21, 2005
19th/20th April - fly home to Perth. Spend a couple of days there til my brother gets back from South Africa. Then head home to the farm on the 23rd or 24th for maybe 5 days.
Then back to Perth, staying with Helen and catching up/hanging out with people til the night of the 8th of May when I head back to London.
11th of May - fly to Barcelona with my friend Agnes Maybe head to the Balearic Islands inc. Ibiza, then south round the coast of Spain, visit Gibraltar, maybe head over to Morocco, then up thru Portugal, and maybe across to the south of France to visit family.
More later - I'm going to be late fore work!
Discuss this Journal entry [3]
Latest reply: Mar 21, 2005
Recovery
Posted Mar 13, 2005
Well, this time my excuse for not emailing anyone is that I've had the flu for the past 2 weeks. Got a new roommate and one of the things she moved in with was a robust population of influenza, so I've been sicker than I have been since junior high school. Thanks to Vicki tho, I had a nice pile of cold and flu drugs which kept me alive, and got me thru work... I'm pretty much recovered now, and heading off to play football in Hyde Park before working at 5.
The exercise regime wasn't going too badly until I got sick, and I was actually planning on swimming every day that week. We'll see how the football goes today, and i might get back in the pool later this week.
What else has been happening? Shane came to visit, which was lovely - we spent saturday doing touristy things - caught the bus past Lords Cricket Ground) and down oxford and regent st to Australia House (in a futile attempt to vote), then got on the tube and went across to the tower of london and the tower bridge, then went and got tickets to see Mel Brooks' musical The Producers - very funny. The
flat was also invaded that weekend by my housemate's sister and a bunch of her mates, so that night I went out with them to Camden which was great fun The next day Shane headed out while I slept off the previous night's frivolities, then sat and watched Ireland beat England in the rugby. Shane departed for Vienna on Monday, and I tried to pay the rent (went to the 'Royal' Bank of Scotland instead of the regular one... oops) then worked a double shift - 12 hours - hooray. Wednesday I started to feel sick, but had a ticket to see the Australian Dance Theatre's modern techno adaptation of Swan Lake, which was very cool, and very funny at times - not something you often say about dance, but it was!
Since then I've basically been sleeping, coughing and working!
I'me really looking forward to coming home tho, and catching up with people, so I'm going to make a real effort to get in touch with youa ll and organise to see you all while I'm home!
Time for football!
Discuss this Journal entry [1]
Latest reply: Mar 13, 2005
Work, Exercise and Visits
Posted Feb 4, 2005
Hi All
As usual, it's been quite a while since I last posted...
Not a lot has been happening, really. I've been working - passed the 'Basic Mix' test which allows me to keep my job. I've got the questions for the next optional test, which is associated with a pay rise - the first one made me laugh 'Name one Old World and one New World wine that we sell' - probably the only time a geography degree is going to help with bar work! Other questions relate to knowing stuff about the wines we sell, and the food, and making 6 perfect cappucino's over 2 shifts, upselling wines, spirits and food, selling 10 portions of bar snacks and 6 side orders and stuff like that. Very exciting. But it'll get me an extra 15p and hour, so it's probably worth doing.
Something more fun - I've started playing soccer on sunday afternoons in Hyde Park with a group of guys I met thru Gumtree.com - a website of all kinds of useful things for 'Antipodeans' (as Aussies, Kiwis and probably Saffa's are known) in the UK.
And I've joined a gym near work so I can go swimming (at least twice a week if I'm going to justify the membership). I figure the best way to make myself exercise is to pit my laziness against my stinginess and hope that the will not to waste money will inspire me to get off my fat behind. We shall see...
Tonight I'm going out clubbing for the first time in ages - not sure where yet, but I also want to do a bit of reccy so I can drag Vicki and Lukas out somewhere cool when they come to stay in a week or so
And our favourite physicist will also be in the area at the end of the month, so we're going to go and try to watch a good game of football. No premiership tickets available, but hopefully we'll make it to a champions league game.
Oh, and I'm coming home in April, arriving the 20th, and staying for about 2 or 3 weeks. Haven't booked a flight back yet, but I'm going to - despite the depressing lack of sunshine, which I'm increasingly convinced really reduces the quality of life here, I'm not quite ready to abandon europe for the sunny shores of Oz.
That's about all the excitement in my life, aside from reading a couple of cool books: Darwin's Children, a sci fi novel by Greg Bear, the follow up to Darwin's Radio - gripping and hard to put down, but not quitye as good as the first, and Unweaving the Rainbow by Richard Dawkins, which was laugh out loud funny, fascinating and incredibly stimulating. I'll have a crack at his book The Selfish Gene sometime, and I'm sure the Blind Watchmaker is also worth a look. I'm equally sure my Dad's got copies of both in his study so I don't know why I've decided to read them now that I'm halfway round the world!!
Love to all, more soon. (well probably, maybe, when I have time in my new exercise regime. Ha ha.)
Cya
Discuss this Journal entry [5]
Latest reply: Feb 4, 2005
CJ-Maranup
Researcher U779884
Write an Entry
"The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a wholly remarkable book. It has been compiled and recompiled many times and under many different editorships. It contains contributions from countless numbers of travellers and researchers."