Wednesday 1st October
Hopefully the following link works -some
Video clips from today!
Tuesday 30 September 2014
My own room!!!!
Monday 29th September
The move to Coogee
My friend Gracie from camp also happened to be really close by as she had taken a trip to the airport to drop her parents off, so she came and swooped by the city and took me back home! We chatted for an hour in the car stuck in traffic and when we got back finally she came in and helped me set up my room!
That night, we had all promised that we would try Kangaroo and it would be our first meal when we eventually got our own place. So, we had kangaroo burgers ("skippy burgers") for tea! They were surprisingly tasty!!!🍔
Holiday time is over...
While I was in Adelaide I applied for a few different jobs on gumtree, and had a call back from two different places very quickly while I was away. One call was from a busy cafe in the CBD (central business district) and after a 15 minute chat on the phone he invited me in for a chat on Tuesday. So after my flight which was only delayed for a short time, meeting back up with Sophie, and a spot of lunch, I headed to go and speak with the manager. It seemed to go well and he invited me for a trial shift the following day! 
My shift seemed to go well and everyone seemed really friendly and helpful. The cafe is under renovation and only currently running as a take out service, but a new espresso bar is being built along with a larger seated cafe area with waitress service, and is due to be finished mid October. I took a walk around darling harbour as i finished my shift around 4pm. Later that night the four of us walked down to the opera house again, just because... Well because we could! 
So it seemed to have been a positive day, but we all desperately still wanted to get out of hostels and find somewhere to live!
Thursday 25th
The next morning when I woke up, I logged straight back on to good old gumtre and I spotted a three bedroom apartment in a district called coogee, 20 minutes from the city and right next to the beach!! It had only been listed on the website for about 20 minutes so I tried to get in touch straight away. When I finished work I had still heard nothing back, so I called again. A guy answered and said we could arrange a viewing for tomorrow! However me, Sophie and Sean were all in work, so it was down to johnny to go and check it out!
On the Friday we all went off to work hoping that this place might just be what we were looking for! Johnny seemed to think the location was great, the rooms were basic but fairly spacious, and the price was reasonable, so we agreed to give the go ahead and put a deposit down to secure the apartment!
That night we treated ourselves and went out for tea to Nandos and had a night out to celebrate our new jobs and
new home!!! Everything seemed to have sorted itself out so quickly!! We were told that on Monday, we could move in! 🌅🚪🔑
new home!!! Everything seemed to have sorted itself out so quickly!! We were told that on Monday, we could move in! 🌅🚪🔑
Friday 26 September 2014
Adelaide
Wednesday 17th-Tuesday 23rd
So after getting to australia obviously I was desperate to go and pay Gina and the rest of the family a visit! With hoping to pick up work soon and having to wait a while to receive my tax number I was eager to make a trip before I was going to be tied down to a job.
Wednesday 17th
I got up early and got a shuttle bus to the airport. My flight was just under two hours and I had extra legroom in the emergency exit which was good...so I slept for the entire flight!! I got off the plane and was surprised at the gate by a smiley auntie G and baby jess!! 😃
The afternoon was spent getting to know Jessica and it was so lovely that after around half an hour she came and trotted over to me and put her arms up to sit on my knee !!!! 😍 We ate lunch in the upstairs living room, soon to become my favourite spot, and I felt at home straight away! Ham rolls, Salad creme, a cup of tea, and Coronation street!!!!! Fantastic to have some home comforts!!! Then we went out for a coffee down at the cafe by the beach and took jess to play on the swings! That night Matt and Debbie came round and we had a delicious home cooked dinner! ( to save repeatedly using words like delicious, scrummy, amazing, and gorgeous to describe my food, I will summarise and say that everything I are this week really was that good!!!)
Thursday 18th
Gina had a class this morning so I made use of the time by jazzing up my cv and looking at jobs on gumtree. I did sneak to the quilting class for the last half an hour to have a nosey at what was going on and it was actually great to see Gina teaching! Then we continued being productive and set up Gina's old iPhone for me to use and got some work clothes for a job I was hoping would come when I returned to Sydney.
That night after hours of chatting and catching up, I mentioned that I enjoyed seeing Gina's quilting class, and with that we headed into the workroom accompanied by a glass of wine and some stevie wonder and began to make a quilt for Emma's friend Rihanne who was expecting a baby over the weekend. To everyone's suprise, after around three hours in the room Emma messaged to announce that Rihanne had suddenly given birth to a happy and healthy baby Ava!! We couldn't believe that we had been making it on such a whim and it ended up being at the same time she was being born! It definitely was a very special quilt!!!
Friday 19th
Jess came around again for the day! I caught the train around mid day and took a trip into Adelaide city centre! I signed up to join Gina in a charity walk which was happening over the weekend, and enjoyed walking around in the sunshine and mooching around in the shops! Later when I got back I played with jess in the garden- a great game called "water te flowers" which she liked to do again...and again... And again! Then Matt and Debbie came around and treated us to pizzas which we made a good effort of working our way through- THEY WERE HUGE! Then auntie G and I took our positions on the recliner chairs, pjs and dressing gowns on- and had some TV time! (Can't explain how good this was after not doing it in over three months!)
Saturday 20th
So we decided we best do some training for our intense 3km walk ahead tomorrow....and so we went to get pedicures!!! 😉 blissssful! We went to a big shopping outlet where we also had a nice big lunch before spending the rest of the afternoon walking it off making sure we didn't miss a single shop along the way! When we were well and truly shopped out we headed for home. Yvonna, Gina's friend then came round with a bottle of champagne which we enjoyed in the garden in the sunshine along with some Brie and grapes.
Sunday 21st
We were up nice and early for "race day." Yvonna picked us up and when we arrived we learnt that there were around 36000 people participating in either 3, 6 or 12km! (Gave me the buzz to start running again!) we met up with another two ladies and we all walked together. It was in aid of a charity that supports a children's home in Kenya! Afterwards the lady who ran a charity had set a breakfast up which we enjoyed after our walk. Then we all headed for a coffee before we went back to Gina's. Matt, Debbie and jess came over again that afternoon. The whole time is been in Adelaide Matt had been going on about a field near the house which a mob of kangaroos seemed to have inhabit! So with that we jumped in the car and the two of us headed out to see them...and he was right there was probably about 70 kangaroos there, and just as we were about to drive off, a small great goat appeared from nowhere and started chasing them around the field which we found rather amusing!!! Then Matt drove along the coast and I hopped out to take a few pretty photos! We spotted his rowing club from one of the beaches and we just had to head there where he persuaded me to have a 'schooner' of the local beer- Coopers. 🍻 Gina and I then went for a local Chinese which looked out over the water and we saw the sun set as we demolished a lovely Chinese banquet!! (Finished off with fried ice cream- so bad but soooo good!)
Monday 22nd
This was a lovely last day of my trip! We went along with Debbie and jess to kindergym where she loved walking up high on the beams and playing in the ball pool! We went out for some lunch together and met Gina's friend chris. Then we went on to the McClarrenvale wineries and visited two different ones....and maybe we got a bottle of white in the first one..... and maybe a delicious sparkling which we had that night with our roast dinner! We finished the quilt for Rihanne and baby Ava and had our last night upstairs tuning into corrie and my favourite, the vicar of dibley!
Tuesday 23rd
Although we were up early to get back to the airport I felt like a new person after the week in Adelaide!! Home comforts and TLC were amazing and much appreciated! Thanks again Auntie G!!!❤️
Monday 15 September 2014
Newcastle
This weekend I went to visit a friend from camp who lives in Newcastle, about a two hour train ride from sydney city centre.
Since we have arrived in sydney, we have moved about between a number of different hostels & are living out of our suitcases, so I was looking forward to a couple of nights in an actual house! Thursday was a productive day, I opened a bank account, applied for a tax code, booked a flight to adelaide and I felt a lot better about having to start from scratch over here in Sydney.
Sophie, sean and his friend johnny stayed in sydney for the weekend.
Friday 12th
When I arrived my friend Jodzi told me about the plans for the weekend. He volunteers for a charity called Camp Quality, which provides help to families affected by children with cancer. There was a bike 10,000km bike ride which had been taking place for the last 8 days, and day 10 was on Sunday! He was in charge of organising the welcome home event and so it was nice to get to see a bit of what was going on in his local community.
We went for a drive around the area to see some of the beaches, which is what Newcastle is known for, and they really were beautiful! The rest of the night was spent relaxing, watching tv and movies and anyone from camp who has visited jodzi before has apparently had a "jodzi bbq." Thankfully, my first australian bbq on this trip didn't disappoint, it was delicious.
Saturday 15th
I had a lie in until 10.40am and definitely needed it! The weather was beautiful so we headed out to spend the day by the beaches in the sun. We walked for about an hour along one of the coasts and saw some sea lions sunbathing on the rocks and swimming along the way. Another funny discovey was that the sand on the beach was so soft it squeaked as you walked along it!
That night we went to a pub where the bike riders and families were coming in and we had our tea there.
Sunday 16th
We left early in the morning to set up for the bike riders finish line. It was in a car park of a local pub. We built a stage area, inflated a giant arch and inflated over 100 helium balloons! It looked really good and the families loved it. The riders were also lead to the finish by a local motorbike gang (and obviously I had to get a little photo opportunity in there!)
I then hopped on the train back to sydney mid afternoon to go and meet & back up with the others.
I definitely had a lovely welcoming weekend to Australia!
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