Gaz ordered me a bunch of flowers to be delivered to work yesterday. It was meant to be a surprise only they never turned up and the woman rung me today when i was in work and left an answer phone message saying she had some flowers for me. Gaz was very annoyed that they hadn't delivered them yesterday like they said they would but they said they had lost the address? pretty poor service! However, i have the flowers now and they are lovely :) and a very nice thought! The message said they were for being so great sorting all the moving stuff out over the last few weeks...so cute of him!
Work was awful today and was the first time I've ever failed to start taking a tooth out only 2 hours later to not be getting anywhere and have to stitch the poor patient up and refer to an oral surgeon. I felt so rubbish but the patient was really appreciative for me having tried for so long. I got a bit nervous when he started going all shakey in the chair...6 weeks ago he had a stent put in and has part of his liver not functioning...as well as recovering from broken ribs (he was in a boating accident)...so being the only dentist in work i felt we should call it a day. He's on some antibiotics but i really hope he's ok!
Gaz and i tried out the RSL here in nelson bay and were very impressed. It has a number of restaurants inside and looked very sophisticated. Im sure we shall be eating in there more often. We have just been watching a film, 'almost famous'. Im very tired and ready for bed now! gaz is sorting some things on the computer. Tomorrow we are going to the garden centre to buy a bird table :)
Saturday, 31 March 2012
Wednesday, 28 March 2012
Tuesday 28th March - Gazs birthday
The house has been sprayed to kill all the cockroaches and spiders. It has been horrible waking up to dead cockroaches on their backs! Yesterday i had to get Gaz out of bed as a cockroach had blocked the door - he was HUGE! and was still alive albeit a little intoxicated and not really moving much but he was still a big bugger and i wasn't going to get past him to get through the door. Gaz thought he had killed it but i screamed so loud when it ran out of the kitchen roll and back around gazs feet! The other night gaz and i were watching 'troll hunter' in bed....it got to a very tense moment in the film when all of a sudden this big black cockroach started running up our laptop screen! I leaped a mile out of bed...gaz tried catching it in some oiler paper to send it on a journey down the 'porcelain express' (the toilet). I couldn't sleep very well after that, constantly thinking i had a cockroach crawling on me!
Work went great today...my book was full and i loved it! Gaz has spent the day sorting his computer out as he has downloaded some software that has made it run very slowly...he was going to go fishing but that plan fell through as it took him longer to sort the computer out than he thought...i think its all sorted now.
I sang gaz happy birthday at 7.30am...we decided we won't bother with cards and presents for each other but i did go out and find him a chocolate echidna themed cake as he has talked about always wanting to see an echidna! The cake was yummy. i put candles on it when i got home from work and sang for him again...he just can't get enough of my amazing singing...not. We even took some cake around to jack next door. He had been in hospital yesterday to have his yearly scan for bowel cancer which he had been diagnosed and treated for in 2001. He appreciated the cake and we gave him an extra slice for his daughter...together gaz and i have managed to demolish the rest of the cake...thats team work!
As it is gaz's birthday i took him for a meal at the hogs breath cafe. He managed to eat the half a cow on his plate and now we are sitting at home trying not to explode!
I have another full day in work tomorrow...cant wait! Is it really sad to enjoy work so much?
Work went great today...my book was full and i loved it! Gaz has spent the day sorting his computer out as he has downloaded some software that has made it run very slowly...he was going to go fishing but that plan fell through as it took him longer to sort the computer out than he thought...i think its all sorted now.
I sang gaz happy birthday at 7.30am...we decided we won't bother with cards and presents for each other but i did go out and find him a chocolate echidna themed cake as he has talked about always wanting to see an echidna! The cake was yummy. i put candles on it when i got home from work and sang for him again...he just can't get enough of my amazing singing...not. We even took some cake around to jack next door. He had been in hospital yesterday to have his yearly scan for bowel cancer which he had been diagnosed and treated for in 2001. He appreciated the cake and we gave him an extra slice for his daughter...together gaz and i have managed to demolish the rest of the cake...thats team work!
As it is gaz's birthday i took him for a meal at the hogs breath cafe. He managed to eat the half a cow on his plate and now we are sitting at home trying not to explode!
I have another full day in work tomorrow...cant wait! Is it really sad to enjoy work so much?
Sunday, 25 March 2012
Sunday 25th March - spiders galore!
This week has flown. Work is very laid back about what hours i want to work...im even contemplating extending my hours on a thursday to do a late night surgery as a big request from patients is to have appointments after they finish work...i said ill give the extended hours a trial period. Im really enjoying work...the money is just a bonus but I'm loving every thing about private practice. The patients really appreciate you and are so polite! I have given myself half hour for check ups because that gives me enough time to do all i have to get done as well as being able to relax and have a chat with every patient about their day, this that and the other. Im a little bit sceptical about some of the work i have been given to do by a previous dentist as fillings have been marked down...yet when i look at the tooth, i can't see a reason as to why the tooth needs to be filled. Im morally only going to do what needs to be done, i earn enough without trying to find extra work to do on people!!!
Gaz still hasn't had much luck on the computer. He's going through a bit of a bad patch.
Yesterday our neighbour, jack, came over to our house to let us know that he had cut our hedge back. Gaz was meant to be doing it next week with him but he said it had been annoying him and he just wanted to get it done. for some stupid reason, whoever designed these houses made it so that poor jack has to go through our back garden to put his bins out. He said he put them out the other day and a funnel web latched onto him as he came through our gate. Jack had put the clippings in apple on the floor and had kindly offered to clear them up and put them in his bin. i beat him to it this morning, i was up at 8am so i was out the back clearing away the hedge clippings. I got the house pipe and began squirting through the thick cobwebs hanging from our house. i didn't expect to find so many spiders!!! Big ones, small ones, poisonous ones, deadly ones and HUGE GOLF BALL SIZED ONES!!! look up a 'garden orb spider'. huge things and they make these very large webs in-between trees and the webs are so fine, you don't even know its there...unless your like me and you walk into it. gross. This orb spider was so big that when i washed it off of the house, you could hear it as it smacked the floor!!! I gave a loud shriek as one spider landed on me, dropped the hose pipe that began waving around uncontrollably on the floor like a manic cobra and then composed myself whilst looking around to make sure no one just saw. Our house win infested with red back spiders...the nice thing about red backs (if 'nice' is the right word) is that at least you can identify them! Funnel webs...not entirely sure what they look like other than i know for our far tour house has them and i probably washed a few away today. Funnily enough, i asked gaz to help me with the garden and his reply was 'i aint going any where near that place until the pesticide people have sprayed it all tomorrow'. i must have been crazy. Jack came over to tell me how good the garden was looking!
After tackling the garden i did another blitz around the house as the cleaners we had were pretty rubbish so i went over everything again. Gaz and i went for an evening stroll on the beach and we were talking to some people catching yabbis to use as their fish bait tomorrow. They had this long metal pump that they used to pump up the sand and then they grabbed the pinky orangey yabbis that were sucked to the surface. The woman offered gaz to hold one...i was amazed at how big they ate with huge lobster like pincers. The seagulls were hovering around catching the odd yabbi that the people missed poaching.
I have taken a few pictures of the house as not everyone has seen it yet...
Our house :)
Gaz still hasn't had much luck on the computer. He's going through a bit of a bad patch.
Yesterday our neighbour, jack, came over to our house to let us know that he had cut our hedge back. Gaz was meant to be doing it next week with him but he said it had been annoying him and he just wanted to get it done. for some stupid reason, whoever designed these houses made it so that poor jack has to go through our back garden to put his bins out. He said he put them out the other day and a funnel web latched onto him as he came through our gate. Jack had put the clippings in apple on the floor and had kindly offered to clear them up and put them in his bin. i beat him to it this morning, i was up at 8am so i was out the back clearing away the hedge clippings. I got the house pipe and began squirting through the thick cobwebs hanging from our house. i didn't expect to find so many spiders!!! Big ones, small ones, poisonous ones, deadly ones and HUGE GOLF BALL SIZED ONES!!! look up a 'garden orb spider'. huge things and they make these very large webs in-between trees and the webs are so fine, you don't even know its there...unless your like me and you walk into it. gross. This orb spider was so big that when i washed it off of the house, you could hear it as it smacked the floor!!! I gave a loud shriek as one spider landed on me, dropped the hose pipe that began waving around uncontrollably on the floor like a manic cobra and then composed myself whilst looking around to make sure no one just saw. Our house win infested with red back spiders...the nice thing about red backs (if 'nice' is the right word) is that at least you can identify them! Funnel webs...not entirely sure what they look like other than i know for our far tour house has them and i probably washed a few away today. Funnily enough, i asked gaz to help me with the garden and his reply was 'i aint going any where near that place until the pesticide people have sprayed it all tomorrow'. i must have been crazy. Jack came over to tell me how good the garden was looking!
After tackling the garden i did another blitz around the house as the cleaners we had were pretty rubbish so i went over everything again. Gaz and i went for an evening stroll on the beach and we were talking to some people catching yabbis to use as their fish bait tomorrow. They had this long metal pump that they used to pump up the sand and then they grabbed the pinky orangey yabbis that were sucked to the surface. The woman offered gaz to hold one...i was amazed at how big they ate with huge lobster like pincers. The seagulls were hovering around catching the odd yabbi that the people missed poaching.
I have taken a few pictures of the house as not everyone has seen it yet...
Our house :)
Downstairs lounge
Dining room/Gaz work station
Our bedroom
Second bedroom
There is also a 3rd bedroom but theres nothing in it.
Main bathroom
Ensuite
Kitchen
Upstairs lounge
Balcony
Upstairs lounge from a diff angle
View of the sea from balcony
View from the upstairs lounge
Thursday, 22 March 2012
Thursday 22nd march - Jack
Work was great again today. Im not quite as on the ball yet as i was in hervey bay though and I've made 2 very stupid mistakes with regards to taking a tooth out on 2 people, both of whom are at risk of osteonecrosis...one of which i warned about but didn't give antibiotics for which i should have and the other i didn't realise what drug she was taking until i looked back at her medical history when she had left. I feel really stupid and fingers crossed the sockets will heal ok without the antibiotics but I've managed to find my little checklist of things i had in hervey bay that i used to look at if people were on certain drugs. I need to be more careful in the future. They couldn't find me any patients for the last hour so i got to go home early...i didn't mind as they have filled my book for tomorrow and my half day on saturday...they did warn me it will tai about 3 weeks to get a constant patient flow so i wasn't expecting to have as many patients as i do atm anyway. All of my patients have been lovely so far :)
Gaz has had yet another bad day on the computer although he has had an eventful day! the police called around this morning asking if our car had been stolen. Gaz was very alarmed but it turns out the previous tenants still had their car registered to our address. The policemen saw gaz's computer and started asking him about what he was playing. The electrician also came over and told us our stove was rubbish but it was working and the smoke was from all the cleaning product that has been used to clean the oven.
When i got home i saw Jack, our next door neighbour putting the bins out. I went out to put our bin out and gaz came...we had a nice long chat with jack - he's lovely! he has invited gaz out with his friends fishing and said their circle of friends and his daughters mates have social gatherings and he said he would let us know when he next one was so that we could go over there and join them. it will be a good way to meet new people! I asked jack if we could borrow his shears so that gaz could cut our hedge out the back garden. Jack looked pleased as he said he had been looking at the hedge and was going to offer to cut it for us anyway. He told gaz to call round when he's going to cut the hedge and jack will go help him! very nice of him.
Gaz has had yet another bad day on the computer although he has had an eventful day! the police called around this morning asking if our car had been stolen. Gaz was very alarmed but it turns out the previous tenants still had their car registered to our address. The policemen saw gaz's computer and started asking him about what he was playing. The electrician also came over and told us our stove was rubbish but it was working and the smoke was from all the cleaning product that has been used to clean the oven.
When i got home i saw Jack, our next door neighbour putting the bins out. I went out to put our bin out and gaz came...we had a nice long chat with jack - he's lovely! he has invited gaz out with his friends fishing and said their circle of friends and his daughters mates have social gatherings and he said he would let us know when he next one was so that we could go over there and join them. it will be a good way to meet new people! I asked jack if we could borrow his shears so that gaz could cut our hedge out the back garden. Jack looked pleased as he said he had been looking at the hedge and was going to offer to cut it for us anyway. He told gaz to call round when he's going to cut the hedge and jack will go help him! very nice of him.
Wednesday, 21 March 2012
Wednesday 21st March - BBQ at the beach
Work went great again today! i had 3 people tell me i was a great dentist and my dental nurse said she enjoyed working with me and was impressed at how fast i got teeth out! i feel chuffed! Gaz meanwhile still hasn't had any luck on the computer...he says it isn't getting him down but i think it is :(
We still don't have the hobs working but gaz has rung the estate agents and they are getting an electrician round at some point to try and fix it...me thinks it may be a case of a new oven/hob which will take ages! If they don't get it fixed for a while then there will be hell to pay as I'm not paying 400 dollars for a house that doesn't even have a stove/oven! On the plus side, it is nice being round the corner from work and being able to pop home in my lunch break.
As the weather was nice and we can't cook in the house, gaz and i went across the road to have a steak burger on the free bbq that is by the beach. It was lovely and really great to see people out walking their dogs.
Back in the house and I've found another cockroach crawling around in a cupboard under the sink...must have come up through the pipes...gross. cockroach and spider killer man is coming on monday. Carpet cleaner coming friday. Electrician...to be decided. By the time its all sorted, it will be time for gaz and i to come home!
Day 3 in work 2morro....so excited! I am soooo shocked by how expensive dental treatment is out here....a comparison for you...in the uk, on the NHS, a checkup which may include a scale and polish and routine x rays will cost 12 pounds. In Australia, the same thing costs 150 pounds. And thats before any fillings are done! To take a tooth out is 140 pounds per tooth (more if its a back tooth) and thats before the consultation fee on top and any x rays...a half hour appointment to take a tooth out can total over 200 pounds. Back home its 30 quid and people still moan!!!
We still don't have the hobs working but gaz has rung the estate agents and they are getting an electrician round at some point to try and fix it...me thinks it may be a case of a new oven/hob which will take ages! If they don't get it fixed for a while then there will be hell to pay as I'm not paying 400 dollars for a house that doesn't even have a stove/oven! On the plus side, it is nice being round the corner from work and being able to pop home in my lunch break.
As the weather was nice and we can't cook in the house, gaz and i went across the road to have a steak burger on the free bbq that is by the beach. It was lovely and really great to see people out walking their dogs.
Back in the house and I've found another cockroach crawling around in a cupboard under the sink...must have come up through the pipes...gross. cockroach and spider killer man is coming on monday. Carpet cleaner coming friday. Electrician...to be decided. By the time its all sorted, it will be time for gaz and i to come home!
Day 3 in work 2morro....so excited! I am soooo shocked by how expensive dental treatment is out here....a comparison for you...in the uk, on the NHS, a checkup which may include a scale and polish and routine x rays will cost 12 pounds. In Australia, the same thing costs 150 pounds. And thats before any fillings are done! To take a tooth out is 140 pounds per tooth (more if its a back tooth) and thats before the consultation fee on top and any x rays...a half hour appointment to take a tooth out can total over 200 pounds. Back home its 30 quid and people still moan!!!
Tuesday, 20 March 2012
Tuesday 20th March - First day at work
I woke up today VERY nervous about starting my new job. I had butterflies in my stomach all the way to work! Gaz woke up for a few minutes then I'm pretty sure he fell back asleep - I'm so jealous! When i got to work everyone made me feel very welcome. There is only one other dentist there but he made me feel right at home and showed me where certain things were and offered his time if i needed him. The patient notes are all on the computer so it took a bit of time finding my way around that but i think I've grasped the basic concepts of how to use it now! I really loved the fact the patients were paying A LOT of money for their treatment and yet they were so grateful for everything i was doing for them. They were all so polite and i felt like they actually wanted to be there. it was good. My hours are from 8.30-5.30 with an hour for lunch. We had a staff meeting today so that also took another hour of my time. 3 patients didn't turn up so i had an hour and a half of doing nothing...the girls said you get some days where a few don't turn up and i guess this was just my day. So all in all, i did a total of 6.5 hours work...put it this way, i earned a lot of money! I'm really going to enjoy it here!
When i got home, Gaz wasn't in the best of moods. He had had a rubbish day on the computer and was a little down. Im sure things will pick up again for him soon! We tried to cook some steaks but our stove started smoking out from where the dials are. We then tried to grill the step but the whole grill started smoking after 10 seconds...we need to ring the landlord...they are so going to hate us!
When i got home, Gaz wasn't in the best of moods. He had had a rubbish day on the computer and was a little down. Im sure things will pick up again for him soon! We tried to cook some steaks but our stove started smoking out from where the dials are. We then tried to grill the step but the whole grill started smoking after 10 seconds...we need to ring the landlord...they are so going to hate us!
Monday, 19 March 2012
Monday 19th March
Apologies for the lack of blogging over the weekend - gaz and i have been busy bunnies moving in to our new cockroach/red back spider infested house. I'm afraid this blog will be brief as i am shattered...but basically we had cleaners come in to clean the house today...i can say they did much other than chuck stuff out as i had already cleaned the place! their cleaning was graded average by gaz and i. At some point this week we will have the carpet cleaners coming in to clean the sofas swell as the carpet. I have blasted the trot of the house with water from the hose to get rid of all the cobwebs...on going to turn the tap off, i almost touched a red back spider sitting on the handle. It had obviously been there some time judging by the amount of dead spiders it had wound into its web. It didn't last long before i killed it. To my horror, when venturing to bed, i thought i would have a quick peak int he garage...only to find yet another red back making its web on one of our shelves! that too is dead now. This morning when i woke up there were 2 live cockroaches in the kitchen...gaz was on cockroach duty and dispersed of them. I had my first riding lesson today with my new teacher, Ellen. I must say, this is exactly what i wanted and need....she has a nice outdoor arena and put me on a very lovely horse called Tammy. Ellen is very knowledgeable in riding and i learnt a lot from her in this first lesson, She did point out there is a horse going for lease...but i felt it best i turn down the offer as i don't know how much i will be earning yet and i don't know how i will be fixed for time when i start work. I am off to bed now, sooooo tired! Gaz has had another poo day on the computer bless him. His confidence is dwindling a little but he's trying hard not to let it get to him. Tomorrow is my first day in work - I'm very nervous!!!
Friday, 16 March 2012
Friday 16th March - Signed for a house and oak vale farm
I woke up early this morning so i could be down at pacific smiles for an induction on how to use the computers...its all very relaxed down there and i can really see myself enjoying it there. They have my room set up for me ready to go, patients booked in for tuesday and my passwords etc. all ready. Cant wait to start and earn some money now!
It didn't take long to have the induction When i had finished, Gaz and i went to the estate agents to sort out paperwork...although the house hasn't been cleaned yet (and the last tenant left the house in an appauling state) sam said we can move in anyway because she knows we were desperate to get in before i start work. She needed a few hours to get the paperwork together so i begged gaz to take us to oak vale farm (20 minutes down the road) so i could stroke a koala! I have to admit, when we pulled up there were a few cars there but we didn't expect the place to be any good...well actually we were wrong. the place was awesome!!! As you walk out of the reception and gift shop area, theres goats galore everywhere! big ones, little ones...all roaming free amongst the entire farm area. Lots of different kinds of birds roaming free too, They had cute little piglets, rabbits etc - your typical farm life...then they had wallabies, wombats, kangaroos, emus, one of those big wedge tail eagles which was HUGE but had broken its wing in captivity so they kept him here at the farm and pure bred dingos. And many many more animals but it was great because it was very laid back and you could feed all the animals. the goats were my favourite because if you didn't watch them, they would steal things from out of your bag. At 2pm we got to feed the goats with a bottle of milk...gaz got to hold the little baby goat and feed it - cute! and then we were able to stroke a load of koalas...and then we had a tractor ride...it was so much fun! the kids there were loving it...and myself!
We spent a good few hours at the farm and then it was time to sign for the house and pick up the keys! it all went smoothly and we were so grateful to sam for letting us move in early before it had been cleaned. We dumped all our stuff front he car into the lounge and i had a go at cleaning the bathroom - it was disgusting this woman was a pig! it wasn't even as though she just didn't clean the place before she moved out...the amount of crap that was caked on, it looks as though she hadn't bothered to clean the place for the whole 6 months she was there!!! Whilst i tackled the grime (kin and aggy would have a field day in this house!) Gaz went for a swim on his own in the sea over the road. He want in there long but it was nice for him to go off for a bit and do something he wanted to do. he said the water was a little chilly. the weather has been beautiful here...we must have taken the sunshine from hervey bay with us as the sun hasn't stopped shining!
We are now writing a list of things we need to get tomorrow so i can give the house a clean to make it liveable for the next few days until the proper cleaners come.
It didn't take long to have the induction When i had finished, Gaz and i went to the estate agents to sort out paperwork...although the house hasn't been cleaned yet (and the last tenant left the house in an appauling state) sam said we can move in anyway because she knows we were desperate to get in before i start work. She needed a few hours to get the paperwork together so i begged gaz to take us to oak vale farm (20 minutes down the road) so i could stroke a koala! I have to admit, when we pulled up there were a few cars there but we didn't expect the place to be any good...well actually we were wrong. the place was awesome!!! As you walk out of the reception and gift shop area, theres goats galore everywhere! big ones, little ones...all roaming free amongst the entire farm area. Lots of different kinds of birds roaming free too, They had cute little piglets, rabbits etc - your typical farm life...then they had wallabies, wombats, kangaroos, emus, one of those big wedge tail eagles which was HUGE but had broken its wing in captivity so they kept him here at the farm and pure bred dingos. And many many more animals but it was great because it was very laid back and you could feed all the animals. the goats were my favourite because if you didn't watch them, they would steal things from out of your bag. At 2pm we got to feed the goats with a bottle of milk...gaz got to hold the little baby goat and feed it - cute! and then we were able to stroke a load of koalas...and then we had a tractor ride...it was so much fun! the kids there were loving it...and myself!
We spent a good few hours at the farm and then it was time to sign for the house and pick up the keys! it all went smoothly and we were so grateful to sam for letting us move in early before it had been cleaned. We dumped all our stuff front he car into the lounge and i had a go at cleaning the bathroom - it was disgusting this woman was a pig! it wasn't even as though she just didn't clean the place before she moved out...the amount of crap that was caked on, it looks as though she hadn't bothered to clean the place for the whole 6 months she was there!!! Whilst i tackled the grime (kin and aggy would have a field day in this house!) Gaz went for a swim on his own in the sea over the road. He want in there long but it was nice for him to go off for a bit and do something he wanted to do. he said the water was a little chilly. the weather has been beautiful here...we must have taken the sunshine from hervey bay with us as the sun hasn't stopped shining!
We are now writing a list of things we need to get tomorrow so i can give the house a clean to make it liveable for the next few days until the proper cleaners come.
Thursday, 15 March 2012
Thursday 15th March - car service
I was up at 7.30am this morning to get the car down to Anna Bay motors for a service. The guy said it won't take long to get the car done so i decided to have a stroll down to the beach. On the way down, a little jack russel cross cattle dog looking thing started following me. I was honoured to have made a new friend but i didn't appreciate that every time a car came along, the dog would run out in front of the car. The driver would then look at me as if to say, "control your dog, woman!"...the dog followed me down to the beach and back. He (and i knew it was a he because he had bits and pieces) had a little neckerchief on but no tag to say where he as from so i couldn't return him. Again, he did the trotting out in front of cars trick...i asked a young lady if she knew this dog...she didn't recognise him. damn. i text gaz to ask if we could have a dog...he said no :( he's lucky because when i went into the cafe, i came out and the dog had gone...2 hours later the car was ready. Apparently the left and right brake light weren't working...oops because we have driven the car an awful lot lately! And the tyres need replacing but we will do that closer to the time of selling the thing. I drove the long way home in the direction i think the dog went..just to make sure he wasn't splat in the road. I couldn't find him so came home to gaz who hadn't long got out of bed and then said 'I've been waiting for you to come home, I'm going to have a shower now.'...i asked why he couldn't have had a shower in the 3 hours i had been out but he said he wanted to be 'around' incase i rung him with a problem. hmm....
We watched some Family Guy and i fell asleep until 1pm by which time our bellies were growling at one another and demanding a feast. We went to the cafe we had been to before in 'soldiers point' down the road from the holiday park. The service was very slow and the 2 waitresses seemed to be busy doing nothing. When the food came out, Gaz asked politely for some garlic aiole...only the waitress looked at him gone off and rudely called the other waitress over to deal with the request...very strange.
Gaz and i went down to our favourite beach in corlette near to where our new house is We had a little paddle in the water and sat outside watching people stroll by and a father and son fishing. Gaz said it reminded him of when ian would take him fishing. gaz would catch a fish and get ian to take it off the line...this is what was happening with this father and son in front of us. They said they had caught a number of flathead and whiting from a few metres from the shoreline. gaz is very excited to get fishing bless him.
We got back to the cabin and i popped to woolworths and gaz tried to sort things with telstra...hes ha a bit of a nightmare sorting the internet over. he even hung up on one girl who was completely useless....i don't see gaz loose his cool very often but he got frustrated with her. It was funny.
We had a nice stroll down to see the boats t the bottom of the hill from the holiday park. It was beautiful watching the sun setting over the ocean and the pelicans bobbing around.
We have just had a chinese takeaway - omg i have put on soooo much weight its disgusting...cant wait to get into our new house! oh and as for that....we have had to extend another night at the holiday park because they can't get through to the previous tenant to give them the all clear to get cleaners in. They have to get her to free it before they can get people in apparently because its going to come out of her bond...we should know more by tomorrow. will keep you all updated!
We watched some Family Guy and i fell asleep until 1pm by which time our bellies were growling at one another and demanding a feast. We went to the cafe we had been to before in 'soldiers point' down the road from the holiday park. The service was very slow and the 2 waitresses seemed to be busy doing nothing. When the food came out, Gaz asked politely for some garlic aiole...only the waitress looked at him gone off and rudely called the other waitress over to deal with the request...very strange.
Gaz and i went down to our favourite beach in corlette near to where our new house is We had a little paddle in the water and sat outside watching people stroll by and a father and son fishing. Gaz said it reminded him of when ian would take him fishing. gaz would catch a fish and get ian to take it off the line...this is what was happening with this father and son in front of us. They said they had caught a number of flathead and whiting from a few metres from the shoreline. gaz is very excited to get fishing bless him.
We got back to the cabin and i popped to woolworths and gaz tried to sort things with telstra...hes ha a bit of a nightmare sorting the internet over. he even hung up on one girl who was completely useless....i don't see gaz loose his cool very often but he got frustrated with her. It was funny.
We had a nice stroll down to see the boats t the bottom of the hill from the holiday park. It was beautiful watching the sun setting over the ocean and the pelicans bobbing around.
We have just had a chinese takeaway - omg i have put on soooo much weight its disgusting...cant wait to get into our new house! oh and as for that....we have had to extend another night at the holiday park because they can't get through to the previous tenant to give them the all clear to get cleaners in. They have to get her to free it before they can get people in apparently because its going to come out of her bond...we should know more by tomorrow. will keep you all updated!
Wednesday, 14 March 2012
Wednesday 14th March - eventful day
So gaz and i agreed we would settle for the house in corlette close to the beach. We had another look at it today but unfortunately the previous tenant (i call her the mad cat lady because she hd a cat in the house when we went to see it first time and because she looked kinda insane) had not done a very good job at cleaning the house. Saying the house was dirty is an understatement. I expressed my disgust to the landlady. There was faecal matter still clinging to the toilet bowl, a cockroach in the dishwasher, oven that had more grease than a chip fat fryer and overall everything was just dirty. She didn't even have the carpets cleaned so i told the landlady i would like the carpets cleaned before move in and i was told they would as she wasn't meant to have had a cat in there!
We felt it would be courteous of us to go into the other property place to let them know we would be turning down the offer of number 52 achilles street, however nice the house was. If i had it my way we would have made a cowardly phone call but gaz felt it more polite we went in and spoke face to face - he was right. The lady that dealt with us yesterday wasn't in so we spoke to a very nice lady who understood but we did explain we will be coming back out in january and we would deffinately begetting back in touch with them for another property similar to achilles street. I didn't feel so bad leaving. We left and handed in our forms for the other house...the landlady (crazy sam) who is helping us with the house hunting said she had rung a professional cleaner and said unfortunately the cleaning job is going to be big so we can't move in until after the weekend :( but we are going to work on her tomorrow and see if she will let us move in before the weekend...even if we go halves on the cleaning, it will be cheaper than extending our accommodation in the holiday cabin! plus we are both getting very fed up of living out of suitcases.
We had a pie in our new favourite local bakery before heading on a half hour drive to 'sky wood equestrian centre' to check out the riding lessons there. Didn't know what to expect but we drove up and a lady came towards us. I started explaining i was after lessons and at first she seemed very quiet and i found myself just talking at her....trying to fill the silence between each breath as she wasn't saying anything or showing much emotion....but then she smiled. she had a nice smile. she asked me what kind of riding i wanted and became a little more chatty. gaz wondered up from out of the car and agreed she was actually a very nice lady. She has a menage (outdoor school) that i can ride around in and she will teach me dressage, show jumping...anything i want really. which is great as although i loved galloping around on buddy, i do want to improve my technique. She said she had the perfect horse for me so my first lesson is on monday! As we were leaving she went into a little paddock to fetch a little filly...she neighed and trotted up to the lady who stroked her head which she bent down into the ladies chest. Very cute! She had a lot of stables...she even has an 'asignment' here which i worked out is the equivalent of a livery yard back home. You can keep your horse here and she will help look after it...she would even give you lessons on your own horse...i can see potential here for when we come back out in january!
Gaz and i were lying on the bed watching the last episode of 'House' when the phone rang. It was the lady who introduced us to the achilles house yesterday who wasn't in when we went to decline the offer this morning. i was surprised to hear from her, but even more surprised that she was shouting at me! "why did you not look at our other properties?" she shouted. "umm because we already found a house after we viewed the achilles street house with you, it was more because we could move in straight away that we chose is." i replied.
"well i have lots of houses here you could have moved in to straight away." she kept on going! i was trying to explain that we were very grateful for her help yesterday but something else came up and we would still be interested in using them for a house in january. gaz was listening on the phone as he could hear her shouting and was looking horrified!
"ok well I'm going to go and shout at the lady who served you this morning for not shooing you our other properties!"
i said "woah hang on, i don't want people getting into trouble for us choosing the other house. She was very nice to us and just because you have more properties, doesn't mean we would have taken them. we really like the house we have gone for."
"well i have houses if you wanted houses!!! iv got 9 here now ready to take!"
i didn't really know how to respond. "ok well we have a house now, thank you, bye."
so gaz and i have decided....theres no way in hell we are going through them to get a house in january!!! we like crazy sam...shes up front and you know where you stand with her.
Gaz and i have been for a chinese...it was rubbish You know its going to be crap when the chinese restaurant doesn't even offer chopsticks! they burnt the chow main yet still served it...the noodles were crisp and parts were black...the beef and black been sauce was served with celery...not green peppers....weird.
we are going to watch some tv in bed. i have an early start to the morning as the car is going in to be serviced.
We felt it would be courteous of us to go into the other property place to let them know we would be turning down the offer of number 52 achilles street, however nice the house was. If i had it my way we would have made a cowardly phone call but gaz felt it more polite we went in and spoke face to face - he was right. The lady that dealt with us yesterday wasn't in so we spoke to a very nice lady who understood but we did explain we will be coming back out in january and we would deffinately begetting back in touch with them for another property similar to achilles street. I didn't feel so bad leaving. We left and handed in our forms for the other house...the landlady (crazy sam) who is helping us with the house hunting said she had rung a professional cleaner and said unfortunately the cleaning job is going to be big so we can't move in until after the weekend :( but we are going to work on her tomorrow and see if she will let us move in before the weekend...even if we go halves on the cleaning, it will be cheaper than extending our accommodation in the holiday cabin! plus we are both getting very fed up of living out of suitcases.
We had a pie in our new favourite local bakery before heading on a half hour drive to 'sky wood equestrian centre' to check out the riding lessons there. Didn't know what to expect but we drove up and a lady came towards us. I started explaining i was after lessons and at first she seemed very quiet and i found myself just talking at her....trying to fill the silence between each breath as she wasn't saying anything or showing much emotion....but then she smiled. she had a nice smile. she asked me what kind of riding i wanted and became a little more chatty. gaz wondered up from out of the car and agreed she was actually a very nice lady. She has a menage (outdoor school) that i can ride around in and she will teach me dressage, show jumping...anything i want really. which is great as although i loved galloping around on buddy, i do want to improve my technique. She said she had the perfect horse for me so my first lesson is on monday! As we were leaving she went into a little paddock to fetch a little filly...she neighed and trotted up to the lady who stroked her head which she bent down into the ladies chest. Very cute! She had a lot of stables...she even has an 'asignment' here which i worked out is the equivalent of a livery yard back home. You can keep your horse here and she will help look after it...she would even give you lessons on your own horse...i can see potential here for when we come back out in january!
Gaz and i were lying on the bed watching the last episode of 'House' when the phone rang. It was the lady who introduced us to the achilles house yesterday who wasn't in when we went to decline the offer this morning. i was surprised to hear from her, but even more surprised that she was shouting at me! "why did you not look at our other properties?" she shouted. "umm because we already found a house after we viewed the achilles street house with you, it was more because we could move in straight away that we chose is." i replied.
"well i have lots of houses here you could have moved in to straight away." she kept on going! i was trying to explain that we were very grateful for her help yesterday but something else came up and we would still be interested in using them for a house in january. gaz was listening on the phone as he could hear her shouting and was looking horrified!
"ok well I'm going to go and shout at the lady who served you this morning for not shooing you our other properties!"
i said "woah hang on, i don't want people getting into trouble for us choosing the other house. She was very nice to us and just because you have more properties, doesn't mean we would have taken them. we really like the house we have gone for."
"well i have houses if you wanted houses!!! iv got 9 here now ready to take!"
i didn't really know how to respond. "ok well we have a house now, thank you, bye."
so gaz and i have decided....theres no way in hell we are going through them to get a house in january!!! we like crazy sam...shes up front and you know where you stand with her.
Gaz and i have been for a chinese...it was rubbish You know its going to be crap when the chinese restaurant doesn't even offer chopsticks! they burnt the chow main yet still served it...the noodles were crisp and parts were black...the beef and black been sauce was served with celery...not green peppers....weird.
we are going to watch some tv in bed. i have an early start to the morning as the car is going in to be serviced.
Tuesday, 13 March 2012
Tuesday 13th March - Leaving Forster
Today we left forster after a stressful few minutes trying to repack the car. I packed most of it yesterday and was very pleased with my efforts and getting most of the stuff in...only to this morning have my pride sunk by the fact i still hadn't packed gaze's monitor...nor had i left any room for it. Whilst trying to reorganise the car gaz insisted that we leave the pillows behind but there was no way having got them this far that we were leaving ANYTHING behind so i began taking things out and slotting them back in to fit better...like a game of tetris. I eventually got everything in and drove us down south to salamander bay..gaz in the passenger seat, clenching and gripping the door handle every time i turned a corner...this is the same gaz who started driving on the wrong side of the road last week until i pointed out to him we weren't in america...and can i add...there is nothing wrong with my driving, i ws going under the speed limit...gaz is just a very pad passenger!!! But i got him here in one piece.
We are staying in soldiers point holiday park which is a load of cabins similar to what we stayed in in forster. Its very pretty here, theres lots of birds and you can see the sea which is 2 minutes walk away. It was time to start looking at the house viewings i had lined up. Firstly it was off to Mantra Aqua apartments in nelson bay...the apartment was very nice. a view of the sea, nice balcony, very posh lounge/kitchen/dining area, 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms....use of the pool and gym...very nice only it didn't have a garden and we didn't really want to live in a holiday complex...
We stopped by one of the letting agencies who were meant to have rung e back yesterday but never did and failed to ring me back earlier today when i rung so we popped in instead. Its really annoying that one of the houses advertised that was right on the beach wasn't available to view until the 'open house' event which they didn't know when that would be and the woman thought we were crazy for even asking as the tenants don't even know when they are moving out....so um, WHY ADVERTISE A HOUSE IF IT ISNT READY TO BE LET?!....this is something that frustrated me yesterday when ringing around these properties...they seem to like advertising places that have either gone days ago and they haven't updated the system or the house isn't available until 2017. ok maybe a bit of an exaggeration but still...
So it was off to Port Stephens Property Management. i had rung this place yesterday hoping to see 52A achilles street to be told it wasn't available anymore but i had managed to get a viewing for a house down by the beach. I went into the property place to pick up the keys. This place doesn't take someone with you to the house, they just give you a key and send you on your way. I walked in and some grumpy looking woman behind the desk asked 'yes? can i help you?' and stared tame with a stern look. I explained i was here for the viewing of the house. She requested a $20 deposit for the key and some ID. i gave her my drivers licence but she wasn't impressed because it was brisith. She asked for my passport. i apologised "sorry i haven't got my passport on me."
"Oh, well we don't give the key unless we have ID so ill need your passport as i can't accept the drivers licence on its own." She was being difficult!
"ok well i was hoping to see the house today. I'm a dentist, just starting work at salamander bay in pacific Smiles and we wanted to find somewhere asap." i replied.
"oh, a dentist! ok well i tell you what, ill hold on to your drivers licence whilst you go view the house. Heres the key." And with that she passed me the key and let me leave!
I mus took like a right untrustworthy scruff on first opinions! why do people think dentists are so trustworthy any way? they obviously haven't seen the dental socials in the uk!!!
We took the keys. First impressions....a row of beautiful houses and then...."oh this house looks like crap!. oh wait, this is the one we are viewing. oh dear." Inside was worse than the outside. if at all possible? it was so badly laid out...we couldn't work out why a very small lounge needed a cinema size tv?! The only plus side of the house was the tv came with the house...oh and it was literally on the beach....but there was no washing machine? gaz did ilke the ice maker fridge though.
We took he keys back a little disheartened and when i walked in the lady asked what i thought and said...hmmm you want something more upmarket don't you? let me make a phone call...
i heard her saying things like..."yes, yes, dentist, yes, she's here now, wants it asap, can she see it now?"
She hung up and sent me looking at number 52A achilles street...the house i had been told on the phone before that had gone! funny how being a dentist changes things....she even started saying "look if you don't like this house then come back, i have more places i can show you."
i must admit. this house had a serious wow factor. It was 3 stories...even had a grand piano! beautiful big kitchen, lots of space outside, 2 balconies...walk in wardrobe, onsite, blah blah had the lot. It was awesome! We left thinking e could justify the 550AUD a week to pay for it. We went back to the property place loving the house and the ladies broke the news that we can't move in for another 2 weeks but they would put us up somewhere in the meantime.
Gaz and i were on a high from seeing the most amazing house ever...and it was amazing....we still had 2 viewings from crazy samantha that showed us around the corlette house that we loved so much but couldn't get internet. She showed us 2 unfurnished properties but it became clear to gaz and i that unfurnished isn't the way to go as they houses were more like an empty shell..we would need dishwashers, fridges, washing machine etc etc...so we weren't that interested. We even cancelled our 3 other property viewings with another estate agent for the afternoon as we were so sure we wanted the achilles house.
On departing with sam she mentioned by the by..."so why didn't you guys go for the corlette house?" we explained coz it didn't have internet. 20 minutes later gaz and i got home. Phone call from sam. "guys there IS internet now at the corlette house." Gaz even checked it 3 times...a node has come up at the junction. Sh*t.
So we had to make a decision between the achilles house. or the corlette house. We were both so confused which one to go for that i even made a list and we marked things out of 10.
Location - corlette is 3 minutes drive from work as opposed to 12 from achilles. Corlette is also closer woolworths and is directly opposite the beach. Gaz does prefer the beach by achilles house but its a 5 min walk down the hill. The internet would be the same at both houses. Both houses have a good garden. Corlette has a balcony with a view of the sea and archives view isn't that great. oh and the other issue...archilles is $550....corlette $400 and we can move into corlette straight away but archives we have to wait 2 weeks. we kinda convinced ourselves corlette is the way forward.
Gaz and i had a lovely thai meal at a very popular thai restaurant in nelson bay. We ate way too much and I've seen myself in the mirror and the past few weeks of moving has not don't my belly any good!
Tomorrow gaz and i are going to have one last look at the corlette house and then get it signed over...oh and go and tell archives house people we want to decline the offer.
We are staying in soldiers point holiday park which is a load of cabins similar to what we stayed in in forster. Its very pretty here, theres lots of birds and you can see the sea which is 2 minutes walk away. It was time to start looking at the house viewings i had lined up. Firstly it was off to Mantra Aqua apartments in nelson bay...the apartment was very nice. a view of the sea, nice balcony, very posh lounge/kitchen/dining area, 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms....use of the pool and gym...very nice only it didn't have a garden and we didn't really want to live in a holiday complex...
We stopped by one of the letting agencies who were meant to have rung e back yesterday but never did and failed to ring me back earlier today when i rung so we popped in instead. Its really annoying that one of the houses advertised that was right on the beach wasn't available to view until the 'open house' event which they didn't know when that would be and the woman thought we were crazy for even asking as the tenants don't even know when they are moving out....so um, WHY ADVERTISE A HOUSE IF IT ISNT READY TO BE LET?!....this is something that frustrated me yesterday when ringing around these properties...they seem to like advertising places that have either gone days ago and they haven't updated the system or the house isn't available until 2017. ok maybe a bit of an exaggeration but still...
So it was off to Port Stephens Property Management. i had rung this place yesterday hoping to see 52A achilles street to be told it wasn't available anymore but i had managed to get a viewing for a house down by the beach. I went into the property place to pick up the keys. This place doesn't take someone with you to the house, they just give you a key and send you on your way. I walked in and some grumpy looking woman behind the desk asked 'yes? can i help you?' and stared tame with a stern look. I explained i was here for the viewing of the house. She requested a $20 deposit for the key and some ID. i gave her my drivers licence but she wasn't impressed because it was brisith. She asked for my passport. i apologised "sorry i haven't got my passport on me."
"Oh, well we don't give the key unless we have ID so ill need your passport as i can't accept the drivers licence on its own." She was being difficult!
"ok well i was hoping to see the house today. I'm a dentist, just starting work at salamander bay in pacific Smiles and we wanted to find somewhere asap." i replied.
"oh, a dentist! ok well i tell you what, ill hold on to your drivers licence whilst you go view the house. Heres the key." And with that she passed me the key and let me leave!
I mus took like a right untrustworthy scruff on first opinions! why do people think dentists are so trustworthy any way? they obviously haven't seen the dental socials in the uk!!!
We took the keys. First impressions....a row of beautiful houses and then...."oh this house looks like crap!. oh wait, this is the one we are viewing. oh dear." Inside was worse than the outside. if at all possible? it was so badly laid out...we couldn't work out why a very small lounge needed a cinema size tv?! The only plus side of the house was the tv came with the house...oh and it was literally on the beach....but there was no washing machine? gaz did ilke the ice maker fridge though.
We took he keys back a little disheartened and when i walked in the lady asked what i thought and said...hmmm you want something more upmarket don't you? let me make a phone call...
i heard her saying things like..."yes, yes, dentist, yes, she's here now, wants it asap, can she see it now?"
She hung up and sent me looking at number 52A achilles street...the house i had been told on the phone before that had gone! funny how being a dentist changes things....she even started saying "look if you don't like this house then come back, i have more places i can show you."
i must admit. this house had a serious wow factor. It was 3 stories...even had a grand piano! beautiful big kitchen, lots of space outside, 2 balconies...walk in wardrobe, onsite, blah blah had the lot. It was awesome! We left thinking e could justify the 550AUD a week to pay for it. We went back to the property place loving the house and the ladies broke the news that we can't move in for another 2 weeks but they would put us up somewhere in the meantime.
Gaz and i were on a high from seeing the most amazing house ever...and it was amazing....we still had 2 viewings from crazy samantha that showed us around the corlette house that we loved so much but couldn't get internet. She showed us 2 unfurnished properties but it became clear to gaz and i that unfurnished isn't the way to go as they houses were more like an empty shell..we would need dishwashers, fridges, washing machine etc etc...so we weren't that interested. We even cancelled our 3 other property viewings with another estate agent for the afternoon as we were so sure we wanted the achilles house.
On departing with sam she mentioned by the by..."so why didn't you guys go for the corlette house?" we explained coz it didn't have internet. 20 minutes later gaz and i got home. Phone call from sam. "guys there IS internet now at the corlette house." Gaz even checked it 3 times...a node has come up at the junction. Sh*t.
So we had to make a decision between the achilles house. or the corlette house. We were both so confused which one to go for that i even made a list and we marked things out of 10.
Location - corlette is 3 minutes drive from work as opposed to 12 from achilles. Corlette is also closer woolworths and is directly opposite the beach. Gaz does prefer the beach by achilles house but its a 5 min walk down the hill. The internet would be the same at both houses. Both houses have a good garden. Corlette has a balcony with a view of the sea and archives view isn't that great. oh and the other issue...archilles is $550....corlette $400 and we can move into corlette straight away but archives we have to wait 2 weeks. we kinda convinced ourselves corlette is the way forward.
Gaz and i had a lovely thai meal at a very popular thai restaurant in nelson bay. We ate way too much and I've seen myself in the mirror and the past few weeks of moving has not don't my belly any good!
Tomorrow gaz and i are going to have one last look at the corlette house and then get it signed over...oh and go and tell archives house people we want to decline the offer.
Monday, 12 March 2012
Monday 12th March - House hunting
Gaz has spent all day playing on the computer. He hasn't done too well and is getting rather frustrated by it all.
Ive spent all day organising house viewings for the next 2 days. Firstly i found 23 houses...i then rung telstra and got someone to check if all these houses had internet connection...3 of them didn't so that narrowed my search to 20 houses! I perhaps should have rung the estate agents first because a lot of the houses i enquired about had either gone already or had an 'open house' day to go and view it so booking an appointment wasn't an option. I have however managed to get 5 viewings tomorrow and another 4 for wednesday. theres 2 open houses on saturday and another open house on monday if we still haven't found anything. Open house means you just turn up to have a look around but there will probably be other people there at the same time. We have booked a cabin in 'soldier point holiday park' to put a roof over our head whilst we look for somewhere. Fingers crossed we find somewhere!
Ive also got the car booked in for its service on thursday. Gaz said it wasn't worth getting it serviced but i figured if we do get it serviced, we can sell the car with the rest of the warranty and it will be a real positive for someone to see the car has had regular servicing. If we don't get it serviced, we loose the warranty. It will be interesting to see how much they charge compared to in hervey bay.
Gaz and i have been for yet another meal in hogs breath cafe...yum yum! I've packed the car ready for our trip tomorrow down to salamander bay. Its been fun here in forster but time to get our new chapter started down south!
Ive spent all day organising house viewings for the next 2 days. Firstly i found 23 houses...i then rung telstra and got someone to check if all these houses had internet connection...3 of them didn't so that narrowed my search to 20 houses! I perhaps should have rung the estate agents first because a lot of the houses i enquired about had either gone already or had an 'open house' day to go and view it so booking an appointment wasn't an option. I have however managed to get 5 viewings tomorrow and another 4 for wednesday. theres 2 open houses on saturday and another open house on monday if we still haven't found anything. Open house means you just turn up to have a look around but there will probably be other people there at the same time. We have booked a cabin in 'soldier point holiday park' to put a roof over our head whilst we look for somewhere. Fingers crossed we find somewhere!
Ive also got the car booked in for its service on thursday. Gaz said it wasn't worth getting it serviced but i figured if we do get it serviced, we can sell the car with the rest of the warranty and it will be a real positive for someone to see the car has had regular servicing. If we don't get it serviced, we loose the warranty. It will be interesting to see how much they charge compared to in hervey bay.
Gaz and i have been for yet another meal in hogs breath cafe...yum yum! I've packed the car ready for our trip tomorrow down to salamander bay. Its been fun here in forster but time to get our new chapter started down south!
Saturday, 10 March 2012
Saturday 10th March - Congratulations Huw and Mel!
Great news yesterday! Huw and mel have had a little baby girl, Emilia! (i think this spelling is right as gaz keeps telling me different ways!). Congratulations, we can't wait to meet her!
Yesterday we had to move out of our cosy cabin in forster...and move over the path to a different cabin. The holiday park is really busy this weekend....full up intact...and our cabin had already been booked so we booked one of the bungalows. When i went to ask if we could move in before 10am the lady told me there had been a problem with the bookings and for some reason, the bungalow i booked on booking.com didn't actually exist...they just hadn't updated their system or something. She said they had had to ring 3 other families and tell them they didn't actually had the accommodation that these people had paid for on booking.com. She did however managed to book us in to the last villa...this is the villa they keep for emergencies...and i guess this was one of those circumstances. i think the woman in charge had given gaz and i propriety because 1. we have been here for nearly 2 weeks now and 2. i had been to the reception on a few occasions so i think she recognised me. Anyway, this villa is a free upgrade from the bungalow. It is very posh! It is a lot bigger than the cabin we have been in...the tv is bigger and we have a sofa now! its very modern and feels a lot cleaner....no dead cockroaches in here! (oh yeh, i found a dead cockroach the other day in the kitchen of our cabin...gross!).
It was a pain moving all our stuff but within the hour it was all done and we were settled in our new place. the weather has been great these past few days...hot sunshine but minus the humidity you get up north. Gaz has been playing on the computer the last 2 days and it hasn't gone too well. He's still played well for the month but the last 2 days weren't good. I have been on the porch reading the bill bryson book which i have now finished. We had a little stroll today down to see the people fishing...its nice to see families down there teaching their kids how to use the rod.
not much else to report other than still no sign of the perfect house in salamander bay although we do have lots of options. we are just being fussy!
Wednesday, 7 March 2012
Wednesday 7th March - Koala hospital
This was the best day I've had in ages! We were up and on the road at 10am...firstly we stopped at Taree - a town half hour north west of forster. It was a pretty town which we crossed a nice wide river to get to...very scenic. We had a stroll around the show but i must confess, there was not much to see so we didn't stay long. We got back on the road and headed back towards the coast and travelled north an hour to Port Macquarie (pronounced the aussie way as port MAK - QUARRY) . By this time the sun had come out. Gaz and i were so impressed with this place. We parked the car and walked down the main street, shops and cafes either side, all the way to the waterfront where to the left was a marina and where we stood, a wooden boardwalk upon which men were fishing from...and catching things too! Gaz and i sat on a bench looking out over the water, basking in the sunshine...when out of the water popped 3 dolphin fins! They came and went a few times, i even managed to catch it all on film. They were only a few metres away from us, it was really amazing to see wild dolphins so close to land! I was in awe of these amazing species...gaz was more interested in the fishing...typical. As our bellies started growling, demanding to be fed and watered, we took them to a local cafe. The food was great. Gaz had a haircut down the main street...the guy left a little long tuft of hair at tieback of his head so I'm calling him 'tufty'.
The best part of the day was saved till last. Gaz took me to the koala hospital where the injured koalas are cared for by local volunteers. It was great! but sadly we didn't get to see inside the intensive care ward :( but oh well, we still got to see some lively koalas! Its amazing how there were about 30 people getting shown around (free of charge) by a volunteer for about half hour. She gave lots of information about each koala and had a good knowledge about koalas in general which she shared with us...At the end there was a donation box....i am amazed and appalled by how many people walked off without giving so much as a cent of money to help go towards the charity!!! what buggers!
Gaz and i have arrived back in forster and had a noodle box type thing and a chocolate fudge brownie mc flurry from mc donalds...yum yum!!!
The best part of the day was saved till last. Gaz took me to the koala hospital where the injured koalas are cared for by local volunteers. It was great! but sadly we didn't get to see inside the intensive care ward :( but oh well, we still got to see some lively koalas! Its amazing how there were about 30 people getting shown around (free of charge) by a volunteer for about half hour. She gave lots of information about each koala and had a good knowledge about koalas in general which she shared with us...At the end there was a donation box....i am amazed and appalled by how many people walked off without giving so much as a cent of money to help go towards the charity!!! what buggers!
Gaz and i have arrived back in forster and had a noodle box type thing and a chocolate fudge brownie mc flurry from mc donalds...yum yum!!!
Tuesday, 6 March 2012
Tuesday 6th March - Paperwork :(
On sunday, gaz and i went fishing. Well Gaz did all the fishing, i lay on the side and fell asleep....nevertheless, it was a team effort. Gaz had spent the day playing on the computer whilst i lazed around reading the bill bryson book on australia. The weather was great, very hot and sunny which was perfect for sitting on the porch outside the cabin, listening to the birds and reading a book. It is nice to be relaxing and doing nothing...Gaz still fails to be up before me in the mornings though. After an hour and a bit fishing we ordered a pizza from pizza hut. Gaz didn't thnk the large was big enough for him so went in and ordered a second one! The pizzas were deceivingly filling so he ended up saving the second pizza for lunch next day. On the way back to the cabin from pizza hut we spotted an owl looking bird on its roof. Chris has since pointed out (judging by the photo i put up on Facebook) that this was a tawny from mouth. Good detective work chris!
Yesterday was yet another relaxing day...i could get used to this doing nothing business! Gaz played on the computer and i did some more reading and a bit of afternoon napping. such hard work! in the evening we drove to Forsters equivalent of the hervey bay boat club. It had started raining by this point so it was nice to be in the dry. Fully fed and watered, we headed back to the cabin for some more 'house' which we have both become addicted to.
Today was not my day. I woke up to 8 emails from pacific smiles which all had 5 or 6 files attached which needed to be printed off and signed. I was very organised and got printing them off straight away. I was very annoyed to find 50odd pages later...the ink had run out half way through! Argh! I took a trip to the carridge shop in forster...to find the woman had popped out for a cup of coffee so i had to hang round for her to get back. Meanwhile i had been flooding the laundry room on the campsite by sticking our clothes into a leaky washing machine. By the time i got back to empty the washing machine, the floor was a puddle of water. I grabbed my clothes and rushed to let them know at reception before some poor sod slipped on the floor!
Gaz played on the computer today whilst i slept for 3 hours. When i woke up we went for a mexican down the road...it was an average meal that used beach towels for table clothes? We should have known from a glance this was going to be a mediocre meal! The weather has been great all day but now it has just started raining. tomorrow we are going on a trip to port macquarie and gaz is taking me to the koala hospital up there...they have an intensive care unit for koalas! i can't wait!!!
Yesterday was yet another relaxing day...i could get used to this doing nothing business! Gaz played on the computer and i did some more reading and a bit of afternoon napping. such hard work! in the evening we drove to Forsters equivalent of the hervey bay boat club. It had started raining by this point so it was nice to be in the dry. Fully fed and watered, we headed back to the cabin for some more 'house' which we have both become addicted to.
Today was not my day. I woke up to 8 emails from pacific smiles which all had 5 or 6 files attached which needed to be printed off and signed. I was very organised and got printing them off straight away. I was very annoyed to find 50odd pages later...the ink had run out half way through! Argh! I took a trip to the carridge shop in forster...to find the woman had popped out for a cup of coffee so i had to hang round for her to get back. Meanwhile i had been flooding the laundry room on the campsite by sticking our clothes into a leaky washing machine. By the time i got back to empty the washing machine, the floor was a puddle of water. I grabbed my clothes and rushed to let them know at reception before some poor sod slipped on the floor!
Gaz played on the computer today whilst i slept for 3 hours. When i woke up we went for a mexican down the road...it was an average meal that used beach towels for table clothes? We should have known from a glance this was going to be a mediocre meal! The weather has been great all day but now it has just started raining. tomorrow we are going on a trip to port macquarie and gaz is taking me to the koala hospital up there...they have an intensive care unit for koalas! i can't wait!!!
Friday, 2 March 2012
Saturday 3rd March - another boring day
Gaz was up this morning and playing on the computer. He did very well again today and the internet was a little more reliable than yesterday. I left him to it and went for a half hour jog (in the spitting rain) down towards the boat ramp. i didn't quite make it to the boat ramp though because of the long gross...i didn't fancy running through it and risk getting bit by a snake. Instead i turned back and did the whole run twice.
I have 2 and a half weeks before i start work...im going to go insane so I'm going to put my time to good use. I have been doing research on root canals today and bought some flour to make some play dough so that i can practice carving morphology of teeth into it (i figure it will help with my white fillings i will be doing). I am also going to get lots of exercise in!
Gaz and i still haven't managed to find any houses down in salamander bay but we have extended our stay here in forster till friday so we still have a few days. I'm still positive that something will turn up.
not much else has happened today!
I have 2 and a half weeks before i start work...im going to go insane so I'm going to put my time to good use. I have been doing research on root canals today and bought some flour to make some play dough so that i can practice carving morphology of teeth into it (i figure it will help with my white fillings i will be doing). I am also going to get lots of exercise in!
Gaz and i still haven't managed to find any houses down in salamander bay but we have extended our stay here in forster till friday so we still have a few days. I'm still positive that something will turn up.
not much else has happened today!
Friday 2nd march - Rain rain go away!
Gaz and i had a nice lye in this morning so i got to listen to the pitter patter of rain on the roof of the cabin we are staying in. Eventually gaz dragged himself out of bed and commenced play on the computer...he played well today. I thought i would get out of his hair for a bit and take a walk down to the boat ramp that is at the end of the road at the camp site here...only i didn't anticipate the walk being so far and a third of the way to the ramp, it began to pour so i headed back...i even managed a little jog here and there..i still can't believe i ran a marathon less than 12 months ago as i was breathless after a few seconds. I'm so unfit! I drove to woolworths to pick up some food and was back by 12.30pm...gaz was still on the computer so i picked up the bill bryson book on australia which i have started reading 3 times already, not to mention getting halfway through his audio book TWICE back in the uk. I sat on the porch reading so as to give gaz space in the cabin...some very cheeky spider kept spitting his web at my arm which did not amuse me...it wasn't long before i retreaded, book in hand, back in to the cabin and got comfy on the bed...to then put the book down and sleep..and sleep...and sleep. 3 hours later i woke up all groggy. Gaz had got his own back on me having posted a picture of him sleeping in the car and displaying it on Facebook....he had taken a picture of me sleeping and did the same. 2 wrongs don't make a right, gaz.
We went for a drive in the pouring rain to try and see more sites of forster. Unfortunately we couldn't really appreciate the picturesque views between the rain drops and grey sky. It was a very miserable day. We drove back to the cabin and watched some 'House'...a new series we have got in to watching.
Gaz didn't fancy my cooking tonight so we went to hogs breath...again! i knew we should have kept our members card...
we are now back in the cabin. its cosy in here! oh and i found out how much i will be earning in work...she said between 3500-4500AUD per week. which is almost 20,000aud per month...which is approx 13,500pounds....which means ill be on 156,000 pound a year...sweet!
We went for a drive in the pouring rain to try and see more sites of forster. Unfortunately we couldn't really appreciate the picturesque views between the rain drops and grey sky. It was a very miserable day. We drove back to the cabin and watched some 'House'...a new series we have got in to watching.
Gaz didn't fancy my cooking tonight so we went to hogs breath...again! i knew we should have kept our members card...
we are now back in the cabin. its cosy in here! oh and i found out how much i will be earning in work...she said between 3500-4500AUD per week. which is almost 20,000aud per month...which is approx 13,500pounds....which means ill be on 156,000 pound a year...sweet!
Thursday, 1 March 2012
Thursday 1st march - A new chapter
On Monday we left hervey bay and took a 6 hour drive south, along the east coast to byron bay. Gaz and i were not happy bunnies on monday morning as we had asked the landlord to come and do the inspection early so that we could head off in the light. he knew we had a long drive ahead of us yet he was a complete arse and refused to come until the cleaners had finished cleaning. In the end, we decided to pay the cleaners the 200AUD and get them to clean both upstairs and downstairs. They had come over sunday evening and given me a heads up on how the landlord would want the upstairs cleaned...i didn't realise he was so fussy! they said the slightest bit of hair left in the bathroom and he would want the whole thing cleaned again. There was lots of dusting that i hadn't done so we both felt it would be less hassle to get the cleaners to do it all....afterall, they know what they are doing! So monday morning they appeared and started cleaning. Gaz was trying to get the 3g dongle working so he could use the internet but it wouldn't start. He ignored my suggestion that perhaps a firewall was stopping it load....he took it to the telstra shop...restarted his computer...and guess what...it worked. it was a firewall after all! He got talking to the guy in the shop and int he end we bought a more modern wireless dongle that is a lot faster than the one we have been using and will pick up better single...it also means more than one computer can use it at the same time. Very clever! So between going to the telstra store and taking my fancy dress outfit back to the fancy dress store...we killed about an hour...now we had to wait...and wait...and wait....for HOURS in the car with the air con blaring...waiting for the cleaners to finish so that we could get the landlord over to inspect the house. It took the cleaners till 3pm to finish the cleaning...this was a lot of waiting around. It took the landlord 5 minutes to have a look around and then we followed him back to the office to get the bond back. Thank fully he hadn't noticed the pen mark where gaz had put a hole in the wall from chucking the pen...and although he had noticed my little stain on the granite front he food colouring, he said it wasn't a problem and gave us our full bond back. We thought we could escape hervey bay but no...we had to wait another half hour for the post office to get the money in cash for our bond. We didn't set off till 3.40pm...which meant most of the driving was done in the dark. Gaz drove the whole way, bless him. We rung the motel at byron bay and said we wouldn't be getting in until late so the owner very kindly left our room unlocked with the key inside so we could just turn up. He even offered to put some milk in the fridge for a cup of tea when we arrived!
I didn't sleep very well at byron bay i think because i was worried about all our belongings in the car. I kept getting out of bed to check no one had broken in...which was all very paranoid of me but i don't trust any one! We set off at a reasonable hour on tuesday morning and gaz completed the rest of the journey to forster. I did offer to drive but he kept saying as i had done the packing, he wanted to drive me...plus i don't think he trusted my driving as the car was full of our belongings. We didn't end up having to leave much...apart from the punch bag but we can buy another one...and the slow cooker had to go...but these are things we can replace...not a problem!
The place we are staying at in forster is very quaint. We are in a wooden cabin but it has a bathroom and air con so its not too bad! last night gaz was very sleepy so i cooked dinner and then we went and had a drive around. We couldn't see much in the dark but it has a very safe feel about it..we managed to find the ice cream parlour! A guy was fishing off the pier so gaz had a chat with him...i think gaz wants to go fish there tonight...we will see if that happens!
So yesterday i met tracy (who works for pacific smiles) at the forster centre. It was a very nice practice, very clean, suitable for left handed and the staff were very friendly. Gaz and i then drove down to salamander bay centre (2 and half hours south of forster) to meet tracy there. From the outside, the salamander bay centre looked small and pokey...but inside was a different kettle of fish. The waiting room was huge! very modern, lovely simple pastel colours giving a clean, modern look. The surgeries again were all suitable for left handers...i didn't get to meet all the staff but the place was very similar to the forster centre. Tracy gave me the option of which practice i wanted...i chose the salamander bay practice for a few reasons...
1. it is closer to sydney so when i come out in january next year, it is a much shorter drive for my implant course
2. there is better internet signal in salamander bay for gaz than in forster
3. i liked the feel of the place from the moment we drove in to the area....horses in peoples front gardens, lots of different areas all surrounded by beaches....its very pretty!
Gaz and i went out for a meal to the hogs breathe cafe to celebrate my new job! The marina in nelson bay is very pretty...and the restaurants all overlook the boats a bit like down at cardiff bay. the weather is cooler than in hervey bay and much less humid...you can actually walk around in the day without over heating! and the evening was cool but by no means cold.
This morning gaz and i were up and about getting a feel for the different areas of salamander bay. There is anna bay (where we looked at one house)...this has a great surfing beach which runs for miles...very nice community feel to this area...then there is nelson bay...a little too touristy for our liking. Lots of small shops but no nice houses, more flats and apartments in this area. Then theres soldiers point...lovely big houses, a bit like point vernon in hervey bay only the beach is very seaweed. Our ideal spot was corvette...beautiful clear sea with boats docked not far from the shore. gorgeous mansions overlooking the sea. We went to view a house not he road behind the front row of houses...only it doesn't have internet. There IS internet in the area, but not enough nodes at the exchange to connect this house to the internet. Bummer. None of the houses we sore were perfect. the lovely looking house by the beach at anna bay didn't have air conditioning so that was a no go. Then the 3rd place we went to see, the woman was late. We waited 10 minutes then left. we had called the office to ask where she was, they said 20 minutes prior to when we left that she would be with us in 5 minutes. We told them we had another viewing to go to so couldn't hang around. We must have just missed the estate agent lady once we left. we text apologising that we had to go to another viewing (by this point she was nearly 15 minutes late) and she text back annoyed at us saying 'you should have said you had to be elsewhere'...as though making it out like it was our fault?! plus we HAD told the estate agents we had another viewing to go to! so unprofessional on her part!
Anyway, gaz said he felt 'flat' and a little deflated having not found anything but ive convinced him we shouldn't worry too much as something will turn up! we are now back in forster and i am getting eaten alive outside so I'm going to pop off now!
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