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!