Saturday 25th Feb - Leaving party

Ive had a great day! We woke up to the pouring rain at 9am and headed over to the botanical gardens for regardts 'surprise' birthday party...only it wasn't much of a surprise as i had ruined it a few days earlier...but still, all the same, SURPRISE! It was good fun and other work colleagues turned up as well as a few other people they know from their kids kindergarten class. Lynette (regards wife) had had a cake made especially...it was laid on a bbq area with a nice table cloth and table decorations as well as some healthy water melon on a plate. We sang happy birthday and the cake was cut....half hour later we smelt burning. One of the kids had pressed the button to turn on the bbq so the water melon was now cooked and the plastic table cloth and plates were all melting on to the bbq. Oops. Luckily the cake was to the right of the bbq hot plate.

We were only planning to spend an hour at the morning picnic but we were there until 12.30! time sure did fly. We got back to the house and went upstairs where we relaxed on the bed and watched tv. It wasn't long before i had to get ready for party number 2 at jacquis house. the theme was 'cutesy' so i had my cinderella costume at the ready!

The party was so much fun. Gaz stayed for the first hour and sampled some of jacquis husbands cooking...he laid on quite a spread, all cooked from scratch...it tasted amazing! There were about 10 of us there...some people from work couldn't make it so i will be seeing them tomorrow for a bbq by the beach. The party was awesome but really sad to be saying goodbye to people who have become a family out here.   They even bought me a little gift...a very nice necklace and a kangaroo teddy and joey. they said the teddy was a joke to do with the kangaroo massacre i had been part of...just something to remember hervey bay by! I didn't want the evening to end but sadly it came and went so quickly :( Tomorrow we have the cleaners coming and the car will be all packed up.

I have also spent the day tamping over thinking mum had given my mirror away! Turns out the photo she sent was of the NEWLY WALLPAPERED bedroom in the house which happens to be in adams old bedroom. I thought she had given it away to adam! So i rung her up to give her a piece of my mind to be told i had the wrong end of the stick and then i felt stupid. sorry mum.

Anyway, here is a picture of my outfit for the evening...

Friday 24th February - Hot stone massage

For christmas gaz had got me a hot stone massage from the spa down the road. i had booked it in for today...perfect timing having finished at work. it was a great way to relax for 90 minutes. The little thai lady giving the massage really dug her thumbs in to my shoulders, it felt great. She said i had lots of knots there (probably from taking teeth out and sitting doing fillings). The 90 minutes went fast but no rest for the wicked...i was then off to find a fancy dress costume for my leaving party tomorrow night. The fancy dress shop in hervey bay is where i got my little pumpkin outfit for halloween so i knew i would find a good outfit to fit the 'cutesy' theme. I sifted through the many outfits, pulling out a dorothy dress from the wizard of oz. Unfortunately the lady had already given out the basket with TOTO (the dog) in ...and i didn't have any ruby coloured shoes so i thought it best not to go as her. instead, i pulled out a cinderella dress. Perfect. I tried it on and it fit and i knew i had shoe si could wear with it. The lady pulled out some long white gloves and a tiara...and I've even got a blonde wig! Cinderella shall go to her leaving party...

Gaz has played on the computer which went very up and down but ended on a positive! He cooked me a curry which tasted yummy...i think the curries are his signature dish now.

I've repacked the boot of the car, now fitting in more than i did last night...its a bit like a game of tetris trying to fit it all in. We have dismantled the boxing stand and all the gym equipment is ready to be piled on to the back seats...but we can't load that yet until sunday when we come back from our bbq as we don't want people seeing what we have on the back seats. Only 3 nights left in hervey bay...

Thursday 23rd february - Last day at work

Last night gaz and i were very naughty - we didn't do a work out nor did we stick to our diet plan...we ate cake, chocolate AND sweets! shame on us.

Today was my last day in work which was really sad. Regardt gave a little speech about how I've been great fun to work with, how i will go far in the future and also how i am welcome to come back to hervey bay dental clinic any time to work. He then made ME give a speech which i was NOT prepared for! "i left one family back in the uk and have made another, here, with you guys." *cue sick buckets* haha.

The day went really quick as i was busy all day with emergency patients...i feel like superwoman today! At the end of the day they gave me a goodbye card but i couldn't read it until i got back to the house as i knew i would get all emotional. They wrote some lovely messages in it. I said my farewells to some of the girls but most of them i will be seeing on saturday night for my leaving party at jacqui's house. Some of the other guys i will see in the park on sunday for a farewell bbq.

Meanwhile, Gaz has had a busy day. The guy came to 'clean' the blinds...i use this term loosely as the guy apparently came and went all within 5 minutes. Gaz hadn't even finished unloading the dishwasher and he was gone! He came in, removed a mark on the blind with his finger nail and then wrote a bill for $40. What a rip off! and this was the guy recommended to us by the landlord. What a joke! i thought he would take the blinds down and clean the properly...but nope.

Then the guy came to clean the carpets...we have lovely clean smelling carpets now. that was $115. This moving house business is expensive! Gaz also had a disagreement with the landlord who is being a bit of a pain in the arse...they have known for 2 weeks that we are leaving on monday and have a long drive ahead of us. They won't give us a time as to when on monday they will come and give the inspection. the landlord is saying that the 'advert' for the property has to be written before they do the inspection?! and they don't know what time the advert will have been written by?!! what a load of s**t. So anyway, we arentl leaving hervey bay until they have done the inspection as we don't want them to say 'oh this isn't clean' and then charge us for having to get someone in to do it.

Tonight gaz and i have been to the boat club for one last meal. We finally got our membership cards (horray!) and now we will never use them again lol. We ate far to much. When we got back i decided to see how much i could fit in the boot. Gaz left me to it as he is very negative about what will fit and what won't and everything is 'an issue'. I called him down to have a look at the boot to see just how much i had fit in (all very pleased with myself) and all he does is criticise and state the obvious 'have you tried closing the boot yet?'....OF COURSE I HAVE! i think gaz should leave the packing to me and he can inspect it all when I'm finished...im determined to make everything fit!

Tuesday 21st february - lightning storm!

Whilst i write this, outside is the most amazing thunder and lightning storm i have ever seen! it has been going on for over an hour now and the lightning is every 3 seconds, lighting up the night sky. The thunder is rumbling louder than gazs belly (which is saying something!) and the rain is pounding against the tin roof. So cosy in here!

Today has been one hell of a day. Gaz has had an ok day on the computer and has been downloading tv episodes for us to watch down in forster next week. Hopefully we will be too busy to be sat inside watching tv but it will be nice to snuggle up in bed and fall asleep to something like i usually do!

Work was manic. i had an italian guy come in who i tried taking a tooth out on. 20 minutes into trying to dig this tooth out, i couldn't get the tooth to move AT ALL so for the first time ever since working at hervey bay, i had to 'go green'. AKA prepare for a surgical. I basically had to cut this guys gums open to drill away bone so i could wiggle the tooth out but it all has to be done under sterile conditions. I eventually got the tooth out (it was all pretty straight forward once i started the surgical) but this tooth had a curved root with a big bulbous (ball like) end to it. The guy didn't help much during the procedure emoting 'this is taking to long', and 'can we just leave it where it is, i have to go shopping.' What an arse. i was proud i got the thing out by myself...even if the patient wasn't all that grateful. My next patient was a PLANNED surgical. He had an impacted lower wisdom tooth so having had lots of practice by now, i made the incision, removed the bone, sectioned the tooth, elevated the tooth out and sutured all by myself, all within an hour. i was very chuffed with myself! And the guy was a little more appreciative...afterall, if he wanted to wait for the oral surgeon to take this tooth out, he would have been waiting 2 years...with me doing it, he waited 1 week. He can't complain!
The next patient was some silly old bat who didn't even know what medication she was on and couldn't read the medical history form so i had to fill it out with her. 'do you have any thyroid problems?' i asked....'what do you mean by that?' she replied...by this point, i had had enough 'if you don't know what it is then you don't have it!' i said...and we left it at that. The next question 'do you have high of low blood pressure?'.....'no my blood pressure is normal, thats why I'm on medication for it.'.....i didn't bother arguing with her, she was on an antihypertensive drug so i just circled the high blood pressure. She then couldn't remember if she had any stomach problems.
My last patient was a pleasant surprise. She was a woman who i first saw 1 month ago who was so nervous, she stood at my surgery door and burst into tears. She had her friend with her who had to coax her in to my room. The woman had had a previous bad experience with a dentist which meant she hadn't had the courage to come for 15 years to see someone. She had 4 teeth that needed extracting but she was terrified at the thought of having them out. Together we devised a treatment plan to ease her gently into having these extractions and a new lower partial denture.  Ive never seen someone so nervous/scared in the chair. I managed to do all the extractions on her but it wasn't easy. She was in this afternoon for a denture adjustment...to my surprise she walked in on her own and sat in the chair. She had a smile on her face and thanked me for how great i had been with her. I was pleased to see she hadn't come with her friend and was now comfortable with walking in and sitting down on her own. We tightened the denture for her and on her way out she gave me a hug and handed me a bag full of gifts...but the best part was the card she had written expressing her sincere gratitude for all the help i have given her and her restored faith in dentistry. It really made my day worth while!

I came home and gaz had my dinner ready on the table...such a sweetheart! we nipped to big W to get some chocolates for staff at work. The thunder and lightning storm is still going!

I spoke to jacqui...this is the lady we spent new years with. She is organising a going away party for me on saturday. She is awesome...shes excited about all these decorations she's got for me and her husband is doing all the food...its going to be great! gaz and i have a busy couple of days ahead of us...lots of cleaning/packing and partying to do!

Monday 20th feb-last week in work!

Gaz an I had a lovely weekend. For me, Saturday was spent doing nothing other than eating and sleeping whilst Gaz worked hard playin on the computer. The weather has been great, 33 degrees and nothing but sunshine. In the evening we had our last drive to toogoom where we were pleased to see the tide was in. It was like a picture perfect postcard, watching the sun set over the ocean. We sat outside in the restaurant overlooking the water. Gaz ordered a chicken fettuccini only the chef accidentally put the chicken into my salmon dish. Oops. We pointed it out to the waiter an he deducted the chicken off the bill, it wasn't a problem.

Sunday I had my last horse riding lesson. It was so sad to say goodbye to buddy but Lisa said if ever she is getting rid of him, she will let me know. I'd take him on even if he can't be ridden anymore, he's duh a great horse. The ride was fun...Lisa, the other Lisa, tess and I all went for a gallop in one of the paddocks. This is a paddock I hadn't been in before as it was a bit of a trek to get to it but is te only option for trail riding now that the farmer has banned us from his fields. We had a good gallop but unfortunately I dropped the cheap pair of sunglasses from off my head. We couldnt find them but for 25 bucks, they weren't worth the hassle. We rode for 3 hours. I was knackered when we got back! I gave Lisa a thank you card and 100aud to put towards a treat for the horses.

When I got home, Gaz wa hard at work on the computer. I snuggled up on the bed and fell fast asleep. We missed out on our training session last night so we have to make up for it tonight with an hour long training session.

Work today was pretty boring...3 days left!!!

Friday 17th February - put my foot in it!

In work today, regardt handed me an envelope from his wife. I tore it open and got very excited at the first line of the card inviting myself and Gaz to a party. "ooooo yay a party!" i shrieked, "yay its the morning of my party, oooooo a picnic, yay i can go to that!" i carried on. Regardt looked at me. The next line said...."oops this is a surprise party for regardt, he doesn't know so shhhh!".  Uho. Regardt left the room...i don't know if he knew about it already but he sure as hell knows about it now! I'm so stupid!

Gaz went in the swimming pool when i got home from work. He has been very busy today organising cleaners to come and sort the house out for when we move. We have to have separate cleaners to do the carpets, blinds and the general cleaning. Its going to be one expensive move! Ive also been sorting out stuff in the bathroom, chucking away toiletries we don't have room for/won't use. One good thing about moving is it stops you accumulating rubbish that you don't need!

I cooked a delightful spag bol for dinner...we are using chicken mince because there is less fat and is actually very tasty! We have also just completed an intense half hour gym session...so pleased we did it as we could have easily fallen asleep after dinner!

We have booked accommodation for the first week of our move. We will head off on monday 27th feb and stop overnight in byron bay. I booked a motel just out of the centre of byron bay and made sure the parking was directly outside our room so we can easily put our important belongings in the room with us. We are then heading to forster to stay for the week. The accommodation for 7 nights was only 350AUD which is very cheap...its very basic but has a kitchenette so we can cook and a desk for gaz. oh and its got air conditioning although we will find it somewhat cooler down south....24 degrees at the moment as opposed to the 29/30 degrees up here! Very excited about the move!

Thursday 16th February

Yesterday gaz and i got to speak to ivory (gaz's grandad). Gaz was thrilled to see how fit and well he was looking...its great to be able to speak to family whilst being able to see them swell via Skype. Today we were able to speak to enid (Gaz's grandmother) which again, was very nice. We are both very much looking forward to going home and seeing friends and family again...we will be sure to make the most of our few months in the uk before we head back out to australia in january.

Gaz was trying to cook me dinner tonight but left the pan on the hob so by the time i got home, all i could smell was burning. Bless him. So instead we went to noodlebox...rather embarrassingly we are regulars there now and the owner recognises us when we walk in and knows what we want.

This evening, apart from speaking to enid, gaz has been on the computer and I've been cleaning, getting things ready for our move. I didn't realise just how much kitchen stuff we have accumulated! we will have to line it all up and put it in to piles...process of elimination as to what we are going to take!

I am working tomorrow (friday) which will be my let ever friday at hervey bay dental clinic! getting very excited about the move...yet a little apprehensive that we don't know where we are going to end up as we have no where to stay yet...but it makes it very exciting!