Day Five Hundred and Sixty Seven

This is written early as we'll be away for the next 2 nights. We are staying here

http://www.pennyridge.com.au/gallery.html

as we decided to have a quiet new years eve away together. We have lots of celebrating to do in 2011 and decided a couple of quiet days away would be good for us so we can relax before the big year ahead!

Happy New Year to all my readers....

and so to the year in review....

2010 A Year in Review

January Started off with job hunting for both of us, and then a trip to Adelaide to have Bridesmaid Dress fitting (Kate not me) for Chris and Hannahs wedding in March. It was hot...



Kate started her job at the PCFA and I also started the contract job at Caritas. We saw Lily Allen at the Horden and went to the Big Day Out Festival at Homebush.



February I spent most of Feb working at Caritas and helping put on an event in Martin Place. Here are a few pics as a reminder





Later in the month Kate celebrated her 29th Birthday and we got pretty shedded that night



The month was rounded off by a trip to see Placebo at the Enmore in Newtown and then pre wedding celebrations at Chris and Hannahs Stag and Hen nights.

March Primarily March was all about celebrating Chris and Hannahs wedding



The other big things to happen in March was our finding new flat in Newtown to live in. Although we didn't finally move out until April we had everything sorted and keys to Newtown apartment in March.

Finally we lost the wonderful Marion in March after her fairly short battle with cancer. I'm sure she is all looking down on us wishing us well.

April We finally moved out of Glebe, I started my new contract job at Oxfam as Trailwalker Sydney Volunteers Coordinator. Before I knew it I was down in Melbourne helping with their event which went off really well.





We also visited the Royal Easter Show at Homebush.

May May was a fairly quiet moth travel wise, really the majority of the month was spent throwing myself into the Oxfam job.

June Celebrated a year in Australia. We had trips to the beach South of Sydney but more importantly headed North to Darwin to help Anna and Rick celebreate thier wedding. Also got to spend a week with Hazel too.



Apart from that the month was foccused on Trailwalker Sydney volunteer recruitment.

July Back to reality and a long month of Trailwalker recruitment and briefing sessions. Got to see the Magic Numbers in the city which was great.

August A big month with the Sydney Trailwalker event taking place. Did lots of travel around Sydney giving briefings and also spent best part of week after work briefing general volunteers.



Had more serious discussions about moving to Brisbane.

September I headed back to UK to catch up with folks. Having earned so much tme off with job it was good opportunity to visit folks back home. Also got a chance to go to Bestival which was fun.



Was great to also get back to Kate later in the month and finalise plans for move to Brisbane.
The great shower ceiling debacle of 2010 started in September 2010 also!

October Trip after trip to Brisbane finding a place to live, plce starting to do some work inthe Brisbane office itself. We gave notice on Newtown flat and finally someone was found to move in and take over the place.

November The big move to Brisbane, we packed up our lives again and headed 1000km north to Brisbane. We got ourselves settled in and unpcked again. We also went to see Powderfingers final Sydney gig at Acer arena.

December More trips up and down to Sydney to organise Wedding things. A quiet buid up to Christmas, a quiet Christmas in Sydney and a trip to Penny Ridge Resort to see in new year.

Day Five Hundred and Sixty Six

Thursday

Kate went out and met Rebecca for brekkie followed by meeting Kylie for lunch. I went with Bill and Carol for lunch at the Roseville Golf Course, or Paradise as Bill likes to refer to it.

In the afternoon met back with Kate and we were driven to the airport by Bill and Carol.

Sydney airport was empty at check in, I've never seen anything like it, we actually just walked straight up to counter and dropped our bags off.

An easy flight back, a beautiful view of Sydney as we left, I've been trying to capture it on film and my perfect opportunity I had left my camera in bag in over head locker. We flew back as sun went down, landed in Brissie and took a cab home.

Day Five Hundred and Sixty Five

Wednesday

England won the 4th test at the MCG, allowing them to retain the Ashes. See ya Mr Ponting and your men!

Another very lazy day in Willoughby, it's nice to chill out before the craziness of work and wedding take over in the new year!

Spoke to Chris in Adelaide this evening.

In other news Queensland is suffering from massive flooding problems at the moment, pictures here

http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/gallery-e6frer9f-1225976776773?page=1

Day Five Hundred and Sixty Four

Tuesday

I've done very little today apart from sit on the sofa and watch the Ashes. England are well on their way to winning this test match and retaining the ashes.

Kate and Carol went shopping in the city.

Skyped folks tonight and more TV.

Day Five Hundred and Sixty Three

Monday

wedding in September time 2009.A bit of a sleep in again. For lunch we headed over to Epping to join Anna and Mike at Anna's parents house for a BBQ. Anna and Mike are one of the two couples we came back to UK for their (day one hundred and six in fact of this blog)

Was great to see them looking so well and 5 moths into their first pregnancy.

We got home at about 7pm, had a light dinner and spent evening in front of TV.

Day Five Hundred and Sixty Two

Boxing Day

A day spent largely doing nothing, got up around 8.30, had bacon and eggs for brekkie. An easy morning in front of the TV watching the Aussies slump to 98 all out in the 4th test of the ashes 1st innings.

http://www.smh.com.au/sport/cricket/australias-ashes-hopes-in-tatters-20101226-197o9.html

The afternoon revolved around the telly again.

This evening we are doing very little, the Titanic movie is on in background.

Oh did I mention England are thrashing the Aussies in the cricket.

Day Five Hundred and Sixty One

Christmas Day 2010

A lazy start to the day, got up about 9am and had a light brekkie. Helped with making stuffing for the turkey, my contribution was chopping 2 onions and shelling a bowl of Pistachio nuts.

Soon enough it was lunchtime and we had a beautiful turkey dinner and some pretty successful pigs in blankets.

We had some present opening in the afternoon and then John, Laura Erin and Will stopped by. This resulted in a game of trivial Pursuit. Kate's cousin Fiona also stopped into say hello.

We had the first of four Skype calls then, Firstly with Chris and Hannah in Adelaide, a short break then with my folks in UK. We followed this with a call to my sister and Peter in UK and then another short break for some food.

Finally we had a final joint skype call with my folks and sister and peter so folks could open joint present.

Had some wonderful presents from everyone, plus some tacky ones from the folks (but much appreciated), the musical tie was a highlight!

In the evening we finally opened the remaining presents to each other and then slobbed out in fount of TV and then off to bed.

Some pictures of the day below.

The tree

The table

Dinner!


Presents

Nice messages

The Darlings


The Darlings again


Nice Hats


Dinner


Alaska

Beau

Day Five Hundred and Sixty

Christmas Eve

We got up and headed into Chatswoood for final Christmas shopping. I was all geared up for crazy queues and no parking but we glided in and found a space easily. We got the last of the presents we needed and event had time to look for a tie for me for the wedding but I didn't find anything.

We spent some considerable time also trying to find decent pork sausages and bacon so I could introduce the Aussies to the concept of 'Pigs in Blankets' my UK readers will understand, the Aussies just look blank.

The afternoon was spent lazing around the house, sitting in the sunshine in the garden with drinks and nibbles. We had a BBQ dinner and hit the trivial pursuit in the evening

All very relaxing, but like last year I don't really feel Christmasy in the sun!

As I write this it's already Christmas day, so Happy Christmas Everyone!

Day Five Hundred and Fifty Nine

Thursday

A quiet day at work winding down for Christmas, only 2 of us in the office so very quiet. Kate came and met me at work and we then jumped on the train to the airport. Brisbane airport was fairly busy and after a 25 minute delay and a very bumpy flight to Sydney we were met by Bill and Carol and back to Willoughby for the Christmas break.

Day Five Hundred and Fifty Eight

Wednesday

A quiet day in the office with just 2 of us in. Spent most of my time doing scheduling and planning volunteer and marshal requirements.

Did some Christmas shopping at lunchtime and some wedding related shopping too ;-).

A lazy evening in front of TV with a quick Skype call to folks.

Day Five Hundred and Fifty Seven

Tuesday

restaurant we visited a couple of weeks back, We had our office party at work today, ended up with some dodgy food from the Eritreandespite that was good to see everyone in office with our key volunteers.

Another blue sky day here

Day Five Hundred and Fifty Six

Happy Birthday to my wonderful mother.

Monday

An average day at work, spent mainly doing a virtual walk though of the trail working out all the signage I need to create and order.

Was a lovely blue sky day in Brisbane today at last, in the evening after dinner we took a stroll along the river which was nice.

Had a good Skype call with folks, wished my dear mother a happy birthday and shared the opening of the presents on Skype.

Watched some Spooks on TV in the evening on one of the excellent DVDs Alv sends over.

Day Five Hundred and Fifty Five

The people in the apartment above ours had a party last night, I got to sleep at 2.45am, to be awoken again at 3.30 as it picked up again. Happy days not...

Today we have done very little, finally unpacked all but one box, put some pictures up around the apartment and really been restricted by the rain which has not stopped all day.

So much for the sunshine state, still at least we are not facing the snow problems of blighty.

Day Five Hundred and Fifty Four

Saturday We took on the challenge of Christmas shopping today - a really good idea on the last weekend before Christmas. Instead of heading into town we went to Westfield Chermside. Was pretty crazy. Anyway 4 hours later we ejected and came home. Spent all afternoon relaxing and doing not much at all.

We have a spider that lives outside our window, he or she is quite a biggie, I think its a Golden Orb, not life threatening to humans thankfully, although the little spider above him is probably twice the size of the average British house spider, as such you get an idea of the size of the big fella, probably 2 inches across....

Day Five Hundred and Fifty Three

Friday

A day spent at work working our event signage, sounds easy, well I got half way through and was up to 100 signs. Just one small aspect of the event.

Came home and we went for dinner at the local bar Liquid.

http://www.liquidteneriffe.com.au/index.html

Food was very disappointing so will just be a drinking hole from now on. Still there looks like a few good places along the strip next to it.

Day Five Hundred and Fifty Two

Thursday

A day of sorting office, an off site meeting with the SES and then home. We did have the mother of all storms here today in Brisbane, see all ofit below.

http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/gallery-e6frer9f-1225972039599

In the evening we had an oovoo call with NSW and SA.

Watched mindless telly rest of evening.

Kate finished most of the unpacking today too, result.

Day Five Hundred and Fifty One

Wednesday

A big day in the office in Brisbane, much chaos (as predicted) trying to move into a partially occupied office space (the tenants of which were not ready to move and had no removalists, hence our people moving their stuff etc.)

Spent a lot of my day as an IT technician, helping the IT guy patch in PCs and get our office system set up and up and running.

The afternoon was more of my day job when machine was back on line, my new 24inch monitor is very nice, and I have a decent view out of the window and am able to watch the massive storms roll in and out again.

Skyped folks and Hazel in evening.

Day Five Hundred and Fifty

Tuesday

Spent most of the day at work packing boxes and generally trying to get everything ready for the move. Left work at about 6 o'clock leaving lots of it undone behind me, still not my stuff!

At home in the evening we did some wedding stuff, some Christmas stuff and then crashed out.

Day Five Hundred and Forty Nine

A slow day at work, struggling to get focused on anything. The office move happening tomorrow and Wednesday is bringing chaos to the office. Met Kate at lunchtime and we headed into town to do some Christmas shopping.

After work met Kate again and we then met Andrew S in town or drinks and inner. Ws nice on the river overlooking the Story Bridge.

Came home on train and did some wedding bits and pieces.

Day Five Hundred and Forty Eight

We got up late and had brekkie. Kate and Carol headed to the shops briefly. We then headed back tot he airport to find our flight had been cancelled. We were bumped onto the next flight an hour later which was OK. That flight then was late leaving and then we were held in a pattern so got back to Brissie 2 hours late.

Had a Skype call with folks and off to bed after yesterdays excesses.

Day Five Hundred and Forty Seven

Saturday

We got up and Bill dropped us into the city. We went to Ripples at South Wharf to help Paul celebrate his 30th Birthday. Paul is another Pom, freshly arrived to start life here down under. He is the other half of Pru (one of our Bridesmaids). It's good to have him down under. The surprise went off well and we were honorary Engels for the day.

After a superb lunch we all jumped on the ferry and headed to Circular Quay and spent all afternoon and much of the evening at the Cruise Bar (opposite the Opera House) WE grabbed a taxi home at about 8.30.

Day Five Hundred and Forty Six

Friday

Was up at 6.30 and on the road by 7.15ish. Visited Brookfield, Lake Manchester and then Bardon viewing sites and meeting stakeholders for the event. Was super hot out at Lake Manchester and a little disconcerting, walking through the long grass, 12km down a road away from civilisation and out of mobile reception. Thankfully no encounters with the wildlife.

Headed back to the office in the afternoon and then drove back to Teneriffe. We then headed to the airport and back to Sydney. This time we had headed down for Pauls 30th.

Landed in Sydney at 10.30 and Carol kindly picked us up and I drove us back to Willoughby.

Day Five Hundred and Forty Five

Thursday

A good day at work, although being dragged into managing our office move it seems. Ah well, this time next week we'll be in our new space.

Came home and Kate and I then went to see U2 at the Suncorp Stadium, was a pretty good gig, I think they are a little tired from being on the road so long, and Bono's voice has had it. They need to go away for a god period and reinvent themselves after a break. The people at Suncorp Stadium seem to have no idea about crowd management, basic lessons like using the same exit everyone has used all night were forgotten as they forced 20000 people out through the tiered seating... It was super hot as well at 11pm at night as we trudged into town trying to get a taxi home.

Jay Z (support)


Before U2 come on





















Exiting...

Day Five Hundred and Forty Four

Wednesday

Well finally a sunny day in Brisbane, although it clouded over later on. Walked into work and carried on with interviews. We are also doing an office move next week and helped out on a few things related to that.

Walked home half way and Kate picked me up. We had a good skype call with folks in UK, used the evening to plough on with wedding invite production, all coming together now.

Not much else to report.

No blog tomorrow as we are seeing U2 at the Suncorp stadium tomorrow.

Day Five Hundred and Forty Three

Tuesday

Walked into work and spent day in meetings or interviews. Still got quite a few bits done. Came home and did very little in the evening.

Day Five Hundred and Forty Two

Had a bad night, got a crappy cough which kept waking me up, that was after not getting to sleep until 2am.

Went into work and just felt crap so decided to work at home in the afternoon, everyone else in the office was out anyway so might as well sit at home as opposed to a cold office alone.

Kate has got me some decent cough stuff so hopefully tonight will be better.

Still raining in Brisbane!

Day Five Hundred and Forty One

Yet more rain in Brisbane, will it ever stop! We spent all day doing wedding invitations, it's all coming together nicely.

Had lunch at home and also took a nice walk along the river in the gap between showers

In the evening we had separate Skype calls with folks and then Hazel and Peter. Was nice to catch up with them all.

Day Five Hundred and Forty

Saturday

Got up to go and do a site meeting for the event and alas the person I was supposed to meet failed to show up, a total waste of my time.

Came home again! Kate and I went into the city (and yes Carol, Kate and I went into David Jones). We had some lunch and bought lots of things for the wedding.

We came home and did some wedding stationary.

We went for dinner at the James St Bistro, a bit disappointed with the service this time, as well as having to listen to 4 middle aged pissed up women having a row.

Came home and vegged out after eating too much!

Day Five Hundred and Thirty Nine

Friday

Kate dropped me into work as I had stuff to take in. A good day getting stuff done, didn't finish until 6. Came home and we chilled in the evening. I've picked up a sore throat which isn't great. Watched some crap movie called Children of the Damned which got laughable at the end.

Day Five Hundred and Thirty Eight

Thursday

Well I feel the least bit Christmasy despite the building mangers putting up a huge Christmas tree in the foyer downstairs, it does not feel like Christmas here and it its funny to watch facebook go mad with pictures of snow from all of you in blighty. I guess I miss that aspect of the UK, the cold winter leading to Christmas.

Today has been a good productive day at work. This evening we had an Oovoo call with NSW and SA.

We did some wedding invite stuff tonight too.

Day Five Hundred and Thirty Seven

Congratulations to Mike and Anna on their impending arrival

Congratulations to Nick and Nicola on the arrival of their third son.

Walked into work and spent all day as a graphic designer doing maps for our walkers.

Kate picked me up and we then headed over to a dinner organised by Oxfam State Committee. Was interesting to eat Eritrean food.

Came home and crashed.