Leaving Paradise

Well folks, I'm leaving. I've got to get out of here in the next few days.

Wait, I'd better clarify that. I'm leaving Airlie Beach, not Australia :)

I've been here for almost 6 months, and as much as I love it here, I need to see other parts of this country. I've given my notice, and Halloween will be my last day. Also, as an aside, Aussies don't celebrate Halloween as such. Nobody gets dressed up, goes trick-or-treating or anything like that. I've actually had to explain what Halloween is to some people.

Anyhow, because I work at Hoggies, I've initiated the Halloween celebration and dress up for the staff. For those of you don't know, I had a costume a couple years ago that won me second place in the Calgary Halloween Pub Crawl, and I'm going to resurrect it again this year. I won't tell what it is, but I will have pictures up, I promise.

Anyways, back to me leaving. I'm going to head to Brisbane for a month or so, and staying with a friend of mine, Rachel, who was up here for a couple months before heading down to the big city herself. It should be a good time, and after I get my taxes back and all my medical stuff taken care of, I'll be set.

Of course, this all hinges on me passing my medical tests, and not having a chest cavity full of cancer or whatever they're looking for. I'm pretty confident though, as I've only been sick twice in Oz, and I clean my system out pretty regularly with copious amounts of healing alcohol.

Oh! My aunt and uncle are currently in Australia. They are up in Cairns right now (pronounced like "Cans" of soup, not the way it's spelled). After they do their touristy stuff up there in the rainforest, they're driving down the coast, and will meet up with me in some random place. It all depends how long it takes them to come down, but I'll either meet them in Airlie, or in Brisbane. Either way, it'll be nice to see a familiar face after all this time.

And of course, thank you to those of you who sent the comments regarding my being here for a year. It's been, quite possibly, the most interesting year of my life (barring the year I spent in the Calgary run of A Chorus Line where I was line dancer #7).

Cheers folks! Join me for my next installment where I discuss the proper way to eat vegemite and I'll have some astute observations of the political climate in Australia (hint: it's looney tunes).

1 Year Later....

I have officially been in Australia for 365 days as of today. I wanted to post a big note about a bunch of random things today, but I didn't get a chance earlier, and my bus is coming soon.

It has been a full year since I last saw anybody from back home, and I miss each and every one of you. I hope the past year has been as eventful and mind-opening as mine has been.

I'll post more tomorrow, but for now, I'll just say that this year has been the best year I have ever spent. Lots of laughs, experiences, and many many dead brain cells.

Cheers everyone!

Pics!

OK folks, here's some pics I know you've all been waiting for:


Here's the lot of us at work on International Talk-Like-A-Pirate Day. I'm the one with the brown shirt, in case you've forgotten what I look like...



Here's the Brisbane Broncos. The guy in the white hat in the middle was none-too-happy that I asked to get his picture, but really, he can go screw himself. Get used to it, buddy. At least I wasn't some 18 year old girl drooling over him and wanting to take him home. Er... maybe THAT'S why he wasn't very happy.....

Here's my buddy Riz passed out on a barrel of Jim Beam in Mama Africa's. He's a cheap drunk. He only finished 3/4 of the barrel!

Who's that handsome devil?

Well, the internet cafe I'm currently using is just closing up right now, so I'll stop here for a bit. But I'll have more for you in the coming days, including the secrets to how they get the caramel into the Caramilk bars (hint: Black Widow Spiders. I've already said too much), and the best way to remove rabid monkeys from your closet.

Gutted!

I'm absolutely furious with myself right now. I was lying in bed last night, thinking about the fact that I've been here a year (as of one week yesterday) and I thought, "Hey, I should look over some of the pictures I've taken over the past while and reminisce." So I looked on a few CD's, and lo and behold, no pictures. I looked through some more, and still no pictures. In a panic, I ransacked my room, found every single CD and DVD I have, and looked through them, and yet, no pictures.

The point? I've lost all my pictures from October 2006 - April 2007. New Years, Christmas, Heron Island, Sydney Opera House, Beach Walk from Coogee to Bondi: Gone, gone, gone.

I do still have my pics from my birthday and beyond, but I'm really upset about my losing the others. I've got pictures in there from people I haven't seen since I left Sydney, and people I will probably never see again, but who I still keep in touch with.

But anyways, things are clipping along here. I'm probably going to be leaving Airlie in the next few weeks. It's a great place to stick around for a while, but I can't see myself staying here for much longer. There's not much to do unless you sail often, and I work too much to be able to enjoy the sun. Plus I have a friend in Brisbane who is offering her place for a few weeks, so I may take hr up on that. It'd be nice to get into a city where I can do more than just go to the pub and drink. Like, I'll have a bunch of options where to go and drink! Wow!

My plans have changed yet again as to what I'm going to do. Providing I pass my medical (which I still haven't taken because I have to go to the next big town, which is a 4 hour drive away, which means I have to take 2 days off work, and it costs about $400 for the tests, etc etc), I'm going to apply for a working visa in NZ, stay in Oz till April, go to NZ for the weekend and get my visa stamped and started, come back to Oz to stay for the remainder of my visa here, which would be till October next year, then fly back to NZ and stay there for the rest of my visa there, which would take me till April of 2009. After that? Who knows. That's as far as I've planned so far, and honestly, it's probably as far as I've ever planned ahead in my life. Hell, I don't even know what I'm going to eat for dinner tonight. Pizza? Hmm........

Anyhow, hope everything's well back in the Americas. I'll chat with ya soon!