Irish music in the Dandenongs..

After an exhausting week for the both of us last week (Clare nursing, me in my pinny house-husbanding), we decided to take a little train trip with our mate Kev (not the one we met in Fiji, but another one, this one's a Black Belt in Karate from near Preston) to Belgrave, in the foothills of the Dandenong Range, about 35kms out of Melbourne.

After a bit of a kerfuffle of a journey (darned engineering works meant part of our journey was in a very hot and uncomfortable bus) we got to Belgrave. It's a lovely little place, well known around these parts for its' 'Puffing Billy' steam train which goes out into the mountains, in a similar manner to the Llanfair light railway back home, if that makes any sense to you.

Unfortunately, we got to Belgrave too late to catch billy, so had to console ourselves with a trip to the local pub for lunch. Clare, amazingly, did not go for the snags n' mash, but the lasagne instead. Kev had the snags, and they did look great to be fair. Here's the two of them after a mighty feed:

Now, for those of you that know Clare, you can imagine her delight when, during lunch, an Irish band starting performing a few songs for our entertainment. As you can imagine, she pretty much knew most of the songs they sang off by heart, bless her!

Anyway, after they had finished, I took the guys for a brisk bushwalk out into the surrounding hills. We took a break at the top of a steep hill to admire the scenery:

Anyways, that was all very nice but unfortunately it was back to work today (for Clare) and back to jobhunting/house-husbanding for me. I'd better get back home now and get the tea on.

-Si

I disagree with Dolly Parton, who thinks working from 9 to 5 is a bad thing. Especially when I am crawling out of bed at 5.30. Still, I'm managing to earn some beer tokens for me and my house husband!.

Australian nursing is quite different to home, the only way to summarise it is....Bling Bling!! There is loads of nurses per patient, and a fantastic amount of equipment.I went to find a patient a blanket yesterday, and I found a cupboard with 30 odd, AND a massive box of pillows, I'm sure you nurses back home will understand my astonishment.

There are a few bizarre things though, the main one being that no one wears uniforms, even the nurse wear regular clothes, so I never know who is who. On my first day I mistook a consultant for a ward clerk. After leafing through a phone book and helping me page some one, she revealed her identity. Not only had a consultant spoke to me, but she had helped me do my dirty work!!

The only down side is their abbreviations are nothing like the ones back home. I have spent the first week trying to decipher their code. In my first handover I thought they were reciting the alphabet(!). I feel like a student again, as I have a little note book with all my new words.

But after saying all that some things never change. In my first week I had one patient report me to the doctor and the nurse in charge for stealing her dirty tissues, and in the same shift one of my patients decided to go walk about with his gown open and the front, and showing off all his glory to the stunned relatives and visitors (please note that the second patient was not even confused, but a 40 something Gent stutting his stuff!).

Oh, and for a reasons beyond my understanding, there seems to be an international law of nursing, that all patients are fascinated with my boobs!! What more can I say??

Our flat in the 'burbs....

Hey there.

For those of you interested, here's a couple of pics of me and Clares' new place....

As you can see, it's very, er, white. Since these pics were taken, we have put up a few pictures to make the place look a bit more homely!

Clare has already started work, today is her third straight shift in a row at the local hospital. I'm hoping to get my lazy ass working this week. Hopefully.

We're having a small housewarming gathering Monday night for the friends we've met so far. I'm in charge of cooking, so I've got an ambulance on standby, just in case....

-Si

Life in Melbourne.....

Clare and I have now been in Melbourne for just under a week, and what a week it has been. In this time, we've found ourselves a very nice little flat in the 'trendy' and 'hip' (!) suburb of South Yarra and Clare's got a job as a nurse, starting next week. I have so far successfully managed to dodge getting a job, but I think my new 'house-husband' role won't last long!

We're planning on settling in Melbourne for about 3 months, after which we'll be back on the road. I'm still going to keep going with the blog, just to keep you up to date with our antics.

We've been staying in a really great hostel on Spencer Street since we got here, run by the LEGEND that is Michael. This guy has more connections than the national grid and wrote us an awesome reference that was instrumental in getting our flat. We will be sorry to move out of here, away from the great people we've met, and the almost-nightly legendary drinking-based debauchery!!!

Anyways, we haven't done much sight-seeing yet, so I don't have many photos to post, except ones of us getting drunk. I think you've seen enough of those recently!!

-Si

Bora Da from New Zealand

Admittedly they do not speak Welsh, but apart from that we are in a Kiwi Wales! Big green hills, sheep aplenty, and erratic unpredictable rain. We may have not found Images yet, but it is a matter of time.

We are both having a fantastic time, Vic and Rich have been great hosts, and Si is slowly eating them out of house and home.

My quest for inappropriate clothes/shoes continues and I have now found myself a snazzy pair of trouser/CULOTTES. They are fantastically impractical, cause a high amount of drag when I walk any where windy (unless of course the wind is behind me, and they they act like sails, and I leave Si for dust). On their maiden voyage, I managed to get my foot caught in my trouser leg and was heading straight for the deck. An acrobatic jump stopped me kissing the floor, but I put my foot through one of the trouser legs in the process.

In other news I am 'sad' to inform you that the walkie talkies have been decomissioned, after many technical hitches. Mainly me leaving mine at home. We are now on plan B of the 'How to stop Clare getting Misplaced' Plan. Plan B involves me wearing stupendously bright clothes and head wear as Si feels that this will help 'visibility'. Basically when I get lost, I have to stand still and wait for Si to come and find me. The plan seems to be working, Si has not managed to lose me yet, no matter how hard he tries.

Clare

Arthur's Pass

Yesterday we took a trip out in the van to Arthur's Pass, about 2 hours from Christchurch. Arthur's Pass is a village, as well as a pass through the Southern Alps, with some spectacular mountain scenery. We took a walk up the Bealey Valley, with the snow-capped peak of Mount Rolleston looming above us. The walk takes you up through a (very) rocky valley, full of raging whitewater and a (sort of) glacier at the top end. Here's a few pics for you:


























































Nice eh?

-Si

Mountain Biking again at last!

It's been a very exciting last few days. My main source of excitement was finally getting to do a bit of mountain biking, NZ style. Me and Rich grabbed a couple of steeds from a reasonably priced place in ChCh and headed out of town to a local woods. This place has loads of tracks, and we had an absolute blast:

(Sorry the pic of me jumping is so blurred, but I was going soooo fast!!)

That night we headed out into town for a bit of a 're-tox' session. Dux Delux is 'the' place to go to in ChCh, so of course, we had to go there. And get very drunk whilst watching the live bands.

(Clare will kill me for posting that last one. I am now officially a dead man.)

-Si

New Years in ChCh...........

***HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL!!!!!!***

Well blog fans, what a New Years we had!

Clare and I were starting to become a little alarmed (to say the least) that we had no accommodation booked in Sydney for New Years. Seriously, from the lowliest fleapit in King's Cross to $5000-a-night swanky penthouses overlooking Sydney Harbour Bridge, everything was flat booked out. Then, things changed. An email from our friends Vic and Rich, currently residing in Christchurch, NZ (ChCh to the locals, trivia fans) and a changed flight later, we arrived in ChCh on a cold and rainy afternoon of the 30 Dec. Vic picked us up from the airport (I can't express how nice it is to have a friendly face to pick you up from a random airport after so many flights last year) and took us back to their place, a nice little flat close to the Avon River at the edge of the city centre.

Vic and Rich have been fabulous hosts to us since we arrived. We were plied with plenty of the local beer (Speights) on our arrival, and Vic is a dab hand in the kitchen, serving up some seriously tasty (and regular!) meals to the malnourished waifs that Clare and I have become! (Brock - we have at least done the washing up, by the way!)

On New Year's Eve, after a day of doing very little apart from eating and drinking, Clare and Vic finally managed to tear me and Rich away from the Xbox (seriously addictive, avoid at all costs) long enough to have a few beers in town. In the first pub we went to, we met Carline and Melissa, two local ladies who had extensively travelled themselves. We spent a very enjoyable evening together, as these photos will attest to:

After a very steady, hangover filled New Years Day, me, Vic and Clare went for a day out to Akaroa, a small picturesque fishing port and former French colony, on the nearby Banks Peninsula. The weather was cool, but the local fish n' chips were excellent. Here's a pic or two for you....

(And by the way Grifter, you are right. NZ does look just like a big Wales. Sheep and green hills and rain and all).

-Si