Well I have a very busy time since we got back from Hawaii. I am still helping out the GP practice until their new nurse in competent in the role whilst working on the wards at the hospice, so have been working 4 and even 5 days one week – phew!! I  mind doing it until my parents come out on Sept 27th, and it gives me extra cash as we will be sight seeing, and I can just work my regular shifts only then. We have all  booked to go to Sydney in an amazing hotel for 3 nights  on 3rd Oct, then on 27th Oct we go up to Cairns for 5 nights to see the barrier reef etc, so looking forward to that! Ellie has decided she would really like to go on the trip the school are organising next Sept to Europe! They are going for 17 days and will see London, Paris, Venice, Rome, Florence and do all the touristy things! I am not sure when we will get back to the UK for a holiday, maybe next Christmas – depends upon the cost of flights!

We have just got home from a weekend away,  Ellie stayed home with her friend Sophie. We went to Ballarat, a 2 hour drive away and was the birthplace of the goldrush, which brought people from all over the world, seeking their fortune! I kept looking to see if I could find a little piece of gold but alas no luck! It was much colder than here- 7 degrees cooler and often gets to minus 2 or so, but it is higher up so that’s why. We went to a fantastic replica town of the 1800’s  with it’s old school house and hotels, and went down the goldmine which was fun.

I am not really enjoying the wards, shift work, late followed by early, the regimentation of it all, they have so many SEN’s that cant check drugs and the other night I was in charge on a late with 2 grad nurses (new qualified) and a nurse that cant do medicines so I had to do every  drug, then check the whole  stock when the night nurse came on,I was counting drugs in my sleep! Now I remember why I left the wards…

So with all that I took myself down to the community team and sold myself to them, they really want me to join their team, anyway I heard last week I can start on 5th Sept so only 3 more shifts to do.They will pay me more money too, about  23 pounds per hour but really good tax breaks cos I’m working in a gov hospital so more like 25 per hour! The only thing is they do oncall as they dont have an out of hours team, but if you get called, even if you  just have to take a phone call, you get a minimum of 3 hours pay, so may not be too bad.  There are so many different nationalities on the ward, I work with Chirag (male), Juan, Preety, Youi, Xang , they are all really nice and I get to try different foods! We also get such a variety of patients, a lot of Italians and Greeks but everyone are so friendly and want to feed you all yummy things. There are so many nationalities here but no disharmony. I guess it is because they chose to come here and see themselves as Australian first and foremost and uphold what the country stands for, not for the benefits and free housing!!
The weather is finally picking up. It is light until 6pm now and the clocks change 2nd Oct so will add an extra hour of daylight! We have just had a fantastic week, not a drop of rain and 17 – 20 degrees and clear blue skies, just heaven. All the daffodils are flowering, as are the camelias and magnolias, they look beautiful in the sunshine.

Steve has been busy at work, sorting out the mess that government contracts end up in! I hope this is the last government contract he works on as they want everything for nothing as usual. It is funny that Wigan rugby continue to do fantastically well since he left the UK. Sam now records the matches then Steve downloads them to watch as they don’t show them here. He called the TV station to see if they were showing the cup final but only shown in Brisbane or Sydney, Melbourne not big on rugby, more Aussie rules football. Sam, Tom & Amelia did go to Wembley to watch it though and had a great time. We have booked tickets to watch the first state of origin match in May here in Melbourne, which has got Sam looking for cheap flights over!

Will have to start my shopping list of things for my mum & dad to bring over, can also claim VAT back as you exit the airport at Manchester so makes it worthwhile. I have just recieved my order from Next, 3 pairs jeans and some tops, too expensive here and Next do free delivery to Aus. Just been looking at M&S but all seems very boring!