Back in the World of the Working

Yes - its official!  Finally I have a job!

Three days a week, in an office environment (in air con and out of the heat) and I've been there about 3 weeks now and while its taking a bit of getting used to - I am enjoying it.

So would you believe one of the first things I had to buy with my first few pays was door handles for my car!!  Not first on my bills list however I couldn't have got my car registered which means no way to get to work out of town.  So all in all over 3 weeks wages my car would have cost me $700 but it will be great to have door handles again.  Yay!!

Noumea, Isle Of Pines, Fiji and Port Vila, Vanuatu Cruise

Having just returned home 3 weeks ago from our cruise, I thought it best write about it straight away instead of waiting for weeks and weeks and losing my mojo (and memory).

Firstly, I must point out that I thought I would hate cruising! My BF originally was the one wanting to cruise and since it was his long service leave from work (2009 / 2010), I went along with it while thinking I would need to take up knitting, crochet and embroidery to fill in the time on board. So we booked a 30 day cruise that left from Sydney and finished up in LA (and that was after spending a month travelling in Thailand after celebrating my 40th birthday in Ao Nang, near Krabi). More on all these trips later.

This last cruise was our third to date and for 11 nights departing from and returning to Brisbane.  To date we have always travelled with Princess Cruises, because of feedback from seasoned cruisers and also to build up our loyalty status.  Also we always pay for a Future Cruise Booking while on board our current cruise as this has added benefits of a lesser deposit required with the next booking and some onboard credit.

Generally I search a couple of Cruise booking websites for the cruises as these sites usually also provide some onboard credit and offer a special price too.

www.justcruises.com.au
www.cruiseaway.com.au

However I always do a new search also in case there is a new website up that may also offer extra good specials.

So getting back to this cruise, we departed from Brisbane  - which entails dropping off your main luggage (head onboard only with what you will need for that day and night), lining up to check in where you receive your cabin cards and number allotment for boarding the ship.  As there is a great range of shops and eateries at Brisbane Cruise Terminal we got our allotted number and headed off for a wander and a meal before boarding the ship around 3pm.

After 2 days at sea our first port of call was Noumea, New Caledonia where we caught the locally provided shuttle bus into town to wander around.  We checked out the Museum showcasing the local history, War Histories and Nickel Mining history.  Small but informative.  We just basically wandered around for a few hours then caught the bus back to the Wharf to board another bus shuttling everyone to Lemon Beach offering Cafes, Restaurants and Bars overlooking a very busy beach.  Again we just wandered around a bit and then headed back to the ship.

Isle Of Pines we arrived at after 1 day at sea and due to the size of the wharf we were all tendered over to the island, which took about 20 minutes.  Isle of Pines was my favourite out of all the places we stopped.  Apart from being completely overrun from the passengers on the cruise ship the beauty of the aqua clear water and crisp white sand made up for it.  The local folk had little market stalls set up selling sarongs and the usual tourist souveneirs (all made in Thailand or Indonesia incidentally). We had a lovely afternoon just sitting on the beach, going for the occasional dip in the ocean and we tried a local beer at the only food/bar establishment on the beach. There was a huge line up to board the tenders back to the ship so we just planted ourselves on the beach nearby and waited the few hours till the line had dwindled enough.

After another sea day we arrived in Suva, Fiji.  As we had been here before and didn't really enjoy the haggling and hassle, this was the only day we booked a Princess Tour which drove us an hour away to a resort where we were provided with a buffet lunch, local dance display and a very informative tour guide.  We had the use of the resort for swimming and relaxing, however we were happy to sit at one of the outdoor bars and try some of the yummy cocktails. As the ship leaves port the local Fijians put on a fantastic and energetic farewell.

Next stop was Port Denarau, Fiji and we didn't leave the ship to explore.  Two reasons being that the tender ride was a lot longer and we also wanted to enjoy the ship with a lot less passengers onboard.  We had a lovely day!!  After hearing some reports back that there wasn't much to look at onshore we didn't feel AS guilty.

One more sea day and we arrived at Port Vila, Vanuatu and as again as we hadn't booked any tours we just toddled off the ship and went for a wee stroll until the heat got too much and we took a taxi to town ($10 for 2 of us).  As we hadn't done any shopping at all, this was our last chance so that was first on our agenda.  I pretty much bought my usual fare of sarongs (nice large ones for $5 each), a dress, a skirt, a tropical top which were all very well priced (again made in Thailand or Indonesia).  BF always likes to stock up on his alcohol so we visited a Duty Free shop with the most amazing prices we have ever seen.  Half price of the duty free prices on the ship!!  BF used my quota too! For lunch we found a restaurant as we wandered along, BF ordered a coconut crab and while the Flying Fox on the menu sounded interesting I settled for a good ol' burger and must say it was the best I'd had for a long time (I don't eat burgers much anyway but YUM!) We did a fair bit of wandering around, found a very lovely flash looking restaurant/bar overlooking the water and I tried a few very refreshing and filling mocktails and smoothies.  Just to try something different we hired a water taxi back to the ship which was really nice to be in the breeze and also a different view.

After a few more nights at sea (with another formal night thrown in) we returned to Brisbane - sniffle...  Princess offered a shuttle to the airport which we gladly paid for just for simplicity of it all.  We did learn some more from this trip - for future trips we will study the ship size and capacity and age.  Also we think we will stick to balcony bookings again - can get fresh air instead of having the air conditioner on 24/7.

All in all - I was very happy with my holiday and we both made future cruise bookings but also decided to try another cruiseline or ship next time.

New Year - Cruise, Clutter and Coin!

Once again its been a while since I posted, and there have been some positive developments in the last four months.  Apart from it being a new year (and nearly through one whole month already!!), and apart from yesterday just stepping off a cruise ship after 11 days cruising New Caledonia, Fiji and Vanauatu AND apart from starting a new job in a few days - I was/am determined to commence 2013 with a positive attitude no matter what life throws at me.  Ooh - and I'm an Aunty for the first time - a REAL Aunty too!  Not just another title from my friends children.  So I have started off pretty well into 2013 I'm a thinking. 

Sure - there are some negatives too - being in debt after so long unemployed - more clutter in the house after receiving the inherited family heirlooms and furniture.  My clothes are wearing out due to really really trying not to buy anything until completely necessary and my car (which I had half heartedly tried to sell for 9 months and now need to travel to work) needs a bit of maintenance. But heck, I can live with all that!

So in the spirit of the new year I have decided to set some new years resolutions which I generally don't bother with - mainly because I know I am crap at following things through.  BUT this year in following with the positives happening already - I feel I should.  About a decade ago I stopped being a goal setter.  Although I was still achieving - more education, new skills etc, I haven't actually sat down and done a 5 year plan for ever!  Well - 10 years!!  Interestingly I have just realised that is how long I have been with my partner... Hmmm.... Note to self - must spend a while analysing that!!

Anyhoo - so to celebrate my new found wisdom and goal setting resolve I will set up a new label so I can track my basic goals. Interestingly enough - while packing up my childhood home I found notebooks full of goals I had set since my mid-20's and 95% of the goals had been achieved.  I also realised recently, I need to build myself a new "Things to do before I die List" (I don't like the name "Bucket List") as apart from travel to Costa Rice & Belize - I have achieved everything else.  Saw AC/DC and Kiss Live, travelled to Vietnam & Laos just to name a few. Maybe another label called for...

Throw Another Log on the Fire

Brrrrrrr!!!!

Its freezing here!!  I arrived 'down south' 10 days ago.  Perth was rainy, windy and cold for the 24 hours I was there.  And the road trip Thursday to Kalgoorlie was the same.  We left Perth around 11.30am 9 days ago and it took us pretty much 6 hours exactly so by the time we got to 'Kal' my friend had finished work and I went back to her place for the night.  She has just installed a 'donga' (transportable quarters of 5 small rooms) behind her mums house, that she bought second-hand.

As I am broke, broke, broke - I am on a strict budget.  My friends mum had a heap of orange trees and a mandarin tree in the backyard just full of fruit so if I felt a bit peckish I would have a couple of them.  My friend had left me instructions to help finish off the 'extra' Jenny Craig meals in the freezer that she had left over. Happy to help fix her guilt problem! And with the shopping for the camping trip (which I still had some food left over) I managed to go without another big shop while I was there.  I did pop to the corner shop to get 2 loaves of bread, 1 lt milk and a small jar vaseline for my chapped lips for $19!!!  I nearly fell over!

I then scored another lift with the bloke who I had travelled to Kal with, to my hometown where I have been (exept for 3 nights away on my mates farm) ever since.  My brother has an excellent vegie garden in so I have been making vegie soup every day and am really only shopping for staples every 3 or 4 days - milk, bread etc.  When I went to visit my friends farm I also gathered 2 large bags of pine cones to burn in the fire, 2 bags of lemons (I have made one batch of lemon cordial* already) and we made a heap of soap that is now curing.  More for fun than budgeting.


*Lemon Cordial Recipe

2 cups lemon juice (and then I strained it before use)
2 cups sugar

Heat in a saucepan till all sugar dissolved, cool and pour into bottles for storing in the fridge.

Dilute as per shop bought cordial.

Whats left?

Its been a range of many emotions while I've been packing up my late fathers house.  My mother passed away 2004 so theres also all her 'stuff' to contend with too. They both kept everything!!  I mean everything!! So apart from grief, I mostly feel overwhelmed.  Mum had cancer so I guess when she knew that it had got the best of her, she had time to label stuff and sort, and also write a list of what pieces of belongings whould go to whom - my brother or I.  Dad on the other hand died suddenly of a heart attack, and with his latest passion being research there was stuff just everywhere.  Each room - except his bedroom had papers and old photos and little scraps of paper spread everywhere. He obviously had a system but in our frenzy to clean up in preparation for incoming rellies and funeral arrangements we pretty much just had to throw all of it into a box and stack it away.  And it hasn't been touched for over 15 months. 

So its been a hugely slow process although I started with the easy stuff.  Sheets, blankets, dads clothes and mums (dad hadn't got rid of much of mums stuff either) clothes too.  Hundreds of books, over a hundred ornamants, mums art and craft work (everything from paintings to handpainted fabric made into cushion covers etc).  There were blankets from our childhood and quilts that I have put aside and as I go through all the belongings I find other 'stuff' that is tugging at my heart strings, my pile of stuff is building up and then I have to cull that too.  I have inherited some furniture (most of it made by my late great grand father) so I have to arrange for removalists too.  So can send it all back with that.

But as I go through each room and throw out mostly everything, I also sort of wonder what my parents would have wanted me to keep?  And I know that I can't take heaps back to my house so its very tricky to say the least.  Whats left of their lives after their passing that isn't just a bunch of trinkets? I mean dad published a book (he must of had a reprint before he died as there are about 7 boxes of them) and mum was an artist so there is heaps of her art too.  Out of all of their photo albums (did I mention dad was into photograhy so there are mega amounts of photo albums and packets of negatives) I will only be able to keep a few photos from each otherwise it will just be out of control. But basically it seems their lives has boiled down to what they let behind.  And frustratingly what my brother and I can't keep - there are just so many memories in everything but it would be impossible to hang onto it all.  We both live in smaller dwellings and physically cannot keep everything we would like to, and thats probably a good thing (that we physically can't fit all this stuff into our homes) as I could imagine trying to add all this stuff to my stuff at home - phew!!

May I suggest that everyone go through their stuff and do a major cull?  Luckily I had been reading for a year prior to my father passing, a heap of organising books (and though my BF can't see it) I had been systematically going through each room and trying (its not always easy) to get organised.  Clothing that hadn't been worn for a year - donate or sell! Trinkets - regift, upcycle or donate! Now I am glad I had been doing all that as I have more stuff to come in. 

I miss my dog...

Party Time..

So its only 4 days till I head off down South so today (Sunday) I organised a party for lunch time - my birthday is next week so its sort of for that too.

Usually it seems only a third of people turn up from the invite list but so far I have almost 30 people coming!!  So just having a "Barbie" and easy food to heat up.

I'm quite looking forward to it and decided to invite so many people coz I'm sick of only catching up with people at funerals as seems to be the case this year.

Owl @ Wildlife Park 2012

More on Dentist Run to Bali

I noticed a lot of people interested in the Bali Dentist trip so thought I would add some more detail.

As I mentioned in my previous post a week or so ago we had been told about

Bali 911 Dental Clinic

They take a couple of weeks to reply to email queries but heard you could just turn up and pretty much could get in straight away.  As our trip was spur of the moment we just took a punt and showed up at the Kuta branch of 911Dentist.  They were booked out so we took the taxi straight to Denpasar.  The street outside might look grubby in comparison to Western standards but the front is swept a few times a day and the inside is clean although a bit worn.

For a crown and I believe veneers too - you need to allow at least a 10 day trip - the crown takes 5 days to make after the initial consultation.  The day we went back for the fitting was a very long day.  Our appointment was for 1pm.  After having our new crown fitted to size it then went next door for glazing which took an hour or more.  The clinic does have water, tea, coffee making facilities, and these little sachets of like a rice porridge stuff that you add hot water to. I would recommend maybe just carrying some food with you if you use the Denpasar branch, as there doesn't seem to be much close around (although I didn't think to research that before we went) .  There is a toilet there too. The Kuta one is located in a shopping centre so that is no problem for food, toilet or entertainment while waiting.  There is also a laptop in Denpasar for free wifi access while you wait.  The waiting room is quite small and sometimes full and a few people hang out the front - smokers mainly of course.  There aren't any seats out the front and the parking area is usually filled with cars and drivers waiting for their customers inside the clinic.  I'm sure the clinic would call a taxi for you after your consultation so that shouldn't be a problem.

Like I said previously, there is a 5 year guarantee on crowns and 1 year on veneers. All in all I am happy with the experience and would definitely go again.

See my other Bali Dentist Run post - for other details.

2011