Moreton Island

So having been sat round not doing much for the last couple of weeks and with the prospect of starting work on Monday I thought I should get in some sight seeing so I booked myself onto a day trip to Moreton Island just off the coast near Brisbane.

Yesterday I got up super early (half past 5) and made my way into the city to meet up with the tour people at 6.45am! Why everything has to start so early I don't know...was a kicker on the tour in October and I am guessing it is going to be the same when I go to Alice Springs in May.

Anyway, I digress....Moreton Island is reportedly the second biggest sand island in the world, after Fraser Island which is furher up the coast. To get to the island we were taken to a service station on the way out of Brisbane by one guide who was heading off to Fraser Island with another group and we were collected by another guide who took us to the Port of Brisbane to catch the Micat over to the Island. There were four of us who were heading over, me and three girls from Brazil - all very nice but only one of them could speak English so communicating was definitely interesting! The boat took about 1hr and 30mins to get across to Moreton Island which looks like this from a distance....



There are no offical roads on the island, they are all surprisingly enough made of sand so in order to get round it you need to have a 4WD vehicle and luckily enough for us Graham our guide for the day was waiting on the beach with one to take us round with the group who had been on a 2 day tour and had camped there the night before. The boat dropped us off directly onto the beach and we were able to have a look at the ship wrecks there that are just of the coast.



They were pretty cool and if you were there for a longer stay you got the option of going snorking round them.

We all piled into the 4WD vehicle which was pretty basic but could fit the 11 of us in as the back had bench seats and we went across to the desert on the island and went sand toboganning....I don't have any photos of this as it was very sandy and I didn't want to trash my camera! The basic idea though is that you climb to the top of one of the dunes, lie face first on a piece of wood that has been waxed on one side, you pull up the front of it, put your elbows out and go down the dune....great fun but I opened my mouth on the 2nd run and got a mouthful - not helpful when the water was in the vehicle! Would definitely do it again and think I might take Mr & Mrs M if they come over in November!

After the important drink of water and the recovery from walking across the dunes (painful on both the calves and the lower back!) we headed down to the eastern beach which we drove all the way along and then went across the island to the Western Beach where we chilled out and rinsed off the sand whilst Graham organised our picnic lunch. There was a creek of some form running through the middle of the beach which had brown water in - yes I know it sounds disgusting but it was from the tea trees apparently so we rinsed off in there - weird as it was really warm on the top but cold on the bottom...very refreshing though! We then had our lunch before heading back across the island to Cape Moreton lighthouse which is apparently Queenslands oldest lighthouse...you can also look out over the ocean where we saw dolphins and turtles playing in the waves!





We then headed back to the campsite where the group had stayed the night before to get their kit and have a bit of a cool off in the Blue lagoon - which again was brown because of the trees but was a lovely freshwater lake that was nice and cool and we needed it the cooling down - so hot! I have a nice red mark on my back to prove it!

We then headed back across the island to get the boat back to the main land before us all heading in our separate directions...

It was a fab day but I was glad to get home to get rid of the sand and where we had a lovely meal of spaghetti bolognase made by matty and then a little St Paddy's day drink before I had an early night....nice jugs SP!



Its going to be a quiet couple of days before I start work on Monday!

Joining the Australian rat race!

I start my first temporary work assignment on Monday. I have no idea what I am going to be doing but I am sure it wil be fine. Central Brisbane for 8 working days, better pay than the UK which is always an added bonus. I am quite looking forward to it to be honest, will be nice to be out and about and meeting people.

I had an interview with a agency today who I was in touch with at the end of last year about a job that fell through in the end but he wants to approach them about my CV anyway to see if there is a possibility of contract work in the near future. I am kind of in 2 minds about it all, firstly I have just registered with agency 1 and they have a few bits and pieces coming up which could fill my time and earn me some A$ (I really only want work at the moment to cover living expenses so I can use my savings for the more fun bits!). Secondly, I have only been here a couple of weeks and I am not sure if I want to get a permanent job yet....I am still getting to know stuff about the area and whether I like it or not. I am happy to do some short term contract work but I'm just not sure yet on the permanent side of things and I don't think I will be for a while.

I think if I stick to my plan of temping for the next few months and doing my event course to get an idea of things then I can either start looking for a permanent job or I can do more temping/travelling before heading home at some point next year.....

All these decisions to make.....but not really needing to make any at the same time....god I love being a pisces and not being able to make decisions easily for myself! Give me someone elses problems and I can suggest things to do but when it comes to my stuff I really struggle to decide what I want! Ah well I am not in any rush, am loving this take things as they come lifestyle!

To do nothing or to do something...that is todays question!

So I have been here for a little over a week and have done pretty much nothing...it has been absolutely fantastic although I do feel a bit guilty about my lack of activity!

Its a welcome change to how my life was in the UK and when I think about it even though I officially finished work at the end of January I was then running around boxing up my house, saying goodbye to my peeps and then travelling over here! Maybe taking a couple of weeks to relax and just enjoy the rest isn't so bad!

I wake up when I want to, eat when I want to, pop over to the shopping centre which is near the house for a little meander (and to enjoy the air con!) and I have been into the city for a bit as well. I know at some point that I need to start looking at what I am going to do on a day-to-day basis with regards to work but so far I have just been enjoying planning the year and working out what I am going to do and when.

The first planned bit of travelling is in May when I will be back on the Contiki bus for 11 days travelling from Alice Springs to Darwin (via Ayers Rock/Uluru) and getting a feel for the Northern Territory. I just hope it can match up to how much fun I had on the tour in October! I am sure I will meet some lovely people and who knows I met people on the last tour that I hope will be friends for a good old while...its all about enhancing the old social community after all....you never know when you can go knocking on their door!

I am doing an event management course for 10(ish) weeks in Brisbane starting in June and then I have found a bus ticket that will take me from Brisbane to Adelaide over a 30 day period where I can stop over in places when I want to and move on when I want to (timetable obliging of course!). I think I will probably do this in September and then fingers crossed Mr & Mrs M are coming out November time.

And somewhere in all of that I am hoping to get some work in to help pay for life!

hmmm maybe I shouldn't feel too anxious about not doing anything...it is only the first couple of weeks after all!

New beginnings..

So I have finally made it to Australia, I can't quite believe that I am here yet and that I am not going home at any point soon...is a bit weird but is also a great feeling of freedom!

The journey was a long old trek...first flight on the beast that is the A380 was awesome although 14 hours and no sleep was a bit of a kicker...I managed to watch 6 films although I don't think that I could tell you which films I watched now! It wasn't too bad though as I had a spare seat next to me so could spread out a bit although sleep evaded me for the whole flight so by the time I arrived in Singapore I was wiped out...managed to stumble across to a shop and buy a bottle of water and a bagel before getting to the gate to wait for the next flight...Flight 2 not so bad as I had a whole row of seats so could stretch out and sleep....I normally can't sleep on flights but that didn't appear to be a problem this time round!

I finally arrived in Brisbane to zip through customs and meet up with the DG and SP who brought me back to my new home for the forseeable future....a nice couple of glasses of vino and then bedfordshire!

Since then I have been trying to limit the jet lag and get the first bits and pieces done...

Mobile phone....check
Bank account....check

now I just get to plan what I am going to do over the next few months before my event course starts in June.

Oh and BTW it is blooming hot!

Love it!