oops!

So I didn't realise it had been so long since I had blogged :o( whoops!

Last time I blogged I was just coming to the end of my contract with SSQ and it was moving on to other things! So here is an update from the last 2 and a bit months!!

I finished work with SSQ on Friday 16th and had a lovely leaving lunch and afternoon of drinks with the girls which was all very classy and refined until I decided to drink my body weight in cheap cosmos at the Shadow Lounge so I was home and in bed by about 9pm!! A bad nights sleep and it was up and time to start the Dukan diet! not the easiest on a hangover but by heck does it work! But I will come back to that!

I then had a nice week off with a trip out to the Symphony Under the Stars (a free classical concert which I very much enjoyed as alot of it was the music from Carmen which has some awesome fmaily memories!). I then started my next contract which was as a PA for the Head of Aviation at Griffith University - I just can't excape from the blooming planes!! I worked with them for about 4 weeks and it was lovely, nice and relaxed and had the bonus of being only about 10mins from the house which was great but as I wasn't going out much (bad side effect whilst trying to master the dukan!) I started to get a little bit of cabin fever as my life was pretty much home-work-home and that was it!

When the contract came to an end it was only a couple of weeks until Mr & Mrs M were due to arrive and I was getting rather excited! I hoped to get a bit more work but nothing was around so a large amount of time was spent chilling out and not doing much - not bad to do that in Australia really ;o)

After 2 weeks of chilling out it was time to go and collect Mr & Mrs M from the airport and start their month long stay in Australia. We had one night in Brisbane where we had a lovely meal at Tukka (an Australiana restaurant) before getting up and heading off on our drive down to Sydney the next day.

First leg of the trip was down to Byron which I have to say I was pretty much in love with - such a nice place to just hang out and relax! We were there for 4 nights where much time was spent hanging by the pool. walking on the beach and finding some sweet places to visit in the surrounding area! Twas most lovely!

We sadly had to leave and we headed on down to Coffs Harbour for our next overnight stop. I was less than impressed by pretty much everything we encountered from the standard of the hotel, the road works, the cbd itself - I was very glad to leave the following morning but we did have a lovely evening in an Italian restaurant down by the jetty area which was the highlight of staying in Coff's - I will not be rushing back there in the near future.

Next stop was Port Macquarie which was much nicer and we had a lovely afternoon walking around the town before heading over to a Koala hospital which was really sweet - I am pretty much obsessed with Koalas now - they crack me up the positions they fall asleep in! After a quick swim in the roof top pool we then headed to a lovely fusion restaurant for dinner which was most delightful and walking distance which was fab as it was getting a bit tiresome driving and not enjoying a glass or 2 of vino! ;o)

It was up fairly early the next morning as we had a 4 hour drive to Pearl Beach to meet up with family friends. We stopped at Raymond Terrace for lunch looking over the hunter river and then on we continued. It was lovely to see them and Pearl Beach is a very quaint little village and the house has beautiful views out on to the beach.

It was a nice couple of nights and then on the Monday morning we headed into to Sydney where a swim in the pool at the complex was needed to cool off before we headed over to Bondi to see the Sculptures by the Sea. I remember being told about it last year when I was on the East Coast tour so I was really pleased to see it but it was blooming hot and about 38degrees at 7.00 at night! So what else to do but to head to Icebergs swimming club for dinner and a drink to cool us down! The best bonus and much to our surprise as it is right at the end of the season we saw a whale playing! It was awesome!

The next day was fairly relaxed with a walk around Sydney CBD before heading back to Double Bay for dinner at the boat club - oysters mornay - YUM! Then back to the unit for a relatively early night as it was an early start to the airport the next day for Mr & Mrs M and friends to head to Tasmania and for me to head back to Brisbane.

All went beatifully smoothly and got home in time to commence a delightful time of not working for a week and a bit :o( I was hoping to get some work in before Mr & Mrs M came back to Brisbane but the temp market has significantly slowed on the run up to Christmas! Then on the Friday before Mr & Mrs M got back I got a call....6 hrs work which has turned into a 4 week contract starting on 9th Dec...phew! Xmas was going to be rather quiet if that hadn't come about!

Anyway I digress, Mr and Mrs M returned and we spent a couple of days up in Noosa which was timed to perfection as we were moving house that weekend! A lovely couple of days in Noosa (one night with too much alcohol and a rather public cry from me!) before we headed back to Brisbane to celebrate Mrs M's birthday with a lovely meal at Jellyfish which is on the Brisbane River and was truly fantastic! I even tried Jellyfish (gristley and horrible - never again but had to try once!).

The following day we headed off quite early to get the boat to Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary (told you I was obsessed!) where we had a lovely day and a bit too much sun on my part - I was glowing after the first hour on the boat and had to buy a t-shirt to cover up my slightly pink shoulders! After a lovely walk round the sanctuary where we saw koalas, kangaroos, dingoes, bats, tasmanian devils, a platypus and a number of other animals we headed back to the boat into the city, walked through Southbank and the Botanic Gardens and then had a dip in the hotel pool before heading to the new place for the last dinner of the holiday with DG & SP.

I dropped Mr & Mrs M back off at the airport yesterday morning and then proceeded to make myself rather homesick by going Christmas shopping for the family during the afternoon before heading back for a quiet night at the flat.

So that pretty much brings you up to date! I am working for the next 2 days in the City and find out later today about the new contract so fingers crossed for an early start date! :o)

That was a lot longer than I meant it to be but that is 2.5 months for you!

Lots of photos will be going on to FB once we have internet connection at the flat next week. I am off to get my lunch and will blog again soon about my return travel plans as it is less than 12 weeks until I leave Australia now!