Life Down Under

man it's hot

Dundee likes chasing lizards in the house

wild donkeys and horses at Willowra

the VIP lounge at Willowra

So Dundee and I have spent a lot of time together with the temperatures so hot this summer. We hang out, yeah, we chill in the air con. He likes playing scrabble...

I haven't been on many bushwalks lately because of the heat, but as soon as it breaks, I'll be back out there. I am still going outbush for week though, and recently went to Willowra where there were wild donkeys everywhere! We flew in on a rather turbulent flight and the return wasn't much better. I nearly puked...but didn't. The others were much closer to the bag.

     I did go out to Alice Springs Desert Park again today, one of my favorite places. I've signed up to volunteer my time to read/tell stories to little ones. We can choose one of many locations throughout the park, inside or out, mostly out and the locations are gorgeous. All of the stories are about animals and living outdoors. There are some props like puppets and costumes, so it should be fun. They also renew our park pass for a year for free, which is nice. I just think it sure would be nice to spend some time around ordinary kids without an abuse history...heh heh...one gets a little jaded after awhile.

     Dundee has also been busy catching lizards both inside and out. He just loves putting his paw over them and making them squirm, particularly those long lovely tails. My friends think it's cruel...I think it is survival of the fittest...there is a whole empty desert out there with no kitties, but they choose to come into my house and my courtyard, so they're fair game!

     My sister comes to visit in just 4.5 weeks so I'm getting rather excited about that as well! She has never been to Australia and she and I have never had that much time together since before she was married oh so many years ago and started having kids. Let's hope we don't kill one another, as it will be a road trip for much of the visit. This time we're heading to Queensland, taking a bush highway for part of the trip as long as the roads have dried out as there is flooding there now. We will be spending much of the time on the beautiful beaches of course, and checking out the Great Barrier Reef. We're also going to head down to Uluru as well, as she wants to see the rock, and how can one come to central Australia and not see the rock...it's breathtaking.

     It poured rain last night, it was awesome! We hardly ever get rain, and this was the first real drenching since last year sometime, so the earth was more than ready for it. We're meant to get more this week too, so happy about that, as bushfires had started again. At some point I may even get my garden planted again. It's been too hot to be out there mucking about in the dirt and dust, so once the summer heat breaks, which should be soon enough, I'll plant it all over again.

     So that's what's up down under for this week. I'm going to a naming ceremony on the weekend at Telegraph Station, so will likely take some photos out there, as it's quite a pretty area and where the two moms had their wedding a couple of years ago.

     G'day mates!

What's All The News Down Under

While I haven't been anywhere really exciting this past week or so that has been photogenic, it has been a very interesting week just the same. Here are the highlights...

• I received my permanent residency - I know I mentioned in a previous post, but it's pretty exciting news for an immigrant...yeah, I'm an immigrant. Sounds weird to me too.
• I was offered a permanent position with my employer - they want to keep me forever. I'm quite certain I won't stay forever but it sure is nice when someone wants you forever anyway
• I got a raise with the permanent offer so I've been bumped into the next pay level, which is always good. It's just a few thousand extra per year, but it all counts...and I think it is retroactive to the day they granted me permanent residency as that was the date on the offer. I love windfalls.
• I went out to a cocktail party on Saturday night at a friends and while I was searching for her flat, I happened along the wrong address. I thought I was at unit 4/45, but I was at unit 4/43...I went in through the gate, and the blinds next to the door were closed except for the bottom 18 inches...so I peeked under to see if it looked like a party going on and I recognized anyone. Um...not so much. All I saw was a naked man walking into the kitchen, penis and all...so I got the hell out of there in a hurry before someone called the police on a peeping tom - me!
• the cocktail party was a precursor to the bars - we went to the Rock Bar and then to the Casino when that Rock Bar closed. The casino closes at 4am, so it's a popular after hours location. I hung out outside most of the time on the patio, gorgeous night and happened to meet someone that I chatted with much of the night.
• that someone came home with me...I won't say more...I don't kiss and tell!
• one of my co-workers is off on sick leave due to a spider bite on her butt...we believe she was bitten by a white-tail spider, very poisonous and tissue damaging so she had to get surgery to clean out the area of dead tissue and now she is recouperating at home.
• the heat of the summer has finally broken and the temps have been about 28-32C by day and 12-15C by night - my favorite temperatures! We may get another wave of +40C but it seems like we're on our way to autumn...lovely autumn...
• I'm hoping to go camping this weekend with friends to Ormiston Gorge where there is a lovely swimming waterhole and lots of great hikes. It's finally cool enough to hike again, so I can't wait to get out there.
• I'm redoing my garden finally. I ordered a timer for my hose to take care of it when I go away or forget to water back in November and it FINALLY arrived last week. So I ripped out all the old plants, added some new mulch and have spent the week soaking the soil again.

So those are the highlights...photos from the coming weekend will follow when I get back.