Sunburn is a traditional Christmas colour....

Christmas day has come and gone and in traditional Australian manner we spent part of it on the beach. We went to Bribie Island with cousin Scott and Kitty and alternatively sat around munching on food and jumping about in the surf. Despite liberally applying sunscreen a couple of times throughout the day we both managed to get a good dose of sunburn to enjoy Boxing Day with. I knew it was going to happen eventually and I suppose we did quite well lasting 6 months before having a lapse and swapping our aple skin for a lovely lobster red shade. I'm guessing all you folks back home managed to avoid a similar fate unless you got a dose of snowburn (did anyone get snow chirstmas day?), or drove around with your head out the window and got windburn.

Due to our respective burns we've been trying to stay indoors the last couple of days to avoid further hurt. The Christmas TV over here is pretty dire but luckily for me the Boxing Day Test is being televised live so my days have been taken care of.

Unfortunatly I'm working tonight where I'll get to serve dodgy pints to unsuspecting customers. Amazingly Tetleys and Boddingtons Bitter is a quite rare in Brisbane and as such expensive (three pound a pint) despite the fact that it comes out looking like a pint of cold tea (reminiscent of bitter when you go down South). Looks like I'll have to wait until I return back North for a decent drink.

Enjoy the New Year everyone.

Despite the 35oC heat, dehydration and sunburn we still managed a traditional full Christmas dinner in the evening.

Merry Christmas

Just wanted to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and hope you all have a fantastic 2006. We're going to be having a very unfestive day - off to the beach, with no presents or decorations....but who needs all that in this weather! Apparently its going to be 38C over the weekend. Hopefully by the time we get back in the evening it'll be cool enough to start cooking as we've already got our turkey with all the trimmings. But it'll all be ok as we've got our crate of beer (plus the ones Adam got free from the pub as a chrissy present) and isn't that what Christmas is all about...

Welsh and proud.....

Just a quick update.

I've been working a few different jobs in the last week or so. Spent a few days out near the airport throwing coat hangers around and then a couple of days at a warehouse unpacking boxes of paper cups and bags. As of tomorrow I start work at a pub just around the corner from where we live called 'The Elephant and Wheelbarrow'. It is a British themed pub that is mildly reminiscent of pubs back home except that it is too clean and friendly. Not my ideal choice of working venue but it beats getting covered in shit every day (get covered in beer instead which is good for the skin!) and I get to wear a badge saying I'm from Wales which is great as it should stop people assuming I'm English (who wants to be English unless they have to!?).

We took our First Aid qualification on the weekend which was fairly tedious as it took two full days but could have easily been covered in one. I hate to boast (actually I love it) but in the test at the end only myself and Rachael got full marks. The only other teacher in the room failed (but they let him pass anyway so what's the point?) which just goes to show any idiot can teach!

That's about it really. Hope everyone has a great festive period, if anyone wants us we'll be on the beach drinking beer.

Don't ever call me a dingo...

Well it's been a while I know. I've been busy working like a dog, fulfilling the job of a trained ape that even a fish would grow bored of in 3 seconds. Luckily, as of today, I've finished my purgatory in the oily depths of Geebung largely thanks to the fact that Rachael has started work. This means I can hold out for something a little better and take over the role homemaker for the next week!
Rachael has a job as a Group Leader at a day care centre looking after 2 and 3 year olds, she even has her own assistant to order around which is a level I can only dream of apsiring to.
Storm season has well and truly hit Brisbane. Last night I had to run down a full wheely bin in the middle of the storm as it headed out in to the main oad. Despite it raining several times a week though, and some places being flooded out we still have drought restrictions, apparently the rain has been falling in the wrong place, i.e. not in the dams. It must be the wettest drought in history!

Australia as a country seems to be extremely fond of certificates and buracratic qualifications. If you go for a job as a house painter, have never painted a house but have several pieces of paper that say you've done a course on optimum paint stroke angles and bristle types you'll get the job over someone with 20 years experience. I'm thinking of inventing a few certificates to put on my CV as a way of actually getting a job. They wont even let your work behind a bar here without several bits of paper saying you can do it. Anway, we're both completing a First Aid qualification next weekend which should help and I've applied for a couple of library jobs pretty much doing what I did in Bolton. Should be good for an interview at least.

I've also taken up Yoga which I'm teaching myself out of a book. So far I can manage, with great pain, to get one leg into place for the lotus position. Not bad for a fortnights work!

...and finally a smug note about the temperature, we're just experiecing our first summer heat wave and it's been around 35oC all week. I here it's been in the negative back in the motherland :)