Bali trip #2

Ok, I've been sitting in a hostel now for a week, not doing much, so I guess I can update my blog - and can still consider myself being lazy :)

When I booked this trip to Bali I knew it was going to be completely different then my first trip. There was going to be about 10 of us going and they where all partiers, unlike my last trip where they guy I went with - very nice and had a great time traveling with him, but not so much of a drinker!!!

Most everyone had arrived in Kuta, Bali on a Sunday night, whereas 2 of my friends and I arrived Wednesday evening. We had a couple drinks at the house before leaving as well as a couple more at the airport - so needless to say, we where feeling pretty good when we boarded!!! We arrived at the hotel at around 1000pm and they where all drinking!! Awesome! We had bought a couple bottles of jager duty free, and the drinking continued. Most everyone went out that night, but I wasn't feeling it, so I went to bed. In fact, the first few nights I wasn't feeling all that up to going out (jet leg? too much sun? who knows?) but once we got to the Gili Islands.......

Yes, so three days after we got to Kuta, we all (9 of us) went to the Gili Islands - this time, via the fast boat. Last time I took the slow boat which of course was much cheaper, but my goodness was it worth paying the extra $20 to take the fast boat. We left the hotel at 6:30am and was on the island by 10:30am!!! Time to get our drink on!!! 2 of the guys went and found us a room, this time a bit further from the beach, but nothing I couldn't handle!! haha We where on the Gili islands for 4 or 5 days - I honestly can't remember - and some of things we did - apart from drink - including going snorkeling where we saw hundreds of fish. I don't think I have been anywhere where I have seen THAT many fish. We got rained on during our last snorkeling spot, so that got cut short, oh well, it was still amazing.

We also took a boat, a private boat might I add (the bonuses of traveling with a large group) to Lombok where we hired a van and went to the small town of Senggigi. Here we had some amazing food and a couple beers at a few different pubs. I also purchased my 'Gucci' watch for a whole $10, as well as got some pearl rings and a pearl bracelet for not much more. One of the days was spent watching movies all day - lets just say I wasn't feeling all that well. It had nothing to do with all the alcohol and sun, no no, nothing at all!! DVD's are super duper cheap, about a dollar for one. One of the guys we where with went mad and bought tons, and I mean tons. I bet he has over 100, maybe even close to 200!!! I bought some myself as well. If you bought them in the shops you would get so many free, so I purchase 30 and got 13 free!!

Once we arrived back in Kuta, it was a whole lotta vegging around, getting massages and buying cheap things. Massages where about $5 for an hour, I got some more dresses (heehee) for about $30 all together, plus knick-knack's and Christmas gifts. It was also so hot there, hotter then Darwin I'd saw just without the humidity. I remember one afternoon I walked around Kuta for a bit, then headed down to the beach for a swim and some sun tanning. When I was about to put my shirt back on, it was soaking wet - so I just walked back to the hotel with my towel on!!! I also continued my partying when we got back to Kuta, going out 2 or 3 nights and having a blast. One bar we went to had a live band and Matty and I where up dancing away and singing our hearts out. Next thing I know one of the singers (there was 2) handed me the mike and I went up and sang with the other singer!!!! I probably did horrible, but I didn't care, I had a blast!! Next thing I know, they pulled Matty up and he went and sang a song!! haha There where about three different bars all next to each other and we would go to all three - mainly because they offered different specials. One of the bars had specials like 5 cent draft beef, or on Sunday's girls drink for free - although the drinks where pretty shit - things like that. And of course most of the bars stayed open till 3 or 4!!!

Oh yeah, and did I mention how funny these guys where?? Oh my gosh, I don't think I've laughed so hard, for so long. There was always something funny being said or being done. My cheeks still hurt from laughing so hard!!! There was also this Argentinian guy there who was hilarious. He would tell a joke, and half the time I wouldn't understand what he was saying or wouldn't get the punch line, but we would be laughing at him telling the joke with his accent. The guy had so much energy and would just go go go. I don't think he could slow down to even sleep!!!!

We did take one day in Kuta and 6 of us went white water rafting. I have been before along the Kicking horse river with work friends - and our boat flipped over at the start of class 4 rapids, and I went down the rest with just my lifejacket on. Well this time, wouldn't ya know it, our boat flipped over. Luckily it wasn't through any class 4 rapids, and the river was pretty shallow so we all just got dumped in one spot. Two of the other people we where with each lost a sandal, and I lost a paddle, but we got it back not much further down the river. We did get to go down a 4 meter drop which was also pretty cool! Oh what good times it was!!! After being on the water for nearly 2 1/2 hours (with one break) we had to climb this incredible steep hill (I had to stop twice!) for a buffet lunch. The food was pretty good considering we only paid $25 for the whole thing, including transport there and back.

All in all the trip was pretty freakin' awesome. Actually to sum it up I'd say it was one of the funnest and funniest trips I've taken with friends, and that says a lot as I've had some fantastic trips with friends from up north. Love ya guys!!!!

Snorkeling on the Gili Islands, on our own private boat

Party time at the pool in Kuta

Having lunch on the Gili Islands

Breathtaking views from Lombok

More party time at the bars in Kuta

The white water rafting crew

what a trip!!

After 5 weeks of endless time in airports and more time on airplanes, I am finally back in Darwin, my current 'home'!

After my fantastic Cuba trip, I headed back to Brisbane for a short 6 day stay, then flew to Bali for a 2 week unbelievably funny, fun and fabulous holiday!!! So, as can see I have been a bit busy to update my blog, but now that I am home, I will start updating you all on my adventures.

First off, Brisbane.

I had 6 days in Brisbane and I tried to keep myself a busy as possible!! I met up with a couple Irish friends who I met on tour from Perth to Broome. They showed me around the heart of Brisbane, touring around the city, catching some rays at the city lagoon, catching a ride on the city ferry's. So cool to be able to pay the same price for a bus/train ticket and go on the ferries!!! It was great to catch up with great people and hopefully they will come visit me in Darwin :)

I hit some of the beaches up the Sunshine coast as well. My friend, Shannon, and I took the 1 1/2 drive up to Kings beach and Bullocks beach. There was some kind of festival happening and it was PACKED. Now, I can head to a beach, lay out my towel and read a book or play Sudoku for hours - of course heading into the water every now and then to cool off! Shannon on the other hand, not quite so much!! He went into the water and as soon as he came out, he was bored and ready to move on!! So needless to say, we didn't stay at the beach all that long. We went for lunch - had to have fish and chips :) and then went back to the beach for another dip in the water. We decided that we could go check out another beach, so we went north to Dicky's beach where there was an old ship wreak. There where some pretty big waves happenin' so I opted to not go in the water. We stayed here for a bit, I checked out all the hot life guards :) and then we headed back home. I can't wait to go back and check out more of the beaches!!

I also went to Dream World on the Gold coast, south of Brisbane. It was a bit of a hassle trying to get in, but in the end, we got in just as the park opened and we where there ALL day!! Dream world has tons of rides, including 6 thrill rides, 5 of which we went on (the big roller coaster was down for maintenance, a big bummer). Plus the park also had a kind of a mini zoo. We saw lots of aussie animals, koala's, roo's, emos, plus reptiles, tigers and cougars. Of course the rides where my favorite!! There was the Wipeout, The claw - speeds up to 75km's per hour, the Drop - world's highest drop of 39 stories!!! What a thrill that was. A motorcycle roller coaster which was different, but not worth the 40 minute wait for a 25 second ride. And my favorite, which I went on 3 times, the Tower of Terror - 0-160mk's in 2 seconds!! Of course we also went on the log ride - and I got soaked to the bone!!!

The rest of my time was spent checking out the community of Woody Point which was where Shannon stayed and as well as a bit of shopping :)

Mr friends, Denise, Ciara and me at the Lagoon

The citycats with Brisbane in the background

On the city ferries

Bullocks beach, Sunshine Coast

Ship wreck at Dicky's Beach

Dream world - the claw is the red ride to the bottom left, and the tower to the right with the Drop, and the Tower of Terror

Cuba Part 2

I had a full week with all my family and friends, and to be honest, I was pretty lazy!
My days where pretty consistent, woke up between 7:30 and 8:30, went and had breakfast, off to the Internet cafe for about 30 minutes, then headed to the beach. I snorkeled twice, would have done more but a couple of the mornings where a bit rough and so the water was murky, and I didn't like going out alone so I always waited for someone. Both times I went, I went with my dad, the first time we saw a massive eel - I was proud to have spotted him first, he was pretty cool as he had his head out of his home opening and closing his mouth - I think he was hungry, so I stayed away!! And of course dad didn't bring his camera!! That was the only exciting thing we saw, but I can never get enough of the coral just meters from the shore!!! I would then laze around the beach, catching up with everyone until noon time when we would head into the beach bar/cafe for lunch. I wasn't always that hungry, but we where drinking pretty much all day, and I though it was a good idea to have something small, so I usually had a hot dog or a pizza. The afternoon we usually headed up to the pool - there is only so much sand I can take, plus the pool was always refreshing to jump into! We where at the resort during their Oktoberfest event, so there was always games or something going on. I didn't participate that much, but did in a couple of events. Thursday and Friday they cooked up sausages and you could get any of there main beers from a can (much better then the draft they served!). We usually had super at 7pm when the buffet opened, and there was different theme nights; seafood, Italian, Cuban, international ect. We went to the sit down restaurant our last night together, Saturday, and had a fabulous 3 course meal - seafood appy, ravioli, and garlic prawns as my main, oh so yummy!!
After dinner we would head upstairs to the piano bar, where we would have Spanish coffees, chat, and listen to the pianist playing. At 9:15 was the show, which we caught most of the shows except one as we where too busy chatting and then too tired and so we headed off to bed. The shows consisted of fashion shows, a show that was done in the pool, and other theme dances usually performed by dancers not working on the resort. By that point I was usually exhausted - was it jet leg? was it the heat? probably a combination, but I was usually in bed and asleep by 10:30!

Now there where a couple of days that didn't quite follow this itinerary. On Tuesday was Mom and Dad's renewal of their wedding vows. It was at 2pm on the grass in front of the beach, so after our lunch we all headed off to our rooms to get ready. It was a beautiful set up with flowers made into a heart where Mom and Dad stood during the ceremony. The band played a Cuban song as they walked to the front and the ceremony was done in Spanish then repeated in English. Dad said his vows first, then Mom, and I think by the end we where all in tears! It was very very nice. Afterwards we all had champagne and a toast to mom and dad plus some amanzing chocolate cake!! After taking some pictures, actually lots of pictures, we all changed and where off to the pool!! We where scheduled to have dinner at 6:30 and none of us felt like staying in our nice outfits, so we all chilled in the pool till we had to get ready again. I don't think any of us minded as it was a beautiful hot sunny day, so it was nice to chill out in the pool, and of course have a couple drinks! There where 2 weddings that day and we all had supper at the same time, which was again a three course meal, dessert, PLUS another cake (a flan specially made for mom by here favorite chef!). We where all pretty stuffed afterwards! We followed our usually plan of heading to the piano bar for some Spanish coffees, but I was too full and just stuck with water!! What an amazing day and was so proud to see my parents renewing their vows after 30 years!

The other day was Saturday afternoon where mom, dad, laura, rachel, rance, diana and myself all hailed a taxi and went into the closest town of Santa Cruz. One of the entertainers lives there and she was kind enough to invite us over to her house. We arrived at about 1:30 and had a tour of her house - never judge a house by the outside!! Her house was beautiful and we got to meet her husband, daughter, mom, dad and brother. They made fresh tuna dip with crackers as well as a cake for my mom and dad - which she was very proud to have put chocolate icing on (it is mucho mucho expensive to get chocolate). We went for a walk in town and saw her mom's house as well as some of the shops - it helped that they where air conditoned as it was a very hot afternoon. I felt very honoured to have been invited to a Cubans home and see a little bit of what it is like to live in Cuba. Such an honour that not many people get to experience! Thank you!!!

The family left Sunday afternoon after lunch and my flight was the next morning at 7am - a lovely 4am wake up call. Seeing the family off was very sad but was so glad that I got to be there and would have been more sad to hve missed the whole thing all together. That day was a pretty crappy day - very very windy, cloudy and on and off rain all day. After they left I spend the day in the room, and had supper with Roberta and Frank who where there for another week. I didn't go to the show that evening as I needed to pack, and tried to go to bed as early as possible. But that didn't go as planned - I was so worried I'd sleep through my alarm I was up every 20 minutes after 1am. My flights to LA where pretty good, other then getting sick of waiting in airports!! I had to recheck my bag in Cancun and when I arrived in LA I noticed I was missing the small backpack that zips onto my main one. It had all my sunscreen that mom had given to me, some of my dirty clothes and other miscellaneous things. The worst thing, it didn't have a bag tag on it as it was ATTACHED to my main bag by 2 zippers on either side of and a clip at the top - how it came off, I have NO idea. Anyways, they put a search in for it. My only saving grace is that I put a piece of paper in the front part that has my Australian address and phone number. Who knows if I will ever see it again?! I was informed that if they didn't find it in a week, they would mail me the claims form to fill out.
Anyways, I had a night and a full day in LA...... so I went shopping!!! I took the express bus into a popular shopping center and bought some more sunscreen - it is almost impossible to get anything less the SPF 30 in Australia, so I picked up a few SPF 15 and 12. I also found a wicked deal on an Olympus waterproof/shockproof camera plus I got some accessories. I headed to the airport for the last part of my flights to Brisbane. It left on time and I again sat next to a nice couple, and I once again was able to sleep for about 7 or 8 hours. But oh was I glad to have finally landed 2 days later!!!

All in all, an amazing trip, despite the flights and Mexicana losing half my bag, and once I get a chance to load pictures, I will!!!

CUBA??!!!

SURPRISE!!!
Heehee, what a surprise it was.
You see it was my parents 30th wedding anniversary in September, and about a year ago they agreed that they would renew their wedding vows in Cuba this October. I was going to miss it though because I was going to be in Australia.....or so everyone thought. Mom and I briefly discussed flying me out to Cuba as a surprise, but we didn't make any definite plans. When I arrived in Darwin in June we looked into it and within a week it was booked!! I would arrive earlier then them so I could surprise them when they arrived at the hotel, and it would be the best surprise EVER!! I have to admit, mom had it worse then me as she saw and spoke to everyone about the trip, and the poor thing couldn't say a thing!!!
I left Brisbane on Oct 9th, a Friday, and arrived in LA the same day, earlier then when I left - such a weird feeling. I had 16 hours at the airport and do you think I could find Internet??? Nope, nothing, they had WiFi, but of course I didn't bring my laptop! SO, I rented a room at the Holiday Inn, which was conveniently across the way of an Internet cafe! Now, the difficult thing about my flights was the fact that I was flying to Cuba, via the States. Supposedly I had a completely different itinerary for LA to Mexico so the USA didn't know my final destination was Havana. Well, I get to the check-in counter in LA, and sure enough they knew my final destination!!! The girl went and spoke to her manager (great I'm thinking) but when she came back she just said she could only check my bags to Cancun. Fine, that's totally alright with me!!!
I then flew to Mexico City at 2300 Friday night, and had a horrible aisle seat. I am very picky about flying and really prefer to have a window seat as I like to keep my feet up and I can also lean against the window. Needless to say, I had a horrible 4 hour flight as I couldn't sleep. I arrived in Mexico at like 6am, and had a few hours to kill. I actually thought the airline had lost my bag as I thought I had to take my bags through customs and then drop them off again to be sent to Cancun, but no, I found out that they where checked all the way through and I didn't need to take them through customs......why can't every airport operate the same??!!!! I then had a shorter 2 hour flight to Cancun, where I then had to pick up my bag, and check it in again to Havana!! After another 3 or 4 hour wait, I got on my last flight and was off to Havana. It was a nice short, one hour flight and it was so nice to land in Cuba!! But, it wasn't quite over, I still had an hour drive to the resort!! I had a cab come pick me up and I was at the resort by about 5:30. I was so relieved to be there, and even had a bit of a cry when I got to my room!! Amazing how jet leg makes you feel!! I was feeling very very tired, and not sleeping much the night before didn't help, so I grabbed a quick bite to eat and headed to bed. I don't think I lasted 5 minutes before nodding off, well actually, probably passing out as I didn't move until about 8:30 the next day!
Sunday was probably the longest day EVER waiting for my family to arrive. They where estimated to arrive at the 5:30 so I had all day to wait. After having breakfast i headed to the pool and hung out there, all day, waiting! At about 5 o'clock i couldn't wait any longer and headed up to the foyer. I put an order for drinks in for the family, and waited, and waited. At about 5:45 the bus finally showed up! I was hiding beside the bar and mom spotted me right away. I found this couple that I started talking to and I got one of the girls to video it on my camera. Once they all got there bags out and where checking in, I snuck in behind them all and once I got close enough I said "excuse me, could you help me", they all looked up and the looks on their faces was priceless - it could have been a Mastercard commercial!! I started to cry right away, and gave everyone hugs. As I was giving my dad a hug he still couldn't believe it was me, I think he looked at me about 3 times, and was still speechless. It total there was 8 of them on the bus, Mom, Dad, my sister Laura, her friends Rance and Rachel, my god parents Brad and Lisa, and my Dad's aunt, Diana. After everyone checked in and got somewhat settled, we all went in for some supper, then went for drinks and coffee at the infamous Piano Bar! Ah it was nice to be back in paradise with the people I love!!

Hello Brisbane!!!

I have arrived safe and sound in Brisbane, but missing Darwin like crazy, well, more missing Rob. Rob took me for a nice meal at an Indian/Thia/Malay restaurant before he took me to the airport at midnight last night. For some reason Darwin likes to have all their flights leaving and landing in the middle of the night. My flight left at 0110 and I arrived in Brissy at about 0500. Saying goodbye to Rob was really, really, really hard, but I know I will be seeing him in about 6 weeks, and I'm sure the time will fly by - I hope so anyways!!!! Thank goodness for texting and facebook chat!!!
I didn't get that much sleep on the plane so when I arrived at my friends place, we had a couple beers then he went to bed - as he just finished working a night shift, I put on a movie (of course after checking my facebook account) and feel asleep for a mini nap myself. 4 and half hours later I finally decided it was time to get up!!! Oh yeah, and might i add it was 13 degrees when we landed this morning.......can I say BRRRRR!!! :) I got up and decided to check out a bit of Brisbane. Shannon lives about 30km's from town so i more or less checked out the community he lives in, which is 3 blocks from the water!!! I took my book and music and headed to the water to enjoy life! I spend the better part of three hours there, walking around and reading. It was getting close to sunset so I decided to stay and watch the sun set behind the distant mountains. I can never get over a sunset and it was beautiful. I headed back to the house - after stopping for some beer of course and am just chilling out!!! I have a couple other friends in Brisbane which I will probably see over the weekend, so for now, it just relaxing and watching movies on Shannon's 42inch TV!! Shannon has to work tonight as well so its just me myself and I. I have Old School, Mr & Mrs, Smith and Transformers planned for the evening! Life's allright (apart from missing Rob!!)

ants, ants, and more ants!!!!

So throughout my travels over the years, there always seems to be some sort of bug/insect that either freaks me out or annoys the hell out of me. Calgary, there's the bees - don't get me started on the bees; Africa, well, there are tons, grasshoppers, roaches, scorpions, snakes, the list goes on; the Arctic there's the mosquitoes. They don't last year long, but the three weeks that they do come out they are HORRENDOUS. And now in Australia, its the ants. The cockroaches haven't bothered me that much - it helps that I live with three other men that can kill them for me :) and the spiders I hardly see - I've only had one encounter with one and it wasn't even in my room, but the ants.....the ants are driving me CRAZY!!!!!! You can hardly leave an empty cup out with ants coming along and finding it. How many times I have woken up in the morning to find hundreds of ants in cups or plates that where left out either in or by the sink is endless. I left a cup in my room once that once had spiced rum and coke in it (it was obviously empty!!) and there was trail of ants coming and going from it. It doesn't take long for them to disappear once you get rid of the food or dishes, but living with 4 other people, there is bound to be stuff left out. They are just tiny ants and they leave you alone, but they are EVERYWHERE!!!!
This morning was the worst, I came home to find millions of ants crawling from my window in my room, behind my bed along the wall, up and over a shirt that was up against the wall and into the hallway. I thought there was a cup left in the room, but nothing, I searched everywhere to see what they where after, but couldn't see anything. After getting ready for bed and was just about to enter my room when I noticed a bunch more coming in and out of my roommates room across the hallway. Ahh ha! Normally both Matty and Zoe are at work, and I knocked slightly and opened the door, but Matty was there. Oops, sorry, so I closed the door. I knew it was coming from their room and they don't bother you when they are on a mission, so I just went to bed. When I woke up in the afternoon I apologized for waking Matty up and I told him what I was doing, and he said that they had left some food on the floor that the ants where after. Why did they have to go through my room though!!! haha
One of the more funnier story involves my other housemate Cieran who came home slightly intoxicated one night and grabbed a piece of pizza and went to bed. Well, he passed out, I mean, fell asleep before eating all his pizza and woke up the next day to find hundreds of ants attacking the pizza!!!! LOL
So, that is my venting for the day - I guess things could be worse :)

Ants at the bus stop

Darwin update

Well, things have somewhat come back to normal. Due to work and work, and more work, we have no longer had any naked parties :( not to say it won't came back though!!

My time is getting shorter here in Darwin, I have 5 more shifts left of work and I fly out of Darwin on October 8th to go to Brisbane for a bit then its off to Bali, again, for two weeks with friends from Darwin.
However, first, let me talk about the weather. More specifically, me riding my bike back and forth to work in this ridiculous weather. Not that I am complaining, as I am truly LOVING the warm weather - just not cycling 22km's daily. Wednesday morning, after my night shift, was probably to worst ride home. Well, I actually made it home in record time - 29 minutes, but when I got home, I was soaking wet, and didn't stop sweating for about 15 minutes!! I sat down outside with my laptop and could feel the sweat dripping off my face and down my arms and chest. I know you guys probably don't want to hear that, but seriously, I am not one who sweats a lot, and I was sweating buckets!! It was 86% humidity that morning, only to get worse as the days go on. I have yet to get stuck in the rain, however it did drizzle one evening as I was coming home. And I have yet to see a thunderstorm - although I did hear that there was one early early yesterday morning. Just a little fun filled fact about my cycling, by the time I have finished, I will have cycled approximately 1320km's!!!! That's like driving to Yellowknife or to Surrey BC and back!!!!! Craziness.

Alright, so, back to what I plan on doing when done work in Darwin. Well, actually, I don't really know. Things have been going really, really well with Rob, and we are thinking of traveling together. The problem is, he is having a bit of difficulty getting work here in Darwin. He worked one shift down at the docks cleaning a conveyor belt, and he might be back there again this weekend, however, that is not enough! There is not too much construction starting up, and he is a bricklayer by trade, and so not much in that area. Hopefully over the next couple of weeks more people will be leaving Darwin due to the build-up and wet season (on average, about 30,000 people leave Darwin during this time period) and work will become available. SO, my plans are a bit in the air right now as it all depends on Rob getting work. If he can get work for a couple of months, when I return from Bali I will get another short contract back on 3B at the Darwin hospital, and save more money. We could either get staff village accommodation at that time, or maybe stay with Zoe and Cieran if it is closer for Rob's work. Basically, I don't know what the hell I will be doing after I return from Bali in November!! My flight is also booked for me to go all the way back to Brisbane, so I might be changing that, or flying back to Brisbane, and renting a car and driving to Darwin. There is a website called relocate cars, and I could rent a car for a $1/day, approx $300 in fuel allowance, and drive it to Darwin - much cheaper option then flying!!

Things are also getting better in the 'house' situation. Coxy has now moved to Broome for work and won't be returning, and Kym is leaving tomorrow for 2 weeks of work. This leaves Cieran, Zoe, Matty, Rob and myself. Kym was staying in Coxy's room and he stayed there once Coxy left, with Rob and I still sleeping on the floor, so it will be nice to actually sleep on a bed for once! Rob is liking it right now as he gets to sleep on the couch while I work my night shifts, and when I get home I sleep in Zoe and Matty's room as they don't usually get home till 4:30. It has been a bit frustrating though with other people eat my food!!! Leave my cookies alone dammit!! haha Yeah, our bread and milk seems to disappear awful quickly as well as my cookies and even my coconut milk. We made curry the other night and I knew I had one can of coconut milk left, low and behold, it wasn't there. AND, we had just come from the grocery store. It was one of those days where I could have cried :( and there is no going to the store to get more, as I don't have a car. I think Coxy was most of the problem - the guy lived out of the local petrol station eating chips/pop and more chips, occasionally buying bread and milk. We believed that he was using more of our food then he should have been, I understand using it every once and awhile, we all do it, but it was a little extreme. Oh well. Not much I can do about it, and I will be leaving soon - which I am happy and sad about. Happy to be done work for a while and sad to be leaving Rob. Hopefully he can get work and come to Bali with me :)

I have also been looking into my second year working holiday visa. Word from home is that the work situation is not the greatest. More closing of beds and possibly lay-offs - not good. I would be coming home only to be heading back north again just to get work. If things work out well with Rob I am considering applying for my second year in November and just staying in Oz after my Visa expires in January, not going to New Zealand just yet. BUT, there are so many unknown's right now, I don't have any answers. If I do stay in January I will definitely be going home for a short visit in the summer so I can attend the bestest of the best family reunions :) but then returning for more fun and sun in Australia. Cieran is applying for permanent residency, and this is also crossing my mind to look into when I am on my second year - especially if things keep going the way they do in Calgary.

So much going on, good, bad, the unknown.....hopefully some answers soon :)

BUT, in the meantime.....keep working, and of course partying!!! don't worry, no more naked party stories will be told! LOL