6/1/2016

I woke up in my tent very warm. I quickly packed up while being bitten like crazy by bugs.

 I took the scenic route back to Darwin via Berry springs a beautiful area with torquoise springs. 

I would have gone for a quick swim but there were crocodile warnings next to the steps. 

I continued along and found some giant termite mounds. Apparently it is something the Northern Territory is known for. 

When I got back into Darwin I stopped at the medical clinic because I thought that one of my scratches might be infected. They were nice and only made me wait a bit. Then I went to a cafe for a bit of lunch. It was called laneway. Darwin is known for their ice coffee, unsurprisingly as it is so hot in Darwin.

Then I met a conference friend for a coffee. It was lovely to have a chat and since she is a massage therapist she fixed up my stiff neck after camping. From coffee I was back to the airport and back home. 

5/31/2016

Saturday morning I stopped by Jenny's hotel to pick her up on the way to the conference. Unfortunately, they had the therapists and the open day completely seperate so I didn't get to see her for most of the day. The last day of the conference was pretty good. I finished my to do list and sent an email to Kate before it all left my head. 

At the end of the day we all went out for a drink. I stayed out until 8:30 when there were fireworks over the convention centre for a festival that just happened to be there. I don't remember what it was called. Something about diversity? 

Sunday I had the morning off. I went for a run around Darwin. I went for a run to the beach, on the mangrove Boardwalk, and into the botanical gardens.

I also went past a very funny place called frying nemo.

On my way to the afternoon session it started to rain. Big buckets of tropical rain. 

The afternoon session was quite exciting. We learning about using tape instead of bandages to treat lymphoedema. The tape is supposed to be hyper allergenic but my skin reacted all the same. 

Sunday night I went back to Midril market and ate a potato on a stick, a slushy, eggplant curry, and a churro. Then I went home packed and went to bed. 

Monday morning I was up early. I got a coffee on my way down to Litchfield national park. 

I had planned to walk a 42km loop called table top track so I dropped my pack at the first campsite and drove around to the other side of the track. When I arrived at Wangi falls I asked at the kiosk for a map and a permit. They said that the Rangers were out on the track and should be able to help me. I started out slowly and got lost walking in circles for 3 hours. I finally found the track and walked quickly to make it to camp by dark(sorry no pictures). I didn't quite make my objective and I was quite tired and beaten up by scrub by the time I made it to camp. I collapsed into the tent and got a good night sleep. I woke up to find that a dingo stole my shoe. I'm not even kidding. My left shoe was missing. I decided that I didn't want to walk the rest of the track in sandals so I arranged to get a ride back to my car at noon. In the mean time I went for a swim at Florence falls.  

it was beautiful and peaceful. After the ride back I went for a swim at wangi falls.

It was still beautiful but also very busy. After a nice swim. I spent the rest of the evening lounging around in my tent. 

5/27/2016

Happy Birthday Abbie! 

Sunday I got caught up on the things that I haven't done all week. I went to the market and made some food for the week. I am going away on Tuesday and Damien has a busy week of study ahead of him. The CFA(certified financial analyst, not firefighter) exam is June 4thand he hasn't done nearly enough to prepare. I also started packing. 

Monday was a busy day at work and I was excitedly getting everything ready to go to the lymphoedema conference. Monday evening was quiet as I was getting the final touches together before I left. 

Tuesday I was worthless at work. I don't think I fooled anyone. All of my patients know I was leaving and I am so excited to go. After work I dropped past the Lymphoedema to pick up one final thing that I had left. I went home for a quick dinner and I rushed to the airport for a 7:50pm flight to Darwin where I will be spending the next 5 days at the Austrasian lyphology assiciation/international Lymphoedema framework conference. I got to Darwin just after midnight. I have heard all about the Darwin crocodiles and found one right in the airport.

When I got to the hotel reception was closed so I used a lock code to get into my room. After 5 minutes of trying to get into room 10 I called the owner and mentioned that I seemed to be having trouble with the lock. Moments before he said it I realised my mistake. I did not have the key to room 10 I had the key to room 01 and had been holding it upside down. Oh my! When I got into my room, a huge bug was there to greet me. I was going to step on it but thought twice as I didn't want to mess up my shoes. I reached for the large magazine on the desk but before I could get it the bug disappeared under the bed to plot its attack. I spent the night with the bedside light on as everything felt/looked like a bug. I didn't have the best sleep but I did get some rest. Luckily, I had only booked one night in the bug hotel and the next morning I left at 6:30. I carried my things to the bus stop and just missed my intended bus. Google maps then told me that I would have to walk 2.5km in order to catch another bus. I walked 2.1km and encountered a closed road. I re-routed and needed to walk another 1.0km in order to get a bus. When I finally reached the bus stop the bus that picked me up had come from the bus stop just outside my hotel. Sigh. 

I made it to the convention centre just in time. Unfortunately, the first presentation was not at the convention centre but across the street in a hotel. Luckily, I was not the only one who had made a mistake and another lovely lady gave me a hand with one of my bags. 

The first workshop was quite good. I had just learned the technique that they were teaching a few months ago so it was just a quick refresher but it was still useful. 

I met a nurse that I have sent countless letters, but had never met in person on the way out of the workshop and we had lunch at a pub. We were joined by two locals who gave us some great tips. 

The afternoon session was wound management. I learned all about bandaging and skin care. It was really good as that is an area that I don't know much about. After the workshop I went to the supermarket to buy pantyhose for tomorrow. I also got a bottle of juice and a bag of popcorn. The popcorn didn't last very long but the juice has been wonderful and refreshing all week. The new bug free hotel is great. Though I have to complain about the messy occupant. In addition to the lag of bugs this hotel is also walking distance to the conference. 

Yesterday was the preconference workshops. Thursday is when the real fun began. It started with a 7am walk. Only 4 of us showed up so we just walked at chatted. The Physio from Orbost had just run her first marathon and I was so excited for her. After that we had a breakfast seminar. Followed by the welcome to country, aboriginal dancers, and the introductory speech. 

The morning continued and I got an email from work. I ran home on my lunch break to send the paperwork that they were requesting. In response I got a message that the recipient was out of the office until Monday. I angrily returned to the conference for the afternoon session. The afternoon was the first of several paper sessions where papers are presented on 2-4 topics simultaneously in different rooms. Participants jump back and forth between rooms to listen to the paper of interest. It is a great idea but I find that many papers that I want to listen to are being presented concurrently while the ones that don't interest me all seem to be presented when I am free. During all of our breaks there are posters and vendors available for us to peruse. At the end of the day there was a welcome reception with drinks and minimal food. I got to meet several other attendants that I had only ever talked to by phone/email. I find that I have similar interests to many of the physiotherapists whilst I have less in common with the nurses and massage therapists. 

After the reception almost all of us went to the night market. It was very exciting. I saw the sunset on the beach and bought a dress. 

Friday morning I was a bit less excited to get out of bed. I slept in and skipped breakfast. I also ended up accidentally missing the first lecture. It was a good lecture but I had heard it twice already so I wasn't too upset. Today's schedule was quite similar to yesterday's. I did more networking and learned about some different aspects of lymphoedema. Some of the presentations were quite radical. I also found the hidden ice cream. The meals have been sparse and disappointing. We eat whilst walking around and discussing papers/products. I got terrible reflux during lunch and needed to duck behind a poster to compare myself. After that I was still hungry but also did not want to brave a second sandwich. I saw a colleague with an ice cream and asked where she had found it. She directed me to the hidden freezer when I had 1 ice cream for lunch and a second for afternoon tea. 

Tonight I skipped the conference dinner and went out for pho instead. Then I had some much needed quiet time. I have gotten a bit peopled out and it was nice to go back to my room and sort through all my notes. 

Tomorrow is open day and Jenny my receptionist will be here. It will be nice to have a conference buddy for the last day. Early start so off to bed!

5/21/2016

Damien has started setting reminders so that if my blog is more than a week old he pesters me about it. Which is good but maybe we should set the reminders for more often. Lots happens in a week.

So last Friday I decided that it wasn't worth it to fight the visa refusal decision and that I would just reapply. That decision has made me much less stressed.

So Friday evening when we got back from Cann River Damo and I went out for Sri Lankan/Indian. It was lovely. With all of the expensive visa stuff recently we have been trying to be super thrifty but it was nice to try somewhere new.

Saturday I spent a while skyping my sister and baking a cake. I made a delicious Black Forest cake for tomorrow...

Sunday we had a Eurovision party. We had a great day of European food, Trivia, and watching crazy performers. I of course liked Australia and Ukraine-the winner. After the party we overstayed by several hours playing board games and trying to teach our friend's 6 month old to be American.

Monday I had another very long day. I am getting more used to the hours now but Monday I was still struggling to maintain energy. 

Tuesday, I was very tired. I had an early appointment and I never recovered. I came home and took a power nap before going orienteering. Either the powernap or the orienteering woke me up and after having a great night of running I felt much better. 

Wednesday I felt like a star. I was well rested and I powered through another long day at work. After work Damien and I had a huge board game where we played ticket to ride and dominion simultaneously. It was pretty crazy. I won twice. 

Thursday was a bit hectic I was over booked and I needed to rush between appointments all day. In the evening we went climbing. It was a good session. I felt strong. I also really enjoyed eating burgers and max Brener chocolate afterward. 

Friday was my last day at the nursing home! From now on I will be completely in the community. I will miss some of the residents but I am very happy about the change. After work we went out for Ange's birthday. We went to chin chin for dinner and then a bar called loop for drinks.

Saturday I took an English speaking test. It took the whole day. I need it to get a skilled visa. I along with 2000 other people trying to prove English competency, spent the day being tested on our reading, writing, listening, and speaking. It was very scary. It is not aimed at native English speakers. I hope I did well. Because if I am not fluent in English I am in a bit of trouble...

Sunday, was a lazy catch up and prepare day. I am off to Darwin for a conference on Tuesday so I needed to organise the last little bits-like a car and a hotel. We also went to the market and I made some food for Damo to eat whilst I am away. He tells me that he is an adult who can feed himself but I'm still trying to save him the trouble of buying food and cooking it.  

2 day work week ahead. I can't wait to go to Darwin. 

5/13/2016

I Hey happy Friday the 13th! 

I have been very very busy. I have been working on visa troubles: talking to lawyers, organising documents to appeal, trying to find money. But now I think I have a plan. I'm not barred from starting over so that's what I'm going to do. 

I also had a very belated birthday present of virtual reality. Dan, Damo, and I went to a warehouse and put on goggles and vests and imaginary shot zombies for 45 minutes. It was pretty cool.

Happy belated Mother's Day. I Skyed mom and enlisted her help in getting Grammie a book by Leslie stahl called Becoming Grandma. Which is a great book. We also celebrated with Damo's mum. We were going to take her out for lunch but it was cold and rainy so she just came over and I made persimmon cake. It was pretty good.

Work has also been crazy. I applied for a promotion with Transform. I didn't get it but I did get a half promotion which I will have details about soon.

I have also been working a bit more at the lymphoedema clinic. Kate has been a bit unwell and I have picked up quite a few extra patients. So I'm working 8:30-5:30 on Monday and Wednesday. 

So, both of my jobs want more of my time. Sigh.

To counteract the extra work I also have some extra fun. Damien spent his prize money to buy Dominion the card game that I was introduced to at the board game championship. 

Also, Abbie and Rachel are coming to visit me! I am so excited. I have so many plans. I am going to take them to Cann River, Sydney, some waterfalls, and some delicious foods. Yay!!

5/2/2016

What have I been up to? Don't know. What have you been up to? 

Well to start work and then a weekend yay! A long weekend even. 

Since Friday was the first night of Passover. Damien and I had a Seder. We were supposed to go to a friend's but the host was sick and cancelled last minute. It ended up being fine and we had a lovely 2 person one at home.

Except for the matzo ball soup. That was really dense and sad.

But the zucchini 'cake' made up for it.

I had been quite run down all week so on Saturday I was lazy. I think that I was just barely awake all day. Instead of exercising Damien and I just drove to the park where I laid on the grass and Damien read me a story. For the second night of Passover we reheated out left overs and had a second Seder... With 'garlic bread'

On Sunday we were much more productive. We went for a run/hike in Lerderderg national park. We had planned 10 miles but then did 11. It was great. Damien had never been and he really enjoyed it. 

On Monday we played some board games with Dan. Dan and Damien don't know what to do with all of their prize money from winning the board game championships last week so we tried out some new games for them to possibly purchase. Oh and also Monday was ANZAC day so we didn't have work. We should have played 2 up but we only played board games. 

The short week at work was pretty uneventful. On Friday I was in Cann River. Damien is the best and helped with the drive. We stopped for dinner at Curry House in sale. It was mostly Passover friendly but then they brought out 2 big bowls of rice. Damien didn't want to waste so he ate them all and ended up with a terrible tummy. 

The day in Cann River was lovely. I had a paper to finish so we went for a run and then spent the evening writing my paper. 

On Saturday we headed home but took some great stops along the way. We stopped at little Alice the last meal of Passover.

Then we stopped at Den of Nargun.

It was very peaceful and beautiful. Then we drove and drove and drove. And got back to Melbourne just in time for a post Passover baklava.

And then some cookies

On Suday we tried to get a bit of work done and I continued the trend of wheat by making focaccia.

My boss has hurt her back so I am working a bit extra this week trying to fill in the extra work. It was a bit of a mess this morning. I wasn't supposed to start until 11am but I arrived at 8am just in case. Good thing because I arrived moments before the first patient arrived. She hadn't gotten the message. Just as well because I was able to treat her. It was a little bit hectic but it all worked out just fine. Can't wait to see what the rest of the week looks like. 

 

4/19/2016

I have a good reason for the delay this time...

I dropped my phone in the toilet so I lost my blogging ability for a few days. I got it replaced and I'm back in action now.

Thursday night we went climbing. Damo came along for the first time in about 6weeks. He did awesome. I think he gets stronger from taking time off. For dinner we had Malaysian fried chicken and roti at Mammak. 

Friday I had the day off but Damien and I had a wedding to attend in the evening so I spent most of the day getting ready. It was one of Damien's friends from elementary/high school/university. It was a lovely wedding with some exciting cars.

Plus the food was lovely.

Over the weekend we played in the Victorian board game championships. We got 4 entries for the price of 3 so I played settlers of catan on Saturday. It did not go well. I came very last in 3 of 4 games. Then I ripped my pants and then I dropped my phone in the toilet. It was an unlucky day. The other game that was in the championship for Saturday was dominion. It was an interesting one so we looked it up when I got home. 

Sunday was the big day of board games. Damien and I played ticket to ride while Dan played Carcassonne. Damien won ticket to ride and $200 while Dan got 3rd and I got 5th. After the games my friend Steph was down from her new home on the Gold Coast so we caught up for a bit. We went to a bar and found that they had Mario-car, so of course we played that for about an hour before we all headed home.

Monday was more climbing but a boring post climb meal of leftover salad.

Tuesday I got my phone replaced. As a cool insider tip: if you buy your phone in America and then get it replaced in Australia the currency rates are too confusing so Apple replaces your phone for free :) 

So new iPhone for $0. I wanted to downgrade to the 6SE but they told me that wasn't an option. Anyway the phone is back in actions and doing great!