1/30/2015

I missed my train :( I was supposed to get the 7:26 train in sunshine but instead I went to footscray so I missed my train by 1 minute. That meant that I had to wait 45 minutes for the next train so that I was 36 minutes late for work. That's ok because there isn't much that I could do before 9am anyway. I was at a new facility today. I liked it. It's my favourite I have been to for a while. 

After work I met Damo in the city to pick up our race packs for a bike ride tomorrow and went out to dinner for his friend Dil's birthday. It was at the James Squire pub. The food was actually really good. We shared chicken with a side of vegetables and potatoes and more potatoes. 

1/29/2015

I woke up and said to myself, "I'm coming home from work and taking a nap" then I realised that it was rock climbing night and that I couldn't nap. I did the bike and train combo today which got me to work 30 minutes early. I will have to sleep longer next time. Today was fine. No poop. We conducted a manual handling course, which was cool. After work I went climbing. It was so good! I had a really good night. I did a couple of really hard climbs. I felt like a rock star! Then we had Korean and Rachel's favourite Korean cooked us sashami right on our table! (I couldn't eat it but it was fabulous to watch). Then straight home and right to bed. So tired! 

1/28/2015

Today was my first real day in private practice. I was there for 10 hours from 9am-8pm. It was a bit of a long day but only because I didn't have enough patients. I did get a chance to read through treatment plans and patient notes. I also started on some administrative projects that should fill my time nicely. I also went marketing and met most of the business in the area. I think it should be quite good once I start treating a few more patients. When I got home at 9pm. I did some chores before promptly falling asleep. 

1/27/2015

Today was a pretty crappy day. I ran to catch my train just to find that the connecting train was canceled so that I needed to wait 35 minutes at the station. The first thing that I did when I got to work was sit in poop. I only got a bit done before using my lunch break to travel to another facility. I got to the second facility to find that everyone had fallen over the weekend and I had 8 fall reviews to do. I made it through 6. Another patient fell out of a hoist while I was there and pooped her pants, next to me not on me, thank goodness. I ended up working half an hour late to finish my paperwork. 

Oh I forgot to mention that Damien and I got a 2foot zucchini at the market on Sunday. So far I have made a salad(which called for 3 zucchini), zucchini mozzarella sandwiches, and tonight I made zucchini and carrot risotto.... There is still half left. 

1/26/2015

I got a long weekend for Australia Day. Sunday we were productive. Damien and I unpacked some of his stuff from the garage, I planted seeds, we had an amazing brunch at the market, I did laundry and then we went to his parents for an Australia Day BBQ. All in all a very productive day. 

Monday(actual Australia Day) I did the great Australia Day swim with Dan. This year I only did the short 1.4km swim. It took me 39 minutes but I did get quite lost. 

After swimming Damien and I went to the Australian open! Very exciting! I got a big yellow ball which I took around and got signed by 2 juniors and 1 professional player. From 1pm to 8pm we saw 20 games on 20 different courts. My favourite was the parolympian who was warming up. He was incredible. We had dinner in south bank with Dan and watched the Australia Day fireworks. 

1/24/2015

I worked in Werribee on Friday. It's a 45minute commute each way. I enjoyed the work and I am really starting to get my head around all of the paperwork. I am still trying to learn the names of the residents but I'm slowly making progress. 

Damien and I were supposed to have date night but he ended up needed to work late. So I went for a nice run after work. I think I went a tad to far because Damien beat me home by 5 minutes. We played powergrid and made an African chicken from the spices that I got in Malacoota last weekend. It was pretty good. Nothing special but it was fun to make. 

Today Damien and I set out on a 32km run in the hottest part of the day. I made it 22 before giving up and stopping for lunch. After which, we walked 4km to Flinder's street and took the train home. We had a very lazy evening of card games and watching the Australian open on TV. 

1/22/2015

It's been a pretty busy week. Well I say that but actually I have had 2 days off. On Monday I did chores and bought new pots. Since Kat is moving out I will have no pots. So I bought nice ones. 

Tuesday I worked. It went well. Nothing exciting. I'm starting to learn the residents so things are getting a bit easier. 

Wednesday I had the day off again so I went out to lunch with Damo. He is working in the city so we got Pho and went to the gardens for lunch. Kat and I also went out for trivia night at the pub at the end of the street. We started out strong but ended up 9th. 

Thursday I had a long day of work we started with a 7:45 staff meeting, then I worked 9-3:30 and then I had another meeting 4:30-6:30 so it was a long day. I came home ate leftover birthday ice cream, cleaned up a bit and went to bed. A bit later than I wanted. 

1/18/2015

We took the long way back from Cann River starting by going to the market in Malacoota on Saturday morning.  Malacoota is a town bigger than Cann River on the Victoria side of the New South Wales border. I had heard that the Malacoota market had amazing blueberries and was also a good place for some other interesting items. It was amazing. We got blueberries, peaches, chili wine, dumplings, a skirt, a plant, spice mixes, and soap. I'll take orders for my next visit :). Walking through the town we got green smoothies and plenty of tourist information. We took a kayak out on the lake and had a tad of trouble. We almost got sucked out into the ocean then we kept beaching the Kayak in shallow water. It was 2 hours of great fun. I'm sure I will go back. 

After Malacoota we climbed Genoa peak. It was a 7km drive and a 1.5km run. The view from the top was absolutely spectacular. We could see over the border and out to the ocean. 

Then we went on the Drummer rainforest walk. It was only 1km but it was a beautiful loop. 

We stopped in Marlo for dinner at the local pub which serves an amazing seafood menu and an equally amazing margarita pizza. 

We spent the night camping in Lake Tyres State park. We thought that we were so sneaky getting the campsite all the way at the end of the road but found that 2 cars of fishermen had the same idea. I think they fished all night because they were fishing when I went to sleep and were still fishing when I woke up. It was my first time using my new tent that I had gotten on sale in June. It is good for a summer night but might not be the best when it starts to cool off. 

We woke up just before 6 as you do when you are camping and drove to Lake's entrance for breakfast. We ate peaches from the market as we walked around so we weren't actually hungry when we went to the coffee lab and cafe. I got house blend of 2 single origin coffees and promised myself that I would be back to have some of the delicious looking food soon. 

We stopped a few more kilometers down the road at a historical house on the lakes. It was mildly interesting but not worth a return trip. 

The next stop was lunch for pasta and a steak sandwich. Good but not extraordinary. We did stop at a rose garden afterward which was quite beautiful. Then straight back into the city on our way in we got stuck in traffic as they were doing road work in the city. We missed the 5pm deadline for returning the car by 6 minutes so we had to hold onto the car for an extra 14 hours and pay the $45 late fee. No huge problem and it let me use the car to pick up groceries. 

1/16/2015

Today was my first day working in Cann River as a physiotherapist. Cann river is a 5.5 hour drive outside Melbourne so I took all of my supplies with me to work in the nursing home in Thursday. Most of the staff laughed at me. I went straight from work to the train where I met Damien who had picked us up Grill'd. We picked up our rental car which is a cute little Toyota Yarris and got on the road. We stopped for dinner in Sale. There was a great Indian place called The Curry Cottage. Great food but I think they stayed open just for us so it was a little slow. 

We arrived at the Cann River bush nursing center just after 1am. I got up early to be ready for my first patient at 9am. Today I treated from 9-3pm and then spent a bit finishing notes. I really enjoyed it and I think I got along with most of the patients as well. After I finished Damien and I went to the beach. He thought he found a nice short cut. It was a 40km dirt road...(Damien stands by his claim)

We did make it to bemm river and the beach. We stopped at the only store(the tackle and bait shop) and got ice cream. Then we drove to what we thought was the beach... It was a 200m hike through a field to the river. So we hopped back into the car and went the right way, past some kangaroos to our own private beach. It was empty as far as we could see. We walked 4-5km down the beach only seeing one fisherman, and then 2 more on the way back. It was lovely. 

I was pretty hungry by the time we got back to the car but everywhere was closed so we went back to the accommodation for 2 nectarines. So excited for breakfast tomorrow! 

Up early tomorrow for a market :) 

1/14/2014

First day in private practice. I didn't actually do anything because my provider number hasn't come through. Instead I learned the computer system and policies and got to leave early. I used my time to take Damien out to lunch and to get my iPad fixed, it had gotten cracked coming back from my new years get away. Then I tried to go to bed early because 2 early morning in a row is just too many. 

1/13/2015

Today was my first day of work. It was fun but I had to keep catching myself and not saying that I was a student. I started today in a nursing home in Altona. It's about 40 minutes door to door. The nursing staff was very helpful as I was trying to learn patient names. It's not hard work and the residents have the ability to be so inspiring. After work I went climbing. Our climbing group is getting bigger and I climbed with a new friend who is very technically good. I worked really hard but wasn't hitting the same numbers that I'm used to. I blame work for making my feet sore before I even started. 

1/12/2015

I had my ice cream party on Saturday it was fun. The final flavour list was: hokey pokey, party cake, mint chocolate cookie, cardamom&cinamon, carrot habanero, avocado coconut, strawberry balsamic, cherry vanilla, coffee crunch, mango sorbet and sweet corn. 

Other than that I have been playing power grid quite a bit. Damien got me 4 more maps for my birthday so we have played all 4. I have won 3 of them :) 

Damien and I also went on a nice 21km run yesterday in the heat. It was hard but rewarding. Today I've just been wrapping up paperwork before I start work tomorrow!

1/8/2015

Yesterday I had a big day for my birthday. I got up early and Damien and I went to peninsula hot springs south of mornington. It's about an hour long drive away. The weather was quite warm so the hot springs were relaxing and the cold pools were refreshing. Next we went to lunch at a German/Czech restraunt. It was lovely. Then down to point Napean the eastern side of the heads of port Phillip bay. We ran the 2.8km to the end in 100degree heat. At the end we went into the tunnels which were cool and refreshing. I flew my kite off the end for about 5 minutes until I tried to move. We ran back to the car where we enjoyed water and air conditioning on full blast. From there we headed to SunnyRudge strawberry farm to pick some strawberries. They limit you to 1 box, so we each got one. The farm also had fantastic strawberry ice cream. On our way back to Melbourne we stopped at authur's seat to admire the view and have a rest. Next we went to a rose garden in mornington. There was a large variety and they were all beautiful. We also stopped for gelato in mornington and I got rum rasin in a sprinkle cone.  We got back to Melbourne late and made made ice cream for my birthday party on Saturday. 

Today we had a quiet day. Chores, errands, and making more ice cream. I submitted my Visa application and Damien got a recruitment call. So pretty good day. We also moved Damien's fridge inside so that there is more room for ice cream inside. 

1/4/2015

I am trying to get things organised but I keep finding that people are either still on holidays or just getting back so paperwork is a bit backed up. Today I did a bit of shopping and saw the hobbit. I also made birthday cake ice cream since my birthday is Wednesday.

1/3/2015

Yesterday we biked back to Melbourne. Damien went with me and we took the long route to Drouin which was 83km. It was very hot, around 96F so I went pretty slowly. We took our first stop 6km in where we went to the state coal mine. Being from West Virginia, I was under impressed but my friends really liked it and it was interesting to contrast the two types of mining management. After the mine we continued on for around 30km to Bena when we were hoping for a stop but there wasn't anything there. All we found was a blinds shop where the owner was kind enough to give us some water. We continued on 10km to Powong where we got food and stood in the freezer to cool down. It was magical. After refilling water bottles we got back on the road and continued to Drouin. We got in around 7:30pm and had dinner at an Italian cafe before catching the 8:45pm train home. When I got in the door at 11:30 I turned on the air conditioning, took a shower, and fell asleep. 

Today was a bit more relaxed. I woke up and went to pick up my luggage from Dan who had brought it back for me. We had lunch and helped him clean out his garden before heading home. This afternoon I skyped and talked to friends from the US. Then I organised a birthday party/ice cream eating contest for Saturday and started making ice cream. Mmmm

12/1/2015

New Year's Day and our last day at the beach. We were up early and made poached eggs and sausage for breakfast. Then we had a round of ticket to ride, which I won. Followed by a trip to the beach where we played ultimate frisby. It started to rain around 2 so Dan and I went for an ocean swim and a run while everyone else went back to the house. Ange and Dave went home this evening and the rest of us played an epic game of 500 lasting almost 20 rounds with scores ranging from -480 to 539 and then finally ending when one team hit -500. 

Then we went back to the beach for a final swim and Damo and I enjoyed the sunset. For dinner we had a great assortment of leftovers and played powergrid. Then early bed to allow for early breakfast and packing.