Monday, October 23, 2006
Procrastination on a Monday
Last Wednesday night Geoff and I went to our work's annual memorial lecture/awards evening. It was held at Customs House and it started right smack bang in the middle of peak hour. Traffic was an absolute nightmare with the closure of the riverside expressway, and it took us 45 mins to get there from work! Anyway, the evening was really good with lots of free wine, beer and nibblies (which is always a bonus). The guest speaker was the former Victorian Premier Jeff Kennett. He spoke about the National Depression organisation "Beyond Blue" and his involvement in giving depression more public awareness. It was a very enjoyable and inspiring speech.
On Saturday we had the pleasure of meeting Sally and Andrew's new little boy, James. What a gorgeous kid, and so well behaved - he was quite happy to be cuddled. The three of them just looked so happy and relaxed - lovely to see. :-)
Yesterday (after missing yet another phone call from Bron - d'oh!) we went round to our friend Jen's place for her birthday bbq. She has recently moved into a house with - wait for it - a full sized tennis court in the backyard. How sweet is that?! I'm so jealous. So we had a bit of a hit around, me wearing jeans and Geoff wearing flip flop sandals which made it a bit interesting. I used to play tennis a lot but haven't in years. It was such good fun but today my right shoulder is killing me. Must be getting old. Anyway, it was great to catch up with Jen and enjoy a snag on her new bbq.
Anyway, I should stop procrastinating and go do some work now. Take care everyone. :-)
Friday, October 13, 2006
Some photos
Last Saturday I went to Janani's and Jeyanthan's wedding reception lunch. Once everyone was seated they made their entrance and looked absolutely stunning in their traditional gear. After watching a video of their wedding in Sri Lanka, we were given the opportunity to wish them well, then we sat down to a yummy vegetarian lunch. I felt decidedly ordinary wearing normal attire with all these women wearing beautiful sari's around me!

Saturday night we caught up with Dunk, Tash and Isla. Isla is 6 months old now and does gorgeous really well. She was a little naughty though, by not going to sleep but it meant we got to spend some time with her and give her some cuddles. :-) She is absolutely smitten with Geoff - laughing and carrying on and really enjoyed gnawing on Geoff's index finger. We think she may be teething.

On Sunday afternoon I saw "The Full Monty" at Southbank with my mate Julia, and some friends from work - Itaru and Paweena. It was absolutely brilliant - it followed the movie really well (except for it being set in New York State instead of the UK) and we got our fair share of laughs out it. Thoroughly recommend it to anyone considering seeing it - I think it runs for another week yet.
Friday, October 06, 2006
TGI Friday
Geoff also had a fairly busy week, with the handing in of 2 major assignments and also assisting with a root canal procedure this afternoon. He tells me it was interesting. I still can't believe he can watch stuff like that without the need to gag!!
Anyway, enough about work and uni. Tonight we are having a BBQ dinner which is something guaranteed to put me in a great mood. I don't know, but there is something very therapeutic about cooking a hunk of meat outside, having a few drinkies and listening to the radio, whilst slapping off mossies. Gotta love this time of year.
Our weekend is fairly busy. Geoff has a two day first aid course he has to do for uni. I have a friend's wedding lunch tomorrow and I'm going to see "Full Monty" at the Lyric theatre on Sunday. Will post more about these afterwards - hopefully with some photos.
Our thoughts are with Sally and Andrew as they rapidly approach "M-Day". M being of course, for Munchie. :-) How exciting. (Incidently Sally, the other night I dreamt you guys had a boy.). :-)
Anyway, time to open the wine. Hope everyone has a brilliant weekend. :-)
Saturday, September 16, 2006
Sally's baby shower
It was great to catch up with the Mum-to-be and see her glorious bump (and no Sally, you are definitely not fat)!! I really enjoyed catching up with lots of others, including Fliss and her new baby Isaac.
And finally, the afternoon tea was really yummy! Thanks to Sally and her Mum for organising everything. :-)
Monday, September 11, 2006
at work
Uni is going OK, I am looking at all the gross pictures of teeth and various things that people do to them. Not for the faint hearted. All the young uns(most of the class) goes oohh and ahhh everytime a new slide comes up. I wonder how many are doing dentistry because they want to and how many are doing it because they got the OP or their parents pushed them into it.
Oh well, I have to go and check my gel dryer. This gel is the final accumulation of 3 years work so I hope it works. At least I have a good view of the city to make it seem a little less dreary here.
Bye for now
Geoff
Friday, August 25, 2006
1, 2 and 3 in August
Happy three years for Sally and Andrew on the 3rd, happy two years for Bron and Ben on the 21st and happy one year for Chris and Nigel on the 27th.
Congratulations from us both. :-)
Saturday, August 19, 2006
Go the mighty bulls!

Wollongbar-Alstonville.
Although his team won, to make it into the finals they needed another team in the competition to win and they didn't. It was great game to watch - I am slowing learning about Rugby Union... it's such a a hard game to follow. All I know is there is lots of line-outs, and occasions where they all jump on each other to get the ball, and then another guy charges in to get the ball. I'm sure Geoff could explain it better! Anyway, it was all very exciting to cheer Craig on, and he even scored the first try. :-) The cool thing is Craig will get to play some more footy before the season is out because he is going to play a few first grade games.
Being the huge drinker that I am (not) I was democratically elected (hmm) to be the designated driver for the trip back from the footy. Imagine carting four slightly enebriated and very boistrous boys back from Wollongbar to Casino. We only had to make one pit stop. The boys thought they heard a funny sound coming from the esky so we had to pull over and investigate. Once home, we went out to a local pub for dinner and then Geoff decided it was time he'd had enough of the festivites. The rest of them carried on to the wee hours of the morning; Tony ended up singing karaoke at a another pub and waking up a little bleary eyed.
Sunday morning I drove back to Brisbane. This is something I rarely do and I can now understand why Geoff is normally so tired after the two and half hour drive. Luckily we had some excellent audio tracks to sing along to (who would have thought The Doors would keep me on the ball)?
As of last Thursday, it has been one year since we arrived back in Brisbane and scared the daylights out of my parents who weren't expecting us back until September. :-) It's amazing how fast the time goes. At times it doesn't even feel like we were away at all.

Here is a photo of where we were about a year ago, on the island of Lefkada off the coast of Greece.
Geoff had his first clinic on Friday. He was a little nervous about it, not knowing what to expect I suppose but he tells me it was really interesting. He did the suction for and got to watch a debridement (fancy word for clean and scale) assisting another student. There was a lot of blood but it didn't faze him. He has a few more clinics this year assisting but over the next couple of years he will get to be in the driver's seat more.
Wednesday, August 09, 2006
This and that
Last weekend we caught with some former work mates - Julissa, Yvonne and Angela. We all had a yummy lunch at the Bull and Cactus and found out that Yvonne is pregnant, she and hubby Charles are expecting in February next year! She is looking really good and even has a bump to show for it. :-)
Now onto something completely different. Work has been absolutely crappy lately. I can't really go into any detail because you all know where I work and that would be bad. I sometimes wish I had an anonymous blog and then I could rant and rave all I want. :-) The good thing is that I am taking this Friday off and we are heading down to Casino to visit Geoff's folks for a long weekend. Geoff's brother Craig is playing an all important "finals make or break" game of rugby on Saturday so we will be there to cheer him on. It's also so nice just to get away from the big smoke for a bit. Brisbane is just too crowded sometimes!!
To finish up, I want to share a work email that the building engineer sent to everyone a few weeks ago now. Sorry to whoever has already seen this (hi Tash and Kath!) but it was so funny. Take care everyone. :-)
Wednesday, August 02, 2006
Our book list
I would just like to mention that Geoff's replies are shown after mine and I take no responsibility for them!!
1. One book that changed your life:
Lonely Planet Guide for Canada
Bear Attacks, their Causes and Avoidance by Stephen Herrero
2. One book that you’ve read more than once:
Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt
The complete guide to home brewing in Australia by Laurie Strachan
3. One book you’d want on a desert island:
Collins Pocket Guide to Stars and Planets
A Lonely Planet Guide to Desert Islands
4. One book that made you laugh:
Don't Stand Too Close to a Naked Man, by Tim Allen
Far Out Brussel Sprout by Paul Jennings
5. One book that made you cry:
April Fools Day by Bryce Courtenay
So thats what its like when doves cry by Amanda Huginkis
6. One book that you wish had been written:
How to travel around the world on minimum money
Get rich quick by Richard Rich
7. One book that you wish had never been written:
Men are From Mars, Women are From Venus by John Gray
Chemistry by Zumdahl
8. One book you’re currently reading:
Angels and Demons by Dan Brown
A Brief History of the World by Geoffrey Blainey
9. One book you’ve been meaning to read:
The Harry Potter series
Kokoda by Paul Ham
Umm, whoever considers themselves lucky enough... go for it!!
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
Jerusalem Creek
We recently took a trip down south to visit my parents and do a spot of fishing. After loading the subaru full of borrowed camping gear(Thanks Dad) we headed down to Bundjalung National Park to camp for a few nights. It is one of my regular spots that I like but this was El's first visit.The facilities are minimal with pit toilets and no showers or running water but we managed. It is quite invigorating having cold camp showers hiding behind the tent. We had all our warm gear from Canada so we weren't too cold but El managed to steal most of my stuff to wear over the top of her multiple layers. Nights were not too cold until the last night when the dew made its way onto the outside of the sleeping bags and everywhere else. Not quite as cold as when we camped in Nova Scotia though.
I did lots of fishing but had more luck in catching beers from the esky than fish from the sea or creek.
Jerusalem Creek runs out to the ocean eventually, we nearly died(not really-just got really tired) walking the 9 kms return trip (complete with fishing rods,esky and heavy camera). Even though the esky was getting lighter as I removed various shiny metal objects it seemed to get heavier as we went along. We walked along the creek as far as the mouth of the creek and decided to walk along the beach back to the campground to make the trip easier. The only problem with that idea was the south easterly swell making tides bigger than they should have been. We walked about 800 meters back toward the campground and then saw our path blocked around a headland by rather large incoming waves. We took the wussy way out and clambered up onto a rock shelf to escape the seas. Once we got to the top of the shelf we could see that the beach was a no go zone. The problem with this was that we were seperated from the path leading along the creek by various prickly plants, pandanus palms and assorted scratchy looking sticks. Reliving my childhood I managed to bush bash our way back to the track, trying not to pay too much attention to the look of terror on El's face.
This time of year the campground is virtually deserted, mainly due to the cold. Only die hard fishermen and silly people like us go camping at this time of year. It got down to close to zero degrees one night. I got up to look at the sun come up while El was too busy sleeping and steam was coming off the waves.
I also nearly managed to get the car bogged in some soft sand. It only went up to the door on the passenger side but with a little encouragement, some low range and a lot of revving I got out and moving again, much to El's delight. For some reason she did not want the car to get swept out to sea.
Above is a more gentle type of sand-the hard stuff. Its like driving on a highway so you don't have too many problems. At high tide when the sand is soft you have to be more careful as if you lose momentum you can easily get stuck.I have caught heaps of fish at this place in the past but a combination of bad weather and apathy stopped the fish from biting.
After camping we went back to my parent's place and gave the car a good wash. Probably half the sand on the beach seemed to come out of the car and sand was in spots that you didn't think a car had. We got it fairly clean though, just clean enough to notice the fresh dirt put on it driving back to Brisbane.
El is back at work now, doing her science thing. I'm still doing a bit of work as well and enjoying the last days until I go back to uni. I'm starting dentistry subjects next semester so I'm really looking forward to not doing all the science stuff again. I've got credit for a couple of subjects next semester so the workload should be easier. Luckily Organic Chemistry was one of the subjects I got off-I hate that stuff.
Today I am working my way through El's list of jobs while she is at work -doing the house husband thingy.
I'm back to Uni on Monday and have to get dressed up for the dental school so my days of ultra casual are numbered.
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
Gotta love the serenity!
We helped feed the one year old cows some grain and this fella was particularly curious about the camera.
We also went for a walk down to the river bed. It is unbelievable how dry it is. It was only at Christmas time that a few of my family members were swimming at this exact spot.
This is the view from up near the house. My auntie has alpacas and chooks in the pen to the left of the picture.
We saw this fella on a walk we took around the back of her property. It was as close as we could get with Geoff's super duper mega zoom lens. We think the koala had a cub as well.
Here's me getting in touch with nature. I wasn't drinking, I swear!
Mum and Geoff feeding the hungry herd.
Mum and I looking particularly spiffty in our floppy hats.
Another cow photo sorry. I think they're cute. :-)
Sunday, June 25, 2006
It's a boy!
Sunday, June 18, 2006
Things I have learnt
1) John Howard's middle name is Winston (is that a bit presumptious to name your child after a former politician? Apparently George Dubuya's middle name is Washington as well).
2) The Rabbitohs have won the most Rugby League Premierships.
3) Archer was the name of the horse that won the first two Melbourne cups.
4) Kangaroo is the first Australian aboriginal word to be incorporated into the English language.
So there you go.
Sunday, June 11, 2006
Our Saturday
What I really wanted to buy was a denim jacket and a pair of jeans. I must have went into at least 20 different clothes stores and made an interesting observation. Everything is made in China now! It didn't matter whether it was Target, Myer, Jacqui E, Country Road or whatever, they all had the same tag. I think that is really sad. What's even more sad is that the clothes are probably all made in the same sweat shop but the price variations are huge! I did notice however, that a $40 pair of jeans from Target did not fit and feel as nice as a $160 pair from, say Country Road. They are both made in China though. How does that make sense?
Anyway, eventually I had success and bought a nice pair of jeans and a 30% off jacket. I haven't been clothes shopping by myself in a long time and found it was quite good, you don't have to worry about anyone else getting bored and cranky!
So I got a message from Geoff saying his exam was over so I picked him up and headed home. Geoff isn't sure how it went but is glad one is over. Now he is into the physics which is next Thursday. Fun fun. :-)
Wednesday, June 07, 2006
Ma
Not much else to say since Sunday. I did however, finish a 6 week yoga stint this evening. Every Wednesday after work at work. It has been the best thing - it has been helping me with my flexbility and toning up. One cool thing I have learnt is to do "alternative nostril breathing". It sounds weird but is awfully relaxing. :-)
Sunday, June 04, 2006
Bush Weekend
Afterwards we went out to my Uncle Richard's bush block near Imbil. He is living in a shed but has a few mod cons that run off solar panels and wind turbines. He doesn't have running water as such, just a tank and a dam. It was primitive but so peaceful out there. He has lots of chooks, geese, pheasants and various other birds. His partner Alison (who I have never met before) was also out there for the weekend.
After lunch we headed out to see our good friends John and Susan at Gympie. In the afternoon we helped feed their cows and collect firewood. After a yummy roast dinner we all sat around their fireplace for hours. Today we helped put mulch around some of their gardens since it is so dry. I always love going up to their place because it is so peaceful and they are great company. We were quite reluctant to go back this afternoon. I should have counted the number of "no dam" signs on the highway... there was just so many of them.
Geoff is on Swotvac as of tomorrow and spent the weekend studying chemistry. That exam is next Saturday. All his exams are nicely spaced out which is awesome. He finishes up on the 23rd of this month and then has something ridiculous like 4 weeks holiday! I am hoping to take some time off work so we can go camping. We are thinking about going to Jerusalem Creek which isn't far from Geoff's parent's place. I will have to drag out the Canada thermals for that trip! Brr.
Work has been really busy in the last little while, which is great. A month ago I got vaccinated for smallpox which was not a whole lot of fun. I won't go into the graphic details but will just say that my arm felt like it had been punched repeatedly. :-) Good thing is that the sore is nearly healed and I will be able to shower normally very soon! (And if anyone decides to release the virus as germ warfare I will be safe?!?)
I have some photos to post but they are of the old-fashioned film type and are yet to be developed. Will do that at a later date. I had some great photos taken on mother's day and we have proceeded to lose them. They are not on the computer, or the memory card, and not even retrievable when we use the special software. Very weird.
So that's enough for now. Hope everyone is well. :-)
Sunday, April 30, 2006
Tuesday, April 25, 2006
Perhaps it's time...
What has happened in our lives since our last post? Well, lots of things actually.
Firstly, our good mates Tash and Dunk had a little girl, Isla Jane, on the 24th of March. She was born seven and a half weeks early, and after doing extremely well, was allowed to go home last Wednesday. We had the pleasure of meeting Isla quite a few weeks ago in hospital, but got to have a cuddle of her on Sunday afternoon. What a cutie. She is the most placid baby and was quite happy to be passed around to all her admirers. Tash and Dunk are both looking great and don't appear too sleep-derived at this stage. :-)

While we are on the subject of babies, we can't fail to mention Sally and Andrew's wonderful news. Their little bundle of joy, or munchkin, as it seems to be called, is due on the 12th of October. I caught up with those two this morning and Sally does not seem to be showing a bump yet. :-)Now onto something
completely different. We got our new car!! It is the o
nly baby we'll be having in a while! It is over a month old now and purring quite nicely. There's something very cool about having a car that a) takes off at lights b) doesn't require you to turn off the aircon when you go up hills and c) still has a new car smell! We tried the car out on the beach at Evan's Head over Easter. It powered through the sand quit
e well and it was only scary coming on and off the tracks from the road onto the beach. Geoff assures me that the bumping and bouncing around is quite normal and you have to go reasonably fast to power through the sand. I am learning. :-)Geoff did a spot of fishing while on the beach, and didn't catch anything except for rocks and seaweed. It was a pretty crappy day for the beach - overcast, rainy, windy and cold - so Trina and I chilled out in the car instead of lounging around on the beach.
Over Easter we also went for a drive out to Mummulgum, about an hour from Geoff's parent's place. It was coming on dark and there was lots of kangaroos out and about, trying to hit our car. It was a really scenic drive, lots of mountains and farms. It was our car's first semi-offroad experience, going through creek crossings and gravely roads.Geoff is still surviving uni. He passed two mid semester exams and has got back into studying even though he says it is hard to adjust to being a student again.
Thursday, March 23, 2006
The Reality of it all
Well thats all the whining over for now. The wholes uni concept is not so foreign anymore-the buses, the libraries, the boredom. The hardest thing is coming home and trying to study.
There has already been a dropout from the course. I'm hoping to do alright but tonight I've been good and bad. The good-studying physics and biology for 3 hours. The bad-having a beer or two and messing around on the internet. I have an 8am lecture tomorrow and am working tomorrow night so not too much shenanigans tonight I'm afraid.
We have thrown caution to the wind and have bought a new car. It is a new forester and is getting done up for us this week. It is El's car to replace the pulsar which is going to her brother. We thought if we aren't going to have much money, we may as well be silly about it and get a nice shiny new car(its blue).

As El promised I have the giant drop photo here. It is slightly out of focus but you can get the general idea. Our group is the six people from the left.
Will post more as everythjing develops.
Monday, March 20, 2006
Being sick. :-(
I would like to thank everyone who sent me birthday wishes on the blog! I had a good birthday - had cake at work which was a real bonus, and got to talk to Bron in Canada in the evening (which was midnight for her)! My Mum got me the coolest gift - 2 funky looking platters laden with all different types of fruit - she knows me well. :-) Geoff got me a HUGE box of choccies and a bottle of sambucca... ah, sambucca... I have only recently discovered how good it is. :-)
However, turning 26 had it's downfalls. I am now that much closer to 30!! It's funny, but ever since I turned 25, I have no longer felt like I'm at a good age. 24 just has a certain good feel about it, whereas 25 (and 26) just seem old. I shouldn't complain though. I know when I'm 40, or 50, I'll look back and wish I was 26 again!
Geoff and I have been looking at buying a new car. We have spent the last 5 or so Sundays at local car yards, without the annoying presence of salespersons. I am going to sell my baby to my brother Mark. My car has been making some strange noises lately, and I have to get the clutch and something to do with the diff replaced. In short, I'm going to be car-less for over a week and it's going to cost a packet. Damn cars. I have it booked in for Thursday. I just hope the mechanic doesn't find anything else wrong with it.
Last weekend we went to Dreamworld with Craig, Melissa, Karina and Buzz. I hadn't been since 2003 with Julia and Rachel, and figured that was a long enough gap to forget how bad some of the rides really are on your nerves and stomach! It was also Craig's first visit so he was suitably apprehensive! We managed to do the Giant Drop, the Tower of Terror and the Cyclone rollercoaster. I drew the line at the Claw! I discovered that I still cannot stand the giant drop, and we have the photo proof. Going to have to get Geoff to scan it in. I look like I have seen a ghost, my face is ashen and all droopy. Not one of my best looks. I still cannot get over how long the drop feels like, when it's only a few seconds! I also discovered, that when going on a rollercoaster and doing the loops, to keep your eyes open. It makes the experience far less scary.
Anyway, by the end of the day, all your glucose stores are all used up from all the adrenaline rushes. We hit the lolly store and the ice cream shop, and all was good. And we also stopped at the Yatala pie place for dinner. Yummm...
So that's about it for now.
