Antipodal Adventures
Lessons in beach survival
Tuesday 31st December 2013
After a couple of trips to the beach in my days off work, I feel I have learnt some valuable lessons I need to pass on to those of you planning beach holidays in 2014:
(1) If going to a beach with reasonable-sized waves, DO NOT attempt to body surf said waves in glasses. It will lead to them being irretrievably swept away and you looking like a squinting idiot trying to search the sea for them. This will be followed by an awkward period of time spent trying to find out where you left your towel, whilst not trying to squint up close at all the other people on the beach like some kind of pervert. This will THEN be followed by a very careful walk home, trying to avoid anything that looks vaguely human-or-dangerous-obstacle-shaped.
(2) You know those body parts where you say, "Oh it/they never tan(s)"? Put sun cream on them anyway - THEY WILL BURN. Then you will be walking around hunched over like an old woman trying to prevent anything touching your thighs, because even the slightest gust of wind feels like molten metal being poured on them.
Timely wisdom...
Saturday 28th December 2013
Guess what? We have been here A MONTH already! One whole month! And to celebrate, we decided to go on ahead and move from one temporary address to another! Cos, you know, we've got the moving bug now. Packing a gazillion things into suitcases and lugging them around just never gets old ...
In reality, our month's free grace accommodation from my work has expired, so we have had to find somewhere else to live (whilst we wait to sign the contract on the place we actually WANT to live in). And believe me, this has been a hard, thankless and expensive task smack bang between Christmas and New Year, when it seems the entire world has descended on Sydney to see the spectacular fireworks at the Harbour (which it's looking like we will miss this year - but that's another story!)
So after a long and pointless search for another hotel which was in at least the universe - never mind the ball park - of affordable, we went with AirBnB. If you've never heard of it, basically people rent out their homes, or a room in their homes, or possibly just a sofa in their homes, for you to sleep on. Sometimes you get the place to yourself, sometimes you are sharing with the owners, and sometimes you are probably sharing with the owner's dog. But due to the time of year, we have managed to find a relatively reasonably priced flat to ourselves on the same road as our potential forever home (and when I say "forever home", I really mean, "home we might be staying in for more than five seconds").
Christmas post: Rain edition
Wednesday 25th December 2013
I know you were all waiting with bated breath for our santa hats/speedos Christmas special - but due to stupid Australian stupid weather circumstances beyond our control, we had to cancel the picnic and opt for rainwear instead of beachwear, because IT HAS RAINED HERE ALL THE LIVELONG DAY, WELCOME TO AUSTRALIA, MERRY DAMN CHRISTMAS!!! Needless to say we are very disappointed:
We feel the country has let us down. After much grand talk of Christmas on the beach, barbies and cold beers, we were left with dashed hopes and downpours. Bad Australia.
'Twas the day after....
Tuesday 24th December 2013
... my first week of live on air work. It has been very ... eventful. Mostly fun. A few technological hiccups, a few last-minute panics, and one case of forgetting to actually press the button and go live! But also quite a lot of feeling like I am improving, positive feedback from people and a feeling of relief, because so far... yes, I am enjoying it! One of our biggest fears when we decided to move was that I had never done this type of work before and had no clue if I would enjoy it (enjoyment is an essential part of work to me) or like the shift work. But so far I have found it exciting and challenging and interesting work to do. So yay!
And in no particular order, five things I like about working here:
(1) I have swapped my commute from one hour each way of this: