Well, the weather here has been crap, so I am REALLY hoping that ya'll are having a nice summer back there... because we are on our way over! We leave this Friday and are on the road for 17 days. I think after that, I will be very happy to come back "home" to Australia. I am not really looking forward to being in a strange bed for that long. But, we are looking forward to seeing everyone and getting some sun. It's been one of the coldest winters on record here... which figures, since it was the coolest and wettest summer ever. So, we are really excited for some warm weather and a few days of summer. Maybe when we get back, we'll have brought the sun with us! Here's hoping.
We arrive in TO on Friday evening, and will be in TO, SSM and Michigan for the following 2 weeks. It will be a crazy couple of weeks, and we'll be travelling several thousand miles, both in the air and in the car. Hope to see most of you and catch up!
On another note, I have finally received a really exciting job offer and will be starting something new after we arrive home. Hoping this is the one I have been waiting for, and glad to look forward to coming back refreshed and ready to go. Thanks to many of you for your amazing references. Much appreciated!
Have to get back to packing now. See you all soon!
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Well, I jinxed it.
Todays local headline:
Sydney, Melbourne brace for cold snap
Winter has well and truly arrived for the southern states, with areas around Melbourne experiencing snow and Sydney bracing for its coldest week of the year. But it’s proving a bonanza for those heading to the snowfields, with big dumps falling overnight and more on the way.
A cold front from the subpolar area that swept through NSW yesterday has brought the mercury down to extremely chilly level — with colder conditions to come. "Tomorrow will be a degree or two cooler in the metro area, dropping down to about 14 (58F)," Bureau of Meteorology senior forecaster Jane Golding said. "The overnight minimum will be as low as seven, which is about 4 (38F) degrees colder than last night."
But spare a thought for those in the city's western suburbs, which are expected to drop to a near-freezing one degree overnight. Statistically, today, tomorrow and Thursday are recognised as Sydney's coldest days of the year. Any improvement is not expected until at least Sunday when the temperatures should return to the high teens (60s).
One area appreciating the cold snap is Australia's snow resorts, which have finally had their first decent fall of the season. All Victorian and NSW resorts overnight received at least 10cm of snow, with long-suffering Mount Buller enjoying an excellent 20cm (8 inches).
A cold front from the subpolar area that swept through NSW yesterday has brought the mercury down to extremely chilly level — with colder conditions to come. "Tomorrow will be a degree or two cooler in the metro area, dropping down to about 14 (58F)," Bureau of Meteorology senior forecaster Jane Golding said. "The overnight minimum will be as low as seven, which is about 4 (38F) degrees colder than last night."
But spare a thought for those in the city's western suburbs, which are expected to drop to a near-freezing one degree overnight. Statistically, today, tomorrow and Thursday are recognised as Sydney's coldest days of the year. Any improvement is not expected until at least Sunday when the temperatures should return to the high teens (60s).
One area appreciating the cold snap is Australia's snow resorts, which have finally had their first decent fall of the season. All Victorian and NSW resorts overnight received at least 10cm of snow, with long-suffering Mount Buller enjoying an excellent 20cm (8 inches).
Yep... it was definitely chilly today. I even wore a coat. Jonathan didn't of course. Nothing new there. We will be "celebrating" the cold weather in style this weekend at a Christmas in July party with a bunch of new friends.
Monday, July 7, 2008
Life, Work, Food and The Pope
Well, if there is anyone out there in Internetland who has been missing my updates, I should apologise. Life has sort of gotten away with me here and I can't say it's been a bad thing. Seems that after 6 months of living in Oz, I have settled into a lovely routine (lovely, as Australians love to say.)
Shortly after my last blog entry, I left my boring job and (as much as I hate to admit this) accepted another job which has turned out to be equally as boring. I just don't understand the professional culture here. I am really struggling with work. I just want to WORK. I want to go in each day to the office and have a full day of work to do. I am seriously worried that I am not going to find that here. I may have to leave Real Estate completely. Sad, since I just completed my Certificate of Registration exam. Sigh. Who knows. Maybe the right job will present itself at some point. I have been meeting with a new recruiter, so you never know.
Ok, enough about work. (Bloody depressing topic.) So - Jonathan and I got a chance to see Gordon Ramsey cook live in Sydney a few weekends back, and that was pretty amazingly great. If you don't know who Gordon Ramsey is, I can't help you. But he was great. As was the Food Show that he was here for. Really fun way to spend a Saturday.
Last weekend a couple of friends decided to have a real American bbq and invited us over. We brought guacemole and salsa. How American of us, eh? LOL. They did burgers on the grill and a good time was had by all. We have made some fun friends here and we seem to find something entertaining to do most weekends. Sydney is good for some sort of event that has to do with either music or food (or both!) pretty much every weekend. We have made a real effort to check out lots of little neighborhoods and kitchy shops and events. It's been fun being a tourist in our own city. We never made enough of an effort to do that in TO.
Next week the Pope is in town. It's World Youth Day... which is really inaccurate. They should be calling it World Youth WEEK. Now, I am all about the youth of the world coming together to learn and grow and all that. But this WYD thing is really messing everyone up. They are closing the bridge and most of the area streets to public traffic. Public transit is going to be a nightmare... expecially since CityRail is talking about going on strike right in the middle of the week. Niiice. Well... I am sure that however it goes, all halfamillion or so visitors will enjoy the winter weather we have been having. It's been a balmy 70F each day and sunny. Can't beat that! The Snowy Mountains (4 hours south) got 4 feet of snow last week. SOOO glad we don't live there.
We are headed "home" to Canada and the US in just a few weeks now. We'll be travelling 25 July through 11 August. Looking forward to seeing everyone. Have to admit, I am most looking forward to shopping for cheap stuff and eating cheap fast food. Oh, and buying books. Heaps and heaps of books. Yes, they do have them here... but I refuse to pay $35 for a paperback. No, I am not kidding.
Ok - off to bed. I promise to write more later. Maybe. ;)
Shortly after my last blog entry, I left my boring job and (as much as I hate to admit this) accepted another job which has turned out to be equally as boring. I just don't understand the professional culture here. I am really struggling with work. I just want to WORK. I want to go in each day to the office and have a full day of work to do. I am seriously worried that I am not going to find that here. I may have to leave Real Estate completely. Sad, since I just completed my Certificate of Registration exam. Sigh. Who knows. Maybe the right job will present itself at some point. I have been meeting with a new recruiter, so you never know.
Ok, enough about work. (Bloody depressing topic.) So - Jonathan and I got a chance to see Gordon Ramsey cook live in Sydney a few weekends back, and that was pretty amazingly great. If you don't know who Gordon Ramsey is, I can't help you. But he was great. As was the Food Show that he was here for. Really fun way to spend a Saturday.
Last weekend a couple of friends decided to have a real American bbq and invited us over. We brought guacemole and salsa. How American of us, eh? LOL. They did burgers on the grill and a good time was had by all. We have made some fun friends here and we seem to find something entertaining to do most weekends. Sydney is good for some sort of event that has to do with either music or food (or both!) pretty much every weekend. We have made a real effort to check out lots of little neighborhoods and kitchy shops and events. It's been fun being a tourist in our own city. We never made enough of an effort to do that in TO.
Next week the Pope is in town. It's World Youth Day... which is really inaccurate. They should be calling it World Youth WEEK. Now, I am all about the youth of the world coming together to learn and grow and all that. But this WYD thing is really messing everyone up. They are closing the bridge and most of the area streets to public traffic. Public transit is going to be a nightmare... expecially since CityRail is talking about going on strike right in the middle of the week. Niiice. Well... I am sure that however it goes, all halfamillion or so visitors will enjoy the winter weather we have been having. It's been a balmy 70F each day and sunny. Can't beat that! The Snowy Mountains (4 hours south) got 4 feet of snow last week. SOOO glad we don't live there.
We are headed "home" to Canada and the US in just a few weeks now. We'll be travelling 25 July through 11 August. Looking forward to seeing everyone. Have to admit, I am most looking forward to shopping for cheap stuff and eating cheap fast food. Oh, and buying books. Heaps and heaps of books. Yes, they do have them here... but I refuse to pay $35 for a paperback. No, I am not kidding.
Ok - off to bed. I promise to write more later. Maybe. ;)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)