WW2 Storage tunnels

Then Anna came over and we went for a 2.5 hour swim till we were knackered and very prune like while trying to avoid man in pool trying to initiate dirty conversation while trying to touch us up.. so we snuck off down the vic where I have just found out backpackers get a free dinner..
last night camel lasagne, chips and salad.. and yes I mean free.. and yes I shall be there everynight from now on!!
Now its Sunday.. Anna got called into work and has ended up doing a double shift so I went into Casuarina and bought some much needed new undies.. I always seem to be needing to do my washing.. I also bought a greek phrase book so I can understand Michael!
Its unfortunate its Monday tomorrow so back to work.. i had a look in the paper and had a little look at other jobs.. I am trying to stick it out till I have 2 weeks booked off starting on 3rd April when Eva flies into Darwin.. but am just taking it a day at a time.. if i start thinking its forver it gets too depressing..! Obviously I will find another job as dont want to be miserable!
Thankfully Michael flies back up here on Thursday thank god..! Of course I am training at work till 8:30pm..!

After a crappy week at work and struggling to make it through each day without handing in my notice.. and doing days like 7am till 8pm I was a tad tired and grumpy.. being in a dorm where people dont seen to need to sleep and missing Michael like crazy I was going insane.
So it hit Saturday and I decided to do something with my day off. Apparently a lie in wasnt going to happen after all my room noisily got up at 7am so I headed into town and swapped my book for another one at the book swap shop, went to the library and parliament house, and looked at the WW2 memorials and bombing sites and the WW2 storage tunnels..

Another awesome sunset in Perth

On Valentines day we took the boat out and went out fishing..

Valentines weekend Sunset in Perth

Grrek yummy cakes

There are a lot of greek settlers in Darwin so it was important I was introduced to greek cakes.. I had tested some of his mums specialities which are of course the best ones.. but went to the greek cake shop to test out the rest..
Michaels mum has this week gone back to greece for at least a year so Michael was pretty sad to be waving her goodbye at the airport.. but guess what?! our plan is that this July (hopefully) we shall be visiting both England and Greece!!

You have to admit they are pretty cool random fluffy chickens!!?

Michaels friends children were anxious to show me their fluffy chooks.. any excuse to go chasing the chickens to show them off to someone!

Yummy!!

and in case you were wondering it tasted yummy too!

Mud Crab

On Australia day we took the boat out as all Aussies really should.. with the esky and cool beer (but of course I am not aussie and dont like beer!) and went fishing.. it was a quiet day but we caught a nice big crab on the fishing line..!

Fishing!

Normal Darwin Headlines

Michael is always amused at how fascinated I am by the local paper.. obviously having lived in Darwin since he was 2 all this stuff is normal everyday run of the mill as I suppose local Worthing papers headlines would be to me.. but nevertheless I cannot resist buying the paper each day to see who has been eaten by a shark croc or jellyfish today..!

Normal Darwin Headlines

Back from perth and back to work

grr.. wasnt happpy about having to be back at work and the weekend being over!!
The flight over went well.. took 3.5 hours and Michael was waiting with roses in hand.. needless to say I ran down the corridor and leapt into his arms!!
Then we drove to Guilderton and set up camp for the weekend (well actually the campsite was full the first night so we slept in the back of the ute.. but in a tent the second night).
We took to boat down the river and cruised around fishing and chatting and just enjoying ourselves.. the weekend was about relaxing and enjoying being with one another for the short time we had! and it was worth it.. would have been worth it for 5 minutes with him!
Before I flew back on Sunday we headed to Swan River region and looked at areas we might want to settle.. its a gorgeous area and Michaels family would be close by.. and a great climate with 4 seasons unlike Darwin which only has 2.. wet and dry.. both of which are hot!
It was a 6 hour flight back and I got a 45 minute stopover in Alice Springs.. dont think that counts as a cross on my map though..
I was shattered to say the least and having 6 other people in my room isnt much fun when I have to get up at 6am..
I am not keen on my job at the moment to put it mildly but I keep reminding myself about the money.. I will stick it out for as long as I can.. but I am not suited to childcare centres like this one.. its a nasty place!

Hmnn well I had a big plan that I was going to enjoy the air conditioning for a bit and get completely up to date with my photos today but apparently the computer disagrees with me and wont let me..
I have had an exhausting week.. meeting the locals at the weekend and then Monday I worked 8:30am till 8:45pm, Tuesday I managed to get out by 7pm and by Wednesday it got to 6pm and I thought I might die, my head was splitting in two and it was all I could do to not vomit.. I just had to keep taking deep breaths and concentrate on not doing so.. I fell in to bed after vomiting. I had felt nauseous all week and vomited up any meals I had had time for but hadnt paid much attention but by the time I fell into bed Wednesday I had a cold, cough, achy bones, a head that was splitting, conjunctivitus and couldnt stop throwing up.. I slept fitfully inbetween being freezing cold and dripping with sweat from a temperature, dragged myself out of bed for work with next day, vomited half way to work so that when I opened the front door to work the secretary said "Oh my god" as I walked in.. admittedly I was ghostly pale, though a bit green, my nose was red, my eyes were swollen and red so they were barely open and streaming and all I could do was croke.. I hung on to the desk while the world spun and promptly fainted.. so unsuprisingly I got sent home.. they were greatful I had made the effort since so many people fake it and pretend they are unwell there.. at least the knew I was definately unwell and wasdnt faking. So I crawled home via the chemist where I begged for any drugs he would give me and crawled into bed for the day and night. It is now the next day and I am feeling much better thankfully. Not my best by any means but I dont feel like I am going to die like yesterday.. they had said I could have today off as well.. and I had sent the girl in the bunk above me in my room to my work to at least cover some of the unqualified peoples shifts.. work rang me to tell me she was lovely and doing great!! By the way.. anyone out there in the UK want a job in Darwin? If you are qualified in childcare they can offer sponsorship and residency!? If you are not qualified they can offer a job if you can get a visa but cant sponsor you as they need the qualified people!
It is a couple of hours till I fly out to Perth (yay!) so I am relieved that I dont feel quite so hideous.. although I know Michael will look after me it would be nice not to feel ill on valentines day..! Ic ant wait to see him!!

Michael wrestling crocs!!

Lol, he is actually quite shy but I made him pose for the camera and wrestle a croc for me!!

Views from the cruise

After the cruise we headed back into Darwin for the night and then borrowed Benny’s boat to go out on the water for the day on Australia day.. unfortunately I wasn’t at my best being very full of cold and coughing my guts up every now and then.. but it was fantastic to be out on the water! It was a quiet day fishing but we caught a great big mud crab which tasted very good!!

Then on the Wednesday I decided to apply for some jobs.. I went into the internet shop at 12 noon and applied to 3 jobs.. by 6pm I had, had 3 job interviews and 3 job offers to start the following day..
It was a hard decision and I chose the Early years teacher job at Early Care. Partly because I’m not sure how long I’ll be in Darwin and I’ll feel less guilty leaving there than Essington School and of course because they offered first and are paying well!
They have offered to sponsor me and offer me residency which is of course what I want! But the trouble with that is that then I have to stay in the job 2 years or whatever it is which is a long time for me!!
It is the childcare centres that has been on the news for leaving a child there when they locked up overnight and the parents having to break in to “rescue” their baby! They are more than short staffed and it has been manic.. I have been exhausted!! I literally fall into bed of a night!! Their turnover of staff is so high that you actually get a bonus after staying 3 months!! But that is Darwin for you.. an extremely transient population.. literally new children and staff start and finish everyday!!
Michael and I had intended that we stay in Darwin or the surrounds for a while but plans change faster than I can make them so who knows!!?
Michael had to fly to Perth for what was meant to be just a week to sort out his divorce but things have cropped up that needed to be dealt with and we are devising a new plan! For the moment he has booked me flights out to see him for the weekend for Valentines Day and is looking at properties in Perth for us so that we can be closer to his children and share custody. So maybe I will be on the job search in the Perth area soon!
So 5 exhausting days of work to go before my weekend away in Perth!! But I am happy! I am happy to be working back in childcare again but also remembering just how tiring it is!! But then new jobs are always exhausting at first!!
I am staying at the YHA which is just around the corner from work which is very convenient. I moved from the cabin Michael and I had been staying as it was out of town and I didn’t have him to be driving me to work anymore!
The YHA is good though. If I don’t fall straight into bed after work then I can jump in the swimming pool and stuff and I have made friends with other people. I share room with a lady called Trish who has lived in the dorm for years and she has introduced me to lots of locals so I enjoy going to the bar at weekends and being bought lots of drinks! (Only one marriage proposal last night which was a bit disappointing!!)
I went to see Revolutionary Road at the cinema yesterday with Jill which was an odd film. I kind of took it as that you have to follow your dreams and live out the box otherwise your going to get depressed and unhappy?!

Quite scary to see just how far they can launch themselves out of the water when they want to!!!

It was an awesome trip out anyway.. definitely go on it if your in Darwin!! Michael of course being a local had never been on it!

Then we went on a “Jumping Croc Cruise” which is basically a cruise down the river to see the crocs in the wild where locals go fishing then they put some meat overboard and us tourists take lots of photos of the crocs! so all these crocs are wild!

Wetlands

Wild Buffalo

We then went to see a wetland area and saw this wild buffalo wandering around which was cool!! One day Michael and I will make it out hunting them!
Damo owns a hunting business in Arnem land so cant wait to go out to his place!

Crocs!!

Barra

and magic.. there we are a few minutes later we have a barramundi for our tea!! which was very yummy btw!!

On the way back from litchfield we stopped on the side of the road and dropped in a line..

Litchfield

Fantastic little pools to jump in and play in at Litchfield

Michael - Litchfield

Bats in the trees at litchfield

dingo

a Dingo in the middle of the road!!

needless to say i was beisde myself with excitement to finally see a dingo!!

Litchfield Park

Litchfield Park

It was also an amazing place to spend the night, we set up our tent and could jump into the pools for our mornign shower at 6am!!

Falls

Florence falls - Litchfield Park

Me and Michael _ Florence falls

Michael under the falls!!

Florence falls - Litchfield Park

Florence falls - Litchfield Park

No these are not tombstones they are termite mounds!!

Termite Mounds in Litchfield Park

Termite Mounds in Litchfield Park

Termite Mounds in Litchfield Park

But before the job applications we headed out to Litchfield National Park where I really wanted to camp out the night.. but of course it being monsoon season we weren’t going to be able to sleep out on the back of the ute so we had to take the tent!
Litchfield was amazing.. I got all my romantic movie moments jumping in every waterfall with Michael!!
As you can see the termite mounds are everywhere and are crazily huge!!

Romance!