The photo montages I made for tegan

Mylo!

Mylo looking extremely fed up at being in a superman costume!! (Tegans dog)

Van and Cintia - friends in Launceston

Yvonne and family - launceston

yvonnes son at party in Launceston

Have for gotten his name.. but Yvonne has tried to marry him off to me.. clearly since I cant remember his name it hasnt worked!

Gossip, gossip and more gossip

It is official I am working in gossip central.. here I am happily sitting in the office when all the cleaners come in and gossip at me.. had a casual cleaner in today.. she's a sweetie.. she has severe learning difficulties and after introducing myself she flung her arms around me.. and again at the end of the shift. She kind of says "want a hug?" as if its a question but its not actually one because before you know it shes got her arms around you! its very sweet!
But there is an awful lot of bitching between staff which I am staying well clear of.. dont want to get involved in all that!!
I am shattered.. I am not working long hours like I was in NZ.. but I figure its always exhausting at the beginning of any new job when theres new skills to be taken on and it is a 115 bed hotel/hostel combined which is bigger than any other place I have worked.
We have a night manager living in at the moment who just laughs at me trapped listening to all the goss.. he's from England too but keeps finding himself back in Hobart. He said earlier that I'm just like him. But actually talking to him has made me realise alot about myself.. he's been travelling 20 odd years (not very good at guessing ages? maybe longer?) constantly on the search for the place to stay and call home.. which is what I've said I have been doing.. he's come to the conclusion that place doesnt exist. I think maybe you have to stay somewhere you like and make it home. Maybe you have to stay longer places and give them a chance because nowheres going to feel like a real home in 1 night? he has decided to give Hobart a go but the thought of getting a flat or signing a contract or something scares him silly.. its highly amusing to listen to because I have been through all this in my head! I am not very good at staying still and get absolutely terrified at the thought of it. I've had to work through my fears this time because of hospital treatment on my arm.. and now I've found myself a job.. sometimes I look at it and go "How did this happen exactly?!" This wasnt the plan? But there we are. isnt the point of travelling that there is no plan and I live life seeing what happens?!

Have just started my second week at my new job and actually had a good day.. was worried as the first few days were so mindnumblingly boring. Have discovered that the way my (and in fact all employees after having a gossip with the others) day will be is if the boss is around! He drives me nuts!! But.. I dont have to see much of him now they feel confident with leaving me to it so thats all good! I have been told by other employees that they just block him out...! its not so boring anymore now I'm in the backpackers and can chat to other travellers and stuff.. and even though its low season as a few other backpackers have closed down its really busy. We have the most amusing cleaner.. its like being on the set for Eastenders or something..! She came to Tassie in 1962 but she has the strongest east end accent ever and likes to splatter every single sentence with the f word.. highly entertaining! and god forbid should the backpackers leave their rooms in a mess.. she terrifed some poor Japanese girls out their wits earlier.. mind you they wont be leaving their room in a state like that again!?
If anyones interested in where I am working its on the yha website
http://yha.com.au/hostels/details.cfm?hostelid=169
Had a nice weekend.. was Cheryl's birthday so all the family were over for a meal and Will (Paul's son) was over for the weekend so I found myself making birthday cards and things with him at 6:30am (after telling him no 5:30am was too early!) Good job I like kids really! Have decided as soon as my arm gets better will start doing relief work at a couple of childcare centres (Kingston Childcare are waiting for me to say I can lift kids again before I can do work for them..)
Called mum and dad last night... was in a talkative mood so kind of talked at them nonstop not letting them get a word in.. sorry about that!! (but at least you cant complain you dont know whats happening in my life!)
Thanks everyone for sending me stacks of emails.. I think Cheryl thinks I'm addicted to the internet or something.. but its nice to know that every time I go online I'll have lots of new emails!! (makes me feel loved!) and havent got much of a social life at the moment.. but plan to change that and get to know a few people.
Since the backpackers are always asking me where this and that is and I have no clue decided to go and explore after work today so went all cultural and went to the museum and art gallery (as had short day thought I should make the most of it!) and have joined the library and got a new Celia Ahern book to chill out in front on the fire with. Now I have Tasmanian ID with my learners liscence its much easier to join these things..!
My friend Amber from NZ has just moved to Melbourne and has said she will come to Tassie and come and see me in a few weeks.. so am excited about that! Will definately go and see her in Melbourne at some point soon too! Being completely sad I still want to go to the neighbours theme night in Melbourne and meet Dr karl Kennedy.. so am going to try and drag her out there!! I make no excuses.. its an english thing growing up watching Neighbours and it wouldnt be right to come to Aus and not go would it?! Mind you I've managed to go to Melbourne 3 times already and not go..

The Lethal cocktails that broke my arm

The second time anyway!

Ariel at the 18th party (Yvonnes son)

Me and Natalie let lose with the superglue!

Tegan.. the 18th birthday girl

This is the girl whose party I went to in Launceston..

Me and Nathan at the party in Launceston

I thought there were no photos of me wearing a dress but I got tagged on facebook by Yvonne who had taken this one of me and Nate.
Dont actually oiek the photo of myself but thought might shock you all by posting a photo of me in a dress!

Lucy the Puppy

So just finished my first week at work.. its nice to be part of the working world again! Am knackered with all that concentrating.. have the weekend off and then catching the 6:54am bus Monday morning..yay! and am going to be left on my own so thats good.. am much better people not looking over my shoulder! had been, mindnumblingly bored in head office so much happier in the backpackers.. I like that interaction.. cant be doing with being shut in an office. But of course am now worrying about the homeless kids we turn away..!
Think theres going to alot of fireworks at work.. changes are being made to make it uncomfortable for current members of staff so they might leave.. 2 of them have handed their notices in this week!
I would like to work there a few days a week and then do a couple of days a week at the childcare centre both because I would enjoy it and a benefit is its better paid so I can do all the things I would like to in life..!

Lucy the puupy and me with my brace on my arm (this is what I have on now)

So have had this brace on for about 6 weeks and have it on for at least another 6..

Kathryns new puupy LUcy and a view from Kathryns block

The Horse that broke my arm! and a view from where I am living right now!

Ubba and Kathryn

Views from Kathryns house in Snug

The Blowhole

Mount Wellington and the Blowhole

Views from Mount Wellington at Sunset

Views from Mount Wellington at Sunset

Mount Wellington is just outside Hobart city centre.. I see the mountain every day!

Views from Mount Wellington

Kathryn - half way up Mount Wellington

Cheryl at her favourite spot on Kingston Beach

Kingston Beach

New job and Shopping!

So after accepting the new job Kathryn and Cheryl both took it apon themselves that I need some clothes.. since the one and only trousers I had were jeans they might have been right! So went out with Kathryn and got 2 pairs of black trousers and then out with Cheryl to get some smart tops. So that was a bit of shock all round to actually achieve the task.. no crying either! (I jest but I do tend to get a tad emotional when shopping but since Cheryl is a counsellor she has been working on my trauma related response to shopping!!)
Then I went and took my theory test (got 100%) and got my learners license so now as soon as my arm gets better enough I can learn to drive! Which is exciting and a bit scary!
Its Winter here so every time I have gone into town or seen the mountain I have got excited at the sight of the snow at the top of it! So on Sunday I went up there with Kathryn, Kat and John... I was beyond excited!! probably drove them nuts!! I restrained my squeeling when John gave an expression of his ear drums exploding... but still couldnt restrain the shreik of "SNOW IN AUSTRALIA?!!" every few minutes! so by the time we got up the mountain I was ready to race through the snow but kept getting told off in case I slipped and fell on my arm..small child.. me?!
But made them build a snowman and threw a snowball or two.. quite usefull having a broken arm, everyones worried about hurting you!!
We took Kathryn's new puppy up the mountain which had a great time.. its really cute.. have been puppy sitting when Kathryn goes to work or out somewhere.. she got it when it was 6.5 weeks old so it was tiny.. still is.. its now 8 weeks.. so it just burrowed under Johns jacket hiding from the snow!!
I have stacks of photos to put on here.. just been lazy lately.. but will get round to it!!
Cheryl scared me Saturday.. she is unwell and we were sitting having a cup of tea when she went grey and went into a faint.. I got her to her bed where she had a mini stroke.. (TIA) wich happens every now and then.. I just havent witnessed it before.. so I sat by the bed for the day and chatted while she lay in bed on oxygen. But now shes up and about again. She had, had a severe attack before I arrived and is still unwell from that but days like that dont help the recovery. I am trying to help but unfortunately am not too much of one with a stupid broken arm.
I started my new job today! I was a bit nervous.. which there was no need to be. Its hard to say how it will be as I was doing training in the head office which is not where I shall be working or with the people I will be working with. It was very boring sitting reading history and policies etc.. which has to be done in the start of all jobs.. so am looking forward to actually being in the backpackers!
I have very easy hours this week anyway to start me off gently.. pretty much 10-3 for the next couple of days anyway.. and the weekend off... and cant complain at being paid to sit and read.. probably the best thing for my arm anyway!

Snow!!!! The one armed snow angel!

Have had a busy time lately.. not the reason I havent written on here though.. when I am dealing with stuff in my mind I do have a tendency to back off and go quiet!
Anyway... I went away last weekend which was exciting. Went to stay with Yvonne and family in Launceston. It was her daughter Tegan's 18th so I wanted to be there for that and help out with preparations.
So I arrived Friday night while Yvonne was at work and Van - one of her chinese students picked me up at the bus station (yes I was very boring and didnt hitchhike!) and my arm was much more mobile again so Tegan and I gave the kitchen a clean.. the maggots on the kitchen surfaces werent too appealing.. ended up staying awake till 4am helping Yvonne do picture montages of Tegan etc and happily gossiping at the same time.. was a good night anyway but was a tad tired as Ariel was happily drinking goon with his mates till 5am and then Yvonne was up full speed at 7am..and then it was party day..! Pam, Cheryls friend came over in the morning to collect some stuff so that was cool, she's a lovely lady and Yvonne loves to talk to new people!
Then it was time to set up for the party, run around madly blow up baloons and make dangerously strong cocktails - sex on the beach for the over 18's and safe sex for the under 18's (non-alcoholic!). I along with Natalie was given the job of superglueing 2 piece plastic cocktail glasses together.. about 200 of the things! However, whether we should have been let loose with superglue is debatable! I was happily gluing away when my eye was itchy and accidently superglued my bottom eyelashes to my face.. so there I was in the bathroom trying to unglue my lashes when Natalie came in with the superglue tube stuck to her fingers.. it actually bled when she ripped it off!!? I only dared recount this story aloud when Cheryl was having difficulty not supergluing her fingers while fixing something and realised it really should have a warning attached.. WARNING...DO NOT STICK BODY PARTS TOGETHER..
Anyway.. back to the party.. we went back to the house at 5pm and I had to make another photo montage and be ready and out the house by 5:30pm.. I borrowed Kathryns amazingly gorgeous dress.. I was a bit scared of being in a dress but it seemed to go down well!
So by the time the party started and we realised there were 150 on the list and it was advertised on facebook and my space.. I agreed to help Nathan on the door checking ID, getting rid of gatecrashers and handcuffing them with wristbands of whether they could drink or not.. it was quite fun actualy.. was only meant to be there for 15 mins but a few hours later Nath and I were still running around unlocking teenage girls stuck in toilets and peeling them off pavements.. when I realised that people had been refilling my glass every 10 mins and I'd drunk a fair few cocktails plus a few Jim Beams.. and I was a tad tipsy.. I dont suppose anyone will believe me when I say I wasnt THAT drunk?..so enjoyed the party for a while before falling full body weight on my broken arm on concrete. I felt it move apart. I was lucky I had the brace on from the scrapes on it. Yes I know I'm stupid, no you dont need to tell me.. I have beaten myself up enough about it.. like how hard would it have been for me to wait 12 weeks to get sloshed..Anyway after running around in a flap and trying to call Paul and then realising he probably wouldnt appreciate me slurring down the phone at him.. Nath popped me in a taxi and I went down A and E.. picture me in A&E, wearing a cocktail dress at 2am on a Saturday night.. they wouldnt look at it and they dont do xray during the night and since I wasnt crying it couldnt be that bad could it? ah the lovely kind nurse.. not. So I got in a taxi and went home and waited for xray to open at 9am..
at 9am Yvonne took me to xray and I waited 4 hours for them to tell me I had a separated fracture but since they hadnt seen previous xrays they couldnt tell whether I'd hurt it further but it looked like I'd refractured it since it was still seperate.. so went and helped clear up from the party.. and then go round Charmaines house and then a dinner party for which having had no sleep I had trouble staying awake.. and since my bed was in the dining room I couldnt sneak off to bed..
So the next morning I got a bus back to Hobart.. in a lot of pain and through a haze of morphine I got off the bus and went straight to an interview for a recetionist at the YHA.. it was hard as I couldnt concentrate on the morphine..but obviously I still did well as he offered me the job there and then. This wasnt even a job that had been advertised, they'd received the letter Friday, called me Friday, interviewed Monday.. and wanted me to start Tuesday, but I knew myself well enough to know I was in enough pain not to be able to do a good job quite yet so I offered to start the following Monday..
Cheryl then came and picked me up.. I felt terrible as they have done so much for me and I'd gone and got drunk and messed up my arm again.. they had every right to tell me where to go.. but they didnt.. once again they were great! Although Cheryl may never let me go away for another weekend.. I came back having had no sleep, one meal, having rebroken my arm and since I hadnt been able to dress my arm infection it had got disgusting again.. I can look after myself and she knows that but it was nice to be looked after again..!
So the next day we had the hospital again.. it took hours... xrays and specialists etc.. turns out the incredibly slow healing of my arm is a godsend as it meant the bones could move apart and not cause too bad damage.. I do have some fusing and stuff but its springy still which is good news for falling on it. But it has meant going back to week one progress and pain.. the bone moving everytime I move.. and cant dress or move it at all.. its all okay though really, they are not worried about it, I didnt do too much damage falling on it, and it will be okay.. since its my own fault and I cant carry on being a sook I went to the YHAs met staff and had a good look round..

anyway will carry on with my adventures another day.. enough typing for now...