Back in Oz

Yes, it is year 2 in the back of beyond, lol. I arrived in Perth on Saturday around 5.40pm WA time. Had a great flight with Air NZ and scored good leg room again. I slept for a period of time as soon as the flight took off and then watched 'Morse' followed by some games of Tetris!!!! Yes, I found the games thingie on the back of the 'in flight' entertainment gizmo. Who knew, flying could be so much fun. The only frustration was the pilot kept freezing the game to communicate with us and it threw my concentration!! Next time, I will be better prepared, lol and play much earlier in the flight!!!.

Don't know what happened but somewhere on the trip over, my eyes and nose started streaming - it was like, there was NZ air, here is OZ air and now you can have a reaction to it. Went through a box of tissues Sat. night and woke up with a thumping headache. I had panadol, but no telfast so took some panadol and bought more tissues when I got to Perth domestic airport. Had to be out of the motel Sunday morning and in the courtesy van by 11am. Since my tickets were booked to Gton, the service changed flight times so was not due to leave until 5.30pm instead of 2.30pm. In spite of having people I could have caught up with in Perth, I felt too lousy with my streaming head, so curled up with a book and read and dozed for most of the day. Had a great flight back and the WM and her family came to pick me up. We went into Gton for a quick McD bite to eat and then walked along the waterfront and waded in the tide which was going out. The air was walm and once my feet got used to it, so was the water so it was great to dabble with the lights of Gton as a back drop and an awesome sunset in front of us. It was now getting really dark, so after a petrol and loo stop we headed off. Oh my, new technology in the car. The WMH got an ipod for Christmas that you can tune in to the car radio and so no need for CD's at all, you just program your playlist in and away you go. Listened to some 1960/70 hits and then the entire soundtrack from 'Mama Mia' on the way back here. And wouldn't you know it, just to make me feel at home, out jumped a smallish kangaroo, who got nudged once and then tried to run in front of us again (another nudge I believe, and it bounced off finally to the side of the road - still alive I believe!). A cup of coffee later after viewing the WM's new tiles on the kitchen wall, new air con in their room and a huge amount of goss caught up on, I finally headed back to my own little house on the prarie.

I must say, I gingerly got out of the WM vehicle and left lights on to shine at back door in case there were any nasties curled up or lurking. There was none I was immediately aware of so opened the door and was nearly laid backwards with the enveloping heat. I was VERY pleasantly surprised at how tidy I had left the place and once I had switched on the fans and the aircon, pretty much dropped everything in a heap and went to bed.

It was a VERY warm night and with my running nose, I felt I hardly slept at all and had the wierdist dreams (ergo I must have slept at some stage, LOL). The airconditioner did not seem to be working very efficiently and the fans merely blowing LOTS of warm air about. It did mean, that at long last, the following day when I got up, I removed the second duvet inner (the winter weight one, lol) leaving the light feather one still in the cover. Went up about midday to collect my mail at school and stayed on at the WM's place. More catching up and lunch and dinner -they are feeding me until I can get groceries this Friday, bless them. After dinner, another staff member came up and we had several hands of euchre which was fun. I prefer 500, but it was a good start. The WM's family are very into all sorts of games and had played Boggle which is a word game and two other new card games already that afternoon.

watching the news at dinner, there was a cyclone warning which continued to flash on the screen at different times during the night - the warning was for further up so no worries here. We did see how the rest of Australia celebrated Australia Day and lots of fireworks seemed to be involved. $4,000,000 worth was set off in Perth that night and although spectacular (you would hope wouldn't you!!!) I note last night the state govt thinks they are doing wonderous things spending $5,000,000 to support the people affected in Hopetoun where BHP has closed an entire nickle (and something else) mine. In effect, this place which many people had moved to and set up businesses, will become a ghost town within in months, if not weeks as there is nothing else to sustain the township other than the mine.

Yesterday I had a very lazy day, finishing one book and reading another in between sporadic attempts at tidying the desk in my bedroom and checking up mail on the computer. I woke up and had to get up to look outside because in my sleep, I was sure I had SMELT and heard rain. There didn't seem to be any evidence of it, but again I could smell rain and finally saw some spots on the window. The day became more overcast and finally poured several times. I think this is our left over from the cyclone which has caused much flooding and damage at a place called Onslow much further up. Watched tennis last night and the Australian girl Jelena unpronounceable surname played a blinder but in the end lost to her opponent. Jelena was in the competition as a wild card and ranked 600th and something last year and got to the quarter finals which has blown everyone away. She is a gutsy player and I think we will see a lot more of her. The woman she played last night is ranked 3rd or is it seeded 3rd so all very nerve wracking to watch as it came down to the final game in the set.

We have a staff meeting at 11am and will get our first ideas of what is happening for the year. The new Principal will be taking it so it will be interesting to hear his plans and outlook for the year. I had better gather myself for the day. With the cooler air outside, my aircon is almost cooling the air inside. Everything feels slightly dampish but at least it is not muggy. The sky is completely grey with some black clouds out one window - it feels like autumn/winter, lol. I note on the news last night that NZ is to have a high for the rest of the week and especially for this coming weekend which will be good for the wedding that is happening in Rotorua. Have lots of news to tell about the rest of NZ hols but will have to dribble that out bit by bit when I have a slow news day here, heh, heh.