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September 27 Beneath the veneer...So i had no idea how to title this entry to the blog. 'Attacked by wild beasts...' sounded a bit dramatic, while 'The house is lovely...' would probably remind you that there was some paint drying somewhere. 'More nights out...' or 'More surfing...' seems to lack that element of surprise.
Anyhoo, the veneer is thin and the fibreboard is showing through. This paradise has some drawbacks, but not in any way that i expected.
Work continues as per normal. We work antisocial hours (albeit not many antisocial hours), get thanked nicely for our work, get paid handsomely by these nice Australian taxpayers and use our funds to afford a lifestyle that ought to come with dreadlocks and a VW campervan.
The house in Sawtell is, indeed, lovely. Its also huge so we rattle around a little. It comes with three storeys, two bedrooms and a bathroom on the lower floor with the double garage, a vast living room and kitchen in the middle floor with a deck overlooking the ocean, and a lovely bedroom on the upper floor with an ensuite bathroom and wardrobes that could house three children (hypothetical, i assure you). The deck/balcony comes with a barbecue big enough to do roo steaks for the entire Australian rugby team and the garden comes with a regular lawn mowing man. The garage houses four bikes, two surf boards, a freezer full of ice and a fridge for beer and white wine. The car lives on the drive.
The house also comes with a few pets. The first of which we haven't actually seen yet - the ghost dog. We're working nights at the moment and when i woke up in the afternoon to go to the little boys room i noticed that there was no water in the bowl. I recalled from my subconcsious that Lou had earlier commented on the presence of wet marks (?footprints) in the corridor towards the under stairs cupboard. The cupboard doesn't have any holes in it, but something is drinking out of our toilet. The obvious has been suggested, but I haven't been that drunk since we moved in.
The other pets are all the cockroaches in our larder. Half the family are in the hoover bag currently, having been flushed out of hiding with a fish slice and long hose attachment. Tomorrow morning we go shopping for all the tupperware that everyone already suggested we buy, to store all our food, and borax to sprinkle around liberally.
Our Kiwi friends, Sarah and BJ, have moved into their own place in Coffs, right next to the Hoey Moey - the only hostel in town. It has a bit of a reputation as having the roughest bar in town also. Last week, someone was taken from the Hoey Moey after an argument, taken 40miles inland and killed. This week, someone had a heart attack in the bar, was brought in here, whereupon he was pronounced dead. Regulars from the bar appeared at the Emergency Department the next day with iron bars to suggest that our efforts were not quite good enough. All that being said, BJ is what might loosely be described as 'a very big bastard' so they might be safe. He does however, enjoy an ale or two and has the sort of coiffure and facial hair that attracts attention from brave men who dont yet realise that there is such a thing as being brave and stupid.
We decided to explore something other than the beaches a few weeks back and drove inland. Twice. But dont panic, the first tiem was to check out two local wineries. Dreadful, both of them. The first winery imports most of its grapes from other yards to cobble together about ten different whites and reds and ports. The experience truly demonstrates the old adage - 'If at first you dont succeed, try and try again'. The second winery was strictly organic, so uses no pesticide etc. Quite literally i guess we could say we were drinking gnats piss. Apparently because there are no additives, you dont get a hangover. Dont be fooled. We had to wash it down with lots of other stuff to take away the taste.
The other inland excursion was to see the rainforest at Dorrigo. The Great Dividing Range is a large set of mountains running from northern Queensland down through NSW to Victoria. The only place it meets the coast is at Coffs, so just inland from here is spectacular mountains with rainforest. There are lots of waterfalls and views over the canopy out to the sea. We took a 6km walk through the forest, scoffing at the guide's suggestion that it would take three hours. It did. An experience for the grown ups when they come out.
It was that evening that i had my first encounter with wild creatures. Louisa kept looking at my neck and eventually hauled me into the light to point out a large tick that was desperately trying to get to the nearest blood source. Lucky he didn't i suppose because he would have become the best fed tick of all time. Tweezers worked at the second attempt and the little bugger was still wiggling his little legs as i washed him down the plug - my god they bury themselves far in!
My latest vivious attack came courtesy of what i consider a standard garden bird in the uk. I certainly dont classify magpies on the same level as snakes and poisonous spiders. Now i do. Cycling into work for the first time from our new house i arrived at the hospital and took my helmet off just as i approached. The noise of the magpie protecting its nest from vicious cyclists is scary enough as it flies just over your head woth a loud whoosh from its wings. But when they actually fly past and stick claws or beak or all three into your scalp, it tends to make you remember not to cycle that way again. When i turned up to the emergency department ambulance bay with blood pouring down my face and all over my clothes, the nurses laughed to my dismay. They laughed even harder when i got attacked again 24 hours later, having approached the hospital from a totally different direction. Apparently you have to paint eyes on the back of your helmet or carry a balloon to scare them off. I'll only be comfortable with two barrels. Lou, who knew about both my attacks and still cycled down the little path through the woods, inevitably had her own run in with the magpie of death, but for some reason it didn't do anything more than scare her with a fly-by. She wants flames for the next run.
In pub quizzes since my last blog we've managed two more thirds, a second (and a fourth when Lou and I were at work). 'The four non-blondes' continue to thwart us with their superior knowledge of 50-60s music and australian quasi-celebrities. Our team generally contains two brits and four kiwis so we need to recruit a bearded, wrinkly Australian old-timer to help us.
This weekend is a few days in a town that's actually called Surfer's Paradise - doesn't sound too bad. I'll let you know how i goes...... September 10 All quiet on the eastern frontWell, we've had a few comments about not writing anything for a while, but to be honest we haven't really done anything exciting recently. Since Byron, we've managed one surf session, a late evening swim and a few nights out with the locals who are proving to be quite civilised against all our expectations.
The accommodation in the hospital is about 10 rooms around a central garden. at two opposite corners of the square are common rooms with basic kitchen stuff and huge TVs. One of the rooms has a computer in it. Our laptop is out of action, no working memory (sounds like a few patients round here), so we have to use the hospital one instead.
Our room is just like a motel room with two single beds in. The bathroom is lovely but the kitchen is basic so we always cook in the common room. There are a few doctors living in the accommodation with us - a few from emergency department, a junior surgeon and a couple of pharmacists. Not one of them is Australian. One couple, Ben (ED doc) and his fiance Sarah ('between jobs') have just got here from NZ. They're saving money for their wedding but more importantly, their honeymoon - six months in a camper van round Europe - the Australasian's dream! They're both good fun, and entirely responsible for a very large hangover earlier this week. We stayed in for a few drinks instead of going out and it proved to be a long evening of cards. I believe on the way to the end of the evening there was butterscotch schnapps, vodka, whiskey, Baileys, brandy creme, white wine but i cant recall the order. One drinking rule (made up by louisa!) was that no drink could be the same as the previous, so it all got messy. By 2am Louisa and her new best friend Sarah were shaking trees to see if there were any Koalas that wanted to say hello, and then they were doing merry jigs on a tree stump to imaginary music. I was obviously very well behaved and simply pointed the video camera at them to remind them of their frolics!
We also went out earlier in the week to the local pub quiz. Amazingly, we came third out of about ten teams and won 40dollars and a six pack of beer for winning the bonus round. The 40 dollars went straight on ten shots of sambuca and a pack of matches. Say no more. Needless to say, we'll be going back to the quiz tomorrow.
Its been cold here this week - about 22degrees in fact. I had to wear a jacket when i came to work at 10pm last night but i should have been wearing a tent. When it rains here, it does so enthusiatically. Its been raining for two days now and doesn't look like stopping tomorrow. The surf report gleefully announced 8ft waves for today but i don't think anyone will have been out there frankly. We dont go out if its more than 3-4ft max - it sounds small but when you surf like me you spend a bit too much time under water. 'Surfy' attitude is derided here by those who dont surf - they're all unemployed and speak stupidly apparently. Out on the water everyone's equal man.....I mean, when we go surfing everyone's very friendly and there are unspoken rules that earn a glare when broken, but everyone tends to steer clear of the learners - I'm usually pretty lonely out there.
So its only 10 days or so till we move into our house. We're both very excited. Its a lovely big house that you can see in the photo. You can see it on Google Earth at
30:21:44.65
153:06:12.05
if you're so inclined - its the one on the corner wsith the big terracotta driveway.
The hospital is at
30:18:59.00
153:05:32.12
The accommodation block isn't on there - its obviously old photography, but the block is at the north eastern corner of the hospital, where the two old white roofed sheds are.
Went whale watching the other day. Rubbish. We saw a humpback whale from about 100yards away for two seconds. Apparently he was standoffish that particular day. Hmm. In fairness, everyone else we've met who has done it says it was amazing, so we must have been unlucky. No photos i'm afraid, just some of the town from on the water.
We're gradually finding decent restaurants as well. Went for breakfast yesterday in a little town called emerald beach which was lovely and definitely one for the visiting folk in december. Right on the beach, lovely terrace, good breakfast menu so i assume dinner is too.
Well, we'll keep casting around for good venues for you all when you come over - its tough but we'll struggle on....
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