First up - my blog from 1 Jan 2011 to 29 Nov 2011 has been archived HERE.
Second - blimey its been two months ! And I didnt get round to doing an end of year newsletter !
A few reasons for the delay. I spent a week in Hobart attending the Mawson Hut Foundation Centenary dinner with many dignitaries including the Governor General Quentin Bryce. I dined with Anne from the UK who I met on last years icebreaker trip. The next day I joined the decendants of Mawson and his team on board the 99 year old steamer Cartela to participate in a massive flottila on the Derwent River celebrating exactly 100 years since the Mawson expedition departed for Antarctica. It was an incredible day.
I spent a day at Salamanca Markets buying far too many things, watched the Roulettes do amazing routines in the sky celebrating the Barracks centenary, watched 8000 motor bikes laden with toys head for the childrens hospital, spent 2 days at Port Arthur exploring the ruins and the surrounding coastal regions, had an amazing day on scenic flights and jet boat rides around Bruny Island, explored Hobart and dined a lot.
This was followed by 4 weeks aboard the icebreaker Kapitan Khlebnikov in East Antarctica. Celebrating christmas and new year on board on the KK's final ever tourist voyage. We docked in Fremantle on January 5. I am still in the process of creating a blog from my handwritten diary - along with sorting through 9928 photos and videos.
I had a week at home unpacking and lots of laundry and catching up on TV recorded in my absence and just relaxing and getting my land legs back before returning to work on Jan 16th.
Some good news on the work front. My boss had managed to find me some additional higher duties so I didnt have to return to the crappy coach job in the debt teams (that became a mini call centre in my absence). At this stage its for 3 months.
I was meant to attend jury duty next week but it was suddenly cancelled - much to my relief as I was not looking forward to traipsing all that way in our current heatwave. We havent had a day under 35 in the past week or so and most have been over 40.
Another reason for my delay in updating the blog and getting my photos done is that my computer is feeling its age. I bought it in Jan 2007. It struggles to open my photos and videos and I definitely cant do two tasks at the same time. This week it ceased playing cds so I cant load any programs etc. So I bit the bullet and harmed the credit card and ordered an Apple iMac all in one desk top. All nice and cord free etc and no box - so less desk mess. It should arrive in the next 10 days so I can get started on some long awaited chores and get some pleasure from sorting through my holiday photos.
Anyway - there is smoke rising from this machine so its clearly time to switch it off !
Yes I am still alive ! Tho sitting here at home with not one but two dreaded office lurgies (head cold and gastro bug) I am starting to wonder.
So, my new Apple iMac arrived and boy oh boy was that a steep learning curve. After using Windows products for 20 years its been like learning to read, write and talk from scratch !
And my new catchphrase "well you didnt tell me before I bought it "that" thing was not going to be compatible" (insert anything there from program, to external hard drive, to printer).
Most importantly - the two things I use the most on my computer are my Homestead desktop site builder which I use to maintain this blog and all my other websites, and Phanfare - my desktop photo album builder - suddenly became unavailable to me in the iMac.
Homestead does not work at all on Apple and while Homestead does have an online site editor - its extremely basic and can only do the most banal things.
Phanfare does have an Apple Friendly downloadable desktop product BUT while it is Apple friendly its not Karina Friendly and in my opinion is missing the majority of the most useful functions that the Windows version has.
So to say I felt lost and cut off for several months would not be an exageration.
One of my Antarctica passengers came to the rescue with the news that a thing called Bootcamp could be loaded which would enable the iMac to run with two separate operating systems. A Tassie friend sent me over a brand new Win7 disc and I borrowed Laurels step son - techo genius - to "set it all up". So now I can shut down and reopen in Windows whenever I need to use Homestead or Phanfare. Have been testing it out this weekend and while it does occasionally freeze when moving between the two OS - resulting in switching off at the wall - its going ok.
So the first thing I did was publish two new photo albums for Kenney and Roly's adventures in Tasmania and East Antarctica, and my own album for my week in Hobart. My own Antarctic one is taking some time with nearly 10,000 photos and videos to sort through.
So - what else: Well with the knowledge that my higher duties at work cannot last forever and the dread of having to return to my "actual" job of nearly 2 years ago thereby reducing in 2 levels of pay, and basically going to hell as that is how my coworkers are describing the new call centre environment;
I have been applying for multiple jobs in Melbourne. Have had a phone interview so far and a video interview in a few weeks.
So this has also lead to massive decluttering so that I have a lot less to move with. Fortunately the March long weekend was also the start of my annual council verge collection so Laurel helped me out getting a heap of large stuff like spare bed and old coffee tables down my stairs, and tonnes of junk out of my shed.
I have decluttered the bookcases - donating a tonne of books to my office swap cupboard. Only keeping the actual authors I collect now.
I cleaned out a bunch of boxes containing quite possibly every electrical cord and computer cable I have ever owned since the mid 90s !!!
Lots more to do each weekend but making headway. When you were raised by two hoarders who then married equally hoarding partners - decluttering is like changing your entire genetic code. You have to change every thing about yourself - every thought process. You have to set rules.
One rule I set myself in 2003 when I moved into this apartment and have been really pleased at how I have stuck to it - is the "no extra coat hangers rule".
So when a new piece of clothing comes in, an old item must go. The old items go in a plastic bag for roughly 6 months. If I havent looked for them or thought of them in that time - they go to charity.
Same with anything in the kitchen. Its been fabulous since purple finally became an on trend colour and addicts like me have so much more to choose from - but for every item that comes in - one must go in the bin or the charity box. Every 6 months I get the Daughters Of Charity to collect the boxes. They run an op shop for the public but any women having to set up new homes after escaping domestic violence can take whatever they need for free.
The biggest addiction I need to worm myself out of is the "paper" addiction. This unbridled need to tear articles out of newspapers and retain them. Seriously - I have articles going back to the late 70s ! I have four filing cabinets FULL of articles and clippings on a million topics and people.
I did get tough and clean out one entire cabinet that was filled with catalogues and articles solely on travel. They were all beautifully divided into continents, countries, states, cities, and random tips. But seriously ?????? So I got very tough the other weekend and filled two big green wheely bins with the entire contents. ALL GONE !!!!!!
So much more to do but in small steps with a mini project per weekend so as not to overwhelm my senses, or to harm myself - as getting all the stuff down the stairs caused my bulging disc in my spine to do its thing and incapacitate me for two whole weeks in March.
Anyway - thats a 3 month update!! Now that I have Homestead functionality back - life can go on!
Some news ! On Friday I got the call to say I got the promotion to Melbourne ! EGAD and I have to be there to start by 1 July! SO MUCH TO DO !
I have appointed a property manager to start finding a tenant for my Perth apartment, and have appointed an agent in Melbourne to start finding me an apartment there. Have a meeting with the bank manager on Wednesday to see how I am actually going to do all this !
So - its going to be a busy 6 weeks or so and there might not be any updates for a while. Off to become a Melbournite!
On Thursday I had my video conference interview for the Melbourne promotion. Its with a brand new Federal department called Australian Charities and Non Profit Commission. It will share the new ATO building in Collins St Docklands and will operate under the ATO's Agency Agreement and Payroll but is a whole separate department - to come into inception on July 1. The video interview was pretty weird and disconcerting. When I tried to look at the screen to make eye contact with the interviewers - two very senior people already employed at ACNC - I could see myself in the screen looking back - so it just felt odd. But I came out of it thinking that while they could clearly see I was nervous - hopefully I sold them on my skills and knowledge. I am not overly practiced at interviews - have always managed to get my jobs without one - so I have really on done maybe 2 ever.
Yesterday I got up early and met a group of strangers for brunch on the Barrack Street Jetty. It was a hot gloomy muggy rainy day but a lovely breakfast and meet up. We all know each other from the Trip Advisor travel forums and one was visiting from Houston and wanted to meet all the Perth folk.
After a very filling "big" breakfast and copious lovely hot chocolates till around 1pm, I wandered across the road to Supreme Court Gardens where the WA Jaguar Club had all their prized vintage vehicles on display. Some gorgeous luxury to be seen. Photos are in my Phanfare albums.
Then I did some chores in the CBD and sweated my way home. 28 and muggy at the end of April is just plain wrong.
Tonight Davina and I met up at Burswood, having an afternoon cocktail then a very lovely posh dinner at Modo Mio before thoroughly enjoying second row at Mary Poppins the Musical. It was a brilliant production, very clever innovative sets, great songs - old familiar ones from the movie, and seemlessly integrated new songs to fill out the story, all very well cast. We got the Mary and Bert understudies but could barely tell the difference as both were amazingly talented and had a gorgeous chemistry. The two kids were hilarious especially the little boy who was like those 70s children drawings of big eyed kids with heads too big for their body ! He was so expressive even when in the background. Pippa Grandison and Simon Burke were lovely as the parents. Simons solo song brought tears to both him and the audience.
A mediocre cuppa and cake (as this is where Burswood falls down dismally with no proper late night cafe for the after theatre crowd) followed and then it was home to bed to hum "Lets Go Fly A Kite" all night long.
A few weeks have passed and all I have been doing madly is decluttering. I took most Wednesdays off just to give myself more time to get things done.
At first I was making do with just cramming full the wheely bin each week but then it got serious so late last night I ordered a lockable skip bin trailer online. Very nifty for apartment complexes where trucks cant get in - they just attach it to a 4WD and tow it like a trailer. And it has a lockable roof so the rest of your scummy neighbours cant fill it up when you are not looking.
So it arrived this morning and hmmm its already half full. I emptied the entire shed into it and then half the spare room.
I ache all over !
In the afternoon I sorted out my tool boxes, painting & decorating boxes and gardening boxes ! Fortunately friend Laurel is building her first home and due to move in next month so she is taking a lot of this stuff off my hands as a starter kit for herself. I have made myself one small drawer of painting gear and one small drawer of essential tools and bits, plus my drill and jigsaw.
Tonight I took a whole lot of pain killers and sat watching the Queens Diamond Jubilee concert from earlier this week, while I unpicked the new "tenants" curtains to hem them a bit longer.
Meanwhile - what else ? on May 25 I took a bunch of friends to see John Waters in Looking through a Glass Onion. Some had seen it before but the rest of the group it was their first time. They all loved it.
Had a nice catch up chat with John afterwards. He has fabulous hair at the moment - quite long with sideburns - while he films a period piece for the ABC.
I guess thats my last show in Perth. Nice way to end my entertainment life in my old city.
At work its just been busy finalising all my cases. As well as me leaving - my little team is being disbanded and the work is being moved to the east. So we are all in a state of busyness cleaning up and transitioning our files and of course moving on to different teams etc Sad. Its the longest I have worked with the same group of people in my 14 years in the office - we were together 2 whole years. And with all the transitioning it was deemed that our two big bosses have been deemed "excess". Between them they have 65 years of high level technical and legal knowledge that will be a great loss to the office as a whole.
So ummm basically life is hectic and full of turmoil both good and bad !
June sped by as I frantically continued to declutter my home, finalise things at work, organise property managers for my Perth apartment, refinance, sort out removalists etc etc.
June 21 was my final day at Perth ATO. My friends held a nice big farewell lunch and gave me Coles gift cards to ensure I was able to restock my fridge and freezer in my new home.
June 22 I was up early to let the storage bed assembler disassemble the bed and the Keys packing man arrived to start a busy solid 5 hours of packing.
Meanwhile I made several trips up to the end of the street taking luggage up to my hotel and home for the next week.
Around 1.30 the packing man finished and the truck loading men arrived and they worked solidly til 5.30 then the truck full of all my wordly goods drove away.
I went to my hotel, ordered room service and collapsed into a big slumber.
The next day I went back to the apt to let in a cleaner who had a busy day ahead of him!
That night I had a fabulous dinner with friends who came from far and wide to farewell me.
Sunday, after a big sleep in (slash hangover) I had lunch - well for me it was breaky - with Norma and Trevor who had not been able to make it to the big dinner.
Then I popped back up to the apt to collect the keys left by the cleaner and do some touch up painting on the walls. Took lots of farewell photos of my very clean purple palace - home of 9 years. Will feel odd entrusting it to tenants but its the right thing to do.
On Monday 25th Cameron picked me up and we went to Mt Lawley for yummy burgers for dinner and then a farewell drive to Kings Park and around the CBD. Amazingly roadwork free for the first time in a decade !
Tuesday I caught the ferry from Barrack St to South Perth and met Davina for a very long luxurious lunch - porkbelly with the most amazing melt in your mouth crackling! Then cuppas and lemon tarts in Dome all afternoon. Then I crossed the river again just as the city lights were coming on. Back to hotel to freshen up then met some friends from York at 1907 - seriously posh 5 star restaurant in Queen St. Awesome meal - brilliant service.
Wednesday - a sleep in, then Laurel arrived and we headed in to town. Wasted 30 min in the cutest stationary shop called Typo - toooo many cute things! Bought some purple pens. Then we met Tarshi who had come up from Bunbury to catch up. Havent seen her since I left school in 1983 !!!! We headed to C restaurant (which use to be Hilite 33 in the old days) and enjoyed a 3 hour High Tea - champers, tea and many yummy goodies and much catching up gossip as the restaurant revolved around showing me final glimpses of my city.
On Thursday I met Jo from Freo at the Naked Fig on Swanbourne Beach. Great meal and lovely long catch up.
That night I repacked the suitcases and tried to sleep - unsuccessfully.
Up early on the friday and by 7.30am I was in a taxi to the airport. Flew Virgin Business and watched The Best Ever Marigold Hotel (or whatever its name is) over a yummy breaky of fruit and croissants and fetta hotcakes.
Flew via Adelaide with just 15 minutes to speed into the lounge and grab some free lunch then back on the plane. Landed in freezing pouring Melbourne to a tarmac exit no less ! Airbridges being renovated - so its out onto a wet staircase and across the drowning tarmac. Luggage was all pretty wet too when it arrived!
Checked in to my Southbank serviced apartment and went down to the IGA in the same building to stock up on some groceries, heating up a big frozen pizza after spending 20 minutes trying to work out how to turn on the oven !
Sadly the heating was harder to work out and it was a freezing night. I got the concierge to fix it for me the next day and its much comfier now !
Spent Saturday (yesterday) with my property agent Sonja having a look at several apartments. Fortunately the one I really fancied on Flinders St was exactly like it was in the photos - big and spacious, huge enclosed balcony looking out over the Yarra and the Bay. Chocolate brown carpets and kitchen but will soon be covered in purple stuff. Lovely building with easy walk to work. Removalists are booked to deliver all my goods on Friday 6th.
Today its a whopping 8 degrees and rainy. Pal Cheree is on her way to take me for a drive to Williamstown for a late lunch early dinner.
So - On July 4th I signed a 12 month lease on the Flinders St apartment, and on that very same day my new tenants in Perth were signing a lease on my William St apartment. Kismet !
I did a test walk from the apartment to my new office on Collins St in the Docklands (very posh looking new built building - staff moved in through June) - 11 and a half minutes (not counting waiting for lifts at home or work). Then wandered around checking amenities on Collins St and Southern Cross Station. Found a medical centre, chemist, shoe repair place, plenty of takeaway food places - and importantly - an almost fitted out Woolworths.
Then I caught my first tram out to Richmond after discovering Ikea was within reach !! Wandered through one of the worst designed Ikea's I have ever been in (making me miss the giant Perth one badly) and collected my seriously cheap and cheerful 2 table tops and 8 legs to be a table and a desk and arranged for delivery on Friday.
Also found in the adjoining mall a Howards Storage World and a My Size (popped in there to order a pair of wide calved boots - fast discovering the need for boots in Melb), also popped into a cheapie shoe store and bought two pairs of cheap ankle boots. Decided to get a haircut when I spotted a salon - so I look less "wild woman of Borneo".
Also during this week I taxi'd out to Maribyrnong to a Good Guys store and organised for a front loader washer, dryer, heater, iron, stick vacuum, and 2 sets of electric blankets to be put on a GE 12 month interest free deal and also set for delivery on Friday. Discovered a Bunnings next door and popped in and got a dish drainer with a water collector tray underneath (no drainer in the new kitchen sink). Cheree rang and discovered I was near her home so she drove to Bunnings and met me in there then we went back to her home and met the Pugs while I waited for a taxi to take me back to serviced apartment.
On July 5 I walked from Southbank serviced apartment to the Flinders Street apartment (now dubbed Cadbury Square due to the chocolate floor and purple furnishings!!) with some of my luggage, and went through the condition report with a fine tooth comb, taking photos as I went. Measured cupboard spaces etc, after noticing that there were no cutlery drawers and there was a need to raise the breakfast stuff and microwave off the counter (so a visit to Howards Storage World was needed again). Cleaned all the surfaces and inside the cupboards ready for the unpacking. Then back to the serviced apartment in Southbank.
On July 6 I got up early and walked over to Flinders St with more luggage and waited for the deliveries to start. The removalists arrived around 9.30am and got started. I had to tick the items off on the inventory as they brought them up and tell them where to place things and also checking for any damage. Through the morning the deliveries from Ikea and Good Guys also arrived and the Good Guys man set up the washer & dryer in the laundry. Around 2pm the furniture assembler arrived to build my bed. By 3pm I was alone in an apartment full to the brim of boxes. I located some of the most logical stuff and did a fair bit of unpacking till around 8pm then walked back to the serviced apartment for a long hot shower and collapsed into bed. Feet throbbed all night after standing all day.
Saturday July 7 I got up and checked out of the serviced apartment and got a taxi to take me and the last of my luggage to Flinders St whereupon I started the all day unpacking. Located all my clothes and shoes and work related stuff, got the kitchen set up. Located my bedding so I was able to look forward to a comfy night. Walked into my floor to ceiling wall to wall sliding door - snapping my nose and breaking a bone on the back of my hand. Yeah OUCH! Lucking the wheatpacks were in one of the first boxes I opened so they were already in the freezer - put them to instant good use.
Cheree came over to hang out while her hubby was at the nearby footy stadium and as I had no TV connected yet - she brought her ipad to play Uncanny XMen videos !! We had pizza from downstairs Dominoes (I also have a handy Nando's down there too) and a bottle of wine.
Sunday July 8 I walked over to South Wharf to locate the new DFO building. I had discovered there was a JBhifi and Howards there and I was in need of both! The connections in the wall for the TV antenna were like nothing I had seen before but JB staff found the right $5 adapter for me. In Howards I organised some laundry tubs and dIY shelves for the microwave and breakfast stuff. Spent the afternoon building those shelves and setting up the kitchen, connected the TV and DVDr, located the kettle (but not yet the toaster). Bruise on the broken hand got darker and darker, nose was pretty sore too.
Monday July 9 was my first day in the new job. Arrived just before 9am and my designated "buddy" was in the foyer waiting for me. He greeted me with a handshake - whereupon I realised the broken hand was REALLY SORE! Then took me up to show me my desk and took me round the office introducing me to the whole department (about 60 people so far). Sally, the EL2 who had done my video interview, greeted me with a huge hug which was really lovely.
Then it was time for a big meeting for myself and 20 new starters where the execs welcomed us and we all described out backgrounds etc. Really friendly bunch from such a varied background.
Got home that night to realise I had left my phone on the desk at work ! EGAD. its my only phone, internet, clock and most importantly - alarm ! So it was a sleepless night waiting for the noise of the first trains to try and guess what time it was ! What a duffer !
Spent the week pre reading for the legal training the next week, getting my expenses for the move sorted out (my hotel stays, airfares, taxi's and food for the previous fortnight all get reimbursed). Also had to make calls to organise my internet connection at home. (I had organised utilities and insurance while I was still in the serviced apt). By friday I was totally wiped out and as I had no training I rang up and got a day off. I think I was just mentally and physically exhausted. Had a huge sleep.
Saturday July 14 I headed into Bourke St Mall to check Myer and DJs for a winter hooded coat. Located one then Alison from Sydney rang to advise she had arrived so we met for lunch in Pancake Parlour before toddling off to the matinee of Annie The Musical. And my review of the show: Todd McKenney, Chloe Dallimore, Nancy Hayes & Anthony Warlow - all wonderful. Alan Jones should be shot for taking the position away from any number of actors who could have played his part - and they would have been able to retain a US accent for the entire 12 minutes they are on stage. !!! He wont be winning any theatre awards. Great sets, good kiddie cast, annoying kiddie songs that will stay in my head for a week.
Sunday July 15, Alison popped in the see my apartment then we walked over to South Wharf DFO to collect the rest of my Howards Storage World order, including my super trendy black wheely shopping trolley. Then we had lunch at The Meat Market - good steak place on the wharf.
Then Alison took off to visit other friends and I got back to the all important packing.
For the next few weeks my life consisted of training all day at work, slowly unpacking by night. Round the 22nd I well and truly hurt my back and that has curtailed my packing since then. So I think I am down to just boxes of books and ornaments now - they can wait.
July 29 Cheree came over in the late afternoon and we went and had a scrumpscious dinner at the Meat Market before a cuppa and long chat at my place. A lazy weekend other than that - catching up on uploading 2 months worth of photos to my online Phanfare photo albums. Oh - the London Olympics started today. I recorded the opening ceremony and watched it on the Sunday evening.
This weekend the back is still in a lot of pain so just laundry chores and doing my tax return and sorting all the paperwork that has been piling up for the past month. Sorting invoices and stuff.
