Feb

Wow, Feb has arrived already and already a week in. This week I have 1 more week of work at coast and marine.  There is a small chance they may keep me a bit longer after this week, but I am preparing to return to the job hunting next week. Started working on my second article for the circumference, on Prague and I have also started learning French, via podcasts with Coffee Break French. I am trying to squeeze that in on the busrides in the morning and then in the evenings with my walk or computer time. Today I started on Wk2 during my walk along the beach. Went from Seacliff to Glenelg and back, think it would have been 2 1/2 hrs or something, with a coffee and lunch-stop in the middle.  There was a big carneval on at Brighton so had to fight my way through all the people but it was a very nice sunny day and very relaxing walking along the water.

Yesterday I organised my money order for my China visa and also booked some luxury accommodation for my 3 nights in Hong Kong (on route to Beijing). Things are coming together slowly.

Tonight I am having a quiet one, finishing up some reading of my library books which are due back next weekend. Nearly the end of the weekend and another working week ahead. Bonne nuit!

Published!

I am excited to advise that I have had my first ever travel writing article published, on the travel site The Circumference. It is an article about my trip to Iceland, specifically focusing on one of the amazing waterfalls that we visited.  http://www.thecircumference.org/experiences/skogafoss.  I am now inspired to write more and hoping to work on some more articles for this site over the coming months. Feel free to tweet/blog/facebook or anything else to promote the article if you so desire. It is currently also on the homepage of the site as the feature, but will probably be replaced in a couple of days by new articles, so use the link above if you are coming to view it later on. Very exciting…and I get a small payment in $US dollars as a bonus…I’m just thrilled to be published…:)

PS – the photos with the article are various from flickr, with individuals credited.  One of them is mine from the photography trip…so travel writing AND photography published really!! Woohoo!!

Coast and Marine

I have a confession to make. It is 8 days since my last post.  Bad Susan!  Been humming along at DEH – Coast and Marine Branch.  Great group of people, pretty easy work and each day I learn something new and a bit different about the SA coast and marine world.  This week I had 2 seal reports, jellyfish sighting and an enquiry on ‘fish biology’ today..what an interesting area.  Only have 7 more days left on the contract unfortunately, but it should be a good week next week, with a new boss and some more people coming back from holidays.  Enjoying the variety and change of pace each day.

Not been up to too much else this week.  Did celebrate Australia Day on Tuesday with a nice day off (what’s the odds of having a public holiday in the middle of a 2 week contract!). Went down to Glenelg and relaxed, watched the goings on and had a steak sandwich at the surf club bbq. This weekend I am heading back out that way, but this time to pick up more stuff to sort through from storage and to hopefully deposit some boxes of books…and get some more summer sun! 

Enrolled myself in to get some vaccinations for china in a few weeks time and contemplating doing a yoga class for a couple of months….The walking has slowed down a bit with the work hours but next week the plan is to refocus on that again and not lose the momentum too much.

I am going to aim to get back into taking a few more photos again next month as well…my first open uni subject starts in March and so I would like to me back in the swing a bit!  So cruising along, first paycheck in nearly 6 months was received yesterday as well which was fabulous Bye for now..check in again soon.

Little bit of work

Been slack on the blogging I know, amazing how when you have more time, you sometimes end up doing less.  Been keeping pretty busy, and this week I managed to score a 12 day contract with SA Govt, working in the Coast and Marine conservation area. It is a senior admin position, and only a short one, but absolutely thrilled to be doing a bit of work again!  Everyone seems nice and the job shouldn’t be too difficult I hope…Last 2 days been hand-over and induction and now they set me loose, for a couple of weeks anyway. Great to know I am earning a bit of cash..hopefully the outstanding tax bill can get sorted early next month now!  I am missing doing my morning walks though, but just need to re-do the schedule a bit.  Went for an evening walk last night, which was very nice, today it was 40 degrees again though, so a bit too warm still to head out.  anyway…can go back to saying looking forward to the upcoming weekend again.

Had a couple of nights down at the beach this week too, work only started on Wednesday.

Oh yes, my ticket is now booked. Round the world in 2010. Departing on 18th April bound for 3 weeks in China. Time is going to fly I think. Anyway, will be back again soon for updates and preparing for the new blog to launch in a couple of week’s time too!

Latest

Not going well on the job hunting front at the moment. Had an interview last Thurs for a 3 month contract but someone else got that…then had a small opportunity come up today, but required me to be there with an hour’s notice. I was out and about, in casual clothes at the time and just couldn’t see a way that I could get home changed and into the city to start in time. So I had to let that one go by and fate stepped in again. There is something coming up though I can feel it :0)

On a more positive front, made some progress with travel bookings and some funds should be clearing in the next few days from a cheque which means I can pay for my ticket very soon. Got some details tnight on the photography part of the china travel, and it looks fabulous. Things to look forward to for sure.

I have worked out a bit of a plan of attack to try and keep the motivation going on the job hunting, so watch out next week…all systems go, action plans in place etc. Meeting with another agency tomorrow in the city so I am still in the hunt.  Meanwhile, enjoying the sun!

Also – got my laptop back yesterday, all fixed, so I am now enjoying the ability to leave it on for longer than an hour without it overheating and have started working my way through Lost – Season 5!  Yay

PDF

For any die-hard blog fans out there, (or insomniacs), travel, work and blogging is now in a PDF format for special readers only. This is a massive 270 pages of my experiences, from Singapore to my return in December last year. I can still remember sitting in the hotel in Singapore, dutifully blogging on my visits to the zoo and the gardens.  Who would have thought that I would managed to keep it up almost daily for 18 months!

In 2010, there will be a new blog launching, around about March in time for my next round of adventures.  I will keep posting here in the meantime, just for snippets and anything interesting and of course the regular dose of photos….these ones of sunshine for the moment!

If anyone is mad… and is interested in a pdf, just comment or email me and its all yours to read at your leisure (as long as I can email it)!

2010

2010…not a movie, but my life. Still here, although the blogging from Adelaide has been a little light-on I admit. Bounced into the new year with a few bits and pieces on the go.

Firstly, I have discovered ebay!  Good and bad.  Good news is I have managed to sell off a few things already.  Bad news, there are lots to go and it could be a rather slow way of sorting and clearing, but for now the novelty is still there and I am slightly addictive. I have been to my storage unit now and see what remains which I need to sell, throw away or give away in the next few months. Exciting and daunting at the same time.

The job search is continuing for some contract work.  Had a few positive leads this week, but things are still very slow and still waiting to re-connect with some of the agencies and find some others that might have work on their books. I am a little worried that I will expend time and energy on this in Jan to no avail, but I will keep trying, next week it will be my No 1 priority!

Travel looking good. I have put a deposit down on a round-the-world ticket for this year and also paid up a deposit on a tour. It is very exciting and I am just waiting for some funds to free up to get the flights all confirmed and then I will post some more.  This is a taste-tester of the basic plan…keep in mind this is a 12 month ticket..more details to follow.

Depart April

Hong Kong- China- London- New York-Las Vegas- Adelaide

Weekend coming up is going to be a hot one, with 2 days of 43 degrees predicted.  It is strange having a heatwave and seeing London and England snowed under…Enjoy the weekend and will be back again next week.

Happy New Year

Just a quick one  to say happy new year to one and all.  Many thanks to my loyal readers, I hope to be able to bring you new adventures in 2010 and beyond…we will see what happens next.

It has been lots of fun blogging from around the world, exploring which hotels charge for internet and trying to find an internet connection in every cafe and corner. Have blogged from Starbucks, internet cafes, friends homes, families homes and  even sitting at the railway station once!  But at the end of the day, it is nice to come home, albeit for a short while until the travel bug bites again.

HAPPY NEW YEAR and a safe, happy and exciting new year to all

Between years

Since last we met, I haven’t done terribly much really, but it has been very relaxing and quite warm! 

A few of the highlights…on Monday went for a bit of a day trip with m&d, first to the Port and then onto Semaphore for some lunch.  Nice beach there,  I love the Adelaide beaches, I really do!  Not much yesterday, watching a bit of the cricket (Aust and Pakistan) and did some personal admin and a bit of my on-line french.  today was lots of personal admin and then I cooked dinner!  What a shocker I know. I don’t usually eat fish or cook and tonight I did both!  Was reasonably successful, not too much damage you can do to salmon patties, but I did forget to drain the salmon and slightly singed them a bit too much!  I am inspired to try another recipe or two if I can fight my way into the kitchen.

Today, I enrolled in an open university degree course, well at this stage just the one subject. I am planning to try and take on a Bachelor of Communications via the Australian Open University. This will just be part-time, hopefully fitting around that elusive job(s) and initially I will just do a few subjects and see how it pans out. The beauty is that I can study whether I am in Oz or UK, so it gives me flexibily.  And you can take  up to 10 years part-time to complete the 3 year degrees!  My first unit, an Introduction to Photography commences in March for 13 weeks!! Very exciting

Travel plans coming along at the moment as well.  Hoping to be able to post my planned itinerary for 2010 in the next 2-3 weeks. Roll on 2010 I say.

Merry Christmas

Just a quick post to say Merry Xmas to all my readers.  Hope you had a fabulous Christmas Day and get to enjoy the rest of the week wherever you may be. Boxing Day here is a slow one, bit of a walk this morning, early lunch and just chilling out and reading and playing around on the computer.

Still too many xmas tempters in the fridge for my liking, I need to resist…or else eat them all over the weekend and start my new healthy diet on Monday (more likely). Can’t believe that this year I started in a pub in London and will end in good old Adelaide. Stay tuned for next year, plans are getting bigger and better already.  Now, just that small issue of money!!  come on job