All Good Things Must Come to an End

As the title suggests, a very good thing has indeed come to an end. After a hectic 'race around the world' through Indonesia, we arrived back in Oz late in October, bleary-eyed after a couple of crappy flights from Bali.

Our plan was to have a couple of week's relaxation in Brisbane while finding a job, but I don't think we could have planned our return to the mining workforce at a worse time! The markets crashed in October, capital was hard to get and most companies seemed to put moratoriums on hiring. A person we know who works in recruitment said that jobs went from 90 one week, to 3 the next, to none! We completed 90% of the recruitment process for two jobs based in Orange (which would have been so lovely) but right at the end those jobs evaporated. So at the moment we're still waiting until the silly season finishes up so we can continue the job hunt. We're not holding out hopes of finding much though, so I'm starting to think about doing other crazy things, like going back to uni.


In between everything I managed to fit in a quick trip to Broome so I could be at my friends' wedding. It was so fabulous to see all my friends from Tom Price, who reminded me of a few things I'd rather forget from my times as a party animal! Ceanne was a such a beautiful bride and Jeremy had everyone in tears as he got emotional during his vows.

My friends Carly and Chris were nice enough to ferry me around to the tourist attractions in their hire car as well, which felt like charity for the unemployed at the time.... in fact I'm still unemployed so I'm glad they were so generous! We went kayaking around the headland and saw some amazing things, the giant flatback turtles were my favourites. I stupidly forgot a hat so had to pull out my emergency Buff to keep the 36-degree sun off my scalp. We also went down to the headland to check out some dinosaur footprints, but the tide wasn't out far enough for us to see them. We also went to an pearl farm and got talked into taking a scenic chopper flight while we were waiting for a tour! Words can't describe how beautiful the water is there: You'll just have to check out the photos.


I stopped in Sydney on the way back through to Brisbane for a few days and stayed with my Auntie Tina. Sydney was great, although I'm still convinced I couldn't live in such a busy place. Pete and I met up for lunch and to see the Monet exhibition, which was a bit disappointing (albeit a bit cheaper than usual). For some fresh air and exercise I walked from Clovelly to La Perouse one day and was blessed with the weather and awesome views. Mind you, the amount of waiting and dodging golf balls and dirty old men through THREE golf courses was a bit much to handle. I was certainly glad to get to the proper tracks in the National Park. While walking through the banksias and flowering, heady-scented eucalypts I was close to tears as I remembered how much I missed this country and took it for granted.

Christmas was great, albeit a bit melancholy given the double-whammy unemployment status for Pete and me. We had a lovely Christmas Eve with my Mum and Dad, and my brother and his fiancee, Jasmine. Santa did a very good job this year and we all went to bed with smiles on our faces. At the end-of-year sales today I picked up a nice (cheap!) dress to wear to my brother's wedding in February, and a couple of other nice things I neither need or can afford! My budget starts tomorrow! We're thinking of doing an overnight walk at Lamington for NYE, but park or track closures might get the better of us.

Here's hoping for a good start to the new year with some job offers for Pete and I!