Snowy Mountains Getaway!!!

G'day everyone! Sorry for not writing for a while! The end of last year was pretty hectic with work in ED, carols and Christmas services at church and so forth! It was a nice break then to go away over the New Year period to the Snowy Mountains!

On 29th December, we set off on our roadtrip leaving from Josh's 1st birthday party! Our troupe included Yoke, Sel, Andrew, Di and I! We left mid afternoon and headed down the M5 towards Canberra. It was weird driving past Campbelltown and not making that Narellan Rd turnoff...and yet SUCH a good feeling! We were on another adventure!!!

We reached Canberra in the late afternoon and checked into our Formule 1 hotel on the outskirts of the nation's capital! That evening we had dinner in Dickson at a local Thai place. Then we checked out Parliament House by night! The following morning we went back to Dickson to stock up on groceries for our trip from Woolies and the local chinese supermarket yeah!

Our drive that day took us south of Canberra to Cooma where we had a lunch break. Bought my inflatable camping mat there and after a picnic lunch, we headed on to Jindabyne! The lake was inviting with its shades of blue and green and the heat was sweltering! After checking out the information centre we entered Kosciuszko National Park and checked in at Kosciuszko Mountain Retreat camping/caravan park! We found our plot of land and pitched our tents! It was my first camping experience in a long long time and I was rather excited about it!

That afternoon we went on a 5km walk from the campsite towards the river where we had left one car. The walk provided nice views of the valley! That night we had yummy Mee Goreng with dumplings for dinner before calling it a night!

On New Year's Eve, we woke up early and drove to Charlotte's Pass to the start of the Main Range Track walk, a 22km circuit walk! It was hot and there were quite a few other people doing the track. It started with a nice descent towards a creek but soon we were climbing the other side of the valley and the heat and flies were already getting to us! That's when I remembered that I had an umbrella in my back pack and out it came baby - mobile shade! What a relief! I stopped whinging and whining and began to enjoy the walk somewhat!

After walking about 5km, we reached Blue Lake, a lake formed by glacial movements! It was weird to see ice in places despite it being so hot!!! We walked down towards the lake and had our packed lunches near a stream flowing from the lake.

After lunch we plugged on and climbed peaks and descended into valleys and enjoyed the spectacular views of the Great Dividing Range! We battled flies which seemed to follow us in a perpetual cloud and with weary legs we pushed on! Every drink stop was a welcome relief but soon we were running out of water and had to ration it! That's when Di and Andrew thought it'd be a good idea to fill up their water bottles with some ice from one of those ice patches! They filtered out the dirt and bugs and hey presto - it tasted kinda good!

Refreshed, we pushed on and soon were climbing the pinnacle to Mt Kosciuszko itself! At the top of Australia, we enjoyed 360 degree views and the satisfaction of knowing that it was only downhill from there!

However, soon dark storm clouds began rolling in and we decided it'd be wise to start heading back as we still had a good 7km from that point to the car! As we descended the hillside it started to hail!!! Out came my trusty umbrella again and we kept walking towards the sanctuary of a half built block of toilets nearby as pebble sized hailstones pelted down!

Thankfully the storm abated rather quickly and with the sun setting, we made quick work of the easy downhill firetrail back to the car. We reached the car around 7pm and boy was it nice to sit down and rest those weary legs! That night we celebrated NYE with a Tom Yum steamboat and some wine! We were so tired that we decided not to stay up to see the new year in but instead played with some sparklers to celebrate!

The next morning we packed up and checked out to begin our drive back home. It was a leisurely drive back but an unforgettable experience! Can't wait till our next trip!!!

"How come you have so much holidays?!!!"

This is a question I have been asked countless times this year. The same thought runs through my head each time I get asked it - "I don't know, but thankyou Bankstown Hospital!!!"

Have just finished another 2 weeks of annual leave and this is how I've spent it:

Nov 24th - BBQ at Di's parents' place - my family came along.

Nov 26th - Dropped Jon to airport, parked my car in Mascot, caught a bus back to the airport to see him off - no money for you Macquarie Bank - Yeah! Di was 'sick' so I took her for a therapeutic drive to the Shire to do a spot of remedial shopping at Miranda Westfield and show her where I grew up!

Nov 27th - Went to fish markets with my cous and her friend from Melb. Did admin stuff.

Nov 28th - Went to Blue Mountains for a day trip with cous, her friend and Paul. Played tour guide taking them to Wentworth Falls, Three Sisters and Leura. Made it back to Sydney in time for BS social at Andrew's place - nice and intimate with just Andrew, Hsiang, Sus, Di and I!

Nov 29th - Had lunch with Jimbo and his sister at BJ Westfield! Met a very cute girl! That evening had a BBQ at the townhouse. Di's cous came over.

Nov 30th - Dec 2nd - Evening church houseparty at Galston Gorge! Got a ride up with Andrew after helping him load all the sound and music gear into his filthy tarago! Drive was nice and we were amongst the first ones there. Can't believe it's been a whole year since last HP! We had a devotion led by Simon on 'hope' on Friday night. On Saturday we had 2 talks on understanding our times, a bible study and free time! Weather was lousy this year so spent it indoors playing b'ball and soccer. After dinner it was time for compulsory fun! Wilson's group did a cool iron chef competition type thing! I was in a group with Andrew, Amy, Joe, Susanna, Carl, and Colleen - we won!!!

Dec 3rd - Dec 7th - Mostly spent at home during the day preparing for carols and doing other random admin/wedding stuff plus watching Foxtel (dad got it for the free 1 month trial!) and dvds! Had 2 music rehearsals on Tues and Thurs nights for carols. Had breakky with Carmen and Jimbo on Thursday at Brighton Le Sands and Ricky Ponting walked in for breakky! Watched The Heartbreak Kid today - dodgy movie man! - almost lost my wallet and got drenched in a storm!

All in all a busy but relaxing holiday! Soooooooooo not looking forward to going back to work but hey, only 3 weeks till my next week off...! hehehe =P

Busy November!

Hey hey!

Ok haven't been blogging for a while now and I don't quite know why that is... Let's work out why!

Work - have been doing heaps of stupid shiftwork. Finished paeds at Bankstown at the end of October and have started ED at Campbelltown. Campbelltown is alright...just far! Takes on average an hour each way but one time it took me 1hr 45mins to get home after a night shift!!! Good thing is, I have no more rostered night shifts...ever!!! C'mon!!!!!!!!!!!! Campbelltown ED is actually ok - better staffed than Bankstown and I feel more supported.

Wedding - ok...preps have been coming along slowly but surely. Church, reception, photographers, honeymoon airfares, bridal gown and bridesmaids dresses have been sorted! Things pressing at the moment include invites, my suit and beginning work on the order of service etc.

Church - evening church houseparty and carols by candlelight coming up!!! Organising music for both so busy busy busy!!!

Play - man I need more of this!!! Thankfully have 2 weeks of holidays coming up after this coming week! Yay!!!

From the River to the Sea...

Just had the last week off and boy has it been relaxing!

Got off night shifts on Monday morning and set off on another adventure with some friends from church! We headed down south to Stanwell Tops and the scenic cliff drive for a Labour Day day away! The sun was shining and although half asleep for most of it, it was so nice to be outside enjoying the great weather for once! We found a nice small beach near Austinmer and I enjoyed a nap on the sand in the shade whilst the boys went for a dip. Afterwards, we headed to Thirroul for lunch and another nap on a nice patch of grass! Alas the day couldn't last forever and we headed back to Sydney, longing for the next public holiday!

Spent Tuesday and Wednesday doing some admin stuff, some laundry (have to fend for myself with mum and dad gone overseas!), and other random errands. Had dinner with Di and 2 of her workmates on Tuesday night and on Wednesday night saw Miss Saigon with Di's brother and sister in law at Star City's Lyric Theatre! It was awesome! Hadn't seen it before and never heard the music but it was quite moving!

On Thursday, spent the day with Teng! We ventured out of the eastern suburbs up north this time to Thornleigh for some Malaysian cuisine and yummy cendol at Makan @ Alice's! Then drove up to Brooklyn and hired a tin boat out on the Hawkesbury for 2 hours! It was awesome cruising around the river and we found a nice little spot to drop anchor and kick back to enjoy the water view and a ginger beer! After returning our boat for the arvo, we stopped off at Chatswood on the way home and did a spot of shopping. Also grabbed some dinner at the foodcourt - my favourite atm, fish burger! - before heading home to watch Notting Hill on dvd!

Today mum and dad returned from Malaysia! Brought back all sorts of goodies! Alas, I have to work tomorrow but man, it's been a great week!!!

Sweet September!

Another month goes by and I haven't blogged in ages!

Highlights of September for me was my trip to Albury to visit Jon, followed by the APEC weekend trip to Port Stephens with some mates from church!

Visited Jon in the first week of September when he was studying for his paeds and O&G exam. Flew down on a Monday and got picked up by Jon at the airport. Spent much of that day resting whilst Jon attended a tute as I was still recovering from my week of night shifts! The following 2 days, we studied together, saw some kids together at hospital, and played tennis for free! And all too soon Thursday came about and it was time to head home!

That Thursday, I travelled from Albury all the way to Mt Kurringgai by plane, car, bus and train! After returning to Sydney, I had a quick stopover to check out our new townhouse cos we finally got the keys! Then headed by bus and train up north to visit Di who was in hermit mode studying for her CA exam at her parents' place. The next day, a bunch of mates from church picked me up from Mt Kurringgai and we were off to Port Stephens for the APEC weekend!

Chris and Pete drove and immediately we got lost, joining the freeway in the direction headed back to Sydney! Half an hour later we were back on track on the F3 towards Newcastle! The drive was nice and we reached Port Stephens around 1:30pm or so! The sun was shining as we headed to Nelson's Bay to grab some lunch - fish and chips of course!

After lunch we picked up the keys to the house we were renting and went to check it out! It was located not too far from Nelson's Bay in Salamander Bay and near by the water! We unpacked our gear only to find the real estate agent had given us the wrong keys! Half an hour later, we had collected the right keys and we entered to find ourselves in a huge 5 bedroom place with pool, fireplace, and all the amenities necessary for a great weekend!

We spent the arvo going for a walk along the bay and enjoyed watching the sunset near a Peppers Retreat resort! Then we returned to the house and cooked up a storm!

The next day we got up around 10am and headed to the sand dunes! The weather wasn't great but the sun came out! Initially we were going to sand board but the sand was still wet from rain the night before so we came up with our own entertainment instead! This consisted of rolling ourselves down the sand dunes in all manner of combinations including a 4 person sideways roll down a steep sand dune!

A highlight of the day was one friend jumping off a small dune, landing on her feet halfway down the dune and then being carried forward by her momentum to end up with her face planted in the sand! Unfortunately didn't get this on video but there were 9 witnesses!

After being worn out at the dunes, we headed home and got changed for the Snow Patrol concert! 4 of us headed to Newcastle for the concert at the Newcastle Entertainment Centre! After a 45 min drive, we found the place and had a dinner of kebabs nearby! The concert started at 7:30pm and we got in early to get near the front! The support acts were pretty good but Snow Patrol were awesome! They played most of their songs from the Eyes Open CD as well as a few from the Final Straw album. A highlight was Yoke catching the pick from the bassist who she insists was aiming his throw at her!

Sunday came around too quickly and we checked out in the morning and headed to Newcastle for lunch. We went for a stroll along a pier/wavebreaker type thing and enjoyed making silly videos along the way! For lunch we found a cafe nearby and then headed back to Sydney and church!

What an awesome trip! Can't wait till the next one!

Totally Twisted August!

Man haven't blogged for over a month now!!! What's going on?!

Ok, contrary to popular beliefs, I AM actually working this year!

Over the last 5 weeks I've done 2 weeks of orthopaedic surgery, 2 weeks of upper gastrointestinal surgery and 1 week of general surgery. Whilst it's been a good experience getting some final exposure to surgery before heading off to GP land, the past 5 weeks have only reinforced my conviction that surgery is not for me! In addition to working longer days doing surgery (7am-5pm) I've also had to work all my overtime shifts this term cos the guys I usually give them away to couldn't or wouldn't take them this term!

This has left me for the most part drained, fed up with the hospital system and longing for another holiday!

Luckily for me, that isn't too far away! I'm starting my paeds term tomorrow with a week of nights (eek!). That's followed by a week off (APEC week) during which I'll be visiting Jon in Albury in the first half and then going off with some friends to Port Stephens over the long weekend to see Snow Patrol in Newcastle! Man I can't wait!

Haven't been doing too much besides work although this weekend I went to the TWIST Music Conference with 7 other people from church. This was my second TWIST and it was great (despite being all the way out in North Parramatta meaning no sleep ins for me this weekend!)! We heard 3 challenging talks from Mike Raiter about why and how we do music in church. The workshops I attended this year were Bass, Music Director 1 and Hymns in the 21st century. All proved to be useful and I shall take what I've learnt back to St Mark's to improve the way we do music there to God's glory! Also managed to catch up with some friends I haven't seen in a while!

Skiing Falls Creek!!!

Just came back from an amazing week away skiing!!!

Drove down with Jon on Tuesday all the way to Albury! We left at around 6:30am and arrived in Albury around 12:30pm! We grabbed some Hungry Jacks and then went to Safeways (country equivalent of Woolies) to stock up for our self-catered trip to the snow!!!

Around 1:30pm we headed across the border into Victoria and drove an hour or so to Mount Beauty, at the foot of the Victorian alps! It was raining pretty hard but we were hoping that this meant it was snowing up in the mountains.

At Mt Beauty we hopped on a coach that took us up to Falls creek! Along the way up it was amazing seeing the landscape gradually becoming more and more white! It was almost surreal as it started snowing and it felt like we had entered another world like Narnia or something! About halfway up, we encountered a roadblock as a truck had skidded off the road! Good thing we didn't drive up ourselves!

Eventually we reached Falls Creek! We caught the oversnow taxi to our accommodation at Alpha Lodge! Maureen the manager checked us in and gave us a tour of the cosy lodge! We unpacked and enjoyed some of mum's prepacked curry lamb for dinner!

We got up early on Wednesday for our first day of skiing!!! The sun was streaming down and the conditions looked awesome! We trudged through fantastic powdery white snow a few doors down to Viking Ski Hire and picked up our pre-booked skis, poles and boots! Then we hopped on the village shuttle to the main ski lifts where we bought our beginners lift pass!

There were heaps of people there despite the NSW and Vic school holidays being over. We later found out that it was SA's school holidays and alot of people were from Adelaide.

At the top of the ski lift - Cloud 9 - we found our way to the first timers meeting point and met our instructor Lynnea, an American girl. We joined a group of about 10 other first timers and off we went for our first lesson in skiing 101! We learnt the basics of putting on skis and posture before learning how to stop using a snowplough!

After our lesson, we were left to our own devices and feeling confident, we had a go at a scenic beginner's run called Wombat's Ramble! It was rather interesting snowploughing all the way down!!! I'm pretty sure we fell over a couple of times but we made it to the bottom!

We returned to our lodge by the free shuttle and after lunch, went down Wombat's Ramble around 4 times! By the end of the day, we felt pretty good about picking up skiing so quickly!

We got up a little later on Thursday to discover it was snowing quite heavily! We decided not to wait for the shuttle and try and ski down to the chair lifts. Boy was that a mistake! The slopes down to the lifts were somewhat steeper and narrower than Wombat's Ramble and we found our snowploughs didn't really cut it! Not only that, but we took a wrong turn and ended up at the oversnow terminal rather than the chairlifts!

Eventually we made it to the lifts and this time got on with our skis on rather than carrying our skis like the day before. As we ascended the mountain, it gradually became clear that that day was going to be anything but clear!!! We reached the top to find ourselves in not so much as a winter wonderland as a wintry hell!!! There was a strong blizzard and we had to fight the wind just to get off the lift! At one point I thought Jon was going to get blown off the mountain!!! The wind cut through our clothing like a knife and chilled us to the very bone! We eventually sought refuge behind a big sign before deciding to skip that morning's lesson and go for a coffee in the Cloud 9 cafe!

Inside it was so nice and warm! And we definitely weren't the only ones there! We grabbed mochas to thaw ourselves whilst waiting for the horrendous weather outside to settle.

It didn't!

We ended up skiing down Wombat's and heading to the Village Bowl to try another part of the mountain. There the conditions were somewhat better. There was a rather tame looking intermediate slope there that we thought we could handle so off we went on Final Muster! Man that was mistake!!! Halfway down we found ourselves facing a steep narrow section and both of us ended up falling on our sides whilst other people skiied by! To add insult to injury, the chairlift ran overhead pretty much and I'm sure I could hear people laughing at us!!! =P

Some nice people eventually came along and guided us down that section and we got to the bottom with sheepish grins on our faces! We weren't going to attempt that one again anytime soon!

Feeling out of our depth once more, we grabbed lunch at Max's Cafe before heading back up to Cloud 9 for an afternoon lesson. We skipped to a level 3 lesson and met another American instructor called Terry! He was an awesome tutor! We started by going down Wombat's Ramble together and we started learning basic Christie turns and how to ski parallel. Then we had a go down Drover's Dream, another green run. After the lesson we had 2 more gos down Drover's dream and 2 down Wombat's Ramble to practise our new skills! It was nice to return to the lodge that evening though and we enjoyed lasagna for dinner and then a game of Starcraft!

Friday was our last day there and we had to check out before hitting the slopes. It was another perfect day like Wednesday and we had another level 3 lesson in the morning. After lunch at Wombat's Cafe, we had a few goes at Drover's Dream before attempting some blue runs called Highway 83 and Main Street! Jon was more thrill seeking than me and attempted some other blue runs! By the end of our last day there, we felt pretty confident skiing parallel and I came away with no injuries!!!

We boarded the 5pm bus back to Mt Beauty and then drove back to Albury relishing the amazing time we had! It was a great time of just hanging out with Jon and we're looking forward to our next adventure on the ski slopes!

Engagement Day!

When I woke up on Saturday 7th July 2007, after I had shaken off the last remnants of sleep, I lay in bed with a smile on my face. That day, I thought to myself, was the day I was getting engaged!

Got up around 8:30am and put on heaps of warm clothes. Then set out to Di's place to pick her up at 9am...except that it was already 9:05am when I left home! Ten minutes and a couple of apologies later, Di was in the car and we were heading off for my 'not-so-surprise' engagement day!

We headed to the Sydney Fish Markets at Pyrmont as our first stop! Picked up some fresh sashimi for lunch later on and then parked at Di's workplace. Yes...not the most romantic of places to go on the day she was getting engaged but how could I say no to free convenient parking in the city all day!!!

Anyhow, we walked down to Circular Quay on that nice sunny day and caught a Matilda ferry from Pier 6 to Shark Island in Sydney Harbour! On the way we admired our amazing city and even caught a glimpse of the USS Kittyhawk docked at Garden Island. It was funny cos we were on a ferry with a whole bunch of tourists and there was even touristy commentary on board! I'm sure other people thought we were the tourists!

We reached Shark Island around 11am and hopped off the ferry with just a few other people. That was nice cos the island was big enough that we felt as if we had it all to ourselves! We went on a walk around the island, admiring God's handiwork and beauty of the harbour views. After doing a round, we found a nice spot in the sun facing the harbour and laid out a picnic rug I had brought along. Then out came the food! I brought along some of Di's favourite snacks including Peppermint Chocolate and Coke for her Coke-o-clock later on! We enjoyed the views for a while but then had to find a new spot on the other side of the island cos the wind picked up and chilled us to the core! We found a spot shielded from the wind and had our sashimi lunch. We also spent some time praying and just enjoying each other's company! Finally, we spent the last 15 mins or so taking some photos using a tripod I brought along before bolting for the 1:10pm return ferry!

We headed back to Circular Quay via Watsons Bay and enjoyed interesting commentary from the captain who Di swore was the guy who did the voice for the talking dog statue at QVB! We got off outside the Museum of Contemporary Arts and then headed towards the weekend Rocks Market! After a brief perusal, it was time to head on to our next destination!

I led Di on a meandering walk through the historic streets of the Rocks. On the way she guessed that our final destination was indeed Bridgeclimb! She had mentioned that she wanted to do it a few months back and I thought what better place to propose than on top of the most beautiful city in the world!

We checked in and after waiving our rights and signing our lives away, we were soon gearing up with a jumpsuit, overpants, harness, gloves, radio headsets and headtorches. We were in a group of 12 climbers all together and the other 10 were total randoms who we had to introduce ourselves to since we'd be spending the next 3 1/2 hours with! We then met our tour guide Graham, an eccentric fellow who had been doing Bridgeclimb for yonks! After climbing up a test ladder/platform and feeling confident, Graham led us to the commence the real climb!

We were led to a stairwell underneath the bridge from which we clipped ourselves to a safety rope and began our climb upwards! Along the way Graham provided commentary and we managed to spot several married couples taking wedding photographs around the rocks! The hardest part of the climb was climbing about 4 sets of steep narrow ladders with tiny little rungs! After that we reached the upper eastern arch of the bridge and it was an easy climb from there! Along the way Graham took some photos and at the top we had our group photograph! We enjoyed sweeping views of the harbour and Shark Island where we had been mere hours before!

As the sun began to set, we crossed high above the traffic to the western arch of the bridge to admire the sun setting over the Blue Mountains! There was a nice scatter of clouds to create an amazing effect! After a sunset photo, Di and I walked ahead of the group whilst they got their individual/couple photographs taken. That's when I began my 'spiel' as she later called it!

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't slightly nervous! I had thought about what to say roughly but hadn't rote learnt it or anything. I gripped both her hands so tightly that she had to tell me to loosen her grip! Then in a nutshell I told her how great the last 6 months had been and how fortunate I considered myself that God had brought us together. I told her that I loved her just the way she was and that I didn't expect to change any aspect of her during marriage. I told her that I was certain we'd face challenges and have 'issues' but that we'd work through them together in a godly manner. Then, just as I was about to pop the question and get down on one knee, we heard an 'Oi!' and Graham telling us to come back and join the group cos we'd gone too far ahead! With wry smiles, we walked back to join the group.

Fortunately, there was one more photo opportunity and I indicated to Graham that I was going to propose. So with his camera ready, I got down on one knee and proposed with the other 10 bridgeclimbers as an audience! Can't really remember much of the climb downwards! I was so happy! Another tour guide leader helping out congratulated us and gave me some advice that he thought would save me alot of angst during my marriage: "If she tells you to do something, just do it!"

We descended through nightfall and after taking off all our gear, it was time to sort through the photos! We picked a couple and even got a certificate to say we got engaged on Bridgeclimb!

So there you have it! We're engaged!