Update time! (With pics) Warning – long entry

Finally I have the internet at home! Seems like I have so much to update on and so many people to catch up with! It must be nearly 2 months since I’ve been on here I think, definitely over a month! So, to start where I *think* I left off last….

We found out early July that we had to find a new place to live. It was a pretty fucked up situation really. Only a month or 2 beforehand we had spoken to the landlady and she said that we could stay as long as we want, and when we decide to move she will sell and retire and get a smaller place (we originally took up the lease for approx a year with the impression she was selling after that). We had been contemplating up until then whether we should stay or move or what, it was coming close to us being there a year at this stage. So we decided we had a good deal ($240/week for a 2 bedroom house with a little yard and separate EVERYTHING ie kitchen, dining, lounge, HUGE bathroom, sunroom, laundry ALL separate rooms!) and thought we would stay and put money aside to buy a place, we both agreed we didnt really want to have to move again to rent for 6-12 months. Anyway, then I get a letter from centrelink a few weeks later saying I need to renew my rent assistance form (I neevr actually applied for rent assistance as such, but when we got the baby bonus they did income assessments and all the rest and ever since I have been getting rent assistance and child support on top of the original $5000 baby bonus! Gotta love Australia :-D). I figured no problems, filled it out and gave it to the landlady and waited to hear from her. Long story short, she got back to me a few days later and said she wont sign it because she is in the process of applying for a pension with centrelink and obviously doesnt want them knowing she is renting part of her place out. So I said, "ok no problems, maybe we can negotiate the rent then, drop it a little bit?" She asked me how much I was getting and said she couldnt match it which I wasnt expecting anyway, then she said she would come talk to us in a couple days – which is when she said she was going to sell her place and we would have to move out. She said there was no hurry to move because she wasnt getting anyone else in, but I wanted to get out as soon as I could if she can turn that easily. We hadnt had any problems before that, but I thought that was a really shitty thing to do to us. We could have knocked the rent back to $200 and she would still be getting her centrelink payments or whatever else it is. In the end I guess it was for the best though.

We had planned to go away before all that happened, then we were wondering if we should go or if we should be getting ready to move. I convinced Kati we should go and get some rest before we have to go through another move, and we did! We went away to my grandparents place in Victoria in mid to late July. It was just a short break but so nice to get away. Its a place called Buchan that nearly no one has heard of, which is a good thing! It is about 40mins drive from Lakes Entrance for any of my Aussie faves who might have any idea where Im talking about. Still a good few hours from Melbourne though. We ended up taking a ‘detour’ with the navman GPS and ended up going through JIndabyne and following a dirt road that is really made for 4WD’s with some hairpin bends for a few hours! It was well worth it though, the scenery was absolutely stunning, mind you we didnt really get any photos, just 1 that really doesnt capture the essence or beauty of the place, but by this stage we had a crying baby and my focus was totally on driving so we didnt get much chance for photos between us. I would love to go back there with a 4WD one day though and just take heaps of photos! We left home Friday morning and got there Friday night, then we came back on Tueday morning and got back Tuesday night. It is such a nice place, even if you do lose a day either side travelling! It is a small country town surrounded by rolling hills. Kati and I were arguing most of the time because I wanted to move there and she wants to stay in Sydney for a while LOL! I couldnt believe prices there but, they had a 2 bedroom house for rent with fireplace and all for like $105/week! They had a 3 bedroom house for sale for $105000! I couldnt believe it! I was so tempted to drop everything and become a country boy! We could pay that off in a few place and actually OWN our place in just a few years if we worked really hard! But thats the problem I guess, there IS no work there LOL! Anyway, maybe one day I will be able to live my quiet country life. I bet I will want to be back in the city after 6 months though, I can never really make up my mind!

(Picture on our way there somewhere near Jindabyne, the only one we got, and it got better from there!)

Once we got back we decided to look around for places to live, and realised just how good we really had it before! The places we were looking at were about $100 more than we were paying and so much smaller. It was really quite disappointing. In the end though we found a nice place which was a good size and has a huge balcony! Its got a *distant* city view from the east side of the balcony too, which is really nice! was a bit crazy really though, Kati went to look at the place on Monday, and then we were approved on Wednesday and we moved on Friday! We didnt really start packing until we new we were approved though! It was a hectic week. I couldnt have done it without the help of my dad and a couple of my mates and their utes. We kept a bit of stuff at the old place until we could get sorted at the new and the old landlady didnt charge us any rent which was good. We have finally just about settled in except for a couple of boxes of useless junk, but you wouldnt know it by looking! The place WAS looking really good but then they started doing work on all the balcony’s around the building, so we had to bring all the stuff in off the balcony and put it inside, so it looks almost as bad as when we first moved now!

(Crappy phone picture of my distant city view, its been zoomed to the max too LOL. I will get a better one soon from a good camera, both zoomed and not)

Last week I let my hair down so to speak, and ended up having a BIG weekend! My sister had some people over for drinks for her birthday, and I intended to have a quiet one, but ended up getting more drunk than I have in a very long time! That quiet night turned to a big night very quickly! I drank heaps and acted the fool as usual, then eded up at a nightclub we used to go to all the time around 10 years ago when we were first going out underage! It was a good night though, but I paid for it the next day. I never used to get hangovers when I was young no matter how much I drank, but these days they hit me hard! Anyway, to say I wasnt feeling great on Sunday was an understatement. I ended up getting to bed around 3-3.30 that morning, then did next to nothing Sunday. Kati went and did the shopping and I tried to sleep but River just wasnt having it. She was so fussy that day, babies and hangovers DO NOT MIX!

I managed to get my ass

up and about though and make my way to the city to meet up with the Blind Archer. Im sure I wasnt great company because I felt like shit, but it was great to meet up with him, he is a really good bloke. The last thing on my mind was having a beer, but I decided to grab one anyway, and it went down easily, so more followed! Im not sure how many I ended up having, but I was feeling it. We went to a few pubs and played some pool, then ended up at Pure Platinum strip club for a while before going back to his hotel room to chat and call it a night. I JUST missed the last train home but and couldnt be bothered with the nightride, so I took my beautiful kind wife’s offer of a lift up. I went and had a veggie burger meal at Hungry Jacks while I waited for her to come. I didnt get to bed till close to 2 that morning though and was up at work at 7 and not feeling great LOL. It was well worth it in the end though, even if my hangover did last a couple days! I had a great weekend, but realised Im too old for that sort of thing (26, Im over the hill LOL), my body just doesn’t take it like it used to.

I had to cut this entry short towards the end here cause I have to get back to work! This is the first time I have worked at the 2nd office on my own and actually had a chance to get on here! I’ll update more later and add more photos and catch up with noting soon, should be easier now that I have the net at home now!

I’ll finish this with a funny pic of River. I had my hands full when I was packing the car the other day and was on my own at the time, and I had to find a place to put River….

I thought it was hilarious. She was actually laughing, dont know if you can tell or not.