into melbourne..........

hello hello hello

i got to mildura last tuesday morning but the work was'nt quite ready to get started and the temp. was 42 degrees which was too hot to work in anyway. me and 5 other ppl got to stay in this little guesthouse which was good as i got my own room and there was easy access to the kitchen to fry up stuff or whatever else. however, there was'nt too much in mildura which is a small town a long way from anywhere so i decided to comedown to melbourne for a week which is 9 hours away by coach.

i got to melbourne on friday 11th jan in the morning and spent almost 2 hours walking around the city with my suitcase trying to find somewhere, eventually i found a small backpackers place on elizabeth street. Melbourne is a pretty kool place to be in, there is alot going on in the city centre but around the centre there are lots of big parks or botanic gardens (one has cooks parents cottage they built, i took a photo of that), lots of churches and a massive square called 'federation square' which is like a meeting point and then you walk past that across a bridge by the yarra river that leads to the MCG, the rod laver centre is next to it as well which is where they were having the australian open, tennis, which is on at the moment.

i have done a tour of the MCG, explored the city and surrounds and bought some new trainers. ive booked the 'neighbours' tour for 5.30 tomorrow and this week i will be going to melbourne zoo, st. kilda beach and a cricket game on friday afternoon at the mcg between victoria and tasmania in the ford ranger cup before getting a coach from melbourne - mildura on friday evening at 9.45 which gets in around half 7 the following morning. i have been told that the work there has just started and it continuous so i hope to work 6 weeks, 6 days a week and save around $2000 which will lead me nicely into march where i return to sydney for the march 2nd one day final and then leave for wellington a day or two later to spend 3-5 weeks in NZ to watch the wellington and napier test matches in the north island.

after that i plan to go to WA and work 4-6 weeks then spend 4 weeks touring the area, a week in perth, broome, monkey mia, etc.......... but its a long way off so i'll see what happens.

thanks for the birthday cards and e-mails i received.

nicki - it was great getting that comment from you, they are always appreiciated and you can e-mail anytime as well - nfl202020@hotmail.com - do you and paul drink red or white? i'll try and bring a few local bottles home.

paul - i know your probably glad to see SD win so i won't say too much about it, lol except that i never thought i could cheer for NE to win this season but i sure will be this week!!!!

oh, i sent the post yesterday to my home address so there should be 2 parcels arriving sometime next week.

take care, g

moving on

hi everyone, hope your all doing well.

i went down to sydney harbour on new years eve, i got there at 1.30 pm so it was quite a long day but the weather was good and the harbour was beautiful so i had a good time. they had a big firework display at 9pm and then the main one's at 12 which was fantastic (i got a little video of it on my camera).

the surfing was really good, i was impressed by bondi - i can ride a board all the way to the shore from quite far out lying down and i know the technique to stand up, its quite hard but i'm getting there.

there was a fire evacuation at the hostel the other day at 2am, all the alarms went off and we had to just evacuate ( i managed to get my trousers on but not my top, good job it was'nt cold!!!) Anyway, it did'nt come to much, the fire brigade arrived and i think it was just a small fire somewhere in the building, its a pretty big building so i'm not sure where it was.

jamie - glad to hear things are going well for you, the kestrels are top, arsenal are top, the jags are in the divisional rounds and your fantasy team won the trophy, your on a roll.......................

paul - thanks for the comment, they are always good to get, hogg looked good playing his shots but i don't think he's much of a spinner, take lee out and they are a little blunt, although why tait does'nt play is beyond me, BUT more importantly what happened to vince young?!!!! i was hoping the titans would win (i did'nt manage to see the game as it was earlier then i thought) but i saw the highlights and the D was really good but the O was a disaster!!! i was dissapointed as i despise SD but at least i know they are going into indy next week where they will be crushed!!!

lee - how you doing? the e-mails are great and i will catch you on the phone soon - what happended to basingstoke? i saw they lost away to lewes 4-0 or 4-1

kevin & mitie - how are you all doing? did you get my e-mail i sent around xmas?

i'm going to mildura in victoria in a few hours, its 17 hours on the greyhound and i get there tuesday morning my time. i have been looking for work and the only work is fruit picking but the pays decent and i can start straight away, i'm also ready to leave sydney now for a while. my plan is to work for 7-8 weeks then get back to sydney on march 1, watch the SCG final on march 2 then go to NZ for 4-5 weeks and see englands test match in wellington and napier at the middle/end of march, see the barmy army, lol

although plans seem to change alot so i won't say its a definite yet.

i have moved some of my money from HSBC to westpac as well.

oh, i had to sell 2 ODI tickets i had in feb, i had trouble selling them so in the end just settled for 50 bucks the pair which is a small loss but its better then nothing and it will only take about a days work to make up the difference, these things happen sometimes, once i can get working and some money i can move around the country more.

right, i'm off now - take care and talk to you soon - the comments are great as are the e-mails - nfl202020@hotmail .com

also a shout out to dad, sharon, leanne, richard, emily, sophie, nicki, nan, grandad, julie, david, katie, ashely and eveyone else.

there you go mum - the blog is updated, lol

take care all, byeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee