Well the first six weeks are down and all is running smoothly. Marty has found work which was a relief, took longer than we thought. He has a casual contract with a local engineering mob, Maicon, which contract him out to Karara mine. Its an iron ore mine and Marty seems very excited about the opportunity. He's done a few "shut downs" out there which have been from 3-5 days and now he is on a permanent casual FIFO to gig which is week on week off. It's been hard for the girls and l to adjust to, miss him terribly. Very strange as even before this trip Marty and l had only spent a maximum of 2 nights at a time apart, and now on the trip we are 24/7 together. Miss him like crazy, longest we've been apart in our whole relationship!! Great in a way as have found new love for one another. Seems he misses me and the girls just a much. The upside to him being at the mines is that its given him another notch on his professional belt and the money's great which means we can save heaps.
The girls have been accepted to Geraldton Primary School after Nikki pulled her three out due to going to St Francis P.S where she's gotten work as a teacher. Charlotte and Meg have made friends quickly, and the teachers are loving the girls confidence and stories of travel. Marty and l are so proud of them. They have fell into school with no problems. Their were no tears or feelings of being scared, they have just cruised. Remember as a kid when l moved around to different schools a bit how scary it was and didn't like it at all. So to see my girls do it with ease has been reassuring and a parent proud moment.
Our next door neighbours, Jack and Julie, have become the girls surrogate grandparents, Oma and Opa (dutch for nan and pop). They were like proud grandparents when the girls started their first day of school and came over to take happy snaps of the girls in their uniforms and wish them luck. Very cute....
My work at the Geraldton Regional Hospital is alright, not terribly stimulating and some staff really clicky and lazy which is to expect in a small hospital. Very opposite to the last place, Alice Springs Hospital where the nurses were embracing, welcoming and passionate, hard working people. I'm hoping that the prison job comes thru, otherwise its going to be a very long work stop.
The 'HardFirms' called thru and stayed a night at the park on their way thru to check Kalbarri out before having to return to Perth to set up camp for the next 6 months or so. We had a great night that lead to some surprising running talents down on the beach. The kids were all set up watching a movie so the adults could enjoy a beer or two. Nikki, Ton, Cam, Marty and l were having a nice session which was leading to a bit of a party. We were waiting for Matty to come home from work, which was around 8pm. When he got home, we thought we were getting a tad rowdy so reckon it was time to head over to the beach before getting complaints about the noise level. Whilst over at the beach, and even though it was freezing, one thing led to another and next thing l know Cam and l thought it was a good idea to take our pants off and half skinny dip in the ocean. I don't know what it is with me, grog and the beach but things always seem to end up with me doing some kind of nudie stunt. After our half swim in the freezing water, what better way to warm up than run half butt naked up the end of the beach and back. I returned to Marty shaking his head, but at least he was still laughing!!! Great spontaneous night of fun full of laughs as it should be!! Have missed these guys, and was great to let our hair down a little after the stress of setting up home and work in Gero..
We had the pleasure of catching up with Kaz, Dan and the boys. They pulled up for a few days on the way up north. Great to see them again, haven't seen them since Margaret River. Enjoyed some drinks in-between us working. Sadly, its the last time we will see them again until we make it to Victoria as they are finishing their and heading home :( We enjoyed seeing them again. We had a great lunch down at the foreshore with them, the Cronans and Jack and Julie. Felt like a big family get together. Had chip sanga's, the traditional travelling family take-away. Followed it up with a play at the skatepark. So cool to see the kids all zoom about, luckily no crashes! Was even great that the Elli's were here to spend the day with Meg on her b'day. Well after she got home from school that is. Meg turned a big 5 and had a wonderful day. Meg loved her Furby, a small robotic furry toy that talks to you and dances. We had a small party for her at night, went to Macca's for dinner and followed it up with the awesome rainbow cake l had made. Very chuffed with myself, first cake in the caravan, who says you need a house? Meg got very spoilt, receiving pressies from everyone, even Jack and Julie. Had an awesome little party with great friends, even her little Zaccy was their which was great.
So far, our time in Geraldton seems to be going well, work is now organised, bank balance is recovering and the girls are having a wonderful time at school making new friends....
Bell Xxx