So we have been busy busy busy since I last let you know what we have been up too. I am no longer a kept man and have found full time employment. We are both working for Aldi stores now and will be for some time to come. But before I go into that I will fill you in on activities pasts. So Ashleigh was still working at the Bridal shop and with a heavy heart she had to hand in her notice as she had been offered the job with Aldi with more money and more hours, a no brainer really. She really enjoyed the job at the bridal shop but at the moment we are both in it for the money and need to make as much sweet dollar as we can to fuel our travels. As Ashleigh completed her last day in the bridal shop, I packed a rucksack with the New Testament (as the old travel guide on Southeast Asia was called the Bible it seemed only right to call our Australia guide by that name), also some fruit and water, I made sure that my iPod was fully charged and I set off for a day of exploring around Canberra after walking Ashleigh to work. I stopped off at a cafe in Gungahlin and started my day out by myself with a cup of coffee catching up on my book that I had been neglecting since I was in Bali. After watching the world go by for a while, I wiped my cappuccino tash off my face and hopped on a bus to take me to Canberra centre.

It was a blazing hot day and after hopping off the bus I made my way down to Commonwealth Park setting off in the direction of the National Museum of Australia. It is situated next to the west basin of Lake Burley Griffin and the walk around the basin was great as people slowly bobbed along the lake on pedalos as the black swans and ducks came close to shore for a neb in the hope that I had a slice of bread to throw in for them to eat. It took a good 45 minutes to walk there from the city centre but it was well worth it. You can see the National Museum of Australia from quiet some distance as it has a large orange, black and white twisting loop that over shadows the main building. As I made my way to the museum I notice a wave like curve coming up and out of a hill in the distance. This was a path that linked to the museum and I climbed the hill for a closer look. Making my way into the museum, I was greeted by a friendly broad accented Aussie who put a map of the museum in my hand and told me to pop my bag in the cloak room. I would describe the National Museum of Australia as one big abstract storybook. It uses creativity, controversy and humour in its displays of artefacts and also has a great hand's on experience with working models that you can play with till your heart's content. The National Museum of Australia mainly dismantles national identity piece by piece and in the process allows you to come up with ideas of your own. They have many museum attendants on hand that will help you navigate your way through the exhibitions filling you in on all the facts, one bloke who worked there was chatting to me for about half an hour and he was just a spot on bloke who loved his country and its history. Good on him I say. The Museum had displays on Indigenous culture, national icons and much more. I have to say my favourite part of it all was the introductory film that is shown in a small rotating theatre at the start of the exhibition rooms. This is an enjoyable audiovisual taste of the range of artefacts on show and how they form part of Australia's national identity. The theatre rotates through four different rooms with different styles of film in each, getting more and more modern as time goes on. It lasts for around 15 minutes and I found it a feast for the eyes. It was brilliant and even more so that I was the only one in the theatre for the showing so there was nothing to distract from the images on show. Another highlight of the museum had to be seeing artefacts of my child hood hero, Rolf Harris. In a display case they had some of his paintings, his leather jacket with 'ROLF RULES OK!' painted on the back and a few of his wobble boards, one of them used for his cover of Led Zeppelins 'Stairway to heaven' I had spent the best part of the day looking at most that was on offer in the museum and made my way out pleased that I had went. It is a great place and it is really refreshing as it is like an art gallery and a museum got together and had a kid. If you ever go to Australia and visit Canberra it is defiantly worth a look. I will have to go back sometime with Ashleigh as I'm sure she will enjoy it too, it is worth it just for the rotating theatre and the best part is, it doesn't cost a cent to get in. I made my way back around the west basin of the lake and lazily strolled into Commonwealth Park, found a nice spot on the grass and sat in the sun reading my book that had recently had the dust blown off it that morning. After half an hour or so it was time to set off back into the city centre to catch the bus to take me back to Gungahlin and meet the misses after her hard day of work.

Last week as I said before, we started working for Aldi and started by attending a training course. It was your typical introduction to the company training type of thing, starting off with the introductions of your name, where you are from and why you chose to work for Aldi. Some of the answers took me and Ashleigh by surprise. Aussies are very honest people and have nothing to hide but something's shouldn't really be said when starting a new job, for example "...well I came to Aldi as I lost my last job because I got caught off the police racing other cars at the traffic lights and lost my licence" or my favourite "....I got sacked from my last job because I got caught stealing so I needed another job" I couldn't believe that these people had actually said it but it was very entertaining all the same. Ashleigh provided extra distraction for me by pointing out that one of the blokes in our training group looked exactly like Champ Kind off the film Anchorman and every time I looked at him, the only thing that went through my head was "WHAMMY!" and this only got boring by Tuesday afternoon which was also the last time I would ever see him. So the week was quick and we learned the ins and outs of our job role spending the last two days of our training in a store. We weren't sure if we would particularly enjoy the job but as I said we are in it for the money. Turns out that we both love the job and the time flies over as you are constantly on the go as there is always something to do. So we both have plenty of hours on our rotas for next week and are looking forward to our first pay check. If you are lucky you might get to see a picture of us in our uniforms and safety boots that don't make Ashleigh look like a lesbian at all.

In other news, we have been searching high and low (on the internet) for a campervan as we plan to buy one as soon as possible. We plan to do a massive road trip around Australia and would like to buy a van to allow us time to do any work on it that is needed and also to put a personal stamp on it before we hit the road. We were due to take a day trip to Sydney with Dan on Saturday to view a campervan that we both loved but we were informed on the Friday that it had been sold resulting in me being in a huff for most of the day. But we kept the search alive and on the Saturday we took a drive around Canberra with Dan looking at used car lots in the search for a home on wheels. We took a van for a test drive that was the bare bones and would have to be decked out by us to make it into a camper. It drove like a dream but by the time we bought it and decked it out, the price it would have cost would be through the roof (well the roof of a traveller's budget anyway.) It felt funny driving again after five months. Ashleigh found the clutch that hard to judge I had to ask if she even had the van in gear, but after a few minutes we were both back into it and enjoyed our little drive about. We had found a campervan that we liked the look of on the net and drove there next, taking it for a test drive and having a good look at it as if we were Hercule Poirot looking for a clue in a murder investigation, luckily we had Dan on the case who didn't miss a trick and cast a close eye on everything on offer. Ashleigh loved the campervan straight away but I wasn't 100% positive as there were a few teething troubles that would have to be sorted out before we could make him an offer. We are keeping a close eye on it and are still keeping our options open, always looking for other campervans that fit the wish list and the budget. After our morning of campervan spotting and test driving, Dan drove us back via the bottle shop to pick up some well needed beers to help us ponder over our campervan test drives and as the rain set in, we decided against a BBQ and opted for Turkish pizzas and a movie.

With us starting work at the start of the week we had to be at the training centre early with starts of 7am and 8am but with the buses, there was no way that we would be able to get there on time. So it was a case of Super Dan to the rescue, he went out of his way on his way to work to drop us off and it helped us out big style. We are so grateful for his help and it made things a hell of a lot easier for us. So cheers Dan mate, we really appreciate it. Well I must dash as we have to iron our uniforms for work and when I say iron our uniforms I really mean drink beer and have a BBQ!

Love Peter and Ashleigh x