A month in the Bay

My contract location this time was a coastal town in southern NSW. With its pretty bays and nice wee view points, I had a feeling I’d quite like being here. On arrival I was hit with what I can only describe as the flu on steroids. I’d escaped the flu a few years now so my time was bound to come, and boy did it come. My first few days were hard, I knew I couldn’t call in sick to work so I just had to power through each shift and then went home a die on the sofa. Luckily after 3 days of death, life started to resume as normal, but for those 3 days I thought it was the end :’)

The job was a tad crazy, very busy day, lots of 50hr weeks, and the uncomfortable first few days of learning 100 residents names is always fun, but I soon got settled in. Not every job is perfect, and this one was far from it, but I’ve learnt now that if you totally seperate your work and social time you can really appreciated days off, and it’s always nice when a work day goes by quickly. Towards the end of my first week I got a house mate, Jessica, an Irish girl who I’ll give it to her made the days fly by. I couldn’t have asked for a better room mate, even if she was a messy sod 😉

My days off were spent exploring the local town, walks/run through the bay, watching sunsets at the beach, as well as the sunrise, and cooking tasty food. I’d made a goal to run the 77s half marathon in July so 4 days a week I spent some time running around the place. A very pretty place to run making it easy to train. Me and Jessica also headed into Batemans Bay town to purchase some warmer attire, it’s winter in Aus now and although not totally freezing it was a tad nippy, so warmer gym gear and cosy slippers were purchased, along with a rain coat which was most definitely going to be needed. I also met Copper and his sausage dog Scooter (two easily confused names), and we had some nice times. A few coastal walks with the pup, a day at Mogos Zoo where we got to see lots of cool animals and laugh at how much gorillas act like bored humans. We trialed the local pizza van, and binge watched Derry Girls, and had a cosy night in with take away when the rain hit hard. Me, Jess and her Co partner went for a cold dip one Sunday, which was actually a lot of fun especially as the wheather was shocking so there weren’t many souls braving the beach! I also picked up my education hat again this month, assisting some friends of mine with some academia. This was a lot of fun for me, and was nice to feel like I hadn’t lost my academic writing touch. Understandably helping write sounds like most peoples worst nightmare but I’ve always appreciated the geeky side of myself, and in cases where you can help friends, it’s pretty nice! I also worked on my own writing, with revalidation soon approaching in the UK it meant I had my portfolio to create, to submit later on in the year.

I’ve had some really nice times here, and it continues to highlight why I do these contracts. Getting away from what’s comfortable and putting yourself in new environments is seriously good for the heart and soul. You meet so many cool people, and get to see some really cool things all while working. It’s a sweet deal! I’m not sure where I’m off to next, with 6 weeks in till the big road trip around the north west coast, but I’m sure it’ll be splendid where ever I go! Firstly I’ll have a week in Sydney, bunking in with a friend, intill I source a new job!