No Bali for me :(

http://sa.cancercouncilfundraising.org.au/TeamPage.aspx?teamID=33460&langPref=en-CA

This weekend I am doing a 24 hour Relay Race for Life. As the name suggests it's a 24hour relay race.... in aid of cancer research. We start at 1pm on Saturday.

If you think you can donate, please click on the link above. If you think you have any friends or colleagues who would like to give money towards my foolishness too, please forward them the link!

Just away to put my leave application form in... if it's accepted, I am planning to go to Bali next month! O yeah! :)

Election time here in Australia. Did you know that it is compulsory to vote here? Failure to do so result in a fine. They of course are not interested in my opinion, not being a resident... so I am excused.

I have posted off my visa application forms. This is to apply for the longer stay business sponsored visa. I am currently only on a short stay working holiday visa. So fingers crossed I have filled it out correctly!

Should be moving house this week. Keep you posted how it goes.

http://svc125.wic022v.server-web.com/features/port_info.html

Check out this link to see the website for Port Adelaide. This is a suburb of Adelaide where I viewed a nice house this evening. It would be sharing with a girl who is a Psychologist and her younger brother who is a Paramedic. Port Adelaide is a bit like Fittie in Aberdeen. But sunnier. A lot of the buildings there are heritage listed. It has lots of character. House was nice.It has 6 bedrooms. But they want to split it 3 ways. So that means as well as having 2 living areas and a large kitchen, we would all have 2 rooms each. One bedroom and another room to do with as we please. Roll top bath, open fire places, exposed floor boards. Courtyard out the back, and a small balcony on the front. Sounds good, huh? 5 mins from the beach, 20 to the city and about 35 to work. £5 a week more than I am paying currently. So not going to break the bank. Having a couple of days to think about it. But reckon I will probably go for it.

I've been to a few comedy shows this week. Ross Noble on Wednesday night was the highlight. He was hilarious! I've not laughed so much in ages. He's a Geordie. And someone I was with that night, asked if I still found him funny even though I would be used to hearing that kind of accent! She just thought he was hilarious because of the way he talked! :)

Talking of Geordies, one of the girls at work was telling me that her sister has just called her baby Geordie! I didn't explain what it meant in the UK. But it did remind me that I used to think that Milo was a good name for a boy. Until I got to Oz and found that it is the name for a Malted drink here. In fact you all got some for Christmas!

Veering back to Fringe events I've seen this week, I also went to see a comedy musical which was quite good. Although I was tired from being out the night before, so I may have been hard to please that night. And last night I went out to see a female only troupe of comedians, called Titters. They were an International group with acts from the UK, South Africa, New Zealand and Australia. Some of which were really good. We ate at a really good noodle bar in the City beforehand, so it was a really nice night.

That's the Adelaide festival drawing to a close soon. So my recent splurge of night's out will be drawing to a close. Which I'm sure my bank account will appreciate! :)

Which got me thinking about my reading matter. I finished Slumdog Millionaire. Which I really enjoyed. Mum had thought the movie was good but harrowing. Although I didn't feel that about the book. From what Dad said they maybe dramatised bits of the book for the movie and played up some of the upsetting scenes. I'll need to watch the movie to compare.

I've started reading the book 'Eat, Pray, Love'. Which for some of you may mean nothing. But Lucy has read it. So thought I'd mention it. It's about a woman who hits 30 and looks at her life and relationship and thinks 'this isn't me' and then up sticks to try and find herself. Sounds highly improbable, don't you think? Who would do something like that? :)

Hope you re all having a good week. Happy Mother's Day to mum. xxx

I got an email from Gary this morning, reminding me to update my blog! Its been a week since I did... I'm trying to recall what has been happening...?? I think I told mum and dad all my news on Skype at the weekend. So you guys may want to skip reading this!

HOUSES! I've been to see a few houses this week in my quest for my digs. Saw a good one at the beach yesterday. Living with a 40yr old woman and her 9year old son. They fed me hot cross buns and coffee as soon as I arrived. So that's always a good start! House was lovely too. Built in 1910, which by Ozzie standards is positively ancient I think. Nice exposed floorboards etc. Lots of character. If I live at the beach, I need to drive about 35-40mins to work each day. So just trying to decide if I want to do that. Or hang out a bit longer and see if I can find something suitable closer to work.

Another place I saw close to work had a pool, but it was in a terrible state and the guy said he had poker nights 4-5 times a week. So that was a definite turn off for me!

FRINGE FESTIVAL! Went out to the Fringe festival on Saturday night and saw The Red Bastard (pictured). Quite funny in parts. But his main thing was to pick on the audience, so I spent most of the time trying to avoid eye contact. We were sitting in the second row from the front. I was sure that as soon as I opened my mouth, I'd be a gonner! The accent would be an easy target! (I know! What accent..?!) But he picked on the guy to my left and the one to my right and I managed to avoid being talked to. Result! :)

Going to another comedy show tomorrow night. Ross Noble is a UK based comedian. He's sometimes on shows such as Mock the Week (is that still on?). Very funny. So will let you know what I think of his live stand up.

And on Saturday I going to see a show called Titters. No idea what it's about (breasts maybe..?!). Folk at work have organised it. But again, it's comedy. So hope it's good.

RUNNING! I went for a run on Sunday morning with a few folk from my gym. Really surprised myself. After not running properly for about a year, I managed to do a half marathon in about 2 hours! Yeeha! My ankle is a bit stiff and sore just now. But otherwise I feel great. I see that Lucy has been upping the miles too. How did you go sis? For someone who doesn't like running, you have some dedication!

And more talk about running. Gary, you may want to skip all this talk about running! I have a 24hour relay race coming up soon. In aid of cancer research. Group of 10. Deal is someone has to be running at all times during the 24 hours. So we take it in turns over the 24hour period. Doing about 30mins at a time each. End of March I think it is scheduled for. So I will be looking for some sponsorship in due course. Get those wallets out!

WEATHER! And lastly, the obligatory weather update. It is autumn here now. So it's about 22 degrees today. Brr. Heating up to 30 at the weekend. Much better. But the upside of the cool change is that I am sleeping at night again. Hurray! Mum and dad said they were a bit over the snow at home. Hope it clears soon. But not long til you will be in the USA anyway. So maybe you don't really care what it does in the UK in the next wee while!

OK... so that is all I can think of just now. Hope you re having a good week. Speak to you soon. Those of you who have Skype. Gary, HINT, HINT!

Lots of love, K xx