Raindrops keep falling on my head

Well now, it's been a while I know. Hope you're all fine and dandy and not flooded out like most of the UK seems to be in the pics I have been seeing recently. If it makes you feel any better it's been chucking it down here for the last few days. At least the drought is over!

Work

What to tell you about work? Well, basically, after a few stressful weeks at work I woke up the other morning and suddenly remembered that I gave up a good job back home and sold my house and my car to come traveling, not to work in an investment bank in Sydney. So I quit my job.

It was a culmination of a variety of things that made me quit really. I didn't like the person I was becoming when I was stressed at work and I looked at the money I would be able to save if I stayed on another couple of months as planned and decided it wasn't worth it. And, what with having to move out of the flat next week and potentially having to live in a hostel afterwards, and the boys heading off, and my mate Susan potentially going on an extended holiday to the UK, there were few things to keep me here now.

It also feels like the right time to move on from Sydney. It's served it's purpose as far as providing a stable base and earning money goes, and it's been a great city to live in. But I'm not a city girl at heart, and over the last few months I have been craving a little peace and quiet and calm.

6 days to work. Open road here I come!

Play

But it hasn't all been work, work, work.

I'm not sure if this was all carefully planned at some point in history, but Australia Day just happens to fall the day after Burns Night, and so we had a double reason to celebrate the long weekend. Having trawled through various local 'celtic' resources and amazingly, in a country full of Scots, failing to find any Burns Suppers being advertised for Sydney, we decided to hold our own at home.

Surprisingly, Michael did manage to find haggis, though he has been a little vague about where from. And so we celebrated in style with haggis, tatties and neeps, and good intentions of going to the pub to continue the celebrations, though we didn't manage the pub in the end, being so full fo haggis and beer.

Still, we made up for it the next day by celebrating Australia day in true Aussie style which included the boys in their kilts, an Aboriginal festival, a walk across the Harbour Bridge, a 'celtic festival' (it's always interesting to see what other countries make of your culture...), a few beers in the park whilst watching tall ships pass in front of the opera house, and finally, pub bingo and a Red Hot Chilli Peppers tribute band who sang Celine Dionne songs. Welcome to the wonderful world of Oz!

And, as if that wasn't enough excitement for one person, last Friday we went to watch Burt Bacharach perform with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra at the Sydney Opera House. It was v cool, though we did reckon that Michael was the youngest person there. Burt played many of the classic songs that most people know are Bacharach tunes, ('Raindrops keep falling on my head', 'Close to you', etc) and a quite a few that you wouldn't neccessarily think of as from the same composer, never mind Burt Bacharach - 'Say a little prayer', 'Magic moments', 'What's new pussy cat' etc). A good evening all in, though I am happy to report that, interesting as the inside of the Opera House is, it's better viewed for free from the outside.

Other than that I have managed a few days out at the beach (including Palm Beach where Home and Away is fiilmed), a trawl round some of the markets and a few catch ups with friends. Oh - I nearly forgot the Sydney festival was on and we managed to go to 'Jazz in the Park' which was a little more like salsa than jazz if you ask me. Still good though. V gutted to have missed one of my favoutite Scottish bands who were playing opening night though - Shooglenifty. Didn't realise until afterwards. Bummer!

Plans

So - now I have given up my job my plans are as follows:

1. Head to Tasmania on the 16th (I already had a ticket booked for a short break to Tassie anyway)
2. Leave the country before my visa runs out on May 11th.

Which leaves a nice big vague chunk of time in the middle to head off and do whatever takes my fancy.

Yipee!

22 months and one day on the road and counting.