After 38 hours of gruelling Quantas flights, indifferent flight food and completely skipping Friday 13th, I made it to Australia!  The journey was pretty unremarkable (i.e. no famous celebrities on my flight like there was last time:  Tim Minchin).  I got chatting to the girl that was sitting next to me on the big 16 hour flight and went for coffee with her when we got to Melbourne.  We both had an hour to kill before I flew onwards to Alice and she flew onto Tasmania.  Was quite nice to have some company for the flight, broke it up a bit and didn't make the trip seem as long.  Of course it was, but you know what I mean!  Stupid thing happened in Melbourne though - I was sitting on the 'dunny' (see what I did there!?) having a pee when all of a sudden my nose started bleeding.  It was kind of inevitable because of the dry air and the fact that you just have to look at my nose and it starts bleeding.  It was a bit of a nightmare  because I had to try and pull my trousers up whilst trying not to look like I had an uncontrollable period!  I ended up getting blood all over my top and right through my hair (don't ask!)  Even when I came out of the stall and there other ladies all over the place, not one person asked if I was okay.  I mean, I probably would have just said yes and not accept any help from them because I get nosebleeds so often, but THEY don't know that!  What if it was my first ever nosebleed and I was really upset!?  Unfriendly travellers!!  Anyway, after that palava, I got on my final hour and a half journey to Alice Springs.  Thank goodness G was waiting for me and thank goodness my case came round on the conveyor belt!!

The air wasn't as humid as I thought it would be so at least I wasn't sweating too uncontrollably!  The airport is relatively small, so I met up with G before I had to panic about my case maybe not being there so I wasn't as flustered because I had somebody to distract me and therefore not allow me to get all hot and bothered!

We got back to G's and all I wanted was to hop into bed for a few hours kip and have a nice hot shower!  Oh, but there were pretty things to play with!!  First off, G has the CUTEST dog ever!  Although L is a staffy, he is pure pedigree and has a gorgeous head on him.  I was a bit apprehensive about him being a staffy because they've got such a bad reputation, but I do have to admit that I've fallen in love with him!  He's got such a lovely personality, never barks, never growls, never disobeys, never whines and just wants attention all the time.  I'll try and upload a photo soon.

Secondly, G has a blinking huge Crane in his yard!  So of course I had to have a shot of that before I did anything else!  I learnt all the hand signals for lifting the boom, etc.  I could totally be a crane operator!  Check me!

I'm now 3 and a bit weeks in of my 3 months here.  It doesn't feel like i've been here 3 months at all!  I'm having slight computer withdrawal because the only laptop in the house is G's office laptop and so I don't have free access to that.  I do have the internet on my iPhone, but it's not as good as sitting at a monitor typing away on a keyboard!  Ah well, the break will do me good!  Also means i'm hardly ever on FB, which can only be a good thing!

Next weekend we're going away camping for Finke 2011 (check it out:  http://finkedesertrace.com.au)...i'll/ try to blog from my phone after the event and let you all know how it goes.  Not looking forward to camping out in the desert, in the middle of nowhere, with just a swag to keep me safe, but I suppose i'll be able to say "i've done it!" afterwards!!

Right, going now to figure out how to blog from my phone!

Chow for now dearies!

Rhona out.

Right, so now that i've spent at least 10 seconds thinking up a title for this blog, I had better actually put something in the big white box underneath it.

So i'm back from Adelaide. Been back in the country for exactly one week. How am I feeling about it? Happy? Hmmm well yes and no. I am happy to be seeing my best buds again (missed my twinny and scabbers) and I missed my nephews and neice. What didn't I miss? Hmmm....work...the bad weather...big fat amount of uninteresting, boring days filled with a huge amount of nothingness. Ok, can you tell i'm a bit fed up?!?

In summary, Australia was Awesome (with a capital A). Seeing Jason again after a good few years apart was just magic and we had a friggin' fantastic time. Just when I was getting settled I had to come back, which I was not happy about. I think i've finally found where i'm supposed to be. Everyone was so laid back, friendly, welcoming...i'm sure you get the picture. Unfortunately I now have some debt to pay off, but i'm thinking that once that's out of the way I may have to return there. I have a wee circle of friends now and I miss them terribly. I've not had such a laugh in ages (not taking any thunder away from my friends here).

I would like to send a big shout out to Janey. She is awesome. She is Jason's friend in Adelaide. She and her family accepted me as one of them straight away and made me feel so welcome. I've got a good few pictures of drunken nights with her and her family. She's also an awesome singer and I had the pleasure of listening to her a couple times when I was there. Even more importantly, she offered to marry me to keep me in the country, which is just outstanding. I do believe that she is now my BFF in Australia! This, of course, is not taking anything away from Kara - another of Jason's friends who saved me from having to shop on my own, was able to throw out my frustrations over some things, and even shares a certain condition that we were able to talk to each other about. I owe alot to this woman and I hope that I'll get to see her again soon.

Both lovely ladies, both gorgeous inside and out and I'm grateful to be able to call them my friends! (hehe, i'm hoping that this "sucking up" will either help with somewhere for me to crash for a few nights when I go back over, or help me find somewhere to live/work!)

I started back at work this week. Still jetlagged a bit which is not helpful, but i'm doing ok. Work has been interesting and not nearly as bad as what I thought it was going to be. I think my brain is enjoying the fact that it has something to stimulate it and make it work instead of feeding it alcohol and pretty much nothing challenging for the past couple months!

It's also my birthday this week. I'm going to be turning 26. Eek. My friends and colleagues have all said that they notice a difference in me since I've returned. Apparently i'm chilled, not as vivacious as I once was. Not letting things stress me out that did before. Perhaps I've let the laid-back attitude of the ozzie's wash over me. Or, as one of my friends pointed out, maybe i've just grown up. As I said to her, my eyes have been opened to a whole other way of living. I realise now that not everything has to be fast paced, I don't have to stress about the little things - they will usually take care of themselves. I don't have to be so insecure about myself as I am beautiful in my own way and I don't have to look or act like anyone else as perhaps who I am right now is doing alright as she is. You know what I mean?

Ok, so moving onto other news...My twin officially "came out" and told everyone she was preggers today! I'm so proud of her! Erm, i'm not going to start a speech about it, because if you are a regular follower, I've already dedicated a blog entry to her! Enough of the girl-loving already!! Jules phoned me when I was away in Oz and told me and i've been bursting to tell someone else, but of course, I kept it quiet until she had her first scan and everything was a-ok. I've seen the pictures and something beautiful is most certainly gonna be popping out in a few months. Dead proud of you hun xx

A lot has happened since I left in March. My grandad had a heart attack, 2 of my friends' grandad's died, another friend got engaged, Jules got pregnant and I fell in love.............with Australia! Just shows that alot can happen in two months!

I'm technically supposed to be working right now, I have to copy type 101 pages, but Janey's on FB and distracting me...oh look, it's lunch time now! Perfect.

Catch you on the flipside....Rhona out.

Ok just a quickie....Thought i'd post a couple photo's for ya'll until I can sit down to blog properly!

Easter weekend Jason and I went up north to the middle of nowhere to spend some time in the peace and quiet. Literally. We were so isolated that you couldn't hear the main road, there were no houses to be seen in any direction and the only other noise you could hear were the wildlife in the nearby valley (which, at night time, sound awfully like people walking around!!)

Jason has cured me of a couple of my fears since coming to Oz. My huge fear being that I've watched too many horror films and lets face it, where we were staying was the perfect setting for my imagination to start going crazy. Bless him on Friday night, I wouldn't go anywhere without him going first (LOL yep, including the bathroom!) By Sunday night I was taking crazy walks in the dark on my own, even walking through the shack on my own with no lights on. One fear down, a few others to go!

I'm slowly getting better on the spider front too. I have, in the past 2 weeks, been up close and personal with a red back (a dangerous spidey) and a Huntsman (which are just HUGE and FURRY!)

Anyway, going off track now....here are some photo's from our weekend!



The moon, which was so much closer and not hidden by any crappy clouds...




Our kitchen for the weekend....




The Shack...




Alligator Gorge, a beautiful place at the Flinders Ranges...





Rhona out.

So I have had THE BEST couple of days!!

Yesterday Kara and I went girly shopping which resulted in me buying a new dress (yes, you heard me right....a dress!) We went to Kara's mum's house for a wee snack and for me to meet her mum. Everyone has been so welcoming to me and made me feel part of the group, it's quite overwhelming! We ended up getting a bottle of champagne and tanned that back home. Kara was making dinner for us last night, so we headed round to her house at night. For those of you that don't know, yesterday was Earth Hour day, which basically means that you have to turn off everything in your house for one hour in a stand against global warming. We managed to time it right so that dinner was ready during Earth Hour and we sat out the back in candlelight eating Apricot Chicken, which was just WOW! I've not had such a laugh in a long time! Jason had taken his guitar with him and the 3 of us sat outside until 2am singing 3 part harmonies to loads of different songs! We rawked!! Whilst sitting in candlelight in Kara's back garden a possum jumped up onto Kara's fence and was sitting watching us! I got the fright of my life!! It was soooo cute! We put a grape out for it and it took it and ran up a tree, to come back down a bit later. Nature at it's best. I couldn't believe it! I was like a little girl, so excited!

Today Jason and I went to Cleland Wildlife Park in Adelaide Hills, which is literally a 20 minute drive from the centre of Adelaide. The weather here has been about 35 degrees, so you can imagine it's been quite warm (I erm...am burnt a wee bit - sorry mum!) **Just a side note for those who don't know...the sun burns you quicker here because Australia has no o-zone layer so we are closer to the sun and so it is more intense...not good for those with high risk skin, etc!** So we got to the park and when we paid to get in they were offering pellet food for the kangaroo's at $1 each...I didn't quite grasp what that meant until we went into the park!

It's literally loads of huge fields and paddocks full of kangaroo's, emu's, birds, little rat thingies (i can not remember their names!) and Koala's! I couldn't believe you could just walk amongst them! Well, seeing as Jason is quite the animal lover, straight away we were in amongst the HUGE kangaroo's and we managed to hand feed them! I was so excited I nearly peed my pants!! (I've got photo's on FB). After a while of doing that we went into another field and there were Emu's walking around us. Now i'm 5'4 and these emu's were bigger than me! Jason straight away started feeding them, but I was a bit of a wimp and wouldn't go near them. The Emu initially was walking straight at me and was cacking my pants! I think it's because it could sense my fear, but I slowly backed away and faced being called a scaredy cat by Jase....there was no way it was gonna try and take food off me!

So, just when I thought my excitement level couldn't get any higher, we walked round the corner to the Koala section! There was a queue which we joined....to pet the koala's and get your photo taken with them!!!! It was so cute and just sat there whilst we pet it! Again, photo's on FB (please leave me a comment if you want to see the photo's on facebook, but don't know where to find them - I'll send you a link).

Then, just to push me right over the edge on the drive back down the Hills, I spotted THREE WILD KOALA's up the trees at the side of the road! I stupidly (in my excitement) shouted KOALA! at the top of my lungs and nearly made Jason crash the car, but hey, it was the first one i've ever seen in the wild! It's just so awesome that the wildlife is just right there for everyone to enjoy! You just wouldn't get that in Scotland! I am so completely in love with this place! LOL especially the sun!!

I've just been looking through the photo's and i'm gonna post the picture of the kangaroo that we were petting. It's so well posed, you'd think that it was a costume with a real person inside.....trust me, this is the real deal!



Right, well I'm off to put some cream on my burnt shoulders and make dinner! We're going to a concert on Tuesday night. The artist is called Sia Furler. She's an australian artist and has a really brilliant voice. Can't wait!

Rhona out.

Just a quick post right now. I'm just waiting for my new friend to pick me up so that we can go girly shopping!

Last night was a blast! J and I met up with some people at a local-ish pub and ended up having a right excellent laugh! We were sitting outside all night and it didn't get cold once! I've got some great photo's which will be posted on FB in due course. Unfortunately, it means that we are feeling a tad worse for wear today! We've just worked out that we both got to our respective beds around 4.30am...not good! I'm feeling slightly better than J and am up and walking about, but he seems to be suffering something awful...haha, time to pump some music out!

Tonight Kara (J's best friend) is cooking us a meal. She's pretty cool, I like her. Tonight is also Earth Hour where around the world everyone is to turn their lights off for an hour in a world wide fight against global warming. Any excuse to light some candles!

Well Kara is here, so i'm off...will update soon!

Everyone has been bugging me to update this, so here it goes...

What started off as Mary Had A Little Lamb soon turned into renditions of the Sound of Music and more. We are available for most functions, including weddings. Please contact me for booking details! Video evidence of the practice can be found on FB.

Tonight we are going to Jason's Grandmother's for dinner. Note to self...no swearing, no cheekiness, no hitting Jason. Hmmm maybe I should stick to water all night!

Good morning world...it is me...Rhona!  Haha, that was such a good book - anyone remember that?  I think it was Sheila and not Rhona though.  Hmmm sufficiently random start!

Well!  Here's my first post from Adelaide!  Jason is still out with his friends and to stop me worrying too much about him (long story and will become apparent in due course) I thought I would come online and catch everyone up (and take my mind off the worrying!)

It's 10am, i'm sitting up in my bed with the laptop on my knees, Everybody Loves Raymond is on the TV, it's Tuesday and I'm flying to Australia tomorrow! I can't believe how quick the time has flown in. It seems just like yesterday that I was booking my flight and starting the 6 month countdown!

Firstly, let me say yay - my sister has just become a follower of my randomness...and if anyone knows how random I am, it's her! You just have to ask her about her latest birthday card from me!

I got the last of my pre-packing stuff yesterday and my list is made so all I have to do now is pack it all! My gosh Raymond is funny!

Yesterday I went to my Grandma and Grandad's house to say goodbye to my family (they all live close to each other so can just go to one house and all my family come to me!). My Grandma asked me to help her on her laptop to check that the email addresses she has for me and my sisters were right, so whilst I was doing that with her, she asked me to help set her up on Facebook! How mental!! My 75 year old Grandma is now on Facebook! WTF!?!?! What is the world coming to?? How hilarious!!

I thought that I would incorporate my "pic of the week" into this blog. This drawing was originally featured in the first series of Heroes. It was a premonition picture of Peter and Simone sharing their first kiss. Although it does have that background to it, I just absolutely love it. It just looks like a really intimate and romantic moment. I just love it!

Right gonna go and pack now. Rhona out.

and I'll be in Oz! I can't quite believe how close it is until I go! Last night I was at my Sister's Pampered Chef (don't ask!) party and my friends and I got a wee bitty drunk. Was a really good night and she made loads of money for her hostess gifts!

We then ended up in our local to say happy birthday to an old friend and was such a blast from the past! It seemed that everyone was out in force! Nic and I had drank quite a lot by this time ensuring that we were feeling a bit invincible...it would come as no surprise then that at the end of the night we nearly got into a fight! I had to pull Nic away (a wee blonde girly girl who wouldn't harm a fly) and we ran away. I thought it was the best option as I knew fine if it got physical I would've had to step in and I didn't really fancy either a) spending the night in the cells and ending up featured on "Night Cops" - a series on tv following Edinburgh policemen at the weekends, or b) going to australia with black eyes (although I'm sure they would've ended up worse off - I have a mean right hook!) Fun and games my last weekend in Scotland! Never a dull moment in my life!

I just got my travel insurance through too, so bring on the dangerous sports!!

Woohoo!! I need to do my photo of the week - i'll have a think about that one!

Woohoo...guess what came through the post today......yep, you're right....my brand-spanking-new-PASSPORT!!!

Woohoo, just updated my Visa too, so definately organised on that front now!

Yay, I love it when a plan comes together!!!

It's Wednesday night and I'm feeling awful. I've been in bed the past 2 days with the flu and I'm still suffering hot and cold shivers. It's been planned for weeks now that i'm going to Essex tomorrow night for the weekend to spend the weekend with my twinny and her husband. It's bloody typical! I'm sure I'll be fine!

So I go to Australia in FOUR weeks!! How awesome is that!!!

Hmmm I had loads to write about earlier today when I was at work, but then I had two mega meetings that I had to go to, which took up the whole day so didn't have a chance to blog, therefore it's all gone straight out of my mind!

I've not been my usual perky self this week. I took a "funny" turn on Sunday whilst at church. My face went all spasmy and I couldn't move my mouth or anything. It was how I would imagine having a stroke would be like. Then, Monday I had a nose bleed, then again on Tuesday night. Wednesday I felt like death warmed up, real sluggish and feeling faint, so I went home from work early. Today I'm just knackered! Unfortunately for me, I picked the busiest week ever to not be well and i've been in and out of meetings all week. How is it that you go into a meeting with nothing on your "to-do list" and end up coming out of it with 2 or 3 pages worth! Honestly!!

Anyway, I had to get myself a new Ipod this week as my old one broke and there was no chance that I was going to go to Australia without any music to keep my occupied for the 29 hours that it's taking to get there!

So, if you've read my previous blogs you will know that I am in a band called Father Jack. Yes, some of you may know it as Hands up for Norris!, but we decided on Father Jack instead. I have set up a blog for FJ, the link for which can be found on the right hand side of this page. We will be updating it frequently and will aim to post pictures, clips and videos as we collect them. Feel free to check it out!

It's hard to explain how you feel inside sometimes. I mean *really* feel. Sometimes you can't quite get the words out, then you get all confused and they end up coming out all wrong so you either sound like nutcase or a stalker cos you've said too much and made things worse (usually alcohol is involved) or you've said too little and you sound like you're either depressed and emotional or you're bottling things up. Either way it's bad!

I'll not pretend to be anyone other than myself (I don't know how to!) - I'm the latter. I'm shy and reserved. I sit back, and unless I'm with close friends/family, I'd rather sit and listen to the conversations around me. I notice everything from body language to the rolling of eyes. To the hidden meanings behind sentences, even to the signs of pure boredom. If i'm not comfortable, chances are i'll be quiet; not wanting to draw attention to myself which is strange (even I can admit it!) considering I was a dancer and was willing to dance and sing in front of complete strangers! Perhaps is a confidence thing. Hmmm. Go figure!

Anyway, going off track here. Not entirely sure as to where my track was going, but I'll keep typing until I find it again! Sorry!

I don't know who reads this blog (apart from Jules!) so guess I can't let rip completely, so i'll keep it unpersonal!

I go to Australia in 6 weeks (not that i'm counting!) and although I'm only going for 2 months, i'm a bit nervous about it! i'm going to be travelling for 30 hours on my own, in different countries. Ok, so i've travelled on my own before, but only to the south of England, so that doesn't count! Hmmm perhaps that's not what worries me the most! I think it's that I have no expectations of what it's going to be like. I'm going to be incorporating a 3 week roadtrip around Oz with a friend of mine, who I have not spent time alone with before. We will be camping and sleeping on beaches, etc to keep costs down. Gosh, I can't believe i'm admitting this, and although i'm quite savvy to the ways of the world, I've never "roughed" it before! I've been camping in the south of France around 6 times (the last evidently supplying me with my first holiday romance - who I still have contact with!), but I don't think it's the same as really 'roughing' it. Don't get me wrong, I'm no girly girl and i'm sure i'll be fine, but I guess everyone thinks along those lines at some point! I guess this is where my new years resolutions will have to kick in! (see resolutions in an older posting). Hmm the good thing is that i'm not so proud that I can't admit my 'difficulties'. I'm getting better!

Right, I've really lost track of the main reason for this blog (which I can't remember anymore) so i'm just going with the random train of thoughts in my head haha!

I'm going to Essex in a couple of weeks! (If my work will give me the Friday off that is!) Yay!! I'm going to stay with my twin (not literally) Jules for a few days - I can't wait! We have a weird, yet special friendship. She's helped me through a huge pile of bad stuff and wouldn't know what to do without her! This is one friendship I'll never let go of! Haha - I sound a little gay there - she knows what I mean though.

My quote of the day - Conscience is the inner voice that warns us someone may be looking.

My alarm never woke me up this morning, no siree, it was my phone telling me I had a text message from my australian friend (who I am going to stay with in March) asking me what time it was (honestly!) and whether I was able to talk. Although I appreciated the gesture of wanting to talk to me, it was 4.30am and I was slightly worried. So I phoned him on my way to work. G'day was his salutation to me. Stereotypical. All was well, he seemingly just wanted to chat (most unlike him), so after reminding me it was 30 degrees over there and he was about to go swimming in his pool, I trudged on through the wind and rain to the bus stop. His 4.30am wake up call must've put me on the right note, as it wasn't until I had sat down next to random stranger to share personal space with, I realised that I didn't have my mp3 player with me, NOR did I have my book. Great! I resorted to texting my friends, and in turn being their personal alarm clock (you can pay me later).

Lucky for me, as I strolled onto the street where I work, my roof fitter's van was back again from yesterday...and so was my little roof fitter (yay!!) So i've had a fun day of exchanging glances...is it so wrong that the wee gadgey is growing on me. The terms "wee" makes me think that he is not very tall, but he's taller than me. That reminds me of a saying i say to my friend (who has a thing bout dating men that are shorter than her)..."Tis better to have loved a short man, than to have never loved a tall". Hahahaha that cracks me up!

I've just had a meeting with my so-called work and they have "advised" me that i'm not going to be offered a contract (i'm a lowly temp at the moment) until after xmas...which means I won't get paid for the period in between xmas and new year. I am completely getting screwed over and there's nothing I can do about it. The agency are avoiding me like the plague and it's 3 months until I set sail (or rather, wings) for oz-land. Great!

But on the plus, I have my mental health. Oh and my roof fitter. And my cat. I'm sorted in life, right!?