Hi ho, hi ho . . . it's back to work I go!

After weeks of fun and frolics on the East Coast it was time to venture back to Margaret River on the West and to start my hunt for work. Determined not to end up back at the Knights Inn (although they did offer me my job back, and sponsorship - eh, no thanks!), and equally as determined to use my teaching qualification, I spent my first week back in Margs in my new home, the library, where I spent many an hour on their computers typing my cv, cover letters and filling in application forms for schools. As yet my state school application has not been finalised (which is ridiculous as they are crying out for relief teachers in this area - I now have had this taken to the education executive!) so I have only applied to Catholic and Independent schools. My search has not been in vane as I have since had some teaching at both a community school and a Catholic school.

The community school was interesting as it is family run (i.e. the parents are ALWAYS there!) and only had 22 students - in the entire school, 12 of whom were in my class of years 3 to 7. The principal at this school had only just started the week I was there, and the two class teachers were on a course. Therefore, the new principal and the two relief teachers were left to muddle through a few days where everything was new to all of us! It was fun though and great to be back in the classroom, even if it was chaos!

The Catholic school is the nicest school I have ever worked in (obviously apart from Carrick Knowe!!) with all the staff and students being happy to be there. I had a very 'cruisy' relief as I had a year 5 class of 14 students (11 girls) and we had swimming lessons every morning until lunchtime. It was great fun and reminded me of what a rewarding time you can have when teaching.

As the relief teaching work is quite sporadic, especially until I get my state school application through (grrr!), I have also been working in the vineyard for the winery Moss Wood. (www.mosswood.com.au) Nick's good mates are the winery manager and assistant vineyard manager so he managed to hook me up with the job there - yippee! It is great fun as I am working outside most of the day, the crew who work there are fantastic, and I have been doing so many different jobs that there is never a dull moment! I have found my niche in life - grape picking - and am rattling my way through the rows of chardonnay, semillon and pinot, with the cab sav, merlot, malbec and cab franc rippening at quite a speed. It is vintage just now so things are hectic here in Margaret River and grapes are the talk of the town! It also means that Nick is working MAD hours at Woodlands and has even resorted to taking his swag to work to bunk down on the winery floor when it gets too late and dangerous to drive home.

[Ben doing the bucket wash with me at Moss Wood - a fun but wet job!]

With wine on the mind it was fun to go on a Bushtucker Tour for Lucy's birthday. Lucy a.k.a Queen Minx, turned the ripe old age of 27 and booked for several of us girlies to go on a winery tour for her birthday. Lucy is the office manager for bushtucker so booking us in was no probs! On the bus with "The Silverfox" as our driver and we headed for several wineries, the cheese factory, chocolate factory and the Cowaramup brewery. We ate bush "tucker" for lunch and a fun day was had by all. We were sufficiently merry by the time we returned to Margs!


[Lucy and the Silverfox at Bettanay's Winery]




[The girls - merry at the end of the tour]

Lucy and I have also been surfing heaps since I got back and have been enjoying catching waves together at Rivermouth, Bodjidup and Boat Ramp (in a huge storm!). We were probably being a little ambitious to surf the day of the huge storm and it resulted in a sore hand for Luc and a gash in the back of the head for me! Not wanting my blood to attract sharks (especially after telling Lucy that I had seen a seal out in the surf - only to find later it was a buoy!) we didn't stay in the water after our injuries but were certainly not put off from paddling back into the surf a few days later when the swell had dropped. Nick has kindly lent me the surf helmet that he used to wear when he was learning, but as I pointed out to him he was ten years old when he was learning! The helmet is nearly as quality as my cycling helmet (remember - with the skull and crossbones on!) and I feel that I look bad enough in a wetsuit without adding a helmet to the equation!

Before vintage started Nick and I managed to get a weekend away together down at Broke Inlet (near Walpole where Ali was living) and had fun fishing and surfing. Nick bought me a beautiful pink ugly stick fishing rod that I will hopefully manage to catch something with the next time we go - although things are too busy just now at work. We also had a weekend in Perth catching up with Nick's mum before she headed back over to Hong Kong, shopping, and meeting up with friends. We had a fun night at the Little Creatures Brewery in Fremantle where we met up with my friends from Scotland: Nicky and Lou, and also with a fellow traveller, Helen, whom I met when doing the West Highland Way with Joolz last summer before leaving for Oz, and with Nick's mates Ben and Jenna.



[Broke Inlet at sunset]

We have a full house just now with Nick's mate Ben and a french guy, Sebastian, joining Nick, Pete and I. Sebastian and another French guy, Charles, are here to do vintage at Woodlands with Nick so we have been trying to show them around the area when we have any time off. We escaped down to Boranup last weekend where we went 4-wheel driving along the beach to the surf break and then headed to Augusta for fish and chips and to visit the lighthouse where the Southern and Indian Oceans meet.



[l-r: Sebastian (from Alsace), Charles (from Bordeaux) and Nick (looking a little startled!)

The other major excitement from the past 6 weeks has been a fire that raged towards Gracetown (a village on the coast). Nick is the Liutenant for the Gracetown Bush Fire Brigade and got a call one Friday night. Soon he was in his yellow suit and racing to the scene! The weather has been really hot and there has been an extreme fire warning, which means that you are not allowed to have campfires etc, but some silly boys were at the carpark at a surf break and lit a campfire that raged out of control. Dropping Nick off I headed up to Northpoint carpark overlooking the bay and Gracetown where I watched as the plumes of smoke thickened and the fire spread. Water bombers were circling dropping water on the flames while the 15 fire trucks and numerous volunteers from all the neighbouring bush fire brigades tried to stop the fire and prevent it from spreading towards the village. It came very close to the town hall and the oval - a very nerve-wracking time - epecially for Nick's best mate Simon who lives in the house nearest to where the fire was heading. He and his family had their suitcases packed and ready to go - but luckily the wind changed direction and the fire fighters were able to contain it. A huge relief for them, Nick and everyone in Gracetown. Well done fire fighters!







The next big excitement is surely the arrival of mum and dad who will be coming out to Australia in April for two weeks. After various ammendments to their plans owing to Ali not being able to take time off work, they have decided that they will come to Western Australia for the duration of their trip and that Ali will fly over to have a week with us all here. The itinerary is in the making and it will no doubt be an action-packed two weeks! Watch this space. . .!