IT'S BEEN A FUNNY OLD DAY: Contrast of Life

A lightning view from my blacony in Surfer's

I've only just realised how long it's been between blogs, so I guess I had better fill everyone in on what's going on.

   I took the plunge last November to move to Australia, the offering of over double the hourly rate and the draw card of working 3 weeks on and having 1 week off was too much to say no. As much as I luv NZ and my family their it was just too tempting. And yes after being here for 4 months now it was totally the right decision made.

   I'm currently residing in a small mining town in Qeensland called Mt. Isa when on me 3 weeks on and Surfer's Paradise on me week off. I'm driving a beautiful 300ton crane building a environmental friendly gas powered power station to replace the old one. The temperature's consistantly around 35-40+ degrees and has now and then gone up to a head boiling 47 degrees, my best mate on site is bluey, a 5 litre blue water bottle which I usually chug down 1 1/2 of those a day!!

Mt. Isa itself is basically a hole which i cannot understand why, with the millions of tax dollars each year produced from the mine and power stations the town is old and run down and in desperate need of repair. being 1,800 km's inland from Brisbane you could say it's kinda remote. There are some really nice people here, but I do feel sorry for them living here all their lives hence when i get me week off i head to Surfer's for some fun, surf and sand.

Going on last week I had off their might have been a little too much fun...I treated myself to the 26th floor in the Circle on Cavill tower with a killer sea view, totally loved something different and a bit more flashy from my box room in Mt. Isa. First night in Surfer's I decided to go to the Hard rock cafe for dinner, I timed that quiet well as they had the battle of the bands on and I have been wanting to see some decent live rock bands for a while now. It was a pretty awesome night.

   Over the next few days I just cruised around and chilled out. Amongst the hectic Surfer's night life I found a little Irish bar called Kitty O'Shea's that had some great mellow live music. Being almost more of a dinner place it never got that crowded with drunks. The staff were really friendly and it was good to be able to just sit there, listen to some tunes and share stories of travel and Ireland, very much reminded me of being in one of the pubs in Strandhill. A big thanks to Sadie, Kelvin and the rest of the staff.

   I know their's other places to go but all in good time, if any swells pop up while on me week off my goal is to go chase and let my passion for heavy water take over. It's been a patient waiting game so far and I only just missed the Kirra swell by 1 week!

   Yeah it's definately a contrast from work life to chill out life but this is the lifestyle I've wanted for some time, to be given more than 1 day off a week to actually go do something enjoyable, so with a bit of luck I'll see some amazing OZ surfers charge some of the heaviest waves in the world while making a bit of coin in the Isa.

Bring it on and fingers crossed