The Gangs All Here

We are all reunited. It's been 5 days short of 2 months but we are all together again.

Rae and Oscar had a bit of trouble getting to Brissy - their layover in Bangkok let them stretch their legs but lasted an hour longer than expected when one of the passengers disappeared and the whole plane had to be empited out so the extra bags could be removed. Which meant that their connection time in Sydney was truncated and they had to rush through the international airport and only made it to their domestic flight to Brisbane in the nick of time. I just made it to the airport (despite going to the international terminal and then getting lost while trying to find a park at the domestic arrivals) but unfortunately the car seat Rae had brought out didn't make it up from Sydney which meant we were stuck at the airport until Qantas finally loaned us one while we waited for it to come up on the next flight.

Oscar was a total motor mouth of excited conversation on the way back, and I was so intent on listening to everything he had to tell me I forgot to keep an ear on the "left and right radio" (as Oscar calls our in-car satnav) and we ended up driving over a toll bridge and having to double back again. Not that I minded because it gave me extra time to listen to my little boy natter on.

Currently they are both fast asleep. Oscar made it to 2pm and Rae to 5pm. Not bad considering they went +36 hours with 5 hours sleep. Hopefully they'll sleep the night through but somehow I doubt it and there will be a few more days of broken sleep to come before they begin to settle into a normal routine.

Pinch Me, I'm In Brissy

The last two days have seen us carrying on up from Coffs Harbour to Lennox Head, NSW where we called into Celia's (an old school friend) for the night. We had planned to go see a roller derby match but with it being a small town and raining heavily we didn't count on them selling out of tickets! So instead we went to the pub, listened to a live band called The Lucky Wonders, and had a quiet meal at Celia's. The next morning (which is today) had us on the road at 9am and in Byrons Bay only half an hour later. Max and I walked up to the lighthouse at Byrons Head, took some snaps and beat a hasty retreat as the rain set in. We then drove up to Surfer's Paradise and had an all-you-can-eat brekkie (at noon) before carrying on up north

Max and I are currently skirting the eastern edge of Brisbane's urban sprawl as we head towards the Gateway Bridge and over to the north side of the city where our staff house is. The CBD is just off to the left and I'm not sure if I'm awake or dreaming.

Road Trip!

My training in Newcastle is finished and will continue in Brisbane on Wednesday, following the queens Birthday long weekend. Rather than fly up (1 hour) Max and I asked if we could drive up, pointing out that we could bring everyone's suitcases and excess bagge with us. It was a win-win plan and ED agreed to it as long as we conducted a risk assesment.

We started out at 1130am and headed north with the vague plan of reaching Coffs Harbour by nightfall. So far we've listened to Kylie Minogue singing "I Should Be So Lucky", visited our first Australian roadside "big" icon (Big Ayers Rock on the Pacific Highway near Tea Garden, NSW) and nearly stepped in kangaroo poo. Right now I am blogging from the passenger seat while Max negotiates the highway in typical long weekend weather - yes, it's pissing down with rain. More updates to follow.

End Of Day Update: We are now in Coffs Harbour, having endured torrential rain all the way up the coast. We took our time and stopped off in Nabiac to visit the National Motorcycle Museum where I got to see the diesel engine that powered Paul Carter around Australia (see Is That Thing Diesel?), the Giant Oyster (ugly) in Taree, the Giant Axe (lame) in Kew and the Giant Bull in Waurchope (gone). Aside from the rain and detouring off the Pacific Highway to see these highlights the trip was uneventful.

All New & Improved

The more observant reader will notice that the header has changed slightly. This marks the start of my new career in the coal seam gas (csg) industry in Australia, which began just under a week ago.

So here I am in Thornton in New South Wales, a third of the way through my initial training. It's been fun, friendly and enlightening so far - there are some similarities between O&G and CSG but with enough differences that there's something new to learn every day.

In a week I'll be travellng up to Brisbane with Max, who is also starting with Earth Data, on a boy's road trip. A week after that Mrs and Little CSGBlogger will be coming out to start life anew.