A ridiculous endeavour

Jeremy recently had two weeks holidays, which he intended to spend pretty much relaxing and playing video games.  We discussed going on a little trip to take advantage of this time off and decided to head to Melbourne, a mere hour and fifteen minute flight from Adelaide.  I was looking up flights, which are quite inexpensive, when Jeremy uttered the words "You know, I'd really like to drive."  He explained his reasoning, and I had no disagreement - everything seemed quite reasonable to me.  I only had to take one day off work.  We would leave Thursday afternoon, spend the night in Mount Gambier and then continue on to Melbourne the next day.  We would stay with my friend Jody Friday night and then meet up with some other Melbourne friends on Saturday.  Sunday we would spend driving home.  I don't know why we thought this sounded like a decent idea...let me tell you what it turned into: 8 MILLION HOURS OF DRIVING and approximately 15 waking hours spent in Melbourne.  WHY???  We arrived in Mt Gambier at around 8:30 pm.  We had a delicious Thai dinner, so I really can't complain about that.  At 8:30 the next morning, we were served a complimentary hot breakfast in our room, so that wasn't too shabby either.  We thought we should probably go out and actually see some of Mt Gambier, so we made our way to Blue Lake. 

Mount Gambier is the second most populous city in South Australia with an urban population of 24,905.
Located on the slopes of the mountain of the same name in the south east of the state approximately 450 kilometres south-east of the capital Adelaide and just 17 kilometres from the Victorian border, it is the most important settlement in the Limestone Coast region and the seat of government for both the City of Mount Gambier and the District Council of Grant.  The peak of the inactive volcano, the first place in South Australia named by European explorers, was sighted in 1800 by Lieutenant James Grant from the survey brig, HMS Lady Nelson, and named for Lord James Gambier, Admiral of the Fleet. The peak is marked by Centenary Tower, built in 1904 to commemorate the first sighting, and at 192 metres above sea level the landmark is the city's highest point.  The city is known for its geographical features, particularly its limestone and volcanic features, most notably its Blue Lake, parks and gardens, caves and sinkholes.

We had considered doing a walk around Blue Lake, but in the interest of time, we decided to drive instead, and stop at any interesting points.  We ended up walking up to the Centenary Tower (mentioned above) which ended up being a longer (and much steeper) walk than we had anticipated.  My calves were sore for the next few days from our downward descent.  It was incredibly windy and a bit alarming to be up at the city's highest point, but it was also pretty awesome.  From there, we headed back into the main area of the city, did a quick loop of the CBD, and then went on our way to Melbourne.

I have a few pictures and have been trying to post them, but or some reason it won't let me.  I'll continue this story another time.

I'm trying to think whether there has been anything interesting going on recently.  Jeremy started his fourth (and second last) rotation of the year yesterday in palliative health.  He's pretty happy to be back at the QEH, since it's a quick 10 minute walk from our house.  It sounded like he thought the team was pretty friendly, which is obviously positive!  I've had my first slow work week in awhile but it looks like things are set to pick up next week.  I'm still hoping for some new referrals for tomorrow to increase my time sheet for this week.  Next week I have my first book club meeting.  I signed up at this cute little lounge/cafe/bookshop near my work.  They put me into a group, which will meet on the first Wed of each month.  I'm about 2/3 done the book and should have plenty of time to finish it over the weekend.  I'm looking forward to meeting the people in my group and to getting the next book.  I also started a new volunteering position with the same organization as before.  On the first Friday of every month, I'll be driving two people to the monthly 'disco' and then spending the evening volunteering at the disco.  I might run into the lady I was doing volunteering with before, and I will say hi, but also steer a bit clear as I don't really want to be licked, pinched or bitten.

  

Well, it's been a slow work day so I have no excuse not to write in my blog. This is the best lifestyle.  Today I got up around 8:30, had a leisurely breakfast, checked up on the normal internet stuff and read a book for a little while.  I hopped in the car to go to a nursing home which is 10-15 minutes drive from my house, saw two of the residents, and then headed to the gym.  Now I'm at home, finishing a bowl of homemade spicy lentil soup leftover from yesterday's dinner.  That being said, obviously having a slow day means less money and not all days are like today.  Usually I head to the hospital to arrive at around 9:30-10ish and see 5 or 6 in-patients/out-patients and then I might need to do a nursing home visit as well.  I prefer to be fairly busy, but when a more relaxing day happens once in awhile, I am trying to savour it.  I'm truly not sure if I ever want to leave private practice.  My next step is to get in touch with a couple of the early childhood learning centres in my neighbourhood and see if they would be interested in speech/language assessments and therapy.  Then I could set aside one day a week for that, and do the hospital and nursing homes on the other days.  We'll see what happens.

I'm reading the last couple of books that I need to judge for the Speech Pathology Australia Book of the Year competition.  I've been judging the 'upper primary' category and have really enjoyed it.  Once I've finished all the books, I need to narrow the field down to my top three picks and provide reasoning in regards to my choices.  Great to see that there are so many quality books out there for kids! 

August already

After a hectic couple of months, things seem to have quieted down a bit.  We've spent the last couple of weekends in Adelaide.  Jeremy had his birthday a couple of weeks ago and he did the only thing he ever wants to do - BBQ at the house, friends, drinks, food, Otto Pig.  This weekend we stuck around the house as well, although we did venture out to see the movie 'The Heat", which was pretty amusing.  Currently, the Adelaide "Festival of Food" is happening and will actually last until January 2014.  Restaurants in Adelaide that are participating have their chefs create special menus and then you pay a set price to have dinner there.  We will be trying that out next week, at the Sebel Playford Restaurant.  So really, we're kind of just taking it easy at the moment. 

Later this week, Jeremy has his interview with the 'Adelaide to Outback' GP training provider.  I don't want to jinx it, but I truly think he would have to do something drastically ridiculous at the interview (like...show up naked...and on drugs!) to not get into the training program.  His scores on the exam were in the highest possible 'band' and the people who are going to be interviewing were personally congratulating him on his results when he was at a dinner/education session last week.  So...that's what's happening there.  He has about a week left of his geri-rehab rotation and then will have two weeks off.  We're going on a little trip (driving to Melbourne and staying with friends) for a couple of nights, but otherwise it will be all about relaxing...well, I'll still be working, but I have the best job ever, so that's alright ;)