January has passed by in the blink of an eye.  In the next few months, we'll be frantically trying to sort out permanent residency/visas etc (Frantic because my visa expires in April, ack).  I (stupidly) assumed that of course SA Health would pay the visa fees...bahahahahahaha.  So we've just finished paying off our flights to Canada and we're about to add another $5000+ to that...plus whatever insane amount they're charging for the visa medicals...so much fun!  They have changed the system since I made my previous application.  Now you need to fill out an 'Expression of Interest' via SkillSelect and then they decide whether or not to issue you an invitation to apply for the visa.  I guess it does make sense - you need to put down all the relevant information onto your expression of interest, and I imagine that you probably wouldn't get an invitation if they don't think the visa will be approved.  Who knows!  Anyway, I've done that and am now waiting to hear about an invitation...

Today is a brief reprieve from the 40 degree heat that we've been experiencing for the last couple of days...and then tomorrow it heats back up to the 40 mark and is predicted to stay there for three days.  At 33 degrees, today feels beautiful and not too hot at all!  It's amazing how much our lives are dictated by the weather.  Yesterday evening we escaped into air-conditioned cinema bliss and watched "The Wolf of Wall Street".  Any movie that can hold my attention for three hours has got to be pretty interesting! 

Jeremy is recovering well from his surgery - and now he has a good excuse to never help anyone move house ever again!  Hahahaha.  He starts work again on Monday and once again has been extremely lucky with his schedule.  The original schedule he was given had him working in Emergency, with lots of weekend overnights, etc.  He was a bit confused about whether he had interpreted it correctly though, so went in to talk to admin.  They were also quite confused, apparently, and when he left he had a completely different schedule.  He's on relieving for the first three months, so he'll be covering people on holidays.  He starts off with a couple of days in emergency, then a bit of vascular surgery and then he'll be shipped off to a couple of rehabilitation hospitals.  End result?  No overnights at all! 

I've decided to participate in a February expat blog challenge.  It will encourage me to make regular updates and it's a bit of fun...

Back yard bliss, hernia repair and cider - three wholly related topics

I've been taking time recently to wind down from the craziness that was Christmas/New Year's and just relax.  One of my favourite places to do this is in our back yard.  We have strung up fairy lights, gathered a mish mash assortment of seating (old couch, lounge, fake papasan chair, chair hammock, wicker chair, temporary bean bag chair) and created a comfortable area for getting cozy with a book. We also have our little pool, which is a welcome relief on baking hot days.  I must say, this week is much more tolerable, with day time temperatures in the mid-high 20s, dropping to below 20 at night time.  Makes for a much nicer sleep.

I thought I would add a couple of photos to give the full back yard experience!  As you can see, we have also swapped our glaring spot light for a coloured light which has the option of changing colours...so we have purple and blue!  There's also a sneaky orange cat making his way through the first picture. 

Work was surprisingly busy during the holiday season but things seem to be getting quieter now (not good - I want work!!!!)  It all usually evens out in the end - if a lot of my inpatients are discharged, for some reason I get more calls from the aged care residences.  Strange how that works!  Anyway, it was a good thing that I only had to go in for the morning today, because I had to pick Jeremy up from surgery.  I dropped him off at 7 am and he seemed to be coping quite well when I picked him up at 12:30.  It was a day surgery (hernia repair) and since he had it done at the QEH, I think they were taking special care of him :)

This weekend, we're thinking about checking out The Cider Festival.  It sounds pretty good:

SHE'LL be apples - and pears as well - when the first The Orchard Cider Festival takes over Hindmarsh Square this Saturday.
Live music and food vans will accompany an array of cider sellers for the festival, run by mobile cocktail bar operators Dan Melia and Nicky Stuut.
Do you have a favourite cider? Tell us below.
"The vibe is going to be quite chilled out, picnic blanket style," Mr Melia said.
"We'd love to get 1000 people through."
Eight bands and solo performers will play "low key" music through the day while cider lovers relax on picnic rugs and seats provided, Mr Melia said.
Gilding, Sean Kemp, Samantha Edge, Hi Speed Life, Iron Empire and Mr Goodnight will be among the local performers.
The range of ciders will include Hills Cider, Pipsqueak, Aussie Cider, James Squire and Applelation.
Mr Melia said there was no need for non-cider fans to worry because Spook Hill Wines would have a stand.
He will also have one of his VW Bars Kombi van cocktail bars running through the day.
Mobile vendors Chimichurri Grill, Delectaballs, Wienerbago, Party In A Box, Street Food and GAN Taiwanese Chicken Nuggets will be on hand to balance the sweet ciders with some savoury munchies.
Mr Melia said entry would be free to draw the biggest crowd possible and hoped to attract everyone from "18 to 88 year olds".
The festival is supported by Splash Adelaide and will run from noon-8pm.

Cider really has taken off as a trend since we moved here.  I remember 5 years ago when we were saddened at the utter lack of cider options.  Now, they're endless! Anyhow, we'll see how Jeremy is feeling and make our decision on the day.  He's thinking a couple days of resting and movie marathons will help with his recovery!

Feelin' hot hot hot!

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-01-16/heatwave-brings-record-temperatures-blackouts-and-health-dangers/5202886

So we've just come through five days in a row of temperatures over 40 degrees...and survived!  Air conditioning is key.  We also spend a lot of evenings sitting in the pool - which basically was bath water temperature, but still had a cooling effect.

Last night, we were invited for a board games night.  At a recent event, we met this adorable Swiss medical student who is doing an elective at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital.  She is house sitting while she stays in Adelaide.  We arrived at the address given only to find a mansion directly on the beach...not too shabby!  Turns out that it belongs to the head of surgery at the QEH.  Fancy that!  We walked out the back door onto the beach, which was wavier than usual.  Jeremy had a great time body surfing and I enjoyed just playing around in the waves.  I brought my newest board game: Telestrations.  So much laughing!  I highly recommend this game.  How does 'milky way' turn into 'traveling harmonica' and then 'Canadian barn'???  Rats chase the mail man???  Looking forward to the next time I get to play.  The power went out in the middle of our games (there was a rapid temperature decrease and crazy lightning storms happening) but not to worry, everyone just whipped out their phones and turned the flashlights on!  There are some incredible pictures of the lightning being posted (which we were treated to a panoramic view of through the huge windows of the beach house).  Here's one from the Adelaide Advertiser:

Today is gorgeous - a much more manageable 30 degrees.  I think it would be the perfect day for a trip to one of the surf beaches, but Jeremy is at a training session today for his GP program (on a Saturday??  He's not all that impressed!)

Also, I don't know if I even mentioned that he has officially finished his intern year!  All of the hospitals in Adelaide hold a 'valete' which is something I had not previously heard of.  Valete: a farewell or goodbye addressed to more than one person.  The QEH had their 'valete' at the Adelaide Museum in the mammal gallery.  The dinner was yummy...a prawn entree and then a choice of duck breast or chicken breast stuffed with deliciousness for the main, and a dessert buffet (with candy apples, macarons, and a Lindt chocolate fountain).  The now 'graduated' interns had voted on various awards for their cohort, such as "Best Beard" (Jeremy came in second, but lost to a Sikh, so I think he understood!), "Best Dressed" (our friend MJ was granted this honour partially related to her affinity for wearing Hunter boots at work...Hunter boots = very expensive rain boots.  Baffling).  There were awards for the intern who cried the most, the intern who complained the most, the most loved male and female interns, and of course...the illustrious "Golden Speculum" award (the intern who hooked up with the most hospital staff).  Nelson, one of the emcees for the evening, was the winner of the Golden Speculum and he handled it very well, stating that yes, it was true, and he's very happy because it led him to his current partner  (a gorgeous nurse named Leah).  Jeremy actually did win an award - quite an interesting one - but I'll let him tell people about that in person.  It was a fun night and when it wrapped up, we headed home while the 25 year olds went and got crazy at the after party (ugh, we're 'those people' now...the ones who never ever ever go to the after party).  

We were spoiled the next night as well.  One of the orthopaedic surgery registrars wanted to take Jeremy and the other interns who had just finished out that rotation out for dinner and I got to tag along.  We met up at Silk and Spice, a yummy Thai restaurant.  It ended up being Jeremy, myself, Tom (another intern) and Gayle (the registrar).  She was an incredible lady - so welcoming and friendly, and clearly had a good relationship with Jeremy and Tom.  All the dishes were so tasty...I will definitely be eating there again!

We just keep meeting such wonderful people.  One of them, my friend Claire, has now headed off to Melbourne to pursue her dreams of becoming a paediatric cardio-thoracic surgeon (OMG).  I will miss her a lot...and I guess that is one of the issues with this sort of lifestyle.  You meet these fantastic people...and then you have to say goodbye.  But it gives us a good excuse for more travels!

Beat the heat/Coober Pedy

 

Behold!  A government advisement regarding the extreme heat we're experiencing this week.  Today was predicted to be 41, but actually went up to 45.  Strange things are happening now, with strong winds and gloomy skies.  I am hiding out in the air conditioned living room, having spent my day either in my car (luckily a/c is working), at the hospital, or at an aged care home.  I can't really complain, although any time spent outside or when first entering the car felt like stepping into a sauna!  I don't think there could be any more variation between Ontario and SA!  PS - just spotted a typo on the bulletin: "Never leave children of pets unattended in a car"  Teehee.

Now that the obligatory discussing weather is out of the way, I'm going to enlighten you with tales of Lisa and my trip to Coober Pedy.  Jeremy and I were there for one night in June, but I didn't feel like I had seen all that Coober Pedy had to offer.  After spending 2 fulls days and 3 nights in Coober Pedy with Lisa, I now feel like an expert in the town and region and I think she feels the same.  To begin with, we had the 9 hour drive there through desert.  We managed to keep entertained, even though the audio books I had weren't working.  As we drove through the desert, the temperature indicator on my little car climbed - from 19.5 degrees when we left Adelaide in the morning, to 43.5 degrees in Coober Pedy.  No wonder people live in dugout houses!  We arrived at our underground hotel and had a quiet night before beginning our COOBER PEDY ADVENTURE.

 We saw the DOG FENCE not once, but TWICE, on two different tours.  Wikipedia says: The Dingo Fence or Dog Fence is a pest-exclusion fence that was built in Australia during the 1880s and finished in 1885, to keep dingoes out of the relatively fertile south-east part of the continent (where they had largely been exterminated) and protect the sheep flocks of southern Queensland. It is one of the longest structures in the world and is the world's longest fence. It stretches 5,614 kilometres (3,488 mi)^[1] from Jimbour on the Darling Downs near Dalby through thousands of kilometres of arid land ending west of Eyre peninsula on cliffs of the Nullarbor Plain^[2] above the Great Australian Bight^[3] near Nundroo.^[4] It has been partly successful, though dingoes can still be found in parts of the southern states. Although the fence has helped reduce losses of sheep to predators, this has been countered by holes in fences found in the 1990s through which dingo offspring have passed^[2] and by increased pasture competition from rabbits and kangaroos.

 We went for a drive to find the desert golf course.  Whoever posted this sign has a sense of humour!  Here's another wiki[edia snippet: The local golf course – mostly played at night with glowing balls, to avoid daytime temperatures – is completely free of grass, and golfers take a small piece of "turf" around to use for teeing off. As a result of correspondence between the two clubs, the Coober Pedy golf club is the only club in the world to enjoy reciprocal rights at The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews.^[5]

 You aren't allowed to wander around the mining areas, but our tour guide (an opal miner from Greece) knows the grounds and took his van carefully through the opal fields.  I've just found a news article on Jimmy (quite the character).  Follow this link if interested: http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/travel/jimmy-among-gems-in-mining-folklore/story-e6freexc-1111113217847

 Peering out the van window at one of the mine shafts that goes down...down...down.  We weren't allowed to get out of the van and Jimmy informed us that he would not be opening the door at all while driving through the opal fields.  You'd be in trouble if you fell into one of these holes, which dotted the landscape.

 "Noodling" for opal.  "Noodling: The practice of sifting through rejected mullock heaps for small pieces of precious opal inadvertently discarded by the miners. A number of people on the opal fields rely entirely on noodling for a living. They either sift through the waste material by hand ... or use a noodling machine. These people are 'professional' noodlers. Tourists and others casually searching the dumps for pieces of opal are also noodling."  There is a public noodling area in Coober Pedy which we stopped in at, but it was the middle of the day and much too hot and sunny.  So we tried our hand in the little noodling pit in front of one of the shops, where there was a bit more shade.

Underground Serbian church.  This picture is taken from the second floor.  During services, parishioners stand in the empty area, although there are a few chairs in the back for people unable to stand.  There is some beautiful art work in here.

Lisa agreed that it was a worthwhile trip, although after two fulls days we had pretty much exhausted Coober Pedy's range of activities.  Sadly, both underground restaurants were again closed (same as when I was there with Jeremy).  It's a fascinating place and apparently Lisa's parents want to check it out on one of their next trips, she she might just be lucky enough to go again!  

 

TURKEY X 3

I'm back following a holiday break!  (And by holiday break, I mean break from blogging - I didn't get much of an actual break over Christmas and New Year's!!)

Where do I start?  Well, let's see...

We picked up Lisa at the airport on Dec 22nd and the whirlwind begins!  Although, I suppose with the allied health Christmas party on the 20th and dinner at Grace's on the 21st, it had actually already started.  Straight from the airport, we headed to Andy's place for turkey dinner #1:

Here is a festive bunch: Jeremy, Jane, Andy, Lisa and Soph.  Andy made a delectable turkey, mashed potatoes, and some sort of parmesan brussel sprouts (which were actually quite tasty!!)  To top it off, he had pecan pie and pumpkin pie for dessert.  I may have forgotten to mention that this crowd is 100% Canadian. 

Christmas Eve, we were invited to the lovely Claire's house for a Christmas potluck - she would provide the turkey and dessert, and we bring whatever we want.  Luckily I had secret weapon Lisa, because I had a very busy day at work.  While I worked, she made a very yummy salad (with candied walnuts and peaches) and prosciutto wrapped carrots for us to bring.

Here is the lovely Claire with la piece de resistance!  It was her first ever homemade turkey and it was sensational.  All the side dishes were also quite enjoyable, and she outdid herself with a meringue, cream and white chocolate tower/tree.  I should also add that all of the cutlery and settings matched her awesome red and white polka dot dress.  Love it!

I don't have a picture of Christmas dinner #3, but it was at MJ's parent's house.  Jeremy and many of the other docs were working until 9, so Lisa and I headed over early to partake in the Christmas meal.  Again, so much deliciousness, including some really tasty roast pork and SIX desserts...I had to refuse a few, it was just too much!  Her dad really likes to make desserts :)

So the Christmas season here was definitely filled with lots of togetherness and LOTS OF TURKEY!

Stay tuned for the excitement in later posts when I fill you in on Lisa and my road trip to Coober Pedy!