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Well since our last entry l am pleased to say that my hunch about the 'Woods' was spot on and we have become good friends in the last month. Everything has been going well with both Marty and l finding work. Marty is working for a company that repairs train carriages and l am getting plenty of work at the hospital. I am loving work, getting my passion back for nursing. Think this has been missing for a long while and seeing l am back with the people taking care of them instead of managing a ward, l found my love for the job coming back. A few hairy moments already that have tested my skills and confidence, especially when l rocked up for work one day and they informed me that l was to go to the emergency department!!! This is a huge department with them having 75 beds and recieve incoming traumas from all around Northern QLD and even the islands, especially Palm Island. So l did try and get out of it, but couldnt talk my way out of it, surprise l know. Anyhow, long story short, l loved it and they loved me and wanted me to come back, so either l looked like l knew what l was doing or l actually knew what l was doing!!! lol. I have been getting around the whole hospital, from ED, surgical, medical and EMU. Loving the exposure and also the reinforcement of confidence that l am a great nurse and know what lm doing. At least the GV gave me some sound knowledge and experience......
Anyway, in the last month we have settled into routine of work and also getting Boo's school on the way again. Took a week for Boo to adjust and l think she got used to the holiday mode as well, but we are getting thru it again and she is doing terrific. She has also made a beautiful friend with Charlotte. They are so cute together and huge each other goodnight and want to spend as much time together. Nice Boo has this time to have a great pal. Meg has also become smitten with Jake, even though he is a bit older, they are both into Toy Story and play well together. Marty and l are enjoying our fun times with Amanda and Mark. It is amazing how similar we are to one another and also as a couple, quite funny as we take the piss out of each other all the time. There has been good times had on wine and beer and many laughs had. Pity our friendship with Bronwyn and John hasnt developed as much as with the Woods, we hardly see them and they arent as sociable as we thought. Nice people, just keep to themselves a bit more than us. Anyway last weekend, Marty, Amanda, Mark, myself and the kids all went to Riverways, which is a great service the council has made for the public. It is this huge park area with a few large pools that backs onto the river with a boardwalk surrounding the area. Its also great because its free!! Anyway we had a great morning swimming then had a BBQ for lunch before l headed off to work. Awesome day and the kids had a ball as much as the adults.
This weekend we decided to head off together to go camping at Crystal Creek and also to head up and have a look at Wallaman Falls (blog pic), this is the largest single drop waterfall in Australia. Yes, thats right, Australia!!! There was much excitement with the kids and the adults. We were looking forward to getting back to nature and camping again and the kids were excited to be able to sleep together in the same tent! We frantically packed the night before, on Friday, with the plan to leave first thing Saturday morning. Marty went to pick up some pizza's friday night and came back pissed off as the battery was charging too much. Earlier that week the ulternator blew and he got a new one at $390, yes you heard it, another repair to the nissan. At least the engine light has stopped coming on whenever we hit a bump. Anyway, Marty tried to sort the car out that night but was stumped. The next morning Marty was up and under the bonnet again trying to fix the car, then he headed off to the place he got the part. We all sat around and had a swim while poor Marty was frantically trying to repair the nissan. At 11:00am, Marty called to say it was all fixed and a new ulternator was fitted so we all dried off from the pool and then headed off around 12:00pm, a bit later than we had planned but either way we were on our way. We headed off towards Ingham to turn off to Wallaman Falls to drive up the steep whindy hill to the top. When we arrived we were all excited and headed up to the viewing area. The falls were amazing, even if they werent at their fullest fall. The surrounding view of cliff faces was just as amazing to see with the different patterns in the rock and colors. The glorious contrast of the green trees, brown/red cliffs and white spray of the waterfall with the blue sky and fluffy clouds was beautiful. The kids were having fun together, holding hands and chatting away. They also found a little stick insect which they took in turns of holding before setting it free. We were all on a high and left to go down the hill to make our way to Big Crystal Creek to set camp up. Marty and l were in the lead and after a little bit had to slow down as the turns were a bit sharp and we slid once. We were only talking about this when we heard Amanda on the UHF saying "turn around guys we've had an accident" and we could here kids screaming in the background. Both Marty and l had our hearts in our throats and Marty did a quick 180 and turned around to head up the hill. When we got there Amanda and Mark were getting out of the car looking dazed and bewildered and all l saw was the front of the Landcruiser buckled up in the front with the bull bar having moved up toward the radiator. I jumped out of the car and checked everyone was ok, which physically they were, but the kids were in shock with little Jake shaking and crying. After a little, we assessed the damage and Marty whinched the bullbar back to where it was meant to be, off the radiator so they could get the bonnet up. The cruiser was drivable so we headed into Ingham, an hour away, to work out what to do. Once in Ingham we decided to head back to Townsville, which was the most sensible thing to do as the kids were shaken, even thought disappointed they werent going camping, and both Amanda and Mark were a little bruised and sore. It was like Dales cruiser all over again, we went from high to low in a matter of seconds, but thank god everyone was alright, it could have been worse. Marty and l think we have a curse on cruisers, so beware anyone reading this that might run into us!!!! Apart from the car to get fixed, everyone is ok and we are planning a day trip back to Crystal Creek in the near future. In reflection, we believe the universe was trying to tell us something by first our car playing up, then it being so late leaving and a rush to be organised, and lastly, Mark believes that he cursed the trip by filling up on diesal on number 13 pump!!!! That was the nail in the coffin lol.......
Lastly, l just want to add that we are loving Townsville. So much so that we have put it on our shortlist of places we could live after this trip (first place on the list so far). We love the people, the easy way of life, the ocean and landscapes of surrounding hills, the city itself with it offering so much but still feels like a small country town and lastly the lifestyle it could provide for us. if only we could ship all our friends up here to live with us it would be perfect, miss you all..
Love Bell XXXX
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