Hows it going, its amazing how quickly the time goes, i have now been in melbourne 2 and a half months, where has that time gone? Since new year i havent really been up to much except working and catching up with friends, oh and the tennis. I finished working in Werribee the middle of jan, just in time for the Australian tenis open, for a mere $30 i brought myself a ground pass for the tennis. This pass lets you go in all the open air courts and the vodafone arena. Luckily for me i managed to get in the arena early as shortly after all the games outside were cancelled due to the heat. Something i am not used to, a strange thing for me as normally the tennis is cancelled due to the rain! But aparently over here when the temp hits 35 the courts are closed, and the day i was there it hit 39 degrees. I am not complaining as i stayed the hole day in the airconditioning, and got to see Martina Hingis and Andy Murray on his opening game. I have to say my bum was pretty numb by the end of the day.

i finished work mid jan and had no OT work for a couple of weeks so ended up signing up for a child care agency. On my interview i had requested to work with the older children but on the the couple of days i worked they put me in a room full of babies, slightly out of my league there, especially when we had to get 8 1 year olds all to go to sleep after dinner at the same time - not an easy job at all! you get one off to sleep and then another is running around not tired at all, then in turn that wakes the others up. i think i am best off sticking to what i know, OT. After a couple of days doing child care i was fortunate enough to get the job i am doing now. i am working in a neuro rehab unit, mainly with young males who have been in road traffic accidents with either mashed up bones or a head injury. The hospital is lovely and has fantastic facilities, def a very good experience for me.

I have managed to catch upwith a few friends while i have been down here but that hasnt been as easy as i had expected, my friends have all either absolutely broke, working on the weekends or knackered from working such long hours to earn pennies! So not really been out partying much which is really hard when you have the money and desperatley want to go out, its a hard life being a flash packer! My flat mates have been good, and we have gone out a coupleof times, we spent the day in the park the other week to clebrate Kay's birthday - all was lovely until matt decided to slip over on the grass, smacking his head on the ground, knocking himself unconcious, luckily he came round quickly and didnt need to go to hospital.

I have also managed to get to another neighbours night, this time i got to meet Stef Scully, Maz and see Karl Kennedy play i his rock band, he was really good, unfortunatley i didnt get to see him play fully as had to get a tram home as was up early for work the next morning. the other week was Australia day, i went over to Linda's where her house had a big bbq, after lots of food and alcohol the house headed over to the park to play house olympics, with a twist! The games included 3 legged race, but one person had to go backwards, there were piggy back races as well as wheelbarrow races. I chose to be boring and stood on the side taking the photos, iam glad i did as there were several injuries and grazes!

i am on my final leg of my trip, i only have 5 weeks left here before i head back up to sydney to ctch up with some friends then meet my family for a whistle stop tour of sydney, melbourne and tasmania. When they fly home home i will only have 3 weeks left so no thinking about what else i am going to do - i think a week in tasmania again then fiji to just sit on a beach all day before i head back to reality.

Anyway had best go for now,

enjoy the cold weather, while i am trying to hide insde the air con buildings to saty away fromt he 39 degrees of heat.

See you soon - well its in about 12 weeks!

Sharon