Day 290 – 31st October 2018 – Darwin

Happy Halloweeen.

I had a rest day from exercise today, by body was a little shocked by the sudden change in routine.  It is used to doing 7km over the course of a day in airconditioned comfort but not in an hour and outdoors.  Other than that it was just my usual routine.

I know that I say it at the end of every month, but it is going so quick.  Next month is November and I will be heading back to Adelaide for my Niece’s 18th birthday and I get to catch up with all my family and friends.  Getting very excited about it, I must admit.  We have been on the road since mid-January.  Time is weird how in some ways it feels like it has flown past, but it also feels like a lifetime ago that we were pulling out the driveway of the Christies Beach Caravan Park to start our big adventure.  So many kilometres and experiences since then! Now we are weeks away from returning home to Adelaide for Christmas.  Crazy.

Day 289 – 30th October 2018 – Darwin

Tuesday I went for a walk with interval running.  Again it has been a while and it is super hot!!  But I did ok, I did just over 6km.  The interval running is a good option in this heat.  It was good in some ways doing a physical job, I worked out I was doing on average between 5km and 7km per shift with step ups, squats, lifting boxes and stairs for 7 and a half hours a day.  Even getting up and down off the floor at work keeps you flexible, this is not as easy as it sounds once you hit 45. So I really didn’t feel the need to do additional exercise.  But now that work has stopped paying me to exercise, I need to get back into it.

After that I did my errands list then again to the library to study.

Day 288 – 29th October 2018 – Darwin

Today is the first day of not working for me and I am pretty happy about it.  I did my errands in the morning then went to the library to study in the afternoon.

That night I met Col at the pool and we went swimming.  It was the first time for me being back in the pool doing laps for a while, so I definitley felt it.   Especially being a 50m pool compared to our 25m pool back in Adelaide.  But I did ok.

Day 287 – 28th October 2018 – Darwin, Fishing Darwin Harbour

We were all organised to go fishing in Darwin Harbour today.  Col had looked up the tides and we knew when we had to leave to be able to put the boat in ok, but ended up doing a mad rush to get there before low tide.  Col remembered at the last minute that there was a problem with the throttle on the boat the last time that we took it out.  Very glad he remebered it before we were out  on the water!!  It was loose the last time we took the boat out but it had gotten much, much worse.  So Col fixed it which was great but we were then under serious pressure to get the boat in before we ran out of water.  We were not the only people rushing to try and get in before it was too late.  Col reversed down the boat ramp as he is a little quicker than I am, and I stood on the jetty holding the rope to restrain the boat.  There were three boats crammed in next to each other and I was struggling to control ours from slamming into the others.   Continue reading “Day 287 – 28th October 2018 – Darwin, Fishing Darwin Harbour”

Day 286 – 27th October 2018 – Darwin

Today Col went for a bike ride.  I was tempted but it is seriously hot!  So I opted to stay and write up the blog while he rode his bike for an hour.

I have been mauled by midgies lately, even using DEET.  I think it is a mixture of both midgies and mozzies.  One arm has over 55 bites on it (I kid you not) and the itching is insane.  The humidity definitely brings them out in full force and I think it makes you sweat so you sweat off the spray protection.  Not sure what the answer is but they are driving me mad.  I think they have blooms where a new hungry batch are hatched and then nothing for a week or so.  Thankfully it is not everyday.  I might have to start covering up but it is just so hot that the thought of that is a little depressing.  I might try to up the DEET too, as we are using the lowest amount of 20% at the moment.  There has to be an answer.  A local up here has suggested Vitamin B12 so will give that a go too.

Tomorrow we plan to take the boat out and go fishing in Darwin Harbour.

Day 285 – 26th October 2018 – Darwin

So today is my last shift at Woolies.  It has been a very valuable experience.  Like with all jobs I have loved parts of it and struggled through other parts.  I have met some interesting people and I have learned new skills.  After so many years in an office job and management role, it was good to get my hands dirty again and do something physically strenuous.  It was good to know that I am capable of it.  Funny how these ideas can seem easy when you think about them…. I’ll just pick up work on the road, I am happy to do anything.  But actually doing them is a little intimidating.  Am I physically capable of doing that type of work anymore?  Starting from scratch in a totally different environment in a totally different role is always intimidating.  There are different levels of intimidation.  Working as a Service Delivery Manager for Telstra is intimidating, but funnily enough, so is working at Woolies.   We all work hard to earn our money, and regardless of your pay rate or your title it is likely that you experience times of stress at work, you are faced with challenges of how to get through an unrealistic workload in an unrealistic timeframe, you work with some great people and some not so great people and you hopefully have the chance to have a laugh once in a while (eveyone needs a bit of crazy in their workplace to stay sane). Continue reading “Day 285 – 26th October 2018 – Darwin”

Day 284 – 25th October 2018 – Darwin

Today was a short shift and I was back in Health and Beauty rolling cages.  Only one more shift to go!  Nothing too eventful.

Col went for another swim this evening.  He said that the pool is surprisingly warm.  We found out that there is a pool at Nightcliff that they actually cool down.  That made us both laugh as we have heard of a pool heater but never a pool cooler.  It does make sense though when the water up here gets so warm.  We might have to visit there as things continue to heat up. Continue reading “Day 284 – 25th October 2018 – Darwin”

Day 282 – 23rd October 2018 – Darwin

I had a day off today.  I have been thinking alot about what skills would make it easy for me to get work on the road while we are travelling in the future and also something that I would enjoy doing.  So after looking into lots of courses I have decided on doing Business Administration (Medical).  This qualifies me to be a Medical Receptionist in a Doctor, Dentist or Allied Health rooms, but I think if you have these skills it would be pretty easy to get a Receptionist job anywhere.  The course can be done online and so I have signed up and this is what I will be doing in my spare time now.  Continue reading “Day 282 – 23rd October 2018 – Darwin”

Day 283 – 24th October 2018 – Darwin

Again I headed into the library to study today.  I have to confess something….. I have a thing for stationery.  Yes, there you go, I have put it out there.  I seriously LOVE it.  I have to keep myself under strict control when I go into Office Works, and could spend hours in there buying up a storm.  The pressure to find a good pen, such a tough decision with thousands of potential pens to choose from.  So I dared to go to Office Works to purchase required stationery, and I managed to control myself quite well I thought.  I left with an appropriate amount, no trolley required.  There is nothing quite like a brand new notebook and unused sparkly pens in your new trendy pencil case that is just waiting for a new chapter to begin.  I actually have a similar problem in Hardware stores, particularly Bunnings, oh and Ikea, oh and Kmart….. Ok I see the pattern here.   Funnily enough I am not actually a big shopper and don’t like the usual girly shopping things.  But there are certain shops where I can go into and convince myself I need something really random that I have lived quite happily without for 45 years.  I also need to add BCF, Anaconda and other camping shops to my dangerous shopping, do not leave on her own with a credit card list.  Fishing lures….. sigh. Continue reading “Day 283 – 24th October 2018 – Darwin”

Day 281 – 22nd October 2018 – Darwin

It is my final week at Woolworth’s and I am only doing part time this week.  I only have two overdue Planograms now and one in due now, then the next due isn’t due until the 26th.  The end is in sight my friends.

I got to work and did the Perishable mark downs and grabbed the remaining Planograms to smash them out of the ball park.  There was meant to be a Rep coming in to finish one and that left me two.  As it turned out, the Rep never arrived and the one he was meant to be working on was a 6 hour Planogram, so it was suddenly looking like I might not achieve my goal of getting these suckers back under control.  Luckily Rory was able to help me out and between us we completed the remaing three.  So now I feel complete hahahaha.  Zero overdue, zero due now and the next due on the 26th October…. sigh.  This leaves me with one and a half shifts which I am guessing will be back in Health and Beauty where this whole journey began.  It would have seriously irked me if I didn’t get on top of those Planograms before I left, it would have niggled at me like an old splinter.  So I am very glad I can leave Woolies at peace now.  Job done.  Victory was mine!!!!