Tony Sadler's newest storeman

As some of you know I’m no longer tree lopping. Mal and I decided it was best that we go our separate ways. It was the best thing that could have happened to me. I had already been looking for another job because I was just so frustrated working with Mal. Anyways, Chris the same guy that got me my first job called me and told me on Monday night that I could work at a furniture store called Tony Sadlers the next morning, which happened to my birthday. So I told him no problem and I’ll be there in the morning. I work from 9-5:30 Tuesday to Saturday, which is the only down side to the job. It would be better if I worked Monday to Friday as Jenny has been getting weekends off but pickers can’t be choosers. The job is great, I work with one other guy, Jimmy and my boss, a fun loving kid at heart type guy named Lockey. My position is a storemen and we are responsible for unloading the freight containers into the store or warehouses, as well as help customers with carry outs. Tony Sadler's (www.tonysadlers.com.au) carries mostly wooden furniture, like coffee tables, end tables, kitchen tables and fine cabinets, but we also carry lounges (what we call couches), mattresses, office furniture and curtains for all budgets. It’s really the people that work there that make the job what it is, everyone is very laid back and fun but with that being said we are still busy the whole day. The nice thing is I’m outside 70% of the day so I can still get sun and work on my farmers tan.

The Swan Valley, Out & About Tours

The Swan Valley is an area just 25 minutes North of Perth, renowned for it’s excellent wine. Jenny and I went on a cruise and wine tour on Saturday. The day started at 9:30 AM as we left our house to walk down to the Barrack Street Jetty. We quickly realized we were cutting it a little too close and after a very brisk jaunt, we arrived and boarded the river cruise. Upon boarding we received a tea/coffee with a muffin, and then not even 10 minutes later we were enjoying award winning wines from the Swan Valley, as we moved up river. The cruise itself was only about 20 minutes but after about 4 or 5 small glasses of wine we were ready to begin the real wine tasting. The cruise boat holds around 100 people and about 10 of us got off while the others continued up river to enjoy a day of tasting wines on the boat. We met our tour guide, Claude a very enthusiastic, knowledgeable extrovert who had an uncanny ability to remember 16 of our names on his first try. Shortly after meeting everyone we hopped onto the tour bus and were off to visit our first winery. In total we visited 4 boutique wineries which were small and family operated but don’t let that mislead you. We enjoyed some excellent wines, and then some not so excellent wines. Jenny and I aren’t exactly winos but we are interested in learning more about wine and seeing which wines suit our palettes and which ones don’t. Throughout the day we tasted, white and red wines, rose’s, ports and dessert wines. After sampling about 20 different wines, Jenny and I discovered that we prefer white wines over red. We ended up purchasing a Chenin Blanc from the Lancaster Winery and a bottle of Autumn Harvest (White) and Autumn Red from the Windy Creek Winery. The Windy Creek Winery has the least expensive wines of any of the other wineries that are in the Swan Valley, only $10 per bottle, beats me how they stay afloat. Although the wine was much cheaper we found their white wines to be sweeter with hints of tropical fruit like passionfruit, strawberries and mango, an excellent choice for a hot day here in Oz. We had lunch at Sitello’s the third winery, and enjoyed a garden salad, with Turkish bread and dips, sliced deli meats, fruit and cheese and of course our choice of red or white wine. We spent about an hour in total there and then were off to the last winery which Jenny and I didn’t really enjoy, it was crowded and they had more samples of red wines then whites and ports which we just find too sweet. We then went to the Margaret River Chocolate factory and battled hungry chocolate loving crowds and enjoyed free spoonfuls of white, dark and milk chocolate chips and a truffle of choice. The chocolate factory specializes in truffles and had lots of different kinds, I had a cookies’n cream truffle and Jenny had a hazel nut truffle. Believe it or not but Jenny and I didn’t really feel like chocolate so we bought a chocolate milk and then the group went next door to a micro brewery. We were each allowed a small glass of beer, I chose a wheat beer and Jenny got their light beer, I ended up finishing both. All in all, we learned lots about the Swan Valley and their wines and now feel more confident ordering a glass of wine, which was the goal. We arrived home feeling good and with lots of wine in our blood stream an evening nap was exactly what the doctor ordered.

The Red Bull Air Race

Last weekend Jenny and I had the pleasure of experiencing the finale of the Red Bull Air Race right here in Perth. The Air Race has a series of gates which are inflated cones about 50 feet high and it’s flown over the Swan River. The race is timed and the pilots fly individually and obviously the one that flies the course in the shortest amount of time wins. Well with that being said, some of the planes are flying over 300 kph, just when they turn! In one part of the course the pilot has to fly through a gate and then immediately pulling up towards the sky and performing a loop (which now puts him upside down) and then flipping over to fly through the gate experiencing around 12 G’s. 12 G’s would make the pilot feel like they weigh 12 times more than their weight. You can imagine the exhilarating feeling you get when watching these planes perform these maneuvers a mere 100 feet in front of you.
The first day that we went to see the race we stayed on the side closest to Perth. The temporary runway for the pilots to land and take off was put there, so the spectators could enjoy watching the race, as well as see the planes land and take off. It was pretty cool watching the pilots land their planes 50 feet above your head narrowly missing the palm trees and telephone wires. We got some great pics of some of these planes as they side slipped into the runway. We noticed that there were also thousands of people on the other side of the river which is where the actual race took place. The grand stands were located on the other side of the river so naturally the race would be too. We looked into getting tickets for the next and final day but were thoroughly disappointed when we saw that they were charging $100 a ticket. On Sunday we decided to venture over to the other side of the river, so after a 5 minute shuttle ride on a TransPerth bus we were among the thousands of free loading spectators just like us. This was definitely a better spot to watch the race, you could see and hear everything much more. We had a great day and were treated with an awesome show from the Royal Australian Air Force Roulettes which is a team of 5 Pilatus PC9’s that performed about 5 minutes worth of acrobatic maneuvers while in formation. Than to top it off an FA-18 fighter jet made a few passes over the Swan testing the tolerance of our ear drums and concluding what was an awesome weekend together.

Our New place, 20 Brisbane Tce

Well we are all moved into our new place and love it here. It just feels like more of a home, there are three rooms, and three couples that are living here. Us, a French couple Blundeen & Nicolas, and an Irish couple Tam & Steve. The rooms are all in the front of the house and the two sitting rooms, kitchen, dining room and washroom are all in the back. There is a nice back yard, with half of it being covered by a lattice shelter with vines all over it and the other half open to the sunshine. There is a big garage, outside toilet, and nice hot tub. The house is a good size for three couples and we all seem to really get along. We are located on a quiet street still in the suburb of Northbridge. I am approximately a 20 minute walk from the RPH and Ross is approximately a 20 minute drive from his job. It’s really been great to have a comfortable place to call home. About a week after we moved in Steve and Tam had to move back home as her dad isn’t doing well, and another couple moved in to their room – Bridgette & Mark, another Irish couple. They are very nice; we seem to be home with them a lot - usually cooking dinner in the kitchen. They are the first couples we have met that actually cook their own meals; we were starting to think we were the only ones! lol. They have only been here a couple weeks, and are still searching for jobs. They are very clean, Ross says she is just like me… lol, I am not too sure if that is a good thing or not to have two people in the same house that are particular about some things … lol – so I guess we’ll see. Ha-ha. No I am only kidding, I think they will be easy to get along with, and it will be nice to have someone else to help keep the house at least somewhat clean. Rent is a bit cheaper, but not that much cheaper, but the house is just so much better. We have air conditioning, a TV in all our rooms and in the living room, there’s a BBQ in the back yard, and like I said there’s also a hot tub – maybe if we are ambitious enough we will clean it out and have a cold tub for after work - ha-ha.

WA Nursing registration & Health Staff Party

After a month of waiting and wondering, I finally received my WA Nursing Registration! Here in WA they are very particular and very slow… not a good combination for someone like me who has been waiting for longer than needed. After getting the nursing coordinator at Lakehead University to resubmit my more detailed university transcript, all I could do was wait. And that is exactly what I did, wait and wait and wait. I was supposed to start work on October 1^st, but instead now I am starting work November 3^rd. This puts us behind a little bit, but we were thinking of being here in WA for 3-4 months anyway. I am just really glad to have something to do for myself now, Ross has been working pretty much since we arrived and the days were starting to get boring. Never thought I would say that about Australia, but there is only so much you can do by yourself. We have also moved into our new place and are no longer living with the French sisters Sophie and Fanny, so until we get to know our new house mates a bit better Ross and I pretty much hang out with ourselves for now. Anyway, I was so excited to hear from the WA nursing board, that that same day I walked down to their office and picked it up myself! Felt so good to have it in my hands. Ross and I celebrated over a yummy dinner together and started our countdown to starting our actual travels together. The next day we attended a party put on by Health Staff recruitment (the agency I worked with) at the Subiaco Hotel in west Perth. It was so nice to finally meet Jonelle the girl I had been talking on the phone with since last June, great to put a face to her voice. She was just as excited to meet Ross as she was to meet me, which was so nice of her. It was a nice evening, free drinks and appetizers all night. We met a really nice couple there named Ben & Zoe Davis. They both work at the Royal Perth Hospital (RPH), and they were very excited to tell me all about what it is like to work there. We ended up talking to them all night and exchanged numbers with them at the end of the night. Jonelle was so nice and was just like I had pictured her to be like. I think she was just as excited to hear that I had finally got my registration as I was. It was a good night and I am really glad that we were able to attend the get together. Now all I have to do is get a hold of the nursing manager at the RPH and set up my start date!!! Yay!

Our new campervan

Our wait is over, we’ve finally found the campervan of our dreams! Seriously, we’ve been looking and looking and looking and on Friday night it was love at first sight. She’s a 1983 Toyota Hiace with only 186 000 km. She’s a light tan colour, equipped with a 3 way fridge, stove and grill, an electric water tap, a table that folds down into a double sized bed (long enough even for me), and lots of storage. It also has a pop top that allows us to be able to stand when inside of it, and lots of windows for ventilation. It’s in excellent condition, very clean and everything looks like new. The couple that we purchased it from are the second owners and took great care of the van. They are in their 80’s and were very reluctant to sell

it but due to his health they are no longer able to travel. They were the cutest couple who made us feel so welcomed. After viewing the van Friday night they invited us into their home to discuss details of the van over a hot cup of tea and cookies. We ended up staying over 2.5 hours and could have stayed longer. They were very eager to tell us about Australia and where they have traveled. We welcomed all the advice that they provided us with and we were excited to return the next day to hear more. We returned on Saturday afternoon after scheduling an appointment to have the van inspected. The mechanic gave it a clean bill of health with only a few minor problems to have checked prior to our future travels. Again we were invited in their home for a cup of tea as we filled out the paper work to transfer ownership. $5000 later we left proud campervan owners and were now ready to venture onto the unfamiliar streets of Perth.

The life of Tree lopping and Garden bag pick ups

Well I’ve been working for a month already and it’s been bitter sweet. First the bitter part, my boss, a guy named Mal (short for Malcolm) is difficult to work with at the best of times. Mal is the type of boss that lets me make the mistake before he tells me what I’m doing wrong, if I’m lucky. Other times he’ll just yell at me and say “what are you doing that for?” He has no problem raising his voice in order to make a point, but in his defense the job can be very dangerous. What also makes this job tough is how physically demanding it is. I’m not sure if you’ve noticed but trees are freakin heavy. It’s a great full body work out so there is no need to get a gym membership here to stay in shape. Now the sweet part, I make $20 an hour cash and work 35-40 hours a week. It’s also a great way to meet real Australians and in their backyards too. So what exactly does a tree lopper do? First of all Mal is the actual tree lopper and is the one responsible for taking the actual tree down. He climbs the tree using foot spikes and wears a harness that ropes himself around the tree so he can cut branches off with the chainsaw. The reason why the job is so dangerous is because obviously these branches and frongs for palm trees are falling to the ground in varying weights so he has to be aware of where I am at all times. He also has to cut the branches in a way that reduces damage whether to the actual home or to the ground which may have patio stones underneath it, landscaping, bird baths, flower pots etc. So what am I doing while Mal is busy in the tree trimming it up? I’m basically the lackey who is cleaning up the ground from the falling branches. I then feed the branches in a wood chipper and then do it over and over and over again. Even though it might sound monotonous, you have to be so switched on and aware of what’s going on around you at all times that there is always something that can be done. While I’m clearing, Mal could be yelling at me over the noise of the chainsaw to get him new equipment, whether a pole saw, the ladder, a rope used to safely pull areas of the tree down or just to tell me I’m doing something wrong, which happens a lot! Like the title suggests Mal’s other part of the company is picking up full garden bags that are provided for a customer to fill with whatever they want. Basically the customer is provided with a garden bag which is roughly a square meter in size that sits on a frame that they leave in their yard or place of business. The bags can and will have anything and everything in them as long as there is no dirt, rocks, bricks or alcohol in them. 90% of the bags are just full of lawn clippings, tree prunings and other garden rubbish. We simply drive around and pick them up and replace them every two weeks. This is the part of the job that I like! It’s also great because I get to meet lots of people and see areas of Perth I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to see otherwise. Even though he is a hard ass, I learn a lot and come home filthy dirty and tired.