Been offered a job in the middle east running a threatened species program. Thinking about taking it. Big decisions to be made. Scary

Decided to go out solo for a couple of days on the long weekend. Just isabella (my awesome car) camera, tent, fishing rod and the lower glenelg and discovery national parks. Spent 3 days out there and had a blast. There is something about being bush all by yourself that is invigorating, dangerous and incredibly exciting all at the same time. Whenever I'm out bush I'm happy so after these 3 days I was feeling like a million bucks. Below are the results of the trip. Enjoy people. Get out there and reconnect with mother nature, its seriously something special;

sunset day 1


sunrise day 2 (petrified forest)



Sundews


My monster catch


Isabella and camp insitu


Sunset day 2




Sunrise (kind of) day 3 early morning fog on the river



Friendly locals

Im in a bit of dilemma really. I need to decide where I want to live soon. My options are here in Australia, United Arab Emirates or Canada. The deal is I want to give my friend Leah and I a chance and see what happens. She currently lives in Abu Dhabi and in 2 weeks she finds out if she gets a job in Ottawa (canada) that will help her get the job she wants which is human security and peace building. If she doesnt get the job she will stay in Abu Dhabi for another year teaching English. If i go there then I will be working in a tax free country and we cant live together because its actually illegal...weird huh. Ive never been to the middle east and dont know how I would cope but the cash would be great and could set me up in the future.

If she gets the job in ottawa I cant work there because ive already worked there in the past and you can only ever get the visa once. The other option would be to marry my friend Leah. This im not happy about because marriage is very important to me and I dont want to get married for the visa. Having said that I loved living in canada and wouldnt mind doing it again. The only way i would get married would be at a quiet little office somewhere and i wouldnt want my family to know about it and then when I have saved up some cash then would have a proper wedding. That depends if i do want to marry her.

The 3rd option would be that she comes here and gets another shit kicker job and risks ruining the chance of her getting work with the UN eventually and thus her possibly resenting me for the rest of her life. At the moment im pretty torn. I love Oz but I dont have much keeping me here. Family obviously but I have few true friends and Im not overly happy. The other thing stressing me is the whole marriage thing. Yes im 31 and in great shape and doing my own thing, but if this opportunity goes by the way side, will I forever wish I had taken it?
Deep down I think id prefer the UAE because its closer to oz and the moneys good and ive never been and it will be very different but one hell of an experience. Ultimately Ive got to wait and see what happens on Leahs end in regards to jobs. Its a lot of heavy shit to think about.......

because the server crashed i thought id repost. cheers

Had a friend come over from Abu Dhabi this week and it was an amazing week. Shes one of those types of friends who when you meet up after extended periods of time, it still feels like nothing has changed. I havent seen my friend Leah for 4 years and felt honoured that she was keen to come and visit me and this wonderful country. I wont go into the details of what we did or where we went, its not really important. I realised the true value of friendship and how important it is to be around happy people and to be happy oneself. A week off showed me how miserable I am with nearly all aspects of my life from work, friends all the way to diet. Im completely obsessed with money and using it to gauge my success and happiness. I was so wrong and can now understand the emptiness that I have been feeling for quite some time. Ive decided its time for proactive change. Time to cull the negative aspects of my life and start attaining the happiness i deserve as really, life is way to short to spend it stressing over negative empty bullshit. Ive included a couple of photos from our outings. Enjoy

Leah and I





otways

Koala


Yours truly

Eastern Grey Kangaroo

Lyrebird




Bay of islands

London Bridge

Well seeing as I have told a few people that Ive submitted my entries to the anzang photo comp I figured that I will post the ones I entered. I wouldve entered more but with each entry being $22 and money being tight, I had to ration it down. Im not sure if they are good enough but youve got to be in it to win it. Ive always loved the claw one and I hope it gets up in the black and white section. Ive just bought a new lens and it has given me the photog fire again in my belly. It is truly the only thing that fills me with complete and utter happiness. Enjoy

I work in a job that at has on many occasions, put my life in jeopardy. I nearly died on tuesday night working in the latrobe valley. It was the end of a 17 hour day and I get paid $17 an hour. I studied at university to get ahead and this job requires a university degree. Yet I am paid and treated like a pleb. The part that shits me is that I cant afford to leave. Debts, bills and mortgage are all commitments and inconveniences that need to be paid. I apply for work and get no answers. I have a dream job but am unable to persue it because I am tied down financially. To compensate for the low pay i have a second job and therefore i work seven days. This cant be what life is about can it? I dont kid myself with happily ever after scenarios or love at first sight, but is a balance, or even happiness, so unreasonable? I know this is a truly random rant but I feel helpless and suppressed. Surely there is more to life than this. I apologize for the rant

Havent been around much unfortunately. Got a lot on my plate. Basically working seven days to keep my head above water and its starting to get to me. Having said that I snuck off after work one night and got to watch a great sunset in the la trobe valley. Enjoy people. No matter how shit things are, a good sunset makes you feel like a million bucks.

Happy new year everyone!!! I must admit I havent been on here much lately. Christmas is a crazy time and trying to fit everything in was a real mission but unfortunately suicide girls was neglected. However with the new year I plan on spending more time on here, contributing to the forums and hopefully building friendships.

I spent most of the xmas holidays in Mt Gambier seeing the family and then spent the new year in Benalla chilling out with friends. As per usual there was too much alcohol consumed but with the temperature sitting around 40C I believe it was justified. I also have the dubious honor of having my birthday on the 1st of January which was also celebrated with close friends and in the afternoon I spent it with my brother in the bush taking photos. Below are the results and it really was a macro day. Its literally been months since I shot anything and I really did miss it.

I am also in the process of looking for work which is never great. The job im currently in pays stupidly low money for the type of dangerous work I do and also their OH & S standards are pretty much non existent, so ive decided to get out before i get some terminal disease or get killed on site.

I wish everyone the best of luck for 2011 and hope its a good one. Now I've just got to sit down and determine some new years resolutions. Enjoy!!!!

Good service? standing by your product? good fucken luck!!!!!!!!!!!! 6 months ago i spent $5K to get my engine overhauled in isabella (my 1970 Volkswagen) the guyswho did it got highly recommended and did the work albeit a few things they quoted for but didnt do. Fast forward 6 months, my car broke down and i towed it to a VW specialist who was literally just around the corner. He looks at the car and says take it to the guys who did your engine as theres a thrown conrod bearing in one of your pistons. I take it to the guys who did the engine and they reckon that the mechanic who looked at it dropped a screw into the carbie which fucked a piston...in other words they wont repair it under the standard 1 year warranty and are trying to blame it on the other vw mechanic. I spent $1800 on the car to get it road worthy not long ago and now i dont have a running car. I have emptied all my accounts to get it on the road. It is the only car i have and i dont have a partner who i can ask for lifts for to get to my job. I am now classified as the working poor in australia and I feel demoralised and pissed off. You spend big bucks and get fucked up the arse. I know this is a useless rant but i need to let off steam or else someone will seriously get hurt.