.: Cath’s Blog:.

I had an excellent day today…one of the most fun day’s I have had since being in Darwin.

I had an interview at a recruitment agency this morning at 11am and after completing mountains of forms I was given a Word & Excel computer based exam, typing test and Internet Explorer exam…eeek! I was not expecting that, but I think I did ok. I am keeping my fingers crossed they will be able to help me find something soon.

When I got back to the backpackers Lara was in the room. I mentioned about going out for a drive to the mall and she said she would come along too. We stopped off at a few places along the way. I found some really nice beaches yesterday when I was out for a drive…here are the pictures.

When I got back I just relaxed and got ready to go out. Shelley & Giles are heading back to the UK via the States, so we were all planning a big night of drinking…and oh what a night it was!

I met up with Shelley at Shenanigans, Giles followed with a Canadian fellow (I can’t remember his name) and then Hannah arrived with her friend’s Caroline & Jo. We stayed their until the live music came on…which really is very bad.

We headed down to a bar called Discovery (which was serving free drinks) where we saw a live band called ‘The Seeds’ who I have to say were superb. They were playing covers and played everything from The Killers to Oasis (Shelley loved the Oasis track in particular…changing the words to Wonderwall).

CLICK HERE to see a video of us Drunk and acting silly

Anyway we headed down to the Fox & Fiddle to try and do Karaoke again…but the place was really full & rowdy, so we all sat outside and the woman hosting Karaoke was still as rude as ever. The rest of the night was honestly a blurr…I hope to not drink like that again for a long time.

Shelley & Giles…it was great to meet you two…please keep in touch and have lots of fun in New York.

Delia’s Way
Stuff a miniature marshmallow in the bottom of a sugar cone to prevent ice cream drips.

The Real Woman’s Way
Just suck the ice cream out of the bottom of the cone, for God’s sake. You are probably lying on the couch with your feet up eating it anyway.

Delia’s Way
To keep potatoes from budding, place an apple in the bag with the potatoes.

The Real Woman’s Way
Buy Smash and keep it in the cupboard for up to a year.

Delia’s Way
When a cake recipe calls for flouring the baking tin, use a bit of the cake mix instead and there won’t be any white mess on the outside of the cake.

The Real Woman’s Way
Tesco’s sell cakes. They even do decorated versions.

Delia’s Way
If you accidentally over-salt a dish while it’s still cooking, drop in a potato slice.

The Real Woman’s Way
If you over salt a dish while you are cooking, that’s tough.

Please recite with me the Real Woman’s motto: “I made it, you will eat it and I don’t care how bad it tastes.”

Delia’s Way
Wrap celery in aluminium foil when putting in the refrigerator and it will keep for weeks.

The Real Woman’s Way
It could keep forever. Who eats it?

Delia’s Way
Brush some beaten egg white over piecrust before baking to yield beautiful glossy finish.

The Real Woman’s Way
Sainsbury’s frozen pie directions do not include brushing any egg white over the crust so I don’t do that.

Delia’s Way
Cure for headaches: Take a lime, cut it in half and rub it on your forehead. The throbbing will go away.

The Real Woman’s Way
Cure for headaches: Take a lime, cut it in half and drop it in 8 ounces of vodka. Drink the vodka. You might still have the headache, but who cares?

Delia’s Way
If you have a problem opening jars, try using latex dishwashing gloves. They give a non-slip grip that makes opening jars easy.

The Real Woman’s Way
Why do I have a man?

And finally the most important tip ….

Delia’s Way
Freeze leftover wine into ice cubes for future use in casseroles and sauces.

The Real Woman’s Way
Leftover wine???? Hello!!!!!

Natalie…thank you again…these emails are very funny indeed…keep them coming!

I found this old picture of Jake & Sam and thought I’d post it…they look adorable…what happened? Just kidding…I miss you boys lots!

I also found this really cute picture of when I was on the Carnival Victory with Ellie Vickers, Margherita C & Susan Lindsey. I miss those guy’s, they were so much fun!

Today there was a Beer Can Regatta on Mindil Beach, so that was my plan for the day. The Beer Can Regatta is an annual charity event that combines beach and water events. It is a unique regatta whereby participants are required to build a boat from drink cans mainly consisting of beer cans. I met up with Hannah, Giles & Shelley and we walked around the market for a while and went for a drink.

The sunset in Mindil Beach is a top attraction in Darwin. You will see from the pictures why…

I am getting sick of seeing these two on the news…this t-shirt is cool though

 I was told to be in work at 12 noon, so I made sure that I was early for work. When I arrived, I was told that the second chef had ‘called in sick’…hmmm that was a little worrying (he apparently had a hangover) but I said to Tina that selfishly I was happy that I would be working with her as I would learn the dishes properly from her.

Things were fine in the beginning and even though I knew how to make most of the dishes, I just needed to know how ‘they’ wanted me to make them. As soon as I got behind the grill with the Head Chef I felt that she was very stressed out. Every time a check came on she was saying things like “Give me a break” and kind of moaning…After she moaned all day yesterday that her feet were sore I didn’t really have a good impression of her.

It was very very busy at lunch (over 130 covers in 3 hours) and the Head Chef did seem pretty stressed out. To be honest, I hadn’t expected it to be so busy (and even though I was told it was a one off) I told the chef that it was too much for me…she thanked me for giving it a try.

When I went to sign out with the Assistant Manager she asked me how things were going and I told her I wasn’t coming back. I told her the same as I did to the Head Chef…it was too much for me, but I also told her that I had big issues with the cleanliness of the kitchen and that I felt I might (soon) have issues with the Head Chef. I gave her some examples, which I will not list here and I felt that overall I did the right thing.

I was thrilled to be woken up this morning at 6:50am by the building’s fire alarm. When the alarm initially went off I thought it was someone’s alarm clock in the room. Remember, I was extremely drunk last night and I thought “God, that alarm is hideously loud”. The funny thing was, no-one moved at all in the room. We all (it seemed) had gone to bed in some sort of state and it was only after it had been going on and on for over a minute that we all started to get up, out of bed, dressed (I couldn’t be bothered what I looked like and just put on my sandals) and we grabbed our keys and headed outside to the car park. Everyone looked really really annoyed and I sat and looked at the people outside and the different things that they were wearing…one middle aged man had gold boxer shorts…someone should tell him he looks ridiculous in them…because he really does! One of the members of staff came out 10 minutes later and told us that someone had BADLY burnt toast…arghhhhhh!!

We all got back into bed and I tried to get back to sleep, but I couldn’t, so I read my book (I am still reading my Bill Bryson book…and it is still funny) for an hour or so.

I finally got up, had a shower and I went along to Global Gossip to pick up my emails. I met Hannah in there and we went together to the tattoo shop. Hannah has butterflies on her feet and wanted “Can you feel the magic?” around them. I had asked in Shenanigans last night if they needed people in the kitchen the night before and was told to come and see the chef at 11am this morning, so I left Hannah there and walked along to Shenanigans. On my way I stopped by a restaurant, took a look at their menu (it was nothing too difficult) and asked inside if they needed people in the Kitchen. I spoke with the Head Chef and she said she was needing someone and if I was interested, I could start at 3pm…I told her that was fine. I went (as I had arranged) into Shenanigans to see the Chef at 11am and was told that there was someone who would be leaving in a fortnight and she would give me a call. I spent the next few hours with Hannah and got myself ready to start work.

I went along to the restaurant at 2:45pm and was introduced to the other people in the kitchen. I spent the next two hours filling in paperwork and asking the Head Chef Tina questions. There were a couple of things that made me feel a little uncomfortable about the Kitchen, but I was trying to keep an open mind.

At 5pm, service started again and I spent a bit of time tidying up, putting stock away and tidying up the dry stores. I was asked to do pretty basic stuff…do some prep, I made some burgers patties and I spent time watching Ben, Tina & Alvin cooking. Everyone seemed quite nice and my first shift seemed quite successful.

When I got back to the backpackers, everyone was in bed and I was ready to go to sleep too…I was pretty tired.

I had parked my car in a public car park, so I got up at 7am to go and pay for a parking ticket for my car for the day.

I was told last night by Hannah that Global Gossip were looking for staff, so I decided to try and go there for 9am to try and apply for the position. Since it was so early I got my gear together, checked out of the hotel and I went for breakfast. I had been to the Melaleuca last night to check on availability and they had informed me I could check in anytime after midday.

I went down to GG for 9am and gave the lady my resume and she said she would contact me. I met Hannah and we spent the rest of the day just hanging out and relaxing by the pool at my new backpackers…it’s really nice. I got a call from the lady from GG and went to see her…the money was unacceptable, so I didn’t go for the job.

I met up with Hannah and her friend Reanne at Shenannigans and then met up with Hannah’s friend Giles, from home, who was funnily enough dating a girl from Sale, called Shelley (who’s gran lives on Ferndene Road near me)…it’s a very small world. She was a United fan, so of course she was making fun of City being rubbish and I was making fun of the very expensive tickets she will be paying if she wants to see a game in the future. Harmless banter!

I have to say we all got absoloutely bladdered and had a lots of fun. We stayed in Shenannigans until they started playing live music and then we headed to a Karaoke bar in which we had lots of laughs. There was an Anorixic looking woman hosting Karaoke to hideous looking middle aged women and men who were heckled by us for a couple of hours. We all did get up and sing Bohemian Rhapsody (in memory of my pal Luciana) which was fun.

At the end of the evening I got talking to these two fabulous girls (below) who basically worked on a cattle station in WA. The girl on the left (from what I remember) herds the cattle and the girl on the right cooks for the staff. I was arguing with them about Kylie saying that she belonged to the British now and was calling them the McLeod’s Daughters…they said that McLeod’s Daughters was a rip off of them…too funny! Ladies, if you do read this please email me cathellis@gmail.com I would like to keep in touch with you.

I would like to say that I FINALLY got myself a new charger for my camera….Darwin isn’t all that bad it seems.

I wolk up early this morning and called Steph & Jo…It was great hearing their voices and hearing all their news.

I got my gear together and packed up the car with Shima, said my goodbye’s and got on the road by 8:30am. In no time we were at the sign for the Northern Territory and I was happy to see lots of signs for ‘No Speed Limit’…it was fab!

The scenery was deffinately the prettiest so far on this stretch of the highway up to Darwin. We stopped in Tennant Creek for gas and then Katherine for Gas and also Lunch. Katherine looked quite small (similar to Kununnara) and we headed out straight after lunch to Darwin.

We got to Darwin at 5:30pm (now 8 and a half hours ahead of the UK) and we checked into our backpackers. The place Shima booked us into was called the Wilderness Lodge and it was pretty horrible…but it would do me one day, so I didn’t complain.

I called Hannah and she said she was going to the Deckchair Cinema to see the Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy. I asked her if she minded if I tagged along and I was glad I did as the movie was very funny.