.: Cath’s Blog:.

My friend Dallas was going back to work for Pasquale Pearls today and I had promised her last night I would drive her down to the Pier at Darwin Warf. Dallas is a cook and we had become friends while I was staying at the Melaleuca, we were sharing rooms. The boat I have to say was very impressive…a luxury cruiser which was one of the best in the fleet. We had gone out for drinks last night to Shennanigans and one drink ended up being ten drinks, pizza at the nice Pizzaria on Mitchell St and me staggering back to the YHA.

I had said to Dallas last night that I was really fed up with Darwin and finding a decent job seemed quite difficult. I told her I could hear my father saying “You’re going to blow all your money” and I told her I really felt like every day I was staying in Darwin I was wasting my money…she said I should just go to Melbourne if that was what I really wanted to do.

So, I put up a sign in all of the backpackers and I swear…my phone did not stop ringing until I went and took the signs down. I made arrangements to meet up with two girls to discuss driving down to Alice Springs and after talking for an hour or so, we made arrangements to go tomorrow.

P.S. – Rourke’s Drift have not paid me…I think I need to call Environmental Health…then they will know what being inconvenienced is all about.

My top ten reasons why I HATE the Melaleuca on Mitchell…

1. They are tight bastards and only turn on the AC at 8pm and then off again at 8am…so we sweat all day.
2. There is no TV room (never mind the excuses about the TV being crap in Darwin).
3. The receptionists have NO hospitality skills and are total BITCHES.
4. They give discounts to people they like and then try to lie and say they don’t usually give discounts…don’t lie to me, there are people paying extremely low rates.
5. Everything is extortionate.
6. Last night we had to beg the guy on reception to turn on the big TV so we could see the news about the 2nd London bombing…he then came and told us he had to turn it off at 11:30pm and we could watch the TV in the reception…WANKER!
7. There is only 2 plugs in a room for 6 people!
8. We are not allowed to hang clothes out to dry even though it is over 30 degrees…we have to use a tumble dryer.
9. To get an iron you have to leave a $30 deposit with the reception.
10. The doors are so heavy, they close like doors would, I presume in a prison…I keep waiting to see the ’Costa Cons’ walk in.

People, I checked out this morning and am now staying at the YHA Darwin.

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.