Tuesday 22nd

Just a short update on bushfires for you all. We have heard the news of our fires has reached home! Most of you will have seen this we assume and assume you will be pretty worried. There really isn't much need as you will have seen footage of the Blue Mountians. Which if you remember was a 3 hour drive away from us! They have fires MUCH worse than us (not sure if that makes things any better though?) regardless our fires (southern highlands balmoral fire being the main one) due to winds and what not has been going away from us hurrah! The firefighters have been doing purposeful back burning to stop the fire having fuel when it reaches points close to houses and what not. Basically we are pretty much out of the woods. Tomorrow is predicted to be the worst day yet and judging by the weather so far it's not going to be that bad. 

Today we spent a lot of time in the garden again mowing and picking up sticks incase of fire. It started to rain mid afternoon which meant that no more gardening and we finally decided with Myles offering to play MONOPOLY! Now anyone who knows anything about us will know that we can't and don't play anymore because out of the many times we have played Laura has ALWAYS won and this resulted in the bad looser (Myles) feeling very sore.. Well this time it was different it was monopoly revolutions which used credit cards and didn't have chance cards it was all electronic and had auctions and totally different rules basically! So if your one of those people that NEVER wins at monopoly get it! Long story short Myles won and he was over the moon with himself. This was a shorter game than usual we thought as it only took an afternoon not many days to play! Either way a rainy afternoon was dealt with.

 By this point we realised it was 7 and Debra wasn't home which was odd. After a phone call she was late and we were late in realising so offered to cook dinner with whatever we could fine. Tonight Myles cooked and it was a lovely spicy pasta with all sorts of veggies which all enjoyed. For pudding brownies made my Laura and the car one was Myles' decoration.

Bit of family guy on the TV tonight and that was exciting because Ozzie TV is less than to be desired, we enjoyed that and headed to bed after an apple. 

We were then greeted by a HUGE thunderstorm. It was amazing there was constant lightening one after the other. The whole sky was lit up and it was right above the house. We have never seen lightening like it and there wasn't much thunder either it was more of an electrical storm. Very weird but amazing to watch. Luckily we didn't see any forks and hope it doesn't hit the ground as the poor firemen don't need anymore work! So your upto date with life down under its pretty crazy here but all good fun! We're enjoying it and were all good here, we have even been given a bushfire plan which is to grab the dog and her puppy toy, drive and don't stop until your out of general smoke which is a fair enough plan! It's so well organised down here it's all updated hourly on Facebook with info & they call you and knock on doors if its close! 

If your still worried here's a video Myles has watched a good 6 times becuase he likes it so much, so enjoy its called the fast and the furriest! :) 

Lots of love from us both. X

http://youtu.be/LLS0Sqx6hzU

Friday 18th

Starting from last night after dinner I drove debs car back to the carpark to collect my car and drive home as apparently the roads back to ours were reopened. This turned out to be a lie. Sat in a que of traffic deb rang us and told us that it was 6km long. She said to follow her, we left my car at bargo train station and took her car to save wasting my petrol sitting in traffic. This was a good idea as we sat on a closed highway for a good hour. Eventually a lane was opened and we took the first slip road off. We wound our way back to our village passing villages with houses that had been missed. In a lot of cases by the width of the road! We got home and it was untouched. Both of us ventured out down the road to get some photos which will be up here soon. We got back home and went to bed. Laura was nervous about sleeping and I was a little but I knew that we would be alerted should anything occur locally to us. 

This morning we woke up to the smell that we left last night of burning wood. The sun was up and it should have been a lovely day but the smoke in the sky darkened the land. Everything was a brown colour. It was like wearing sunglasses on a foggy morning. It was very surreal. I took the Clio to get my car as Ian is in Brisbane. Laura drove back following me in the Clio stopping every now and again to take a photo. We even saw 'Elvis' which is the water bombing  helicopter refuelling at our local cricket pitch! They are obviously ok for water as our pool hasn't been drained... Yet. However if they need the water they are free to take it whenever they like! There is just under a quarter of a million litres and they will empty the pool in one hit! 

We got back safe and took the dog back inside as we didn't leave her in the house alone just incase. We had lunch and did a few odd jobs around the house and went upstairs so Laura could watch her program. We both fell asleep and just before her program started I ran out of bed as I had a very strong smell of smoke. Looking up the garden to the bush (the garden backs onto national park bush) it had disappeared in a cloud of smoke. I looked next door and saw them all putting things in the car. I called to Laura and said it was time to go. Within a minute all our valuables were in the car running. I noticed the smoke thinning a bit and asked next door what was going on. As a sheer coincidence they were leaving for the weekend. They said they were just back burning in the bush. Basically they were doing controlled burns and putting it out so when the fire reached us it would have nothing to burn. This explained the thick smoke drifting through the garden. We gave it another couple of mins and the smoke cleared. So we unpacked and relaxed again! A little later Deborah came home and we left for dinner. We went for a drive about to see what the fire situation was. Very locally to us all seemed good but the end of our road had flared up again and jumped the railway lines. It had been contained and was smouldering. We left it to its own devices and had ourselves a lovely Italian!

Driving home we saw that on the horizon it was still very orange but not nearly as much as last night. Back home and everything seems ok just the smell of burning which we are becoming rather used to...

We are still safe and the fires have moved away from us now. The wind is still heading away from us which is good. The weekend is going to be hot which won't help the fire teams but we shall see...

Wednesday 16th Thursday 17th

Another early start for a busy day ahead. This was our second day in Canberra first stop back to the war museum to check out the Afghanistan exhibit which we were a little disappointed with as there wasn't a lot in there.

We carried on through the other exhibits and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. We spent a good few hours there and spotted off to Parliament House for a nose around. We checked out the the senate and a few other spots and saw a conference dinner being set up which was cool. 

After this we went to Canberra glassworks and watched some glass being blown which was a bit of a disappointment compared to Waterford crystal in Ireland.. But we did see some $12,000 fused glass.

Nevertheless very interesting. We had some cold pizza for lunch which was cheaper than Donald's the day before! 

Next the Australian Mint a short drive and we were there. Wall.E was taken along for the ride and enjoyed seeing all the old and misprinted pennies and coins. I have finally seen an Australian penny as they don't have them over here. After spending a while watching the factory we went to the gift shop as we do everywhere and we got to make our own $1 which was cool although it did cost $3 haha! 

We were pretty tired by this point as we had done a lot of walking and driving so we popped to Coles to get some dinner provisions, the reject shop to get some Robinson's squash and then Laura went to K-mart and spent a long time in there as its like primark! During this time Myles was overheating in the car so he peeled the old stick on tint off the Subaru windows as it was getting ragged due to the heat peeling it! Once I got back we were off again back to our temporary home for the night. We fell asleep on the sofa and then Laura woke up and cooked a yummy pasta bake. After this we chilled out and watched the bachelor which we do enjoy. A plan made for the next day to go to the science museum and then to head home. We invited deb and to join us at our favourite Italian restaurant and she had already planned to go with her mother as Ian is in Brisbane so we agreed to meet there! With that sleep time. 

Thursday arrived with a slow start as Laura was feeling a little poorly so we didn't get up as early as before. After some breakfast we packed and left our new Canberra home saying goodbye to the cat as we went. Today's event was questacon which is a science museum. A longer drive than before past Parliament House again. We arrived and were greeted by hoards of school children unfortunately. We checked out the exhibits in a funny order to try and avoid the children. We saw lightning experienced an earthquake and Myles played air hockey with a robot!

It was really great fun and we did a vertical drop slide which was a little scary. You had to hang by a bar and then let go and you free fall down the slide and arrive at the bottom. Myles loved it and Laura wasn't too keen to go again.

After this Laura told Myles he had to have a go on another ride which you will see in the videos section soon ;) 

As we finished playing all the kids went for lunch so we took advantage and had a go on the reaction tester which Myles loved and he got a highscore of 41 and I got 26.. Not so good eh? Again videos to come of this! We had a look at more exhibits without children and then the gift shop! There was lots to see but we didn't buy anything.

 At this point we were ready to leave as time was ticking on we had a 2 hour drive ahead. Myles went to put his sunnies on but there was a problem.. They weren't on his head as I was looking after them. After looking everywhere and checking lost property I was in very bad books as they were lost.. I thought I gave them back as they were hurting my head and he didn't receive them so who knows! This turned into a detour to find some new glasses. We needed up in sunglasses hut and a after an hour Myles had some new glasses and was happy. During this time we received an alarming text saying we couldn't go home and to go to Debra's work as there was a bushfire! Most worrying our passports/documents and traveling treasures were in the house! This was not good. We rushed back and met Debra and watched the news. Couldn't believe that the fire was 1k from our house.. With this deb said there was nothing to do but go for dinner as all the roads home were closed! We took a detour up Gibraltar Mt to have a look and see if we could see the fire. Sadly we couldn't only smoke and a lot of it, and headed backdown for dinner. We chose to have Thai food as we had never tried it before. We had a mild yellow chicken curry some lovely BBQ beef a red duck curry and a prawn pad Thai. After feeling rather full we decided to try and make the journey back home and that's where the bushfire blog starts! 

Very dramatic day but were all okay and it smells like bonfire night constantly! 

There's a few photos on this blog and more to come from the camera and we'll keep you posted on that. 

Lots of love from us both x

Bush fires.

First things first we are all safe! 

There will be a blog from Laura about Canberra but I thought it a good idea to update you all about the fires. Not sure if it has made the BBC yet but there are 100 bush fires in New South Wales. Over 20 are currently uncontrolled. Where we live and surrounding areas were evacuated yesterday but we were allowed to return home late last night. The house and garden are both ok. A short drive up the road and the damage is obvious though. I'll get some photos up here soon. Around 370,600 acres have been destroyed and hundreds of homes have been lost. As it stands confirmed deaths are none! The fire closest to us is now contained and under control. We are a good distance from it now and it is burning away from the house. A good distance being at least 40 miles from us. Like I said we are all safe here and all is well for us so don't worry about us! According to Deborah should the fire come back our way we have a minimum of a 3 hour warning to leave which is more than enough time. Our evacuation point and safe zone is only a few minutes drive away. Love to all x

Tuesday 15th Canberra

Today we got up at our usual weekend time of 8:45 as we felt like we needed a lie in after working hard on Monday. On Monday Myles carried on weeding a bed I had started earlier in the week. It is about 15 square meters I am told. Once I had done my inside jobs I joined him and we covered it in news paper and then with woodchippings which took most of the day particularly as it was windy! This was tiring work which wasn't good for the back as it was under spiky trees and all sorts! So lie in had we had a slow start to the day and had a spot of breakfast and started to tidy and pack for Canberra. This was a bit of a last minute decision as Myles has the week off work! After a lot of research online Laura couldn't find anywhere to stay that wasn't a stupid price bathe hostels were expensive and didn't have parking so that was no use. He resorted to looking at a website that has been suggested a few times since we have been away called Airbnb. It's a site that allows people to advertise their room or a whole apartment for short term holiday use. This was brilliant it was half the price and had parking and a bonus free breakfast ;)

So that all booked and sorted we were ready to go. Most importantly we said goodbye to Tara the dog and set off! First stop was a trip to woolies to get some fuel and then we started our 2 hour journey. Myles filled up for $35! We joined the Federal Highway to be greeted with that!

Yes 127 Km's on the same highway! 2 hours later and a few photo stops we arrived at our first destination which were the botanic gardens. We had a wonder around the gardens looking at all the native plants and wildlife. Lots of lizards around some resting on top of the plants waiting for bees to come and they would eat them! Very clever and agile little things. After this we got back in the car and followed a brown sign to the Telstra tower which was up a nice windyroad which Myles enjoyed. Once up there we took a few snaps of the view but didn't bother to pay the $7.50 to go up there as it was a rubbish tower compared to the others we have been in! After enjoying the view back down the nice road and off to the Australian War Memorial. This was a great Museum that we are going back to tomorrow because we ran out of time to see everything. We had a good look around the WW1 & 2 sections but didn't get to look at The Afghanistan part so we  plan to go back tomorrow. As it was closing time we were informed of a closing ceremony which we went to watch. This started with the singing of the Australian national anthem which we were unsure of the words to, followed by a wreath laying by relatives of soldiers killed in action. A short story was read by a navy officer of a soldier killed during ww2. This was followed by the last stand played on a bugle, a moments silence and then everyone leaving. It was a rather moving ceremony. 

Next it was time to find our bed for the night so satnav programmed again and we found it pretty quick. We were greeted by Anthony and his wife who were both very nice. They were off out so we were left with another girl who is also staying here. We popped out and picked up some dinner and lunch for tomorrow and cooked up a curry. Very yummy iindeed! After this showers a bit of English TV with come fly with me by Mayr Lucas and David Williams which was rather funny! That brings us to now really! So we will be blogging for the next few days which will be exciting for you all :)

Lots of love from us both x

Wednesday 9th Johanna the Goanna

This is a bit of a side post as today has been house work and gardening but today Ian is here as he isn't feeling to well. Whilst I was putting some washing out he got a drink and had a bit of a walk to come back past me rather fast announcing that he thinks there's a snake at the top of the drive way.. He carried on grabbed a shovel and went back towards to drive way. I cautiously followed him staying at the bottom of the drive when he called me up telling me to hurry to see something and bring my camera. It was upstairs bugger! I ran over to see this HUGE lizard climbing a tree! Ian noticed it only because the birds were going nuts calling each other and all different types of birds flying into a tree. He assumed it was a snake hence the shovel but it was this Goanna Lizard climbing its way up the tree in pursuit of eggs.When I say it was big it was easily 1 meter if not bigger! Ian was quite happy for it to be up there as they eat snakes not that we don't get many apparently. I ran off hoping it wouldn't move too far to get the camera. I went crazy and changed to the 300mm lens and brought the 500mm lens incase I needed it, turned out I didn't. It hadn't moved but was keeping a close eye on me which I didn't mind as I got some great photos of him/her. We left them all to it knowing we would have some grumpy birds later today. Ian was very happy to see more nature in the garden as a lot had left since neighbors had cut down a lot of trees recently.

All I could think of was a film that I had on tape as a kid called The Rescuers Down Under. Very apt name I think.
Regardless it had this Goanna in it called Johanna.. It was very naughty and loved to steal eggs. All makes sense now!!

Heres a little clip of the film for you all to watch!

Also heres our Goanna which I have now named Johanna (:

Whilst were on the topic of garden wildlife here is our resident blue tongue which lives in the steps up to the pool area. 

This guy is pretty cool and becoming very friendly hes been here for 2 years but went missing in some floods but has come back! We feed him banana (:

Most interesting thing you have seen in the garden recently. Comment below please!

Tuesday 8th Myles' home from Sydney!!

A slow start to the morning after a busy day the day before gardening but with that came exciting news that Myles was coming home!
So after watching my program on the TV I was up doing my normal morning things cleaning, tidying, eating and singing. 2 loads of washing done mine ready to go once Myles arrived and with a bit of time before he was due to arrive I decided to make use of our Costco trip and make some more brownies as there is still 5 bags of mix! All great water & Oil added went to get eggs from the fridge to find.. none. Bugger. Couldn't go out and get any as the rear tyre of the car needed air so I was stuck. Last hope text Myles and hope he reads it before he gets home & brings me eggs. Brownies on hold I pottered into the garden deadheading all the dead flowers that I never got around to the day before. Then a car noise.. OOH could be him.. Nope more workers for next door! This is teasing them having people turn up all day. He was later than his ETA so I could only hope he was buying me eggs when I could hear another car.. (Yes it is that quiet that you can hear cars coming from quite a way!) Assuming it was another person for next door I carried on trying to get as much as I could done before Myles arrived when a Subaru went whizzing up the drive way. HES HEREEEE!!! I jogged up the drive way to meet him to be given a bag and some water to hold very useful. He unloaded the car and we took his stuff down to the house where Tara had seen the car and me jogging and had got herself out of bed and was barking away. Soon as she caught glimpse of Myles her bark changed from there's someone here I'm not sure whats going on to OH MY GOD MYLES IS HOME!!! This was followed by a lot of howling and her running at him. (For an older dog with arthritis she sure did shift!) Myles was very excited to see her more so than seeing me and they had a bit of a reunion. I started to unpack his things to find my eggs! YES brownies were mixed and ovenated followed by clothes being washed. Whilst Myles was giving me dirty clothes I also got my present.. It was described as a small present and it was a size small present. I have got my very own Foti Fireworks Pyro Team shirt!! Hell yeah I was excited! We had a bit of a catch up with whats been going on whilst he has been away and shared photos of what we have both been doing. Whilst we had left over lasagna I informed Myles that we were going out for dinner at the local pub as it had been recommended by Deb. With that sorted Myles wanted to see what I had been doing in the garden and was pretty impressed with what I had done and with my ant bites!
 With this he decided that he was going to do the mowing. I offered to help rake after I had sorted some washing and the dishwasher. This was fine and lovely as it was sunny. Whilst I was raking there was a noise followed by no more noise and dust... Lawn mower stopped and Myles looking under it I went to investigate. Belt had come off to back up to the garage to fix it. I went ridies and stood on a bar at the back which was good fun. After a long while we managed to fix it using a crowbar and some brute force. All put back together and he was off again more ridies and a trailer to put the sticks in Myles finished the mowing whilst I tided the sticks and rocks into the trailer. After this showers and a bit of TV time. Not long after this Deb was home and off again as she was going to a tennis comp with Ian. 
 With that we got ready and went off in search for dinner. Myles ordered Flat fish and chips and I had pork and chips! Both very lovely and 2 very full people we went back home for pudding (Brownies and icecreaaam) With David Attenborough on the TV we had a watch, well Myles did Laura fell asleep pretty swiftly after a very exciting day. When she woke up Myles declared bed time was it was 9:30 and we did just that very.

Last day on the IFR

After yesterday today was a bit of a cool down day. I had breakfast and headed in. Today there was only 20 of us as there really was no need for the whole crew to be there. We started packing all the gear that had been left in the tent and put in in the various tucks. I prepared for the most important part of the day and set the tables. We loaded all the trucks and vans and had a tidy up of the dock after sweeping down the barges. There was an hour or so of laid back time while we were waiting for lunch to arrive. Just talking sat on the dock, again with the normal banter. Lunch arrived and was accompanied with the Australians favourite drink, ice cold beer. Not a big beer drinker myself I was going to have juice but management refused that as an excuse and forced one into my hand. It was actually rather nice. There was a floor with the food today as they had catered for the whole crew not just 20. Forch set us the challenge of eating it all. Challenge accepted we all had a good go at it but only seemed to make a dent in the piles of food. Feeling rather sick we all enjoyed our beers in the sun while letting lunch settle after the group photo.

Some people made a move fairly quickly and left while others just chatted. I called it half way and after half an hour I got going. I shook everybody's hand and thanked Tim and Forch especially for having me as part of the crew. They both said it was a pleasure and were looking forward I having me back at New Year's Eve which was rather nice!

I went to the car and Sophal had parked her bike in front of my car! It was only a few weeks old so I asked her if I touched it would the alarm go off she then went on to say that nobody touches my baby. I understood that as I know that feeling however she then remembered I ride in Britain and she said hey you can ride just move it! And threw me the keys. A few rather tense moments later it was successfully moved. Pushing it would be so boring so I rode it around. I gave her back the keys jokingly apologising for the mess that I had made on the seat. It was a rather rapid machine and not one I plan to ride again....

I got back to the hostel and hit my bed (at 3 in the afternoon). A good sleep later I was up and about. I was only talking to josh in my room, we get on like a storm and plan to meet in Britain when we get back. I had another sleep and woke up for dinner. I walked down to the shops then to realise its bank holiday so the supermarket wasn't open. Beans for dinner. They were rather good but had nothing on lunch. A couple of people were still coming around congratulating me on the IFR job and saying how amazing it was. The trouble is that once one person knows they tell their friends and before long everyone knows what I do/did and it can be a pain in the neck. I ran away to my room and polished off my chocolate I had left. Josh offered to cook for me as he was doing pasta, I couldn't eat another thing after today though...

This brings me to now really. 

Not a very exciting day but another day gone. Laura appears to be rather excited about having me back tomorrow for some unknown reason? I am quite excited to go 'home' though. 

That's it from me today :) 

Oh I also was sent some photos from the show today so I will share them on here ASAP. For those who have access to Facebook they are on there. 

IFR day!! (And the day after)

Hello,

I write this blog after a 2 day gap. The main reason being that it was a late night on Saturday!

I woke up Saturday morning rather excited. I jumped out of bed and made good use of the hostel breakfast. I got on site and there was a good vibe among everyone. At 9 o'clock Forch called a meeting and we all gathered in the tent. Tim and Forch went though all the standard stuff about radios and channels. At the end he finished with good luck everyone it's going to look amazing your work will be rewarded. We loaded the vans with gear that was going to hotel roofs and they left. That left everyone else to twiddle their thumbs all morning. So we cracked out the rugby ball and had a kick about. This inevitably got morning and Forch decided he would have a running race with Hausy. This was good fun and everyone went crazy. Forch being the boss should have won but Hausy didn't let him win. Forch did a great roll at the end which we all thought looked cool. Half an hour later Forch said his wrist hurt. He went to hospital and returned an hour later in a sling. He fractured it. A long time and a lot of banter later I boarded my barge ready to be towed out to our position. I double checked we had everything most importantly was food, then water then radios, firing gear, toolboxes etc. Andrew was the chap that I was with and is a lowly guy. He had brought a girl called Sarah with him who is a local science teacher. Andrew goes in to teach chemistry and physics along with Sarah and used fireworks to keep the kids interested. She had never seen them up close before so this was a new experience for her! We did a load more tests and all was good. We sailed out through the harbour greeted with a fly past of a fleet of Australian fighter jets and helicopters.

This is the view from our barge.

We sailed out for another half an hour with people waving and cheering at us. Some people saying good luck from their boats which was rather nice. The tug dropped us off in the perfect position even though the GPS said we were 300 meters off target (it thought we were on land) we did another test and all was good. An hour or so passed and a powerboat came past at what looked like 5000mph and rocked our barge so much that we lost gear off the side and it ripped out a rail of cabling. The police were called to enforce the 6mph speed limit which they successfully applied. So 2 hours before firing we had to rewire all the ground pyro! Working out what cables were lost what had been cut and what was correct. A good hour and some arguing later we had come to an agreement of what was correct. We tested again and it said it was all good however the system had a fit because all of a sudden there was a gap. But we couldn't help that as it was now at the bottom of Sydney harbour. Darkness descended and I called Laura to check she had got to Te hotel roof OK. I had arranged for her to watch the show from a tower overlooking Sydney harbour.

A call came over the radio with a 5 min warning. We kitted up with all our anti death devices and I told Sarah to be awake and following the script through as we had big shells onboard. Especially the finale where we had 10 and 8 inch mortars. We were ready to rock the boat.  We tested and armed the firing systems and it told us there was a fault. Ovecourse their would be as we were ready to fire. We investigated and it was an unfixable electrical fault which meant we would loose a little finale. The cue on the laptop was counting down, 5,4,3,2,1 and then all hell broke loose. Luckily half way through there was a minute silence which enabled us to put out a small fire. At the end of the silence the navy saluted with a 100 gun salute. Followed by the rest of the fireworks. The rest of the show fired as planned apart from one 10 inch shell which got a bit excitable. 

 

It split the mortar, ripped it out of the sand skip and went a little low for our liking. Everyone was safe however. I returned shook Andrews hand and congratulated eachother, shortly followed by Forch over the radio saying guys that was a f***** awesome display well done! We investigated what the computer said didnt fire and it turned out to be 50 6 inch shells. Not that we noticed during the show it was that loud. 

We started the de rig whilst we were towed back to shore arriving at the dock at exactly midnight. We said our goodbyes and went straight to bed. I arrived in my dorm and it was empty, perfect a silent nights sleep. Apart from 3 in the morning where a girl knocked asking if she could come in as she had lost her key. I expressed my displeasure at being woken up and returned to sleep.

For those that didn't see the photo on Facebook this was a picture taken from a hotel roof. Pretty good eh?! 

Sunday morning.

I rolled out of bed a lot less enthusiastic than yesterday as I knew what was ahead. I arrived a little early and people were playing with the mini rugby ball throwing it at people's cars that were late. We had a meeting and Forch expressed his pleasure at how good the show was. His father then came around and shook everybody's hand. 

We all headed to the first barge to start to break down racks and out them in the containers. We had to fill 12 containers with racks and after the first 2 it was around 28 degrees already. We were a little on the hot side. By lunchtime we had got 6 containers done and everybody took it in turns to walk into the drinks fridge (yes we have a fridge that size just for water) lunch again was a massive platter and we ate all we could. The hight of the sun was now and I had to apply suncream as I was starting to burn. It wouldn't rub in as I was so sweaty but mentally it felt better. 

We returned and bashed out all the racks and got it all done!! The barges were swept down and one washed as it belonged to the navy, they said it was spotless when it went out it had to look the same when it went back. We are going to have an issue explaining the shell that went at ground level leaving a rather large black explosion mark on the grey deck....

Oh well. Tomorrow will be another break down day to sort out the massive pile of cables and rubbish that was left behind. Only 10 or so of us will be in tomorrow so it will be a little quieter on the banter front. I got back to the dorm and instantly had a shower. One to try and get rid of the fibreglass in my arm and 2 because my face and arms were black. As it turned out it wasn't dirt it was a rather hefty sun tan. There was a new guy in my dorm who introduced himself as Josh. He questioned my shirt and we got talking. He is from Kent and is a theatre sound and light engineer so we have a lot in common as pyro and that go hand in hand!! We were chatting all evening until I got hungry. Last night I was going to have a maccas (McDonald's for you English folk)  for dinner but it was rather closed so I had it tonight instead. Josh came with me and we jut talked about everything and anything really, fascinated about all the fireworks side of it. 

I got back to the dorm and started writing this and here I am now.

For our videos section there will be a short video from the barge to show you what it was like and also some photos coming soon. 

Love to all xx

Saturday 5th International fleet review Lauras day!

An early start to Lauras day awoken at around 6:30 to the sound of her ipod recieving texts. Myles had gotten confirmation that I could go up the AMP tower today Yipee

I was on the shorter of the 2 AMP buildings where the sign is. Pretty neat view of the harbor!

Before we get to that I had packed up at home and received an email from Myles informing me how to take photos of fireworks at night how to set the camera up etc etc. Now if I was coming into Sydney just to do that all fine and good I would have bought the tripod but I wasn't and it just wasn't feasible without my backpack.. Which Myles took as a tool kit so no tripod came with me to the city. It was a busy day starting with a drive to pick up Debs mother in a convoy to then head to Campbelltown to drop the car off at the train station so I could drive myself home in the evening. After this a lovely drive to Wollongong again over the Sea Cliff Bridge which was lovely as we went over the opposite way to what we went when Myles was driving. We were heading to Wollongong to visit Debs daughter Mel to see her new puppy which is a Pugalier a cross between a pug and a Caviler soo cute. (Very much like Tinkerbell in the way it runs and is SO excited to see people when you walk through the door.) 

We spent a good hour visiting and playing with the puppy and having ricecripsy cakes too which were yummy!! 

We were then on our way to Watsons Bay to park before we went to Sydney harbor to avoid the road closures and such like for the fleet review. 

I have never seen Sydney city so empty there were hardly any cars and we flew through Kings Cross past Rose Bay and into Watsons Bay where deb parked and we went to find out about Ferry Tickets for the day. We got tickets when we got to the Circular Quay in Sydney Harbor so we waited about 10 minutes for the next one to arrive in the sun which was gorgeous. We boarded the ferry and got prime spots at the front. This was an amazing trip because they were doing war plane fly overs right above us which was amazing to see. We passed lots of the tall and navy ships as well which was very cool. Once we arrived in the harbor we were greeted by the hundreds of thousands of people already there sitting on banks and on the steps of the Opera House. Couldn't believe the people that were there at about 2 O'clock already holding there spots in the heat of the day. I on the other hand didnt have this to worry about and we had planned to go and see Myles on his Barge and shout at him from the ferry. What we didnt predict was the amount of people trying to get onto ferries also! It was manic and very pushy. We got on what we thought was a boat that would get us close to Myles and turned out it wasn't what was on the information board and we only got half way. By the time we got back there was no more time to go out again as they stopped the boats very soon as the thought was there but we didnt make it. Sorry Myles!!

After this Deb and her mother headed back to Watsons Bay leaving me to find some dinner & the AMP loading bay. This was first on my agenda and with Debs directions was located very swiftly. I had about an hour to kill and half of this was spent queuing for dinner and eating it I had a slow walk down to the loading bay to meet a chap called Ian (Yes this is another Ian)

Great we found each other I was at the wrong loading bay I was at the bigger once for the taller building but we found each other nonetheless which was fine. I was taken up the lift to the 26th floor which was very fancy and then up some ladders and clambered onto the roof through the AMP sign. I was introduced to the guys who were firing the show and the ladies who were up there watching with me. We had another hour and a half to kill so we chatted for most of that about fireworks and traveling really was quite nice to be talking to people again not in my bubble!!

7:40 on the dot and we saw the light projections start on the opera house followed by an almighty cheer. It all kicked off and we had to head back a bit whilst our fireworks went off and then we could get as close to the edge as we wanted to watch the fireworks until we had more that was due to go off. It was amazing to watch we could see the whole thing all the way along the harbor it was breathtaking. We all got shuffled back with 30 seconds till our first lot of fireworks were going off and it was amazing you could feel the thuds as the fireworks left the tubes and I was surprised at how quiet it was I was expecting louder. We all jumped a little when some went off from the AMP above us and we got covered in ash and crap but that was expected all good fun. We watched the rest of the show with the same OkeyCokey action going back and forth but all really enjoyed it such a rush to have them so close and to have such an amazing view of the rest. Cant wait to see it back because we were so high up we couldnt hear any of the commentary so didnt quite know what was going on. We knew because we were told the basic story and could see the projections but it would have been good to have the view and sound! Cant have our cake and eat it too! After this another huge cheer and clapping and it was over. The boys checked out the tubes and all had fired successfully which made for a quick and easy tidy up. On the way out gave them a hand carrying smelly stinky racks to the lift but thats fine as I had such a good time I thought I best offer to help a little! Thank yous and goodbyes done it was on to the train...

Every person that was in the harbor now wanted to go home and as there was no cars guess what trains were manic!! After getting through the gates I did the English thing and started to que for a ticket for the train but this is Australia we dont seem to pay for trains so I was given a slip and went on the platform and got on my train on time. Great got a seat but surrounded by noisy kids! Well at least it kept me awake. After a while I asked the lady next to me if she knew how many stops till mine and I was informed that it was the last stops which made it pretty easy for me and relaxed till I got to the end. Deb sent me some amazing directions on how to find the carpark and I did very easily and made my way home!

Great day and photos & videos to come for you all!

Final set up day!

This morning was the final set up day for the International Fleet Review. Today was a later call time than normal and as a result I was able to take advantage of the hostel breakfast! Toast with chocolate spread on the veranda in gorgeous morning sun hit the spot. 

I jumped in the car and sat in some rush hour traffic, watching all the bikes and men wearing Lycra shoot up through the cars. Apparently wearing Lycra gets you to work quicker in Sydney. I find a car much more comfortable. I arrived at the bay with a few people there already making good use of the new coffee machine. Needless to say I had a play with it too. Reading the sheet on the door the team would be split into groups which would be where individuals will be placed Saturday night. I am on a barge with a lovely chap called Andrew (a veteran with Foti). We started off by setting up our office in one of the shipping containers. We began on testing all the pyro onboard. The system we are using runs an autotest system that will read every connection and if there is a problem it will pop up on the screen telling you which one is the problem and where. How to rectify it is up to you however. 4 or so hours was spent running tests and rectifying the issues. I was taught how the system works and how to run tests through the laptop. 

Morning tea came around and we snacked on yesterday's lunch. We wet back to the barge to just do some housekeeping, tidying wires and making sure everything will be relatively safe in the dark. By the time this was done it was lunchtime so we headed back to a feast of sandwiches and wraps and finger food. I found some plates so everyone could stack up and yet people went back for seconds and thirds! 

So the afternoon shift came and everyone was feeling a little lethargic.

We did lots of odd jobs including some tests on the flame jets being used on the Sydney harbour bridge. Oops did I say that out loud that's supposed to be a surprise! 

We needed a work light for furring night so a chap called Ian and me set to setting up a floodlight on the container roof. I acquired a brand new one and we worked how we would strap it to the container. While strapping I was instructed "a little more, little more" and crunch. The plastics shattered and one of the legs broke. After many minutes I laughing I had to return it to the marque and exchange it with another one. Forch (the boss) had seen what I had done (even though it wasn't actually me) to his new light and jokingly said that's coming out of your wages, to which I replied what wages?! He laughed and I ran away with yet another flood light. I took it upon myself to strap it, without the help of Ian and everything was fine. I also have a nickname from all the crew now which is English, for obvious reasons. We did more odd jobs and tidying up before everyone was asked to man their stations for a time code test. We fired up the laptops etc and waited for the cue. It pinged up first time and the laptop went to work. It ran through the display seamlessly. This pretty much made up the day and it was an early finish. I headed back to the hostel in Friday evening traffic and did what I do every evening. Be boring, eat and sleep.

This is the finished photo of our hard work. Lets hope it goes to plan and runs like it did today!!

I also thought you might like to see this. It arrived silently today, refuelled and left without a sound. Pyro will be installed tomorrow morning along with lights and lasers! 

Thursday the erm I can't remember...

Hello readists,

I don't know what the date is I just know its Thursday.

This morning I wasn't the first up! The chap from below me went at 6, naturally his alarm went on for a bit so that was me awake then. I dozed for a few mins before I was up myself. It was a little breezy this morning but the sky was clear so I assumed it would be another glorious day. At the port it was cooler as it always is but it normally warms up after an hour of being there. It didn't. Coldness was on the agenda today. At morning tea I had a rummage in the car and found a fleece and a fluorescent jacket. Being one of the only people in a company hivis I was the first target for the television crew, I didn't mind being filmed working but I drew the line as speaking haha. So if anyone's watching 7 news on Saturday you'll see me on Australian TV. Anyway the hivis was thin but it was another layer. The wind had picked up quite a bit and was really blowy. Fusing up isn't easy in the wind, the script flys away boxes leave the barge, everything is interactive. Lunch was early for an unknown reason today so we took shelter in the marquee that wanted to fly away. Everyone had sat down with massive piles of food and it went quiet as it always does as everyone stuffs their face with food. All of a sudden there was a pop, pop, pop on the canopy. This was the sound of very large raindrops. The occasional swear word was mentioned around the room and everyone ran away to cover up the firing systems, mortars, everything. This process made us rather wet and even colderer... But at least things were relatively dry.

This was the view from the marquee it doesn't do it justice. I mentioned rather loudly that I came to Australia to get away from this bloody weather. That got a good few laughs. Oh I didn't mention that included in this was hail!! It was 30degrees yesterday and only 18today. I know that 18 in Britain is reasonable but it's flipping cold here especially with million mile an hour winds, and they literally were million miles an hour. 

I had the brilliant idea of fashioning myself a plastic coat out of racking plastic. Many other people didn't have wet weather gear as the weather had been amazing all week... This was the outcome;

I wasn't so unique after all. Mind you I was the only one that found a sharpie and wrote Foti Pyro Crew on mine.

We eventually returned after many plates of food and many cups of coffee to the barge and hid in a container. Eventually we plucked up the courage to carry on. The rain jackets were frankly amazing and the best invention in the world. Ever.

Finally the rain stopped but the wind didn't. The sun made a brief appearance and then went away again but hey it wouldn't be fireworks without rain. I was shown how to connect and program the field boxes today and whilst doing it I found some rather poor connections. It was obviously done by one of the young boys (certainly not me) I pointed it out to the senior firer who equally was not impressed. Lots of shouting and many swear words later nothing was resolved. I took it upon myself to resolve the issue (issues actually). Everyone left at 4 apart from the Foti crew, they were surprised when I was still there at 5 fixing other people's mess. Anyway I returned to the hostel and crashed out on the bed. The girls came in half an hour or so later excited that they had got some documents for their car so they were happy. I didn't have the energy to do anything this evening so I sent some emails and had a snooze. Dinner was just as boring I had a pizza again as it was on offer at Aldi! 

I made a big mistake this evening, I forgot I was wearing the Foti shirt, normally I take it off but I forgot today. One Australian jokingly asked if I was doing the IFR I said yes and almost instantly the whole kitchen was asking questions, the exact reason I take the shirt off. Long story short I burnt my pizza. 

I sulked in my room and ate it in my bed which brings me to now, 

We are ahead of schedule so call time is 8:00 tomorrow I get a lay in!!! 

That's it from me!

2nd October

Hi everyone, 

Day 3 on the IFR.

This will only be a quick blog as I had gone to bed and then remembered that I hadn't done a blog!

Today started the exact same as all this week only this time I saw McDonald's on the way in and it tempted me, I behaved myself and did not give in to temptation of a McDonald's breakfast, I shall save that for the last day. I arrived on site and punched in, others dribbled in and Forch wanted a staff pep talk. Basically he wanted more done today so we had to "haul ass" this happened for a short while until the sun came out and everyone started to slow down. The navy have finally given us permission to board and load our gear on however only a small team can do it as they have a requirement that all staff onboard have long sleeve shirts black trousers black boots and all the safety gear. I have all but the long sleeve shirt so I was still on barges, good job too! We got another barge laid out and finished today so not much more to do now. I am trying to arrange a viewpoint for Laura that is away from crowds, I think I've found one but I am yet to confirm it. She didn't like the idea of being on a barge with me! 

For morning tea we finished off some of yesterday's lunch and there was STILL food left over! Lunch today was again amazing and we stuffed ourselves silly, with salads chicken juices etc...

Mid afternoon the height of the sun was out and we were drinking water like it was going out of fashion. I grabbed a crate and made sure everyone had a bottle (I look after my staff) I couldn't be bothered to walk along the barge so the throwing game ensued this was a success until flash didn't catch his bottle, it hit a rack and exploded. Everyone found this hilarious. He didn't. Running away was the best solution. 

We worked another hour today as this barge was the centre barge which will be placed by the opera house it has all the fancy pyro on which chases round and fans across the river as well as coming at the crowd! Today I was accepted as part of the team and was presented with an official Foti shirt! (Worked there 3 days and get a shirt, worked at SkyHigh for months and still no shirt....) anyway,

I got back to the hostel and examined the dire supper situation. I had a choice of pineapple rings tomato sauce and pasta shells, I thought I could do a fancy tomato sauce pasta but thought better of it. I took a walk to the local shop and acquired myself some spaghetti and meatballs, they were Heinz too! 4 minutes in the microwave ovenator and that was a meal fit for a Myles.  

I climbed into bed to watch a soppy dating program with the girls which brings me to now, still no sign of the chap from chile. sorry no photos today there just isn't anything worth seeing unless you want to see a photo of a warship? Bye for now...