Goooooooooonnnn!!!!

So I had quite the eventful day!  First off, I spent the entire day battling the after-effects of waaayyyy too much goon last night (Aussie slang term of the day!  Goon:  wine in 4L boxes that cost around $10).  One of the other DM trainees who’s staying in the house had friends in town, so we had an epic drunken poker tournament.  The guys couldn’t find a full deck of cards, so I volunteered my brand new, oh-so-fancy pink & green Lilly Pulitzer deck, not knowing that the lack of black suits would ultimately be my downfall.  Evidently when you’re drunk, it’s difficult to differentiate between a green club and a green spade.  Needless to say, much mocking ensued.  Fortunately, the buy-in was a grand total of $6 each.

Queasiness aside, I finally found a reasonably priced (for Oz!) hair salon and banished the appalling 2” roots I’ve been walking around with for weeks.  Even more exciting, I visited the doctor for my dive medical and got a clean bill of health!!!  I had a nasty case of otitis media with effusion, so I was reluctant to dive until it cleared up, but it looks like I’m in good shape now. 

I also had my first encounter with the Law down under – suffice it to say that they take their seatbelt laws rather seriously.  Not to worry, I lied my ass off & managed to escape with just a warning.  J

Life in Bundy

Intersection of the main st and the st we live on

So the main street in this town is called Bourbong St, but most of the signs have the G scratched off.  It’s especially funny when you consider the size of the “city” of Bundaberg.  Compared to the cities where I’ve lived, this place has very much of a small-town feel to it.  It’s been really nice so far since I don’t have a car; it’s a quick walk to the grocery stores and the dive shop.  The owners of the place where I’ll be doing my Divemaster internship have a house where the students all stay together for the low, low price of $90 AUS per week.  This is a comparative bargain, as the hostels in town run about $150; however, the quality of accommodation is reflected in the reduced rate, mostly notably in the lack of any internet service.  Fortunately, the local public library is only a short walk.  

I have managed to accomplish quite a bit so far – we started my Rescue Diver course and completed the pool training and the textbook & exam, and finished the Emergency First Response course and CPR training.  Sadly, the weather has been less than cooperative since my arrival – first we had heavy rains and flooding up north, and now we’ve moved on to high winds.  Hopefully things will quiet down soon so we I can finish up my courses and move on to my DM training!