Hello all,

Well my penultimate week and i have been drastically trying to collect as much money as possible to go back with, as usual but with 10 times more haste! must confess that although i have been saving up all my money and have been working extremely hard i did have a bit of a spending spree this week, which was justified by the VERY weak £ and the fact that i am not going to be able to afford clothes in england for the next year so am forward planning as my dollars mean nothing at the moment!

I was working over the weekend so on Saturday i just worked and then had an early night so i was able to work on sunday as well. After work on sunday i went to my friend Annika's house which is right on the beach in a town called cotteslowe in Perth. It was the most amazing house i have ever seen, all very modern, with pool and a hot tub and i think 7 bedrooms... amazing... oh and it had 2 floors (for those of you who have been to Perth you will understand that most of the houses are just 1 floor!). Anyway i went there for dinner and then we went "pub crawling" to a few of the pub/night clubs on the water front. It was great fun and we were actually back at a very normal hour of 11, we felt like little girls who had been given a curfew! It was great to see her and great fun too!

On Monday my friend/work colleague Tim and I went shopping. I didnt buy anything on my list and Tim was very good at justifying me buying the clothes at what i thought to be ridiculous prices! He was there by my side converting everything into pounds to make me feel better about spending $60 on a top! This was again great fun... i havent been shopping in ages, and looks like i havent lost my touch for it!

Other than that i have just been working trying to save as much money as i possibly can while i am still here,i have to go shopping again before i leave and i have decided to do all my xmas shopping here as well...although i think it is a maximum of $10 per person as we are all quite broke and strapped for cash these days..but i think everyone will realise i am a travelling student in debt, as opposed to a rich world traveller!

So the ticket is booked and i am back in the UK on the 15th... i am very excited but i have had a great time here... its so close but So far all at the same time! I kind of just want to go back now as i feel that im already really done, im wrapping up at work and all these other boring things, and its all down hill from here. From now on (with the exception of shopping for the necessities!) i am just going to be working working working and trying not to spend any more money (haha...like that will actually happen!) and so there is nothing really from what i can see in the next couple of weeks to really look forward too!! But im nearly there!

Anyway, off i go to work...again!

hope all is well! xxx

Dear All,

Again a very very late post... apologies to all who i know read this avidly!!

It has been once again a rather boring week in terms of things to comment on, i hav been working lots and lots, which is no change and i am actually writing this rather briefly so that i can make it to work this morning!

I am actually planning on coming back early, you will be surprised to hear this has nothing to do with homesickness but there are a few things in the UK that require my attention so am being pulled back. I havent changed my flight as yet but i think that i will be leaving on th 15th of November and therefore will be back on the 16th. Because of this i am really knuckling down and trying to work as much as possible so that i can get as much money as possible while i am here as we all know that as soon as i leave i will just start spending it! I havent told my boss yet, i thought i would book the flight first so i know exactly what date i am leaving... i cant imagine they are going to be too pleased as they already where a bit dubious about hiring someone hee only for 3 months... but its only 2 weeks earlier than the original departure date so it cant be that bad!?

Sam and I went out last night...another reason for the brief post, a bit of a heavy night ... and were having a great time with no cares what so ever when his mum, Gail called us and said that she was back!... I dont know if i have told you this but she went on holiday to Italy for 3 weeks and we all thought that he was back on sunday so the house was a mess there is nothing in the house... no loo paper, no milk, no bread all our rooms were a tip, and so it was a rather big surprsie to hear from her never the less see her when we got back!!! It only took the boys 10 minutes before she was shouting at them, (she wasnt particularly pleased with Josh's new tattoo that is all across his back!) so i think thats pretty good effort!

Anyway thats all to report here... hope you are all well and see you all soon!!
Rachel xxx

dear all,

another thursday gone by and this week seems to have flown past!

I have had a slightly more interesting week so a little bit more to comment on! I have had a crazy week of work with over 50 hours this week and i am certainly feeling it now, my feet hurt and all i want to do is sleep!!! On Saturday night we were taken out by my boss for dinner as it was the girl i am replacings last night and to send her off we went out for a verynice meal and some champagne!! It was great fun and although not everyonem from work could manage to make it the important and nicest people where there! The food was great and so was the wine... yes i was drinking wine as i have not got the tolerance for champagne! I then went out with my friend tim from work, (who is great fun) and we went to a club in freo called metros. It was great however very expensive and we ended up leaving at about 2 as i had work early the next morning!

On Sunday i was invited a work friends house for dinner with the girl who was leaving for dinner and drinks. It was great and her husband who is a french/mauritian chef cooked for us which was a great treat to have a VERY VERY nice meal, for free!! It was real good fun and we ended up doing karaoke... well when i say we i mean me as i was the only one who was shameless enough to get up and sing... i am oficially the grease soundtrack guru!

So all good stuff so far... however i now have no car. Sam (my elder cousin) who is not meant to be driving anyway... got the ignition barrell locked and it had to be towed, of course being a european car that it is the part has to be flown in from europe and the cost is $900... so neither of us can afford that so i am now carless! One one hand it is luck that it happened now and not earlier on as i only have 6 more weeks left, but it does make getting to work in the evening very difficult! At the moment i am taking it one step at a time and seeing if i can make it there other ways (for example tonight i am borrowing a car) and it may just mean i have to do less shifts a week, which is finem seing as i am only doing a few for a bit of extra cash a week anyway. If that proves more difficult than its worth then i will just have to quit that job and stick to the cafe work. Its annoying but no-ones fault and coudnt have been helped, apparantly this type of thing just happens to old cars, but as i said before neither sam or i have the ability to pay it at the moment.

Speedy was over from port headland, in transit from melbourn for a few days too which was great to see him and we went out for thai which was also good!! ... ive just noticed that all my ventures have something to do with food... hmmmm.... it was nice to see him and have been seeing quite a lot of him lately!

Well next week is Ben's bday and i cant believe im not there for it, but have already sent the present like the good older sister i am... cant believe i was organised enough to do it, but apparantly i am!

anyway off to work... so thats all from me for now! Hope all is well with everyone... leave comments!!!

xxxx

hello everyone!!

again another late post.. very sory, i am slacking!!

well it has been a pretty boring week to report on again, i have been working really hard and therefore no time to do anything worth commenting or writing about!! The girl that i was hired to take over from is leaving on sunday so i have been working about 40 hours at the cafe and another 10 ontop of that for the burger bar. I have been given the shifts to open up at the cafeas well which means work starts at 7.30, which means getting up at 6... killer i know. It wouldnt be that bad if i wasnt working at the other place which means that i end up working from about 7.30-11 a few days of the week. It is lucky though that i am only working at the burger bar a few nights a week otherwise i would be far more tired than i am!

Other than work i really havent been doing much, i am enjoying work though which i guess is good... the work is pretty boring to be honest but the people are great and that makes up for it!

I am finally starting to feel like my trip is on the downward slope and i cant wait to get back where i dont have to be working the whole time and some friendly faces!

Well, that is all i can think of for now... but a quick congratulations to my grandma abbey and lee...

hope all is well... missing you all

rachel xx

Hi everyone, from a very tired Rachel...sorry about the late post...

well this week has been a good mix of wor and play! Since last thursday i have been working about 40 hours a week at both jobs, still both going very well, and i am enjoying them both... well as much as one could enjoy work! It is a good mix, as the cafe that i am working in seems to be quiet during the week, and getting slighlty busier on the weekends, but the burger bar seems to be booming in business and i am actually writing this haveing just come home from the cafe and abou to go off and work at the burger bar!

I was working all weekend, so not much going on then, however Josh, Sam and i did catch up with their dad, speedy and his partner Fran for dinner on sunday as he was in town, which was nice to do and was really great to see him! On monday Josh and I went to a huge festival in Perth called Park Life. It was an amazing day... the weather was amazing and seriously hot which was great and the day started at about 11 in the morning where we caught up with a few friends for drinks first. We got to the festival at about 2, and stayed there until about 12 that night. It was an amazing day with Dizzee rascal, plump DJ's, 2 Many DJ's, Goldfrapp (dont know how much that means to some of you?!) and many more and we were kept busy going to the different stages and moving our way through the crowd ofthey thought approx 20 000. It was an awesom day and i met loads of really nice people. Me and a friend also managed to blag our way into the VIP tent with our obvious wit and charm!! ... but ireally i think that they could just see we were meant to be VIP'S!!! ... I also met up with one of my dad's friends niece, annika, who was really nice and was great to meet her and we are planning to go out again, when i get some time off work!! I then had Tuesday off to recover, which was good planning on my side! However in the afternoon Gail (who im staying with) and i went to spend $250 each in a very expensive shop which we had won at a fashion event a couple of weeks ago. Although $250 sounds a lot it really isnt, well not here anyway! i managed to get 2 pieces of jewellery with $5 left over!!! ... oh well at least they are nice and they are sterling silver... so hey!

I am actually having quite a laid back week next week by the look of my rosta, as it is a girls last week at work and so they are giving her all the shifts, so i have next tuesday and saturday off which i will probably do nothing on as i need to save money and everything that requires me leaving the house seems to mean me spending huge amounts of money!!

Gail is off to Italy today for 20 days so, the boys and i are home alone and i have a strange feeling that i will be keeping them in towe and also cooking ot odd meal... i think i am being expected to clean and wash too... but thats just not going to happen so they may find themselves short of clothes for the next few weeks! ...But we are all working pretty hard at the moment, and Sam, the eldest is liek i am slightly strapped for cash at the moment too so i think we should be just fine!!

Anyway thats all for now as i am rushing off to work... will speak soon, hope everyoneis ok xxxx