Saying farewell again

The Great Race is high on our list of priorities at the moment and we are spending a lot of time planning the legs or arranging the preliminary quizzes. It is all in good fun and we enjoy the challenge of involving lots of our colleagues in an entertaining afternoon. We have 6 teams with a possible 7th still to notify us and it includes 2 staff from the KL branches. The old adage: 'you can never please all of the people all of the time', is clearly evident already. So be it. I can't reveal too much to you as there may be spies lurking. Perhaps in a few weeks I could share one of the quizzes here.

On Saturday Luke and Tahlia returned from Krabi to a very wet Sg. We were pleased to have the rain as it has been very hot lately and becoming quite hazy again. Fortunately they had great weather in Krabi and even a bit too much sun on their backs while snorkeling in the crystal clear waters. Eric cooked a delicious beef tagine dinner and we enjoyed our last night together before they left very early on Sunday morning to return to Darwin.
They have inspired us to try to find a weekend to get to Krabi as it is only a 2hr flight. We each have a long service leave day owing  so we confirmed with Renee that we could use Eric's on a Wed and we are now booked to fly on 25th of this month. It means we will miss attending our the last ANZAC dawn ceremony here but we wanted to go before the wet season moves in up there. Apart from the beautiful beaches the bird life looks exciting. 

Meanwhile, Adrian rang on Friday after he had spent his first day of orientation at Inpex, a worldwide oil and gas explorer and producer. He will be working on the Bayu-Undan/Darwin LNG project. I am concerned that the source of energy for this refinery might lie within the disputed sea border with East Timor, an issue for which we side with the little guy. Adrian needs to get himself to the bus pick up point at the airport each day by 5am, so he has borrowed one of our pushbikes for the time being, as he doesn't own a car these days. At least there wont be much traffic at that time of day. He will work long shifts, 6 days a week for 4 weeks and then have a week off. He thinks he can adjust to the lifestyle but the early mornings will be difficult. We are looking forward to him visiting here, on one of the weeks off, before the end of the year. 

The walkers did a circuit of McRithie Reservoir on Monday. It was hot, but beautiful. A huge number of students were participating in a canoe regatta on the lake which added colour and energy to the usually serene environment of the rainforest we walk through. Water pump at the rangers' station was out of action but fortunately they handed out some bottles they had on hand. Needed a swim in the pool when we got back from that - knees and feet aching after more than 17, 000 steps, roughly 12 kms. 

Had recovered enough in the afternoon to meet up with Syd and Kim, Peter and Heather and Michael at District 10 at Buona Vista. A very pleasant evening was had by all. 

Tuesday saw us having a very lazy start and then we took the train to Sentosa to partake in the High Tea at Movenpick Hotel. This was a gift for my birthday that we have had trouble finding a spare day to attend.  It was served in the the Galleria of the restored colonial building that dates back to the 1940s. We had a late breakfast and skipped lunch to make the most of it. 

On our way home we stopped off at Clarke Quay where a sports shoe store in the Peninsula Shopping Centre had a huge sale. We both bought walking shoes at greatly discounted prices and felt very pleased with ourselves. Unfortunately when we walked the following morning, Eric's new pair completely disintegrated. You get what you pay for sometimes. Hopefully we will be able to return them tomorrow. But for now, it is time for work.