Yesterday I registered as a sole trader in Australia and I’m now the proud owner of an ABN (Australian Business Number I think). I get to write it on invoices and everything!

Also I’m quids in – my two biggest outgoings as a sole trader were going to be a lap top and the Australasian Evaluation Society Conference in Melbourne (conference fees, plus flights and accommodation). However, ARTD have kindly offered to pay for me to go to the conference, including flights and accommodation, and there is a scheme here where an employer can buy and employee a home computer and then deduct installments out of their salary, meaning the computer is GST (VAT) free and the money is taken out of your salary before tax. I ordered myself a nice new shiney lap top on ARTD’s credit card today.

On Monday I had meetings down in Canberra and had flights booked in the morning for a meeting at 11am, which we arrived for at 12.30 because our aircraft had a fault and we had to get a different plane. Luckily we still made the second meeting, but then we had our flight home cancelled too! Everytime I fly with Qantus the aircraft get smaller – on the way back we were in a very noise small propeller plane. 

Yesterday I came into the office to work on some Matrix work only to find I couldn’t log in to their email system so I couldn’t download the information I needed. Luckily I could switch it to an ARTD day, and planned to do Matrix’s work on Wednesday instead, but I’ve just arrived at work and I can’t access my email again.

Still the weekend is looking good – we now have a TV so I can watch the French GP on Sunday, the All Blacks are playing Australia and we have been invited to a party to watch the game (snag is we have to dress as something begining with B), and on Friday night John and I are going to a comedy gig.

I’ve finally got around to getting myself an Australian mobile number - I’m still using my old retro phone so my UK number is out of use now.

You can text me or call me on 0061 423 102 129 – but watch the time you send me text messages because my mobile also acts as my alarm clock so it is kept next to my bed at night.

Still looking at options for a home phone.

This weekend John’s Dad (Rob), his wife Judi and John’s brother Larry were in town. I did a half day at work on Friday and then met with Judi to go shopping. She introduced me to a whole host of shops I didn’t know existed. Then we went to their hotel and drank wine and champagne (apparently I came across a little tipsy on the bus home). The next day they came over to see our apartment and then we went over to Manly (a popular beach suburb in northern Sydney) and hung out on the beach and got some brunch in a beach side cafe.

Afterwards John and I did some rather domestic shopping (we are now proud owners of a set of knives and a matching chopping board) and then went back to meet with John’s Dad and co for dinner and a movie in their hotel.

I was totally shattered being polite and sweet all day so I got an early night whilst John went to watch the All Blacks beat South Africa.

Sunday fairly quiet, and off to Canberra for some meetings tomorrow.

On Friday I caught an early flight down to Canberra. I got to the airport with just over the 30 mins you need to check in before the flight goes, so you can imagine my annoyance when the electronic check-in system told me it couldn’t process my boarding pass and I’d have to see a customer representative (I think it was a random security check). So I joined a short, but slow, queue wondering if this was going to make me miss my flight. I stood there for what felt like forever, feeling slightly agitated and continully monitoring my watch. However, by the time I got to talk to a customer representative everyone else had had their seat allocated on the flight so they had to upgrade me to Business Class (clearly my annoyance instantly subsided). I even got a cooked vegetarian breakfast on the flight. 

I arrived in Canberra and went straight to the offices of Courage Partners who were interested in meeting me to see whether there would be opportunities to work together. They treated me like a VIP - an initial meeting with the MD, followed by morning tea (complete with fancy cakes) to meet the team, then another meeting with the MD and then lunch at a very nice restaurant. After lunch the MD took me on a driving tour of Canberra.

I had Friday afternoon to myself, but my early start meant that I hadn’t the energy for sightseeing so I hit the shops. I purchased some smart run-for-the-bus shoes, as I continually seem to be charging down the road to catch a bus in my heels, and one day I’m not going to come off well! After that I vegged out in front of my hotel room TV – I’ve been without a TV so long I was pretty much happy to watch absolutely anything .. but it was pretty dire (Neighbours, Home & Away and Big Brother until I discovered there was a movie channel … and watched ‘Music and Lyrics’ which was equally bad).

John joined me in Canberra on Saturday morning and we headed to the War Memorial which houses a fantastic and large museum where we got a guided tour. In the evening we went to a bar to watch the All Blacks play Canada in a very popular bar. The next day we went to the National Museum which was also good and housed in Canberra’s most colourful and unusual looking building.

They need some more interesting buildings in Canberra – apparently there are really tight building regulations which seemingly only allow very dull looking buildings, making Canberra a very under-whelming capital city. Its also very spread out, with the main Government buildings dotted about in lots of parkland around a man-made lake. The city is quite obviously a planned city so it is very geared up for cars – everything is so spread out you have to drive (except we didn’t, so we walked for hours) – there are these vast 4 and 6 lane highways everywhere and virtually no traffic.

In short, it’s not somewhere I’d want to dash back to … but it turns out I have a meeting there next Monday morning.

Last week I accepted a job with ARTD. I’ve agreed to spend at least 3 days a week working for them as a Senior Consultant for an initial 3 months. I’ll spend the other days working in their offices on projects for Matrix and any other consultancy projects I get via other contacts.

It seems like a fairly good situation – I’ve got a steady income for the next couple of months (and maybe more) which will be more than enough to live on, so getting work for the other days will be a bonus. If don’t have work on those other days I’ll have time to go sightseeing or shopping

Almost at the close of our long weekend – it’s been just like the UK Bank Holiday weekends – the weather has been mostly rubbish. Gales and rain on Saturday, mainly just rain on Sunday, but Monday has been quite nice … no rain yet.

John and I went to Bondi Junction – a big shopping area to look for things to brighten up our apartment – it’s currently a little grey. We managed to buy a sofa cover, cushions and table cloth and placemats, and the place is now looking much more homely.

We’ve seen two of the Sydney Film Festival films – the one on Saturday was called Ghosts and focused on the Morcambe Bay incident when illegal Chinese immigrants died. It was really good and well worth watching. Today we saw a Sweedish children’s film – it was really nice to see a children’s film deal with a social issue and not do the Hollywood thing of portraying normal life as having a big house in a suburb. The only problem within it was half way through many of the actors randomly burst into song about random things – but it was a kiddy flick.

And now for some horrendus news … I missed an F1 race. With no TV I did get to watch the Canadian race at some unearthly hour in the morning. I’m just about to check out the result. Worse still though, if I’m right in thinking that the US race is on next weekend, I’ll be missing two races in a row – unheard off!

Are we the only country that doesn’t allow light switches and power outlets in bathrooms? All the plug points right next to the bathroom sinks is freaking me out, and I keep flicking the light switch on the outside of the bathroom forgetting that the lights for our bathroom are controlled inside. John seemed to think us British are the abnormal ones – apparently NZ and Sweden both allow such tom-foolery. Anyone know of any other countries that don’t allow electrical outlets in bathrooms?

Yesterday we woke up to rain and gales, and it’s been raining pretty much ever since, and is expected to for the rest of the weekend - and everyone seems pleased about it apart from me. Apparently as they sorely need water over here it is something to rejoice about. Clearly I’m simply annoyed that I’m missing out on summer in the UK.

To annoy me further, I logged on to my Matrix email account yesterday morning and was kindly reminded that if I was still in the UK I’d be tucked up in bed with my bags packed for an away day to Berlin in the morning – still they did need to be at Stansted for 5am, so I can be grateful I didn’t have to do that.

On the bright side, the Sydney Film Festival starts today. I braved the rain and gales (I do mean gales – one of the directors at ARTD had a tree come crashing into his home office whilst he was working today) at lunchtime to queue for tickets for three films this week – a British one, a Swedish one and a Canadian one. Film going is pretty much the perfect thing to do when the weather is rubbish so the Sydney Film Festival seems perfectly timed.  

This weekend is a long one – apparently we are celebrating the Queen’s birthday on Monday. Do we do this in the UK? Is that what the public holiday at the end of May is about? 

I’ve just finished my third day working in the ARTD offices – they are very, very trendy offices. I even have a fabric cushioning to the top of my desk draws and there is one of those large coffee and expresso making machines that you get in cafes in the kitchen (it’s a shame I don’t like coffee)!

The team seem really nice and I have been thoroughly welcomed. They offered me a full time role for the next 3 months initially, but that’s not what I really want so I’m still negotiating how I will work with them. Currently I am revisiting my old subject matter of sex offenders by writing a tender for an evaluation of an adolescent sex offender treatment program.

The best thing about working in these offices though (although I’m struggling to get used to it) is that they encourage you to only do 9-5. So pretty much the office empties out at 5pm and I have to leave as well because I don’t want the responsibility of setting the alarm system. … which means I have to leave NOW!