to be continued....

It feels like forever since I've been able to find the time to post on my blog...our week on the Gold Coast has come and gone and it definitely feels like a distant memory.
After traveling for 6 hours, we arrived home at around 6:00 Friday night with our very special cargo, Mum, Dad and their toy poodle Maddi and then the routine of work and being back here rapidly started all over again.
I was up and back into it Saturday bright and early and was doing my best to get myself in the right mindset that would settle me into the reality that the break was over - it took all of about 10 minutes of going downstairs for me to realise that yes, I was in fact back!!
My world which had been insulated from stress for the past 5 days was suddenly ended after having words with and sorting out one of the staff after we were told of some things being said by her about Joe and I, which was personal and have nothing to do with any part of her job or any of her business, the fact that she was doing it normally wouldn't have worried me too much if it was just the typical in house bitching amongst themselves that we've had to get used to in our short time here, but no, because it was about Joe and I, believe me, I saw red, pink and blue!!
I don't think she'll be doing it again in a hurry, or looking me straight in the eye any time soon.
I honestly didn't know I had it in me to confront and stand up for myself the way I did, so I surprised myself and I know I surprised her too, she absolutely did not see it coming and it was obviously something I hadn't anticipated doing when I woke that day.
I was really sad and disappointed all day after that, I didn't cry or even feel like crying, but I felt a heaviness of the weight of the responsibility that we have taken on and the intrusion it's had on our personal life which I hadn't contemplated when taking on this position.
It's definitely a unique position to be in and I truly believe it's enabled us to show our strengths and weaknesses, we absolutely have to keep a sense of humour and maybe not take things too seriously, sometimes harder to do than say.
I originally told Joe that I would give the service station game a go for 3 months and if after that time if I either wasn't enjoying it or felt that we were having too much 'together' time that I would look for a job in town and leave him to it - well, I was thinking at that moment that that time had come.
Anyway, we really did enjoy our break away from Calliope and the service stations staff and dramas.
We got to catch up with Joe's old bosses and friends from Freedom fuels, they were all really happy to see him, which was nice.
On Tuesday night there was a welcome to the event, buffet dinner, which had been set up outside around one the the pools at the casino. It was very impressive, that was until the heavens opened up and the most massive raindrops started to fall and the thunder and lightening came with such a crashing noise that quickly prompted 300 people to all at once converge to the nearest under cover we could find and after having spent $300 dollars on getting my hair done the day before, the only thought I had was to keep it dry!
The next day was the convention part of the schedule, with a panel of company experts sharing their knowledge of the products that were to be on offer throughout the day and an interesting line up of guest speakers, which included General Peter Cosgrove and a very inspiring man named John Coutis, born with a severe disability that rendered his legs useless, then later having them amputated, leaving him with only his torso and upper limbs. His story is a very powerful and inspiring one. His happy attitude and his positive outlook on life are truly amazing, told with hilarious humour which left me with an amazing admiration for this mans ability to live such an authentic life despite his many challenges.
To end the day and the convention we attended the Gala dinner with a Gangster theme, although we didn't dress up, surprisingly many did go to an awful lot of effort to look the part. We had a gorgeous three course meal and while we ate we were entertained by the casino's theatrical team who put on a stage musical of love, loss and of course a happy ending coming on in increments throughout dinner with a gangster style emcee explaining the storyline before each act.
Then there was the hypnotist, John St James. I've never been terribly impressed with this style of entertainment, but I must admit it was very amusing to watch.
A couple of the volunteers were hilarious to watch, even though I was still very skeptical I have to admit it was very entertaining.

But the highlight of the few days away for me was the final performer we were treated to - Guy Sebastian!! OMG, totally awesome.
The whole room was so impressed with his amazing personality and genuine generosity of his time and talent. Joe and I danced for every single song and after about 3 encores it was disappointingly all over. I do have photos of me with Guy, (well of me dancing, after positioning myself very inconspicuously in front of the stage he was up on), but Tracey, the Sarina site manager took them on her camera, so I have to get her to send them to me. I will definitely post them once I have them.

It has taken me so long to get this post finished that we have been gone and are now back from the Gold Coast again, just getting back this morning - but that is a whole other story which I will hopefully get the time to post about tomorrow.....to be continued!