G'day

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G'day everybody!

I have arrived safely in Emerald. My flight from Brisbane to Rockhampton was delayed about an hour. All my flights went as well as can be expected and were generally on time. The only one that was delayed was the flight that I had people waiting to pick me up. While in Emerald I am staying with a friend of mine (Megan) and her husband Shane. Megan's parents live in Yeppoon, which is just outside of Rockhampton on the coast. When Megan and her dad pick me up at the airport we went to Yeppoon. The next day (Friday), Megan's dad, John gave me the tour of Yeppoon and area. We went for a drive on the beach, picked up fish 'n chips and ate by the water and had a tour of a chartered fishing boat that John works on. We picked up fresh crab and prawns for supper (which we obviously can't get in Manitoba!)

On Saturday, we woke up by 6am to get to the fresh fruits and veggies market in Yeppoon. The market starts at 6:30am and by 8 all the fruit & veggies are gone. All the food is grown by locals and freshly picked. We filled up Megan's car and started the 3 hour drive to Emerald. Along the way we picked up Natika (another friend) and went for lunch in Emerald.

We were too lazy to unpack, but decided we would go for a drink with Natika in the evening because she would be driving back to Rockhampton the next day (she's living in rockhampton). Megan & Natika kept meeting people they knew and who would have thought? I ended up running into 2 friends that I knew and hadn't seen in years. I also met 2 girls that I would be working with at the pharmacy.

Sunday we rented movies and were lazy...and complained about going to work for Monday morning.

It's now Tuesday and I've been at the pharmacy for 2 days. I'm working at Amcal Chemist in town. There are 2 pharmacies in Emerald and they are both owned and managed by the same people. Things are going well. The pharmacy manager is really nice, helpful and just as interested in the differences between our two systems. The way things are done is quite different but I'm getting the hang of it. The drugs are mostly the same, but most things have a different brand name and different packaging. And the refill system is completely different than we have at home. A lot of things are much better (in my opinion). But I won't bore you with 'school' details!My feet are definitely sore from standing all day. I was getting used to sittin on my butt during christmas holidays.

I'm also enjoying living where I am. We've got lots of stuff planned for the next 2 months. One of Megan's friends is getting married so we're planning a hen's night (aka Stagette) and John is hoping to get his houseboat ready for us to spend a weekend fishing and relaxing on the houseboat new Yeppoon. But I'll let you know what happens!

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