House Hunting

The house prices in Alice Springs are ridiculous. It was good to hear someone else voicing my views. I was standing in line at the real estate office listening to the rental manager explain why it wasn't the fault of the real estate agents (even though they 'value' the properties and give their prices to the owners) but instead it was the property owners who thought they could get what ever they asked for. It made me smile. Everyone appears blameless. When I left Alice Springs I though that prices were expensive. It might have just been my wage making everything look out of reach but now I've returned I realise that now things are ridiciously expensive.

I'm house hunting at the moment. To share, or not to share. That is the question. But what is the answer. I don't know. Sharing has its benifits. Instead of paying full price for a rental plus utilities you only pay a part of it. Most of the share places are around $200 a week where you share with 2 or 3 others (including the bathroom). The cheapest one bedroom rental property is $250 plus utilities. I don't know which I should choose. On one hand you get everything included but you have to share with 3 strangers. On the other you have to pay out even more money which drastically reduces your savings. In the end it came down to 'eenie, meenie, minee, mo! With that I'd chosen to get my own place and not share. That is the plan at the moment. I'm supposed to be spending a bit of my time out bush as part of my job so it might be a lot to spend if it turns out I'm not there much. For the next few months though I'll be in Alice learning the ropes so I'm sure it will be nice to have my own place and be able to do what I want when I want. We'll have to see how it all goes. It's so hard to see if the right decision has been made when you don't know what the future holds. I guess I've just got to wait and see.

Finishing uni and continuing work

Last week was exam week. My last exam was all about Health Promoting Settings. Stewart was kind enough to 'invigilate' my exam for me. As I pushed my chair back from the desk after writing my final paragraph, my had was aching and my head was spinning. If all went well, I told myself, that was the last exam of my degree. It was a sobering thought. I only had one assignment to complete before it would all be over. That assignment took me the rest of the week and most of the weekend to finish but when it was over, it was over. It didn't feel it though. When I was at uni and finished an exam or assignment there was great relief. Not this time though. This time it didn't really feel as if I had finished. Of course my evenings were a lot more relaxing afterwards. I could sit down and watch telly and let my mind just fade away into oblivion. Before I'd be up until the wee hours (or at least around 10 or 11 o'clock) doing my readings, writing notes or drafting assignments, or at the very least thinking about what I needed to do. But it didn't feel like I'd finished. I guess that's because I'm now working full time (and have been over the last semester). Uni took a bit of a back seat in things as work took over. Now I've got to wait until my results. Then I'll see if I can get the bit of paper to make me and EHO. In the meantime, I start work as an EHO on the first of December. No relief, just fear.