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Water water everywhere

For the last week or so it has been raining in cairns. A lot!

You may have even seen it on the news, with flooded streets and overflowing dams (oh how the residents of Brisbane must be jealous).

I have been finding it fun because I don’t recall the last time I was somewhere that it rained for 4 days straight, and being in the tropics, it has meant that I have been able to go outside in the (warm) rain and jump in puddles and generally exercise my inner child.

There has even been a bit of surface flooding on our lawn, but it’s a pretty sandy base with several drains, so it never gets beyond being a centimetre of water covering everything, and certainly doesn’t come close to flooding our house.

So all things as they are it’s been kind of fun to watch the clouds roll over the hills behind our house looking all grey and rain laden, and a few minutes later to hear the thumping of big fat raindrops on our roof.

General update

As you will probably have gathered from my previous post about Jack’s hectic life recently, we have been a bit busy.

Simone finished her six months at Nabour just before christmas with no particular desire to return there any time soon (there may or may not have been some hand based gestures in the general direction of the hospital as she packed up her car and drove off down the road).

We then spent 2 weeks over christmas in NZ visiting my family, and seeing my beloved wellington again. It ended up being quite abusy holiday and there wasn’t quite as much general relaxing as we might have liked.

My parents’ cat died late last year, and so it was a bit sad and unusual having christmas without a cat (it’s kind of a family tradition that all the wrapping paper goes in a pile on the floor that the cat can then play in).

After that we returned to Brisbane to pack up our stuff and move house. I had to return to work, but Simone had the last week off on holidays still and so she packed our house (well, read her book while the guys paid for by the hospital packed our house) and then flew up to Cairns to find a house for us to live in.

She found us a good one, and at the end of the week I too flew up to Cairns and we moved into our house.

Due to the fact that there are a number of new housing estates being built about 20 minutes out or central cairns there were a lot of 4 bedroom houses for rent at similar or cheaper prices than smaller places slightly closer to town, so we ended up getting a house which realistically is spectacularly too big for our actual needs, but it damn comfortable all the same.

It also means that if anyone is passing through Cairns and needs a place to stay we again have a spare room with a double bed and air conditioning in it.

Following that we both started work. The hospital itself seems really nice and laid back (although we have already found that the admin seems to be a bit more disorganised than previous hospitals we’ve worked at (if that’s even possible)).

We haven’t had much chance to get out and do much in Cairns or it’s surrounds yet due to house unpacking and Simone being on call last weeked, but I can already see that I’m going to have a great time here in winter exploring the surrounding rain forests etc (at the moment you’re hard pressed to get me out the door – I step outside, start immediately perspiring, mutter something along the lines of “Ooof. It’s hot” and head back to the air conditioning).

So that’s what’s up with us. I should have regular internet access again in about a week, so hopefully I will begin updating this regularly after that.

Jack’s hectic month

Jack has, over the last month or so, had to put up with some rather major impositions to his usual lazy lifestyle.

Firstly, over christmas, while Simone and I went to NZ to see my folks, Jack took his first trip to the cattery. Apparently he settled in pretty quickly, but I think he was pleased when we came to collect him.

Then he had to put up with strange people coming to his house and packing up all the stuff, leaving him with ony his mum and dad, two suitcases, and a blow up mattress to interact with. How boring!

Then shortly after that was the further indignity of being put in a carry case for a plane ride to cairns, and another stay in a cattery while Simone went looking for a house.

Finally we moved in to the house, recieved all our stuff, and picked jack up again, so that he could “help” us unpack everything. He likes the new house, because it’s big so that he can rn around and spend his time between different rooms, but dislikes it because it’s in an unfamiliar neighbourhood with a couple of little yappy dogs in the house next door, and no easy way for him to get in and out without us opening a door.

Jack tells me that all in all he’s had enough adventure for the time being, and would like a nice calm month or two, and a tall scotch (if that’s not asking too much).

The pitter patter of muddy paws

It has been raining around our house recently, and while Jack, like any good cat, dislikes being out in the rain, he has no problems with running around in the mud afterwards.

This creates certain problems because Jack then tracks mud wherever he goes, including across the floor, on the sheets, in the shower, and perhaps most amusingly, all over our cars.

Now up until now I hadn’t really realised how frequently Jack gets up on to the tops of our cars when they’re parked in the drive.

We’ve seen him do it once or twice while we’re hanging out laundry or otherwise working outside, but it hasn’t been common.

Then the other day, after it had been raining, I came out to go to work, and got in the car. Only from inside the car did it become apparent that all up and down both the front and back windows were a series of little muddy paw prints.

Subsequent days saw similar situations, until the yard dried up again, and the paw prints disappeared.

I wonder where else he gets into while we’re not looking.

Jack Jack Attack

(this title from the amusing mini-movie on the DVD of The Incredibles, and my friend Chantelle’s favorite instructions to my cat)

I’ve just put up another video of Jack. It’s about 3mb, and shows how Jack has gotten all big and grown up.

Oh, it’s that time of year again

I’m always amused at how quick my brain is to forget why I hate living in Queensland so much, but once again I’ve been reminded: For 6 months a year it’s inhumanly hot here.

It’s just reached the start of those 6 months, and already I’m once again trying to figure how I modify the house so that I can sleep in the fridge.

(And next year we’re moving to Cairns. Sometimes I wonder if I do this to myself on purpose as some sort of punishment for unspecified sins)

Best laid plans

This is basically a public service anouncement to all those people who we have been misleading by telling them we will be going to Townsville next year.

Turns out we’re not. It now seems more likely that we will be going to Cairns instead (although this is still not 100% certain).

Now Cairns is still on the great barrier reef, so the offer still stands to come stay in our spare room and do some snorkling or scuba diving.
I won’t go into the details of how this all happened, basically because they’re long, complicated, political, and most importantly, boring.
Suffice it to say the College of Surgeons can be pretty disorganised and incommunicative (but then again I suppose what beurocracy isn’t).

Jack-larm clock

As it approaches summer it has been getting light earlier and earlier around here, and Jack’s time keeping system seems to be photonic rather than chronographic (and afer we bough him that nice watch for his birthday and all…). He seems to think that 8am is plenty late enough to be sleeping in and not paying him any attention, and so he has taken it upon himself to be a mobile furry alarm clock.

He jumps onto the bed in a heavy way intended to make it shake, walks over you making sure to press his paws into your side/back/stomach (which ever is uppermost), and then stops on the bed just next to your head and stares at you.

Now I don’t know if this is a universal thing (I suspect it is), but I can’t sleep when I feel that someone is staring at me, so having Jack just sitting staring at me is more effective than prying my eyes open with a crow bar. And as soon as I open my eyes he delivers the coup detat, going “Mrow” and rolling onto his back for a belly scratch.

And if you try to ignor him he gently but intentionally scratches you on the back/arm/foot/other exposed surface.

It is a most effective strategy but has gotten him shut out of the bedroom a couple of times, because dammit, I like having a sleep in now and again.

Skink’s nest

Lately Jack has taken up the time honoured and reputable cat sport of Skink hunting.

All our cats when I was growing up would do it, and now Jack’s got in on the game.

The only difference is that the Skinks around here are the largest I’ve ever seen. They’re HUGE.

The first one I saw Jack drag in and bat around the floor was big, but I thought that perhaps it was just a one off abnormally large specimen. After the third one I began to wonder if perhaps skinks lived communinally in nests, and perhaps Jack had stumbled upon the Skink King’s nest.

Whatever the story, Jack hasn’t dragged any in for a few day so perhaps they’ve learned to hide better, or Jack has lost interest in hunting skinks for the time being.

Fathers’ day

I was working overnight on the night before fathers’ day, and came home to find Simone asleep and Jack on the bed with a card in front of him.

Curious, I opened it, and found this: 1157

and inside was written this: 1159

My first fathers’ day card!

It was a lovely sentiment, and Jack sure has good handwriting given that he lacks opposible thumbs.