Haven't been on here in a good while, though I'd give you guys an update on Oz.
Its pretty slow at the minute, the area where I live suffered a pretty bad dry spell and when the rain did come, it was already too late. That spelt bad news for the company I worked for, laying off 7 people just before Christmas, including myself.
That meant panic stations for myself and my partner, as we were on a 457 visa, which means I can only work for one company (the company who paid for visa) and can only do the role I had been employed as (Draughtsman).
Plenty of CV's where sent out, but seemed like everywhere across Australia was the same story, too slow to take on anybody and nobody really wanted to take over the visa, which is money that needs to be spent before I could start with a new employer.
To make it harder for any potential employer, we had already booked and paid fully for a 6 week holiday in May & June.
We sat down and discussed our options, finally coming to the decision of heading back to Ireland once we had finished our holiday, changing our flight from Dubai to Brisbane back to London.
In mid May, I got a project car to occupy myself in the evenings and weekends, as there was not much to do in the small town I live in, no cinema, no bowling alley, no nothing!
Picked up a 1974 Leyland Mini, clubman front as that's how they where made as standard over here after 1972. It was in okay shape, no rust, ran, interior was rubbish apart from the seats & door cards, needed plenty of work.
7 months later, and thanks to having lots of time to spare after getting laid off, ended up with something like this.
Its up for sale now. We have looked into shipping it home, but it will cost about $8000, as much as I would like to take it back to Ireland, I can't afford to! Would probably pick up another one as a project once I get home and settled with a job & house.
Until the next update, over and under!
