Insecurities

Lake Eildon

After Heather and Paul headed back to the UK our long drives around Victoria were far from over.  We made our next drive up to Lake Eildon with Tay and Mona who work with Barnadi at Narai Thai.  Lake Eildon is a vast man made lake to the North East of Melbourne, created by damming the Goulburn river and flooding the old township of Darlingford.  During the recent droughts Lake Eildon had pretty much dried up, but following a very wet winter it was starting to look a little more impressive again.  It was still clear how much higher the lake used to be by the half submerged trees encased in dried mud.  We started our trip with lunch which Barnadi cooked on one of the free gas BBQ's at a campsite.  We went and sat down by the lake after eating when we returned we discovered a flock of birds had descended on our picnic site, and a greedy Kookaburra was finishing off the last of the sausages.  It almost looked like a scene from Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds" which I had just watched the night before with Sam and Athina at the Astor cinema in St Kilda.

Our next big drive we did on our own, neither of us were working on Anzac day so we went to visit our friend Kath near Hoppers Crossing, who had just had a baby.  From there we headed down to Barwon Heads where once again we made use of a free gas BBQ in order to cook our lunch before taking a walk up and over the bluff and along the beach on the opposite bank.  From Barwon Heads we crossed over the bridge to Ocean grove and again took a walk along another stretch of coastline.  We then continued on to the lighthouse we had seen in the distance on our previous walks at Point Lonsdale.  The rock formations beneath the lighthouse kept us entertained for a while before we got back in the car and headed home.



Point Lonsdale

Despite all the distractions we are still progressing towards settlement on our house, although it is now pretty much all in the hands of our lawyer.  All that is left for us to do is organise utilities and to pack.  More worrying than the settlement is my future work prospects and my current feeling of insecurity.  I knew when I took the job at the Alfred I was taking a risk on a temporary contract, but with my latest unsuccessful interview the risk now feels considerably higher.  What makes matters worse is the community pharmacy in Epping I was doing the occasional weekend shift at has now hired a new pharmacist, this means  I no longer have a fall back plan for if/when my contract with the Alfred ends.