"I'm going to make a town and call it Oldcastle"

Hello all!
Still here in Newcastle (Newy as the locals call it). After 2 nights in a hostle we only had to house/room hunt for 1 day! We ran across a crazy lady who had all sorts of rules about living, including not cooking after 9pm and no outgoing phonecalls. Pass. Next stop were 2 students who appologized for "such a mess" when literally there was a text book on a couch and everything else was spotless. NEXT. We lucked out with where we are now. it's in the suburb of newcastle called bar beach (well really "newcastle" is all suburbs) and we're a 2 minute walk from the beach. we share a 3 bedrom flat with 2 guys. Yes, marcy and i are currently sharing a room. but it's because it makes it cheap for us! only $50 a week each plus $10 a week for power and water. we actually are even sharing a bed. it's going so well. tough to imagine, i know, but we really have a little routine figured out and with out much stuff one room is all we need. it's going just great. the roomies are interesting that's for sure. Paul (who has had one hell of a life: lived in new guinea, crisis councelor for prostitues and drug addicts, has blood clots right now, etc) is about 37ish and a bit of an odd duck. i'm not quite sure how to take him sometimes but he's full of information, loves to tell us how to do just about anything (make smoothies, about asutralian history, how to catch and clean prawns) and is very generous offering us lifts anytime we need it. Steve is 28 and i call him princess. he's a nice guy who we hang out with fairly often but he can be a bit touchy. We went out last friday night and marcy and i left him at the bar with is friends and he got mad for leaving. sooo. yea. but over all 2 nice fellas who keep life interesting. Our first day that we moved in they took us around the town to different pubs (it's the thing to do on sunday afternoons around here) and then to a meat raffle (also a common even for folks around here). Yep, a meat raffle. you buy numbers and if your number is drawn you get to pick out an assortment box of meats. we all chipped in and won 2 boxes. we have picutres where you can tell how hard we're laughing at such an idea. we think we'll bring it back to the legions at home and make a fortune.
so after finding a place the next step was finding a job. touched up my resume and hit the pavement. the first day was rather unsuccessful for me, but good for marcy as she landed 3 trials (you actually do a short shift instead of an interview). So i kept at it the next day going a bit further than i'd like (i have to bus or am attempthing to find a 2nd hand bike to get to work). But after dropping off a couple of resumes, i walked out of one restaurant where a man asked me if had just applied there. he then asked me to sit down, proceded to ask me questions about my work history, was a selfproclaimed "jackass who liked to yell" and then told me not to drop off any other resumes because i was hired. it's called APK (Australian Pizza Kitchen). It's pretty fun. A lot more relaxed than what i'm used to - no sections, no formal wine opening, no order to how people are sat. they frequently sit themselves. and it's byo (bring your own anything, wine, beer, coolers, mix. whatever! it's interesting) I've had 2 shifts and the last one was on saturday night so it was CRAZY busy. i made out ok, and head back to work tomorrow for 5 days straight (mix between days and nights). the boss who said he was mean is always around, but i have yet to see him act up. i hope it stayes that way!
the weather has picked up SO much 36 degrees today and i've been at the beach for the last few, enjoying while i can. i even attempted to surf on my own with steves help.
i feel like there's so much more to say, but i've run out of time on the internet. love and miss you all. keep in touch. i'll try to write again soon.
xoxo