Tuesday, December 22

Well, I actually feel like I've gotten quite a bit accomplished this morning, and it's only 11:30. Had several calls to make to businesses in the states, and by 9:00am our time, everything there is closed, so I feel lucky to have gotten through all the phone trees and being transferred to various departments, and actually accomplished what I needed to get done. Then I went out and got all my errands here taken care of, before it gets too hot. It's already about 85 degrees, and will surely get hotter as the day goes on. Christmas day is supposed to be 36 degrees centigrade, which is about 97 degrees fahrenheit.

However, Bill and I are heading to the wine country for Christmas and New Years, and it's supposed to be a bit cooler down there. It's about 2.5 hours south of Perth, and we're staying at a B & B on the coast in Dunsborough for the first 4 days, and then at another B & B a bit further south, in the forest area of Pemberton, for the last 4 days. Bill's office actually closes down for 18 days over the holidays, so we figured we would take advantage and have a holiday, as they say here. At dinner last week Bill's coworkers were questioning him as to how much time off employees in the US get, and they were flabbergasted to hear that the norm is only 3 weeks. They explained that if someone here works for the same company for 7 years, they get 3 months paid leave, and after another 7 years, they get 6 months. They also have something they pay into called superannuation, which is similar to our social security. However, by the time they retire, they not only begin collecting their benefits, they are exempt from paying any more taxes, for the rest of their lives.