Well what a year so far

Well this year has certainly thrown everything possible at us.
Firstly in Feb this year I decided it was time to leave the Army after 21 years in the green!!! what was I thinking???
We moved from Sydney to East Gosford and realised rather quickly that we didn't fit into our house!! again what were we thinking?

So off to centerlink we go to sort out some benefits...........2 hrs later we reach the front of the que only to be told "sorry you have to register by phone first" WTF. Home we go and ring centerlink and 45 minutes later told we now have an appointment next week at the office in Gosford.

Well we didn't go. You see we got a job working together as assistant managers of a holiday park in Norah Head, NSW.

WOW what an opportunity we thought, it has always been something we have wanted to do. So off to Norah Head we move(only been in our own house for 6 weeks) to start a wonderful job and a chance of a lifetime, well that was short lived wasn't it!!! 2 weeks after starting the managers decided that they would go on holidays.........shit we thought left alone to run a 42 acre holiday park.
Survive we did only to have another spanner thrown into the works, 2 days after returning from holidays the male manager lost his cool with a patron of the park and all hell broke loose. Letters were written as high up as the Mayor for Wyong Shire(as the park is council owned). Needless to say next day the Head honchos from ATPM( the management company that has the contract with council) flew in and called for the managers resignation.........Holy shit been in the job for a month and now we are unemployed again!!! this was 1 week before Easter so here we go running a major park over a very busy fully booked out period with 1 month's training!

We were assured by the regional manager(who is also a manager of Toowoon Bay Holiday Park) that all will be fine, our jobs are safe etc etc etc. Well what a load of bullshit, what happened next was amazing, the assistant manager's from Toowoon had been given the contract to take over Norah, so we were offered their position at Toowoon, so we thought long and hard and decided to give it a go as Toowoon Bay is a far nicer place to live than Norah.

Pack boxes, organise a removalist.....oh shit here we go again upheaval time again, well 1 week to go we finally get our letter of offer and it read like this...............


Peak periods management team all on duty seven days. When the park slows down Assistant Managers can have two days off per week, but not together.
Outside of peak holiday periods assistant managers required to work 5 days from 7.30am until closing.
Mangers days off – assistant managers take over the running of the park, ensuring all issues are dealt with professionally.
Holidays – when we are on holidays you take on the responsibility of the park, ensure the park is maintained and staffed and all policies and procedures are followed. Assistant managers have 4 weeks holiday per year not during school holidays.

Our goals this year are to keep improving the park, increase occupancy and revenue. Neall and I are passionate about Toowoon and we require from you, enthusiasm, long hours and hard work. In return we will offer you a fun, happy work environment.

All this for a measly 75k per couple..........12 hour days 7 days a week and no flexibility for Kaitlyn.........I don't think so.

So we declined the offer and put our name in the hat to stay at Norah(as the new manager's had advertised and were interviewing for our position)

We kept our job at Norah and things were looking up.....we were going to get paid by ATPM for the time we managed the park alone(still waiting for that!) we stayed as contractors as this was the easiest way to do things until the new managers got sorted(they had a 3 month interim contract with ATPM) and then we would bring our contract to the table....promises promises never came 3 months went by, we kept asking to discuss our employment contract, but alas this was never achieved.

Well during this time Mum was put into hospital as she was quite ill with cancer, so off to Tassie we go to see Mum. The day after we get back from Tassie I get a call from my sister saying that Mum has taken a turn for the worst and wont see he day out................shit fuck shit!!!!! couple of hours later my niece calls and tells us Mum has passed away this was on the 24 June 2009.

God I miss you Mum

Well off to Tassie we go again go through all the usual stuff and when we get back we submit our invoice for the month only to be told we don't get paid for days not worked( 2 weeks worth for when in Tassie) as we are contractors. Holy shit.......so all up we are down $10k. Well be right I say to Fi things can only get better.

3 weeks later we are working yet another weekend, this time Kaitlyn is very sick, Fi's Parent's are not up(they came up weekends to babysit but had to do stuff this one) so we tag team to look after Kaitlyn and bring her into the office only to be frowned upon by the managers.

We had had enough of this shitty place and job so we went and told them that we are not prepared to continue with our contract on the current terms (12 hour days, 7 days a week, no super, no holidays, no sick leave and apparently no compassionate leave, regardless of pace or work to do all for $80k per couple) and we need to discuss our employment conditions, so the male manager says to us "so you will finish up at the end of the month then" that was 3 days before the end of July, so finish up we did, contract terminated 2 weeks to find a house to move into and leave that God forsaken job in the past where it belongs!!!!


So house we found move we did..........and here starts another chapter of our lives.

......................TBC