ok, here we go!.
I spent 2 months in OZ caring for my niece while my sister and brother in law travelled around Europe. Because I was with her all the time, I didn’t do a lot of touristy things.
Near where I was staying Hollywood had set up camp to film the 5th installment of Pirates of the Caribbean. When they werent filming you could drive along the road and see the two ship sets they had set up. For most of my time there Johnny Depp wasn’t in OZ, only arriving the week I left. (I’ve never seen any of the films!)
The top 2 photos are of the same ship and the bottom one was of the other ship!
The area was quite hilly where I was and often, especially first thing in the morning when it was cooler, you could see all the lights lit up while they filmed scenes, but you couldn’t get close enough to see any more.
I took my niece to mini golf one morning and had a blast, apart from the heat of the day!. I was hopeless, and she was only marginally better – we both need more practice!.
It as set up really coolly – 3 different areas of 18 holes each with varying levels of skill. Its definitely something I’d do again!.
We also went to Movie World. Because of her we concentrated on the child friendly rides and amusements, and the parade.
That fellow in black kept trying to muscle in on my photos!.
I observed a foreign male taking photos of blond haired young girls while I was watching my niece on a ride. This male comes from a culture that doesn’t have blond hair. I found this very uncomfortable and had to check with my Bro in law, did I see what I thought I just saw. He agreed with me. I decided to inform security – do you think I could find a staff member or security guard!. no!. Eventually I found a young woman running a ride and asked her what the child protection policies where and then explained the situation. After giving her a description and place where I’d seen this I was thanked, told the security office would look into it, and that was that!.
I found it all a bit seemingly low key, shrugged my shoulders and continued on my way. Later that day I saw the man again, and decided to follow up. When I approached customer services they were every pleasant, hadn’t heard anything about it and felt security services will have dealt with it. ‘thanks for your concern’, and here’s the door!.
having taught child protection policies for several years I found their attitude very lax. I wanted to know he had been identified, cos if not, I could take them to him now – but Ms customer services didn’t want to know. I didn’t need to know any more, I just wanted to be sure he’d been identified. Who knows what happened that day! I did think about complaining, but haven’t done so as I’ve been busy dealing with my mothers issues since getting back, which kinda makes me as lax as they seemed to be!. Would you follow up via email?
As well as my niece, I had 2 dogs to look after. (btw, that pool there – I spent a lot of time in it!)
Meet Scout, on the left, and Lucy. Gosh!, where to start with this part of the story…..
While I lounged by the pool each day!, I became aware that Lucy was incontinent. She was leaving puddles whenever she got up. I informed sis and bro in law, and took her off to the vet. He wanted a urine sample!!! Seriously!. But bless Lucy’s gentle nature, she just stood there while I tried to catch her wee in a container. (these are the times you’re thankful for all the nappies you’ve changed over the years and aren’t squeamish about bodily functions!). I got the sample and dropped it back to the vet. An infection was ruled out so she was put on incontinence pills. These didn’t seem to help and we finally got to see her normal vet. She had another urine sample taken, this time via a needle, and was recommended that we shave her back end to get a better picture of what was going on. Long story short – the pills didnt work, the shaving didn’t change anything, she was struggling more and more to pass urine, so an xray was taken. The dear girl had cancer in the neck of her bladder which was growing so fast it was blocking the wee coming out. What a hard day that was. Lucy was as happy as always, she never whined when she tried to wee, she was always so good natured. That was 2 weeks ago, and this past monday she was put to eternal sleep as she wasn’t passing any urine at all. Due to its location the vet has said operations wouldnt be able to reach it. Poor wee Scout is lost without her mate, but getting happier by the day. I skyped Oz this morning and she was running all round the room looking for me, which broke my heart!. and all this from a cat person!.
**wipes tears away**
so, thats all about my 2 months away. I’ll be back soon with a show and tell of all the goodies I came back with!.