A Week at the Creek

Well, back in Cairns after 10 days in SE QLD. After Easter, I jumped straight down to Bris for three days working out of the Brisbane office, then out for a week's training session at Murphy's Creek.

The firm has bought a 40 acre property down by the creek, and has set it up as an offsite "school" with twin-share accommodation. So myself and 11 other staff converged on the place for a week to live out there and learn. It was actually a really good week, based on Stephen Covey's book "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People". The first two days were spent with a facilitator from Franklin-Covey taking us through the proper 7 Habits training, and the last three focussed on where and how we apply these habits in our work as a legal practice. I quite enjoy personal development activities, so I had a great week.

Long days, however, with things kicking off at 7am and having planned activities through till 7-8 at night every night, with the vast majority of the days spent on dodgy plastic chairs in front of a projector and whiteboard. Needless to say, I was very glad to come home. I was lucky to go on the same course as two other people from our office here that I get on really well with, which made things a lot easier. The groups are drawn randomly from all staff Australia-wide, to allow people to mix and get to know one another. I've got some photos of the property, but have been too busy to upload them yet - will get them up ASAP - it's a lovely spot!

Being down in Bris for the few days before gave me a chance to catch up with everyone again, which was great. I stayed with Jamie, as usual, and really appreciate having somewhere to stay that's handy to transport, yet more friendly than sitting in a hotel room by myself. Hope I haven't outstayed my welcome with the amount of time I've spent there lately! On the Friday night Jamie and I headed over to Paul and Nehara's place for a BBQ dinner, and to talk about their upcoming wedding. We have heaps of stuff to organise, which reminds me that I need to ring Derrick back at some stage! I stayed at their place Friday night so that we could head down Saturday morning and get measured and fitted for our suits for their big day - another checkbox ticked off!

Sunday Jamie and I made our (belated, after Matt spent all morning reading a book) way to Toowoomba, and spent the afternoon with Mum & Dad, Grant & Sam, and the kids. Always fun, even if it is mayhem. Grant and Sam are planning a trip up here soon, so will be great to see them here, especially since Jess has missed out on these last few trips down, and misses the kids terribly.

After the week at the creek had finished, Dad came down and picked me up, and Mum, Dad and I drove down to Jamie's - saving me from the pre-organised shuttle bus ride. Main Roads had decided, in their infinite wisdom, to close the highway at Blacksoil at 5pm on a Friday afternoon to re-surface the road. Everyone was being directed off an exit, around a roundabout, then back down onto the highway past the roadworks. A stretch of road that normally takes 5 mins caught us for over half an hour as we crawled along. Still, it could have been worse, and since my flight was the following day, I wasn't stressed by the delay. After a quick trip to the airport on Saturday, and I was buzzing back home.

All in all, a good 10 days away, but I think I'll try in future to so shorter trips - the 10 days just left me drained and spent by the time I made it back, which probably goes a long way to explain why I've had the flu for the past few days. Everyone's telling me it's swine flu, so hopefully they'll quarantine me from work. that'd be nice!

Photos are now online!