Graduation

A day to celebrate. It was a chance to prance around the old Adelaide uni sandstone buildings wearing a silly hat and a fancy gown. I was surprised how important the day was. I choked back the tears as I walked down the hall to the stage where the other PhD graduates were to be seated. I saw my hubby, Mum and Dad all proudly sitting in the audience. My kids had been left behind in Wollongong which was part of the reason for choking back the tears. The other reason was I was finally at the end of a long journey that had involved lots and lots of hard work, fun, adventures and juggling. The final outcome - a new name Dr Morris - and new found freedom. So many friends, family and colleagues had traveled the journey with me. For this I am truly thankful.  

    

Done and dusted

It was a fabulous day when the news arrived my PhD was passed unconditionally. This is a rare result where both external markers were happy with the thesis content. No corrections were required. I was dancing for joy. At the time we were travelling around Australia and I really don't know how I would of managed to make any changes. The kids, Sol and I were all delighted. I couldn't wipe the smile off my face all day long. We were mucking about and laughing when Sol took this photo. It really was rather appropriate as I was no longer to be a Miss or a Mrs, labelled by my gender. Finally I was to become a Dr. A true cousin IT with three happy kids and a hubby who had come on the PhD roller-coaster ride.

Our trip around Australia looking at rocks was an exceptional experience. We kept facebook upto date but found blogging a bit tricky when there was soooo much to see with limited internet access.

Earthdownunder

Australia is truly a wonderful place. Of course I was on the lookout for any post-fire erosion. This photo was taken just south of Exmouth. It looked very much like the result of a wildfire. Australia has sooo many differing termite mounds, a great way to see the differing colours of our soil. Many students take a trip when the thesis is submitted. I highly recommend travelling around Australia. It's a magnificient country and the travelling community are extremely friendly. It was a great way to finish the PhD adventure. Next month is graduation. Get ready for the silly hat photo ; )

Earthdownunder

A new adventure has started in my life. With the PhD off to the land of marking I have left Wollongong to travel Australia for six months looking at rocks. Of course there are a couple of new blogs you can follow for this stage of life 
http://earthdownunder.blogspot.com.au/

or
http://earthdownunder.wordpress.com/

We all wiped away the tears as we said farewell to our dog Alex. Due to dogs not being welcomed in National Parks he just couldn't come too.  Luckily a lovely family is looking after our house, dog and life whilst we're away.

First night we stayed at Albury horse equestrian club. We know little about horses. 

The next day the kids learnt about real life minecraft by experiencing underground mines and gold panning in Bendigo. Schooling was a challenge today - we got there with giggles and amazing resources from Sydney Distance Education School.

Printing

Last Friday I printed the thesis for examination. To celebrate I headed off to Waterfall Gully to hike up Mount Lofty (8km return). My flight back to Sydney left that afternoon and I figured I had plenty of time. Well, I locked the keys in the boot of the car- whoops. Closing of the boot occurred in slow motion as I realised what I had done. Help took 1.5hrs to arrive with a spare key. I still managed to fit the walk in then flew home a free person. No more thesis to write or corrections to do (for a long while). I've many signatures to track down before I submit. Not long now ; )

 

 

Waterfall Gully at the base of Mount Lofty

 

Mount Lofty Lookout

 

 

 

Lofty Ranges

Exciting times indeed

My entire draft thesis was emailed to my supervisor on Friday. What a great feeling. Tomorrow I can go to the beach, shop, swim, ride or whatever I feel like. It's the first real holiday feeling where there is no point working on my studies. LOVE IT!! Freedom for a week...

Mount Bold Reservoir 4 months after the 2007 wildfire

The hare and the tortoise

Been a bit slack on the home readers lately. This morning I ignored the mess and made some time for my little man. What an appropriate story to be reading today "the hare and the tortoise". I'm still trying to work out whether I've been a  hare or tortoise with this never ending PhD. Definitely the tortoise when it comes to pace- plodding along continuously and slowly. It feels like I must of taken a huge rest like the hare but truly that is not the case. Each week something progressed on the PhD, maybe not as quick as I would of preferred.  The finish line is getting closer. I had a minor melt down the other day thinking it will never end and that I could not spend another day on it. I'm hoping it's like the transition phase with birth. Just when its all too much its time for the little head to pop out. Fingers crossed. I wrote the conclusion last week. Geez that felt good!!!!!!!!!

Silkworms

Have you ever watched a silkworm spin a cocoon? Tranquil - yet lots of work. The last few weeks PhD-procrastination effort has involved a short walk to the local uni carpark to pick a few mulberry leaves to feed the worms. Ok I get strange looks and the odd question, I'm fairly used to that outcome in life. The worms hatched in June (of course we forgot about them) so only half survived the year long wait to emerge from the envelop in our pantry. Starvation probably beats last years culling effort - I fed the excess worms to the chooks. My Mum used to keep silk worms when we were kids and for some reason I have followed the tradition. Our boys know about the life cycle, watching with varying levels of interest as the worms grow from being a millimetre in size to the current 7cm fat caterpillars. Just last night two started to weave their cocoons. Its time to place more egg cups in the box so they have a safe spot to build their sleepy homes ready to emerge as moths for the fun-reproductive stage of life ; )

I woke with a cold this morning. Great excuse to hang with the boys rather than bury my head into statistics. We'll visit the local growers market, change the silkworms home with clean newspaper, play computer games, build bionicles and dare to shop for school shoes. I remember a motivational speaker at school who recommended doing the ironing when you were sick as you may aswell get the horrid jobs out of the way when you feel awful. She also kindly referred to buckets of chips as buckets of fat. Yes she was the famous nutritionist, Rosemary Stanton who was the Mum of numerous kids at our school. Back then she wasn't as well know as she is today. I tend to use sick days as no thinking days - these normally turn into fun-productive homedays.