Moontrekkers - Oxfam Trailwalker

I am currently training for the Oxfam Trailwalker - Perth Edition. This is the first time this walk has been in Perth. It is an event in which I have always wanted to do and now with a little more time up my sleeve (with less buddies over here to demand my attention) I thought it the perfect way to meet some others, have a goal to train for all while raising money for a good cause.

We need to raise $1000 for oxfam by the end of the month for our team to compete in the walk. Our team page is found here. 

Our team Moon Trekkers: Alex, Abby, Myself and GC

Alex wrote me a wee bio for our team page which is pretty amusing: 

Grace has recently moved here from New Zealand or "en-zed" and hasn't said much about it, apart from noticing several differences, like: our buckets of the Colonel's original recipe are bigger than Kentucky Fried Kiwi back home, she thinks we are sad for not having L&P in every fridge (its world famous!!) and she speaks of fond memories of riding a hobbit to school, keeping one eye out for low-flying Nasgul. We don't know how much of that is true though. She has done some synchronised swimming (see image), netball, run a couple of half marathons, and we even hear she dabbled in roller derby for a while.
We suspect she is all sweet and nice on the outside, but has a will of iron and might punch someone's teeth out, but quite handily she works in the dental industry so it isn't a big issue. Glad to have her along on this arduous trek, for a worthwhile cause.
No doubt there will be lots of funny banter whilst we all walk together for 100km. You can read the bios of other team mates on our team page.

Where the walk is located, just inland from Perth. It covers a range of terrain, through some bush and hills etc. So should be interesting! 

Dad sent me some supplies from the Ice Breaker outlet by his work back home!

My new walkers, recommended by Lauren my dear podiatrist friend.

Long Dog WA Spring Fling

Long Dog WA

Oscar every morning..

Thanks Isana for sharing this with me. Love it!!

My Place of Schooling

Whitfords Dental Centre

So just before I get started in ranting along about what I get up to outside of school, I'm just going to clarify what my 'school' is. School is a place of learning and as a grown up we learn mon-fri at work, and luckily get paid for the privilege to do so!

Ten Things I Love about My New Job

1.     Bigger team – we had a staff training day yesterday and there was 18 people there with a couple missing.  So about 4x the size of my old workplace. And I get to work with another hygienist, which is great to have someone else to bounce ideas off.

2.     I get an assistant – which is such a treat. So my helper cleans up my surgery between patients and notes down what I talk to my patients about which gives me more time to focus on the part of my job which I love which is helping patients understand how to keep their mouth healthy and doing treatment.

3.     I get Mondays off, which means three day weekends woohoo. Although I do work alternate Saturday mornings, but that’s totally fine. They say a four day 37hour week is ‘full time’ for their staff.

4.     Which brings me to my next point; good management.  The management of the practice is just exceptional.

5.     I am not the youngest staff member.  All the girls that work with me in my room are around 21, which is great. Hard to explain why this matters but it makes it easier for me to be an assertive professional clinician.

6.     The practice just moved into a new building in January so it is really nice and fancy. My room is set up so great with new equipment. Which makes life much easier.

7.     Even though the building is new the practice is a well-established practice with a huge range of patients, which means there is variety is my work. On my first morning I saw literally the oldest patient I have ever treated aged 96, then later that day one of the youngest; a little boy who was only three.

8.     Which ties onto my number 8: I am constantly challenged. Working with different clinicians means learning how they like to work, learning new computer software, treating more advanced cases etc.

9.     I can play my own music. Which is fun, compared to my last job where the music was throughout the practice.  Its amazing how much it can lift your energy levels listening to relaxing (patient appropriate) music that I enjoy.

10.  For a very general last point to sum up why it has been so easy to settle into my new job at WDC; there is just a reallygreat vibe in the practice.  Everyone I work with is just really nice, has been really patience with me as I learnt the new computer software, and just so welcoming and happy.

These are my new work shoes which I love. Safe from hazardous falling instrument but super stylish too.

The fabulous dino puppet I have at work, which is a hit with the kiddies. It is a little creepy with its human style chompers - but they are great for showing the wee ones how to brush!