The End of an Era...

Friday night just gone, I gave my boss at SSS my 2 weeks notice, and surprisingly she took it well, and since i'm only casual i am not actually required to give 2 weeks notice i will be finishing up at the end of next weeks roster, on Saturday.

It's sad and joyous news, as it means that all the old staff are now gone, but for me it means freedom to pursue my career somewhere else.

Monkerai Springers Boots & Utes Festival

Hey Everyone,
Ok, I am finally putting some photos from the Festival on our Blog. The bottom picture is the Paddock on the Friday afternoon a few hours before the gates opened. The white tent in the back ground is the Bar and the things dotted around the paddock are cement blocks to stop the country crowd from doing circle work.

The next one is the same area on the Saturday afternoon.....

The crowd gathering around to watch an 'Ark up' in the ute comp.....

One of the entrants in the Feral Ute Comp.....

My Sister, Jessica on Sunday morning (she turned 21 on Saturday night).....

The clean up on Sunday was enormous. It's always big, but a strong south-westerly wind blew up on Saturday afternoon and lasted for two days, it blew a lot of the rubbish into the river and we had to trawl through the river in an emu line to get it all out. Fun fun.

Overall the event went really well. We ended up with about 1500 people (that's about 500 down on last year, so that's not good, but it was the first year as a festival instead of a B&S, which might explain the drop in numbers), but the bands were great, we managed to control circle work, nobody burned a car (there has been a group the last two years that brings up an old car and set fire to it, and we hadn't been able to catch them), there was very little agro and responsible service was handled well.

Unfortunately I missed out on pictures of the Saturday Night Ball and the costumes because I was too busy working, but I hope this gives you an idea of what it is all about.

I worked about 42hrs in three days. By Sunday afternoon I was dead on my feet and in a really foul mood (I can function on very little sleep but I need at least five hours to be a nice person) but I've had a fantastic time, a lot of job satisfaction, and I will be back again next year to do it all again.

A wacko night

Here's a restaurant owners/bar managers nightmare come true.

Tonight at about 8 o'clock, when we started to get hammered with Hen's Party people and large groups, the water switch in our post mix machine broke and set itself to constant stream... And with no way to stop it, it managed to drench the bar. The last resort was turn of the PostMix machine down stair... which meant, No soft drink, No Water... effectively nothing but beer, juice and wine could be served until Jacinta (my boss) went and bought cases of canned soft drink to replace it... The 20 minute run to the store was a nightmare as it was one of the busiest periods in the bar for the night.. And I was in charge of the bar.

Wine Tasting

Had some staff Wine Training/Tasting out at the Vintage today with Margan Estate Wines...

Learnt a little bit about why Hunter Valley wines are different, one that stood out (or i remembered the best :P) was that pretty much no winery in the Hunter oaks Semillion. Other little facts like our wine is more acidic, making it more savoury and/or citrusy.

Little fun facts for you.

Wedding For Martines

Hey Everyone!

I have been pretty busy at work, we have so many functions coming up because spring is here!

I worked at a Wedding at Cooks Hill Surf Club Last weekend, which may i add i completed a 14 hour shift... that is a lot for me... i was buggered. The Wedding was a really casual with finger food on the menu. The ceremony was actually in the Surf club it was decorated really nicely, with fairy lights and a 3 piece band. there was 80 Guests at this wedding so only a small one, but they spent over $3500 on the bar which was a good result. I have attached some pictures of me working at this function.

Blowing my own trumpet :)

Finally got nothing but good feedback and compliments from workmates today, the last few days at The Vintage have been really busy, due to The Women's Golf NSW Tournament, and I have right in the thick of it. And after two full on days two of my biggest critics (my supervisor Mark and a more experienced workmate Aimee) both pulled me aside and complimented me on the improvements i have made over the last few days :D

Ego stroking done. Please return from the edge of your seats :P

Working at The heights Cafe

Above are some Pictures of my coffees i have made and some are action shots of me making coffees at the Heights cafe and at Martine's. these are some of the best coffees i have made so thats why i took photoes of them hehehe....