From the man of the house....

Hello friends and family. Finally the man of the house has wrested the keyboard from the normal author of this blog .... actually she is too busy coughing and spluttering to make an entry, so I have taken my chance.

Regular readers of this column may have noticed that the last entry was not quite as happy and upbeat as usual, OK in fact it was downright depressing. Sorry about that but we are telling it as it is and life has its ups and downs even in 'the lucky country' (as somebody recently described it to me). So far I have been able to steer clear of the dreaded lurgy and have my fingers crossed that it stays that way.

On saturday we went and signed the lease on the house in Narrabeen after which I actually had a chance to look around it (some of you might be thinking that this seems the wrong way around but as they already had our $8,500 in the bank the deal was pretty much done). Having entrusted the house searching to 'er indoors I have to say she did a fantastic job - the house is just spectacular. You literally do an intake of breath as you walk into the main living area and take in the view across the lagoon. The agent assured us that you can actually swim in the water (hence no need for a pool), as well as fish, kayak, windsurf, etc... With a fabulous beach also just five minutes away I could say that this place is about as good as mother earth provides but then it's beginning to sound like I'm gloating so I shall shut up about it.

Something that is really noticeable is how friendly people are here. We bumped into some people who live over the road to the house and they couldn't have been more welcoming. It seems that there is a real community on Wimbledon Ave.

Yesterday we went to a 'get together' of families from Anna's school year group at a lovely park next to a bay at Mona Vale. Again lots of really friendly and welcoming people, most of whom it has to be said were British. A common question being 'so how long have you been out here?' to which the answer seemed to range from about 26 years to 'a week'. Yes, we are no longer the newest family in town! Everybody seems to really like the school and we all generally congratulated eachother on living in such a fantastic part of the world. If you live in Sydney you just have to go to the Northern Beaches or 'Gods own country' (I have heard the Welsh use that expression too, sorry boyo you need to come and see this place).

Work is going well, everybody is really welcoming and the culture is very much as I was used to at Gifford. Designing a 32 storey office block is a new experience for me but interesting nevertheless and there is a real desire to include environmental features, in fact the City Council in Brisbane are threatening to offer significant grants to the developers to encourage them to do so.

Well that's it from me for now. I am sorry there are no pretty pictures but if you want to see why we are so excited about our new abode type ''Narrabeen'' into Google images and check out the beach and lagoon. There will be room at the Inn from June 1st......

How Are You?

You may or may not know, that the standard greeting in Australia is Hi, how are you? This is used when you approach shop assistants, when you enter shops, when you phone people - everywhere. It leaves me a bit non plussed, because it obliges you to reply that you are great etc and how are you, when actually all you wanted to know was where the silver foil aisle is. Obviously, no one actually wants to know how you are, but I've decided that next time someone asks I'm going to tell them. I'm going to say - well, actually I'm rubbish. I feel utterly s**t and I have done for over 3 weeks now. I never sleep because I'm coughing all night and my nose and sinuses are so bunged up I feel as if my head is going to explode. And apart from you I haven't spoken to anyone all day. And how are you?....

As you can gather, today has not been the best day of my life and I have even allowed myself a sob in bed this evening. I know you are all bored to death of this by now, and that this blog is starting to read like a chronicle of my diseases, but I have not felt this awful for some years. And I'm fed up of it. Also, you know when you are not well, you want your own bed in your own home and to get snuggled up and feel all homely? Well, my home is on the other side of the world, and all the stuff that made it homely is on a ship somewhere. And this is when I allowed myself to have a cry. I know I want to be here, but I hadn't anticipated in these first most lonely weeks feeling so ill. And today I had to drive them to school, but at that time of day it would take an hour to drive back, so I went and parked by the sea and slept. And then when I woke up there was no point in driving back to the flat so I went and dragged myself round the Mall and did the food shopping before picking up the children and then it took and hour of solid traffic to drive back.

However, on a more positive note, the children were both very chipper when I picked them up, and arrangements have been made for Anna to have a sleepover at her 'best' friend Keana's house next Friday, and I'm going to try to arrange for George's friend to come to us the same night. And a chap phoned my about a choir I had enquired about, and I will try to make it to their concert on Sunday night to see what they are like, and there is a get together for all Year 4 families at a park on Sunday morning, where I should get to meet some other people, and raise the chances of me having a conversation with someone every now and again. And we think we have found a flat in Dee Why (close to the school) which we can move into on 15th May until the house at Narrabeen is ready. So not all bad in fact.

I feel rather guilty about this post. I know being here is a wonderful opportunity and I should be grateful for every moment. And I also know that I live a pretty charmed life and I'm very lucky. I know that once I actually feel like myself again, I will go out and grasp everything that living here offers me. Carpe Diem. But just for today, I'm going to wallow.....sorry about that....

D Day

So finally - the big day arrived and Anna and George started school. Anna could barely contain her excitement the night before and both of them had trouble getting off to sleep, although for different reasons. Anna leapt out of bed in the morning with hitherto unheard of haste, failed to eat any breakfast and was desperate to get out the door. George put his uniform on without too much complaint (I was a little worried that he might stage a last minute protest and refuse to wear it) and we all agreed that actually they looked rather wonderful. Now the photo above is of course Anna, who was very happy for a picture of her to appear on the blog. George would rather I didn't, so sorry about that. He does look lovely though.

On the way to school (a 35 minute drive from here) I was seriously concerned that Anna was going to throw up with a combination of nerves and excitement. She kept saying she needed fresh air and opening the windows, but in the end we got there without her depositing the couple of spoons of cocoa pops she had managed to eat onto her beautiful new regalia. Happily, it was a gloriously sunny day, and the school and all its pupils looked lovely when we got there. George and Anna were introduced to the children who would be looking after them for the day and that was the last we saw of Anna. George lingered for a little longer but pretty much looked as though he had lost his anxiety about the uniform before we left, once he had seen all the other boys in it. It was interesting to see, however, how the boys could make even a very formal uniform like that look a little scruffy!



And so, after we had spoken to the teachers a little, and observed assembly (which takes place outside!) we went, giving Anna a wave and shaking George's hand (I'd given him a special kiss and cuddle before we left the flat, so as not to completely strip him of what little street cred you have left when wearing knee high socks and a Billy Bunter cap by doing it in the playground), and off Andrew and I went. I feel a little anxious about them, but I'm pretty confident they will have enjoyed it when I pick them up.



So today has been my first day as a real lady of leisure, and so far it has consisted of the leisure pursuits of dropping off the dry cleaning, doing the washing, cleaning the flat, and typing this blog before I have to set off for the school again. To be fair, after I had dropped Andrew off at Manly ferry I did have a quick wander up the Corso and had poached eggs on toast, a decaf latte and an orange juice watching the surfers on the beach......



Now - some news from home. Most of you will know that we had a lovely border collie at home called Charlie, who after long and hard thought we decided not to bring with us to Sydney, even though it broke our hearts (particularly Anna and I). He has gone to live with our good friends Sarah and Roy and their children Thomas and Charlotte, and we know he is very happy and very well loved there. Anyone who has actually met Charlie will know that you would be hard pressed to find a more friendly dog, such is his desperation to be loved by everyone he meets. So you can imagine our surprise when we received news from Sarah that Charlie has somehow had bestowed upon him the dubious honour of being on the New Milton post office's dangerous dog list! Sarah tells us that Charlie has 'issues' with postmen. Hysterical! Charlie - if nothing else - is very entertaining, even from this distance!



Our good friend Mark has raised the issue of climate change in Australia and I thought I would say a few words about it here. It certainly is a hot topic here, just as in the UK, making lots of news headlines and articles, although there seems a reluctance to link the present drought to global warming. However, anecdotally, I asked one of the people in the flats what the weather was normally like at this time of year, when we were getting so much rain and he said that they don't really have 'normal' weather anymore. He said the weather these days is pretty weird and you could get any sort of weather on any day, although it is generally warm. That rang bells really with the weather we have experienced in the UK over the last couple of years, which hasn't really been 'normal' either. There's definitely something going on. However, Australia is taking some steps to counter the effects of CO2 - it has decreed that normal light bulbs will not be able to be sold in this country in 5 years - they are phasing them out and we will all have to use low energy bulbs, recycling is a way of life and much more advanced here (even public bins on the street are divided into general waste and recyclable waste) and there has recently been a day of action where people where asked to simultaneously switch off their lights for an hour. Although this was largely symbolic, given that the city is lit up like a Christmas tree every night, it must have made some difference!



Right - it's nearly time to pick the children up again and hear about their days! Thanks to everyone who sent them emails and texts and messages wishing them luck on their first day - we all really appreciated it!



It will be interesting to see what George and Anna write about the day themselves - and if you want to see, you can do this at their blogs -



http://annasownadventure.blogspot.com



http://georgedownunder.blogspot.com



The blogs are all their own work, and they love receiving comments!

Good News!

It's been a good day overall. First of all we heard that we have got the house at Narrabeen. I can scarcely believe I am going to live in that house. It's very, very exciting, and you all must come and visit us. We can't move in until 1st June, so we will find some more temporary accommodation nearer to the school in the interim, but we are just that little bit closer to getting an actual home! Great.

This morning, I did as Andrew has been asking me to, and took myself off to the doctors. He told me exactly what I expected - which was that I've got a virus, there is nothing he can do, and that coughing until you choke and vomit is just part of life's rich pageant, even if it is rather distressing. He has, however, obligingly given me some industrial strength cough suppressant, which I am only to take at night as it is likely to put me into some sort of coma. Marvellous.....

He was a nice chap, and it was interesting to compare accessing the GP here with what happens in the UK. The surgery is at the shopping mall, it is open 7 days a week, 24 hours a day, and you don't have to register. You just turn up, pay your money and the next available doctor sees you - in my case this was within 15mins. If you are covered by the Australian healthcare system you show your medicare card, if you have private insurance you show that card, and if you have private insurance and no card (yes, that was me) - you pay your $60 and go on your way. Brilliant. Now obviously, if you have some sort of chronic disease or health problem you need to have more of a relationship with your GP than this, but for many of us, we only go to the doctor when we have the latest bug going round, and this seemed to me a great way to deal with it.

The rest of the day was taken up with getting the children's school uniform sorted out. Now, when you first decide that you are going to send your children to the lovely fee paying school, you look at the fees, and think - ok - this is manageable. Then you go and get the uniform and realise that you are going to be destitute for the rest of your life. Because the fees may be reasonable, but kitting the children out in the clothes they are obliged to wear whilst getting their top notch education has just set you back $1315. Yes. That is correct. $1315. This means that they will lose or ruin any part of their uniform on pain of death. I haven't even bought their shoes yet.

George is finding it all rather difficult. Anna loves the uniform - her peter pan collar blouse, her checked tunic, her blazer, her panama hat. George is not loving his shorts, long socks, shirt, tie, blazer and Billy Bunter cap quite so much. He looked positively tortured whilst trying it on, and I have to say it is a bit tragic. All thoughts of putting a pic of them both on here on their first day have been abandoned as we have had to promise George that no one from home except the grannies and grandads will ever see him in this get up. I'm still convinced it's the right school for them - hopefully once George sees that everyone else is wearing the same outfit, hopefully he won't feel so bad.

The other thing that is bothering George I think, is that the school have decided to put Anna up a year. Here by age she would be in year 3, but today, as result of her interview with her teachers, they have decided to put her in year 4. This means she is suddenly only a year behind George in year 5. I think it is the right decision for her, and George being in Year 5 is right for him, but I'm sensitive to how it might feel for him. Keep all your fingers crossed for their first day on Thursday.

There has been torrential rain most of yesterday and today, although it is still very warm and muggy. The Australians are very pleased about the wet weather as the drought is pretty serious - some of their major rivers have completely dried up. The newspapers tell us there will be a knock on effect in the economy and particularly food prices. So far I'm not sure that food shopping is any cheaper than at home - there are things that are less expensive (lamb is an obvious one that springs to mind), but over your entire shopping trolley it is pretty much the same. And it looks like it is going to get more expensive.

This fits in nicely with a little anxiety I've had since we got here, niggling away in the back of my mind. And it is this - that this is all too good, something will ruin it, and now we are here Australia will cease to be a lovely, fun, hot place with a low cost of living, and turn into a dreary wet place that is really expensive. I'll keep you posted....

Not to be outdone

Not to be outdone by her big brother, Anna has started a blog too. Obviously, you all have to look at it and leave comments which will make her deliriously happy. The link is

http://annasownadventure.blogspot.com

All her own work - not bad really...

Good News - Mothers Day here is in May. This will gp some way to make up for the Mother's Day I endured in the UK this year, when I ironed ALL DAY.

More Good News - our estate agent here has sent a glowing reference to our prospective estate agent here saying what fab tenants we will be (thanks Malcolm!). Can't really see how we could fail to get that house in Narrabeen now.

Good News for Andrew - free beer in the Arup office every Friday.

Hmmmm.

I told you I was ill....

Yesterday wasn't as bad a day as it might have been. I woke up in the morning still with my cold having coughed all night (did I mention I have a cold?....lol). George woke up still with his very sore throat, looking like death and running a temperature. We didn't get up till lunchtime....

Finally I took pity on Anna, dragged myself out of bed and took her to Warringah Mall. Earlier in the week I had had a pedicure at 'American Nails' (which would more accurately be described as Chinese Nails, as everyone working there was chinese) and Anna had been very impressed. Actually I was very impressed....as a girl from Milford on Sea, I had not seen a nail salon with black leather massage chairs in rows with built in foot spas and someone tending to each foot! And all for $35 - about £15! Very nice way to while away 45 minutes! Anna wanted some girl time, so I negotiated a special rate for a small girl to have both a manicure and pedicure. Hopefully I won't have set a precedent, but Anna loved it, and looked so sweet trying to be all grown up on those big chairs.

After that we nipped round to the pet shop to have our regular look at the puppies (yes pet shops here sell puppies, but they won't be selling any to me...). Every time we visit the Mall we have to go there and 'choose' a puppy and name it. I chose a Jack Russell/Maltese cross and called it Buddy, athough Anna wanted to call it Finbar. I have to admit it was extremely cute but we're not in a position to buy dogs at the moment, and when we are I'm not getting one from a pet shop....

Next we had to buy all the stationary for school. This was a pretty big job and I haven't finished yet. Here, even if you are going to state school you provide all your own stationary as I understand it. St Lukes has a complex list and I wandered around Big W trying to identify all the various bits and worrying that I might get the wrong things and the children would be scarred for life! Anna quite enjoyed all this - she is really getting into the whole starting a new school thing...In later years at school you also have to buy all the text books! Better start saving now.

Today, the forecast was good so obviously it rained for most of the day, so our intended trip to the beach was out. Instead we went up to Narrabeen, showed Andrew the house we are trying to get (luckily he liked it as much as we did, and he didn't even get to go inside) and then did some exploring. From the house we will be able to walk to the bus stop and get the school bus to school, get the bus to the city, walk to the most wonderful beach, walk to a supermarket and just about any other type of shop you could imagine, or drive our boat to any of them. How cool is that? If we don't get this house I will be V Disappointed. There are lots of lovely cafes, bars and restaurants too, either with a beach or a lagoon view.

This evening - great excitement - we had a guest for supper! Xin, who used to work for Gifford in Manchester has recently moved to Sydney herself, and she joined us for the evening. Everyone had a lovely time, despite the thunder, lightning and torrential rain, and Xin even played a couple of games on the Playstation with the children. So now we potentially have 3 guests for our housewarming party - Paul, Lydia and Xin...Lol.

Now need to mention - happy birthday to Louise who is the Big Four O today, and apparently had a bit of a bash last night. Hope everyone had a great time, and sorry we weren't able to make it on this occasion! Obviously I'm expecting 100% attendance from all our friends at my own fortieth next year!

Quick bit of news

George has started his own blog! You can look at it by clicking on the link on this blog or by typing

http://georgedownunder.blogspot.com

into your address bar!

He'd love to get some comments and get his web counter going up, so go on - take a look.

Up Days....Down Days

Feeling a bit low today....I still have this ridiculous cold which has been disturbing my sleep with coughing and spluttering in various mutations for over 2 weeks now. It's also disturbing Andrew's sleep, and so he keeps nagging me to see a doctor. This is difficult on two counts - a) I don't have a doctor and b) I clearly have a virus which the doctor is not going to be able to help me with. Living in a 2 bed flat with only one other room (the living/dining/kitchen) means that I can't sleep anywhere else so as not to disturb hubby.

Added to this, George is really not well at all either (much more poorly than me). He has a temperature for the last 2 days and a really sore throat. This means we are pretty much trapped in said small flat....

However, yesterday George was manful and brave about being poorly and Jack and Will came over for the day. Obviously staying in this flat with 4 children was not exactly an option, and although clearly not really being up to it, I dosed George up with Calpol and took them to Manly where they played cricket on the beach and then took them into the Oceanarium. After that we went off to Dee Why for tea in one of the cafes, and then when I took them home, Paul and Andrew had shared a taxi and the four of us adults had a glass of wine and a really great pizza Paul had made. So not a bad day really all things considered.

Anna is suffering a little from the absence at the moment of female friends.....she's perfectly capable of doing all the boy things and is pretty rufty tufty, but eventually a girl wants to do hair, do a show and talk about High School Musical. She really can't wait to get to school, where she knows she will make lots of friends. To try to make up for her loneliness, I am taking her to Warringah Mall this afternoon to have a manicure...

Speaking of Warringah Mall - apparently this is the largest shopping mall in the southern hemisphere. Although it's pretty big it makes me very concerned about the shopping opportunities existing in the rest of the hemisphere. Clearly us shopaholics need to confine our actitivities to the North!

A Quiet Day...

The children wanted to stay at the flat today...I suppose sometimes they just want to veg out and not go out and explore the world. We went to the park across the road with the cricket set, a skipping rope and a football and whiled away a couple of hours. Having demonstrated beyond any reasonable doubt that I am crap at all three activities, we retired to the flat to have some lunch. I was unable to persuade George and Anna into any of schemes for entertainment in the afternoon and eventually I dozed off while they argued about the playstation.

I have to say that I am beginning to regret very much the purchase of said playstation. Despite my restrictions on its use (in school holidays before 9am and after 5pm - except obviously when I've dozed off...), it is a source of almost endless arguments. When playing on it, they can argue about whether they are doing it right, whose turn it is, who has been on it longest, what game to play etc etc etc ad infinitum. And when they are not on in they are in a constant state of negotiation about who will go on it first when they are allowed on it, and what game to play. I am really really hoping that very soon it will either break down or they will lose interest - neither of which is looking very likely at the moment.

The estate agent dealing with the lease of the house in Narrabeen called me during the afternoon and asked all sorts of questions about our situation. It was like being interviewed, but I suppose if it gets us the house we will be happy! She sounded very nice actually, and like everyone we have met so far, was very friendly indeed. Hopefully we will hear something tomorrow, so don't uncross anything as yet!

Andrew is going to have to go away on the company conference in July for a few days. If you are interested in seeing what sort of privations this might involve, follow this link....http://www.sanctuarycove.com/. No dreary midweek in Coventry this.....and wives can go too! However, in the absence of any babysitting arrangements, it looks like I'll be giving it a miss this year. No doubt next year Arup will be gathering in Coventry for their company conference.....Other interesting news from the Arup office is that there is someone called Jackie Chan (George was particularly impressed by this) who, according to Andrew, used to go to school with someone called Bruce Lee. Not sure about that one!

Crossed fingers...

It's been a lovely couple of days.....having agreed with the children that we would go for a picnic and further having made the slightly concerning decision that Anna could make said picnic, we received a call from Lydia, asking us if we would like to join them on a trip to Waterworld in Manly. George and Anna were thrilled at the prospect of spending some time with other children, and I really enjoy Lydia and Paul's company, so we gratefully accepted the invite drove over to Manly. Waterworld was great fun (big slides) and we ended up spending the day there, with the children going in and out of the slide place and playing rugby league on the beach. Lydia and I put the world to rights, as women tend to...

Today we were excited to be going to have a look at a couple of potential houses, and hopefully we will be successful in getting the place below -


It's in Narrabeen, very close to the famous surfing beach (see sunset pic above) but best of all it backs onto the lagoon - see photo of the garden below!

It also comes with its own boat for use on the lagoon and creeks. The children are so excited at the prospect of being able to fish from their garden, there are shops nearby, a park about 100m away and the school bus and the bus to the city stop there. And the beach is on the other side of the main road.

Houses here are much more imaginatively designed than at home it seems, and you very rarely see two houses the same. One of the nice things about this house is that it has a 'master bedroom suite' running the whole width of the house, with a balcony running across it with that view, and comprises a bedroom, a small sitting room, a walk in wardrobe and a spa bathroom. I will barely know myself if we succeed in getting this house! There is also a guest suite with bedroom, small sitting area and ensuite, two other nice bedrooms, a huge playroom (they call it a rumpus) with a bar in it (!) and then an open plan living kitchen and dining room which is also enormous. The rental market here is very competitive - there are more people looking than there are properties and you have to apply and then the lessor decides who they want in their house. You have to be quick off the mark, but no one else has viewed this house as yet, and they are not planning to show it again until next week - and then only if it is necessary. So keep your fingers crossed!

More momentous occasions...

Two important events today - Andrew's first day at Arup and George and Anna's interview with the principal at St Lukes.

By all accounts, Andrew's day seems to have gone well. He has arrived home today in good spirits having spent the day getting orientated into the company. He reports having been given a mug, a water bottle and a glass and says that there is free fruit on Wednesdays and Fridays and free biscuits all the time. Andrew is satisfied with this and I am relieved my husband will be properly fed and watered when out of the house. There are also pool cars and pool bikes. All good. He said he could go to Abu Dhabi next week, but has decided not to. I'm pleased about this, as I'm not sure I'm ready to be left here alone yet (although I'm not sure why...).

Similarly, the interview at St Lukes was a success. Having been priming them to ensure that they could remember what their hobbies etc were, and reminding them of their ps and qs, on the way I became concerned that I might have overdone it, and I didn't want them attaching too much importance to the event.

"Look George and Anna," I said, "Don't worry about this interview - you are both great kids and the principal would be mad not to let you in her school."

With a characteristic lack of enthusiasm, George commented that his only concern was that he might be offered a place....

However, in the event, they did me proud - answered all questions with a smile and even at times appeared excited by the prospect of starting school. Well, Anna did. I could see George was finding the process rather boring, and rather challenging in terms of how one remains cool and aloof, whilst being polite and pleasing your mother by getting into the nice new school.

Now all we have to do is try to understand the booklet of rules relating to uniform (jumpers must not, under any circumstances, be worn as the outer garment on the way to and from school etc), comfort George in the loss of an inch or so of his cool surfer dude hairstyle (male hair shall be above the collar) and regularly empty our bank account into their coffers. Lol.

On the way back from the interview we popped into the Mall to buy satnav for the car. I now have another electronic device which can send me inexplicable messages. In fact, I was thinking today, that in the absence of any friends, I am becoming rather reliant on technology to provide me with interaction. My satnav now chats away to me in the car, my computer tells me about tests that already no longer exist and my camera told me today that it's battery was exhausted (I know what it means...). Luckily this was after I took the picture above of the children on Long Reef beach watching the surf kiters.....

Catch you tomorrow...

Olympic swimmers..

A quiet day today with household chores in the morning, but this afternoon we took the children swimming at North Sydney Olympic Pool which is about 5 mins from here. As you can see from the above photo, there can't be many municipal pools with quite such a spectacular backdrop! The sun was shining and there was a sundeck with loungers and a cafe, and all for less than a pound for the George and Anna. Definitely a place to return to.





Anna impressed us by swimming 400 metres of pretty good breast stroke, so we are trying to decide whether she should compete in the 2012 olympics for the GB team or for the Aussies!





Tomorrow is Andrew's first day at work at Arup, so the holiday is over - real life must begin. George, Anna and I will be being interviewed by the principal of their new school and if we are found to be acceptable (!) they will start on the 26th. Let's see if life still feels so good when the old routines start to set in....

Messing around on boats...

On the rock in the centre of this picture there is actually a goana that's about 4 feet long, but in my hesitation about getting too close, I seem to have taken a picture where you can't really see it....so the picture above is one from someone elses blog that I found on the web!

The top of the cliffs at Refuge Bay - with our motor cruiser just above Anna's head and my shoulder!

George, me and Anna on Refuge Beach

George and Anna in the waterfall at Refuge Bay

George, Anna and Andrew on the jetty at Patonga Bay - note the pelicans on the street lamps!

Our two beautiful children enjoying a trip out in the dinghy

Are we nearly there yet? Enjoying (!) a climb through the bush to try to find the top of the waterfall

Cowan Creek

George's new favourite hobby - fishing!

Me - driving the cruiser

Refuge Bay

One of George's first catches!

So here we are - back from our 4 day holiday cruising the Hawkesbury River, which is less of a river and more of a series of inland salt water ways surrounded by National Park. You can see from the photos how beautiful and relaxing it was, but you would never guess it only took 30 mins to get there. One of the really extraordinary things about Sydney is how short a distance you need to go before being in the middle of nowhere. Most of the places we visited were only accessible by boat.

It's difficult not to relax when the hot day ends with pitch dark by 6.30pm and all there is left to do is go to bed! And we were getting up not long after 6am, when the water was like a mirror and the fish biting. The only bit I didn't like was how stressful it was putting the anchor down for people like us who are not boaties and we were always pretty overjoyed if we managed to hook up to a buoy instead!

The children and Andrew really enjoyed their new found interest in fishing, and some 10 fish were caught - we think they were tailor fish and one bream - although we were not sure! We put them all back anyway - no chance of eating them after Anna has given them a name and begged us to take them home as pets! Besides which, we wouldn't know where to start with gutting them etc!

I read three books and enjoyed sunbathing and watching the sights - sea eagles whirling above us then diving down to catch fish, pelicans, huge shoals of enormous jelly fish (eurgh), giant spiders (also eurgh), and just the tranquility of it all. We definitely think we would like to do it again.

We've been back a couple of hours now, having collected our new car (which it seems is silver rather than a goldy colour) and I still feel like I am rocking slightly on a boat. This isn't helped by the fact that I still have a rotten cold and had trouble sleeping on the boat due to all the coughing. Anna is still all bunged up too, and all this is particularly galling when the weather has been so fabulous. If this is autumn......wow....However, we are expecting to catch lots of little viruses until we have built up some resistance to Australian bugs.

I think that is all for this update, except to note that a message has just popped up on my screen relating to my virus software which said

"Test could not be started because it already does not exist"

If any of you have any idea what that might mean, we'd be very grateful for enlightenment...

We're off on our hols

Just a quickie today to let you know that we are going away for 4 days today - on a motor cruiser up the Hawkesbury River, so there won't be any posts for a while. We will be reading, sunbathing (weather forecast is excellent) and fishing. V nice.

Nothing much to report about yesterday - did a bit of shopping and then some exploring of suburbs, which confirmed to us that we want to live in the Curl Curl area.

Promise to take lots of photos and possibly some video and will update on Saturday sometime.

Lots of love xxx

The one where we have some friends...

Dee Why beach from Long Reef , with Dee Why Lagoon in the background

Long Reef from Dee Why beach

Yesterday was a great day. It wasn't raining for a start which was a good sign, and we walked down to the Wharf so that the children could take part in the community Easter Egg Hunt. Their search was rewarded with a Lindt chocolate bunny, then we nipped back home to change our clothes because it was hotter than we thought.

We had made arrangements to go over to see Paul and Lydia for the day. Paul is the guy who Andrew will be working with in over here and Lydia is his wife. They have two children - Jack and Will - who are 10 and 7 years old and when we came out in November we spent quite a lot of time with them and got on very well.



When we arrived at their house in North Curl Curl, they had already been to the beach for a surf, so we sat on their terrace admiring the fabulous view of Dee Why beach and Long Reef (photos above) eating egg and bacon rolls and drinking tea. Andrew and Paul talked work stuff whilst Lydia and I chatted about girly things and the children. It was so nice to have a woman to talk to and have a giggle with. The children were busy on scooters, skateboards and the trampoline, but eventually they wore us down and persuaded us to take them to the beach.



I have to admit that I find watching the children playing in the surf very stressful, even with the ever attentive life guards. They went up and down on their boogie boards whilst I scanned the water for sharks and made ready to launch myself into the water should they get into trouble. Andrew thinks I'm a nutter, and I think Paul and Lydia do too! However, the children are not that sea savvy yet, and Anna is such a daredevil I don't feel I can take my eyes off her. Nevertheless, after about an hour I did start to feel more relaxed - but I was relieved when they got out! I didn't go in myself, but apparently at this time of year, at the end of the warm season, the sea is about 24 degrees! Will definitely go in next time.



The area that Paul and Lydia live in is where we are looking for a house. The children's school is there, and although there are wonderful beaches and parks, it is only 40 mins by bus to the city - even quicker when you drive and it's not rush hour. The area seems to offer everything we need - a bit of country, a bit of beach and a bit of city. There also lots of really nice restaurants and cafes by the beaches, and an excellent shopping mall about 10 mins drive away. Perfect.



After we'd been to the beach we went back up to Paul and Lydia's house and had supper. The children ate first, and poor old Anna, who has been struggling with a terrible cough and cold, had an awful coughing fit at the table which culminated in her bringing up all her tea! The boys vacated the area pretty quickly, and I felt for Anna as she was a bit mortified. Just one of those things though....



After a bottle of wine (between Lydia and I), and a lovely steak supper, we set off back to our flat at about 10pm with two exhausted children. It had been so great for them to spend some time with other kids.

PS As you can see, I have finally managed to add a caption to a picture! Might go back through and add to other pictures later!

Momentous Moments

Yesterday was momentous for two reasons - firstly because we finally got the Playstation 3 working, and secondly because we bought a car. Now, but my reckoning, if we have a bought a car, we must live here - so it all must be real.

Buying a car wasn't easy on account of the fact that we had got the Playstation working and therefore had to surgically remove the children from it before we could go out. It was also troublesome because we don't know very much about any of the models we saw, so we went to a garage, test drove a car we liked the look of and was the right price and then bought it. Probably not a text book method for spending such a lot of money, but it seems to have worked because when we looked up the car on What Car later, it seemed it was rather a good car, and at a good price (well - by English standards). So the car we have bought is a 2005 Kia Sorrento. Never heard of it? No neither had we.....but I have included a picture to help you. Lol. Ours is a kind of goldy colour (I think) and it's all leather with walnut trim. Most importantly it has a 6 CD changer and a roof rack for Andrew's surf board (as now we are Australian, Andrew is a groovy surf dude....). I will be mainly driving it, as Andrew will be getting the Express Bus to work, so it is important that I like it - and I do.

As part of buying the car, we had to sit through a sales pitch regarding all sorts of external and internal treatments to protect the car from the horror of salty air and acidic bird poo. Andrew looked pretty tortured throughout as he really hates anyone trying to sell him anything (and God help anyone who tries) and I buried my head in a magazine and tried to look like none of it had anything to do with me. Left to my own devices, I would listen politely then buy everything on offer, horrified at the potential embarrassment involved in saying no. Andrew just said no and added that he hates being sold anything. I felt particularly bad as the woman trying to sell the stuff was about 11 months pregnant and clearly her child might be born into poverty if she doesn't sell enough of these treatments.....

A pleasant surprise was that to ensure the car for the two of us, fully comp and without any claims history will cost $600 - the equivalent of about £250. Luckily they didn't ask about how often I have crashes, so I didn't need to tell them about my recent crash on the M42 causing £7000 worth of damage to Andrew's Mercedes (not my fault) and then about the subsequent crash I had two days later in the hire car provided by the insurers (also not my fault). Otherwise they might not have insured me at all.

Apart from purchasing the car and playing on the playstation, nothing much else happened, apart from marvelling at the rain (which is not exactly a novelty for us). However, I am able to share some interesting snippets of information with you - for example, did you know that there are more chickens than there are people in the world (which is not good news for avian flu)? Or that mosquitos are attracted to people who have recently eaten bananas? Or that Sigmund Freud had a morbid fear of ferns? Now, I imagine you are wondering how I could be such a font of scintillating news. Well, I can tell you that I have gleaned all this from the packaging of sanitary towels. Someone out there in Australia obviously thought - how boring to have to take a sanitary towel out of its packaging. What women need is some interesting snippets of information on there to liven the process up! Sigh. Obviously - now I know I can be educated at that time of the month, I'm almost looking forward to it.....

Rain, rain go away!

Apparently there is a 10 year drought here, so we should be very grateful for all the rain, but frankly......I didn't cross the world to sit and look at the rain coming down in rods!! Oh well - it's not exactly cold and we have seen some beautiful rainbows, which I suppose must be quite common here given the weird mix of sunshine and rain.

As we are English, we didn't let the rain yesterday stop play - as I told one of our neighbours, if we let rain prevent us from going out in England, we would never go anywhere! He said that Australians think they will die if they get wet. In the morning we went off to the wharf in the rain to take part in the community Easter Egg Hunt - which turned out to be taking place on Sunday...it was nice though to be out for a walk nice and early (especially given that I had been awake on and off since 3am). When we got back the children were miserable about the weather, and also because on our first day here we bought the Play Station 3 we had promised them and so far we have not been able to get it to work. You can imagine how disappointing this has been for them, and there have been some tears, but they are being very brave! We are hoping that we will get it started today (and if we don't I think Andrew may have steam coming out his ears and the children may need sedating).

A bit of research told us that Meet the Robinsons was on at the local cinema, so we went off there. They have a crafty way of getting you to buy the exhorbitantly priced snacks and stuff here - you buy them at the same time as the tickets! One queue and one huge bill. Miraculously I managed to stay awake throughout the film, and afterwards the weather was improved so we went off to explore.

First stop was the beach at Balmoral, where we strolled along the beachfront and then went into a cafe for a coffee. Something that really stands out here is the quality of the catering everywhere - even your basic cafe on the beach sells every type of coffee you could imagine, lovely cakes and snacks and has really good service. And it doesn't cost a fortune. I hadn't taken the camera which was annoying, but I've find some photos on the net which I've added here. We were interested by the areas of the beach that were netted to protect from sharks. Apparently on the harbour beaches (as this is) the sharks are far more likely to come in, but I don't know how often there is a problem. However, I would certainly be inclined to swim in the netted areas! Harbour beaches have no waves and are very safe from a swimming point of view - the big waves are on the ocean beaches, which are in the area we are planning to live.

Next we went off to one of the National Park areas to look at Bradleys Point. It was really fabulously beautiful there, and the views across the Harbour to the Opera House and the Bridge were spectacular. There is a sort of amphitheatre there, and apparently it is a very popular place to watch the New Years Eve harbour fireworks from -certainly the view would be marvellous. I wondered if they ever have concerts there, as the backdrop is great. The sun was warm and I felt I could have stayed there forever - definitely a place to return to with a picnic I reckon. Andrew and I are learning to give trees a wide berth - they often seem to have big spiders webs in them with HUGE spiders in them. We don't know what the spiders are, but yesterday Andrew walked into one, and gave a display of frankly not very macho behaviour! A lesson learnt!

George was thrilled when we got back to be able to talk to his best friend Oliver on msn, and to find that he had a few emails from his mates. It really is amazing how easy it is to keep up with everyone at home, so keep the emails coming, sign up to Skype etc...it's only 9 hours difference at this time of year, so plenty of opportunities to chat...

Happy Easter!

I hesitate to say this - but it's raining.....I can almost hear you all laughing from here, as I understand that it is warmer in England than in Spain at the moment. However, it's not actually cold - just kind of dull and damp. If only we had gone to the beach yesterday, when it was lovely and warm....

Yesterday we went to look at a school for George and Anna. It's called St Lukes Grammar and is slap in the middle of the area we are interested in living in. We all thought it seemed great and have made the applications along with some lovely references from Caralyn and Bill. I'm not sure who they were writing about, but whoever they are, they do seem like good people! Assuming that we don't muck up the interview with the headteacher, the children will start on 26th April. George isn't too impressed about this, but Anna can't wait to get started.

We've also been having a go at trying to buy George some shoes more suited to the weather here (when it's hot) but oddly, the shops are full of winter coats and woolly boots. Everyone assures me that I won't need the winter coats I've given away, but it's confusing to see all this stuff in the shops. I suppose it is in the interests of the manufacturers to pretend that it will be cold in the winter - otherwise I suppose no one would bother buying any extra clothes at the end of the seasons. But even so, I wouldn't have expected to see such heavy fabrics.

Another thing I've remembered is how hilly Sydney is. We are definitely going to get fit walking around here - especially when it is warm. And did you see that there was a tsunami here at the beginning of the week?! They closed Sydney Harbour and evacuated some schools, but in the event the water only rose 10 cms, which is pretty much what would happen if I got in the bath, so I think it was all a bit of an over reaction! However, in the Solomon Islands, where they got the biggest wave 15 people are dead and over a hundred missing, so something to think about....

A Whole New World...

Sorry for the gap in posts - we now have an internet connection in our temporary flat, so normal service has been resumed!

So - where to start....well.....the flight was long.....no getting away from it - although flying time was 19 hours, we were on the go for around 48 hours from when we got up on Sunday morning till we went to bed in our new home on Tuesday. However, we were well fed and well entertained, and a little bit of sleeping was done between watching movies! Both the children were fine - George doesn't like the take off, but was fine when we took off for the second time at Bangkok, and Anna was ill on the descent into Thailand but fine coming into Sydney. Andrew and I were just tired.

Bangkok Airport is brand new and very nice, with plenty of shopping opportunities (hurrah!). We bought a digital camcorder and I will try to work out how to download video onto this blog at some stage. Andrew was impressed with the commitment to green building design shown in the way that not all Bangkok airport was air conditioned. Personally I thought it was bloody hot and would have welcomed a blast of cold air every now and again! It's a bit depressing when you've already been flying for 10 hours to be wandering around an airport knowing that shortly you will have to get on again for a further 8 hours, but we survived!

When we got to Sydney we got through customs and quarantine fairly quickly, with only a very short delay while they inspected Anna's riding boots for mud, and by 7am we were getting into a taxi with a friendly greek driver. He told us that he had come here for 2 years 47 years ago and never left - now he has Australian children and grandchildren. Everyone you meet here who is an immigrant is very positive about being here - and everyone you meet who is here seems to be very enthusiastic about your arrival!

There was a bit of a mix up about the collection of the key for our apartment initially but by shortly after 9am we were unpacking. There is a bit of a manana attitude here that I think we will have to get used to! I think this may be particularly challenging for Andrew, who is not really a manana sort of bloke! First impressions of the apartment block were not good and I felt a wave of uncertainty and depression about having left my beautiful home on Hordle Lane....however, once inside, it is very nice (although small) with good views of the city, the harbour and the harbour bridge. We will be fine here, and I've unpacked all the little bits like photos and books to make it look a little more familiar. Also, a number of the neighbours have already introduced themselves and they are all very friendly. And, of course, we also now have the internet, and the webcam and have already seen mum and dad and Grace and Bob, and spoken to Nugs (who wouldn't put on the webcam as she said she was naked - although I don't believe her) and Samantha. It does really help to make you feel that you are not so far away....

We decided to get the ferry over to Circular Quay to get some lunch with a view of the bridge and the opera house. The sun was shining, the view beautiful and we sipped Australian champagne - aaaahhh this is the life! It seems extraordinary that all this will be available to us not just when we are on holiday......but there is a twinge of sadness that we are not sharing it with friends and family.

The ferry is just 5 minutes away, and such a lovely way for Andrew to get to work everyday. I'm not sure it will feel like going to work!

We tried very hard to stay awake until bed time, but having fallen asleep twice whilst trying to write a postcard, I gave up at 4.30pm. Andrew and the children went to bed at 5pm, and George got up and started making Warhammer figures at 3am! We are still all a bit wrong - I am very tired in the evening, but waking up at about 2 or 3am and then finding it very hard to get back to sleep. I'm sure it will all be sorted out in time!

Please get in contact with me by email if you want to add us to a Skype account and take advantage of the opportunity to make video calls over the internet for free!

A Message for Everyone with love

I just wanted to write something to you all - family and friends - to tell you that we have been privileged to have all of you around us. I hope we have been as good friends and relatives to you as you have been to us - and when we haven't, I hope you have been able to forgive us. We are looking forward to our new life, but love and friendship don't have geographical boundaries. We promise to keep in touch and continue to treasure these relationships and you are all always welcome in our home - wherever that is.

We love you loads, miss you already and look forward to hearing from you all.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

We're leaving on an airplane - don't know when we'll be back again

I woke up this morning at 7am with the worst butterflies in my stomach I have ever experienced and a rotten cold.......not ideal....I could hear Anna coughing like someone who smokes 40 a day in the other room, but on questioning the possible kidney symptoms seemed to have worn off.

We got up, packed our cases again, and went off to Sarah and Roy's to say goodbye to them, and to have a last cuddle with Charlie, who was as overjoyed as usual to see us. We know he will be fine, but tears were shed all the same.

Then over to the pub for a bite to eat with all the parents, then back to the house for final sorting out of our cases and resigning ourselves to the fact that we were going to have to pay some excess on our luggage. Caralyn and Jessie came round to say goodbye and then Nugs, Johnny and Nancy came to say goodbye - although Nugs was helping with the luggage up to Heathrow. More tears.....

Then off to Heathrow where we discovered that we had to pay £280 excess!!! That was even with a reduction for the sympathy vote. Lol. Going through to departures was like torture, and I felt like my heart might break with leaving people so dear to us. And so here we are, in the airport waiting for our new life to begin.....

Really and truly the last suppers...

The last few days have been a hive of activity, but I'm not able to upload the corresponding photos at the moment as we are at Grace and Bob's for our final night in the UK. So I'm going to write about all the events and then add pictures later.

Friday saw us pack up all our things once again and leave Nugs, Johnny, Louis and Phoebe. It's been great to be able to spend our last weeks there, and we've had some laughs and some tears. I will miss Nugs terribly and everyone has to do their best to persuade her to fly out as soon as possible.

Before moving all of our things into Grace and Bob's, I nipped into Southampton to see Andrew's leaving presentation at work. In lieu of a present, he had asked that donations be made to our nephew Lewis's charity (www.lewisjeynes.co.uk) and we were enormously touched by their generosity when a cheque for £622 was handed over. James and Samantha were thrilled as you can imagine, and are hoping this will pay for a standing frame for Lewis.

After this we rushed back to Milford to meet up with all the grandparents to watch both the children in the school talent show. George was one of the organisers and was doing some presenting, and Anna and her friends were singing and dancing. It was tremendous fun to watch, with some really excellent acts (I feel sure we will see the name Molly Marshall up in lights) and it was a good opportunity for both sets of grandparents to see the children at school. We were all really pleased with the lovely leaving cards and presents George and Anna received, but obviously sad to be going away from everything that has been so important to us for so long.

Whilst the children had a sleep over with their friends Oliver and Jamie, we went out to dinner with the parents. We had a wonderful time, although Andrew and I felt pretty exhausted after all our socialising, and my mum and dad surprised me by giving me mum's engagement ring as a going away present. I will truly treaasure it - and I know that when I feel down I can look at it and know that there are people rooting for me, even if they are far away.

This morning we picked up the children and took Andrew and George to get groovy new hairstyles for their groovy new life.....then after some lazing around, Karen, Tony, Beth, Mads and Abigail arrived for a final supper with us. I really hope that we will see them all again after not too long. It's strange to think that even after a couple of years the girls could be really changed. Beth and Mads are pretty much adults already....

So all that remains today is to check in online and then collapse into bed knowing that this is our last night in England for....well - we don't know how long....trying not to worry about the fact that I seem to be getting a cold and sore throat and Anna has just reported some kidney infection symptoms to me which given her medical history cannot be taken lightly.....oh my god.....