Another flat....

So, as planned, we moved into the Dee Why flat last Tuesday. All went well, but after my initial elation at finally being close to school in a flat that wasn't a bit 'icky', I felt rather deflated. I'm really REALLY looking forward to being surrounded by our things in 'our' house, although I have been warned that often this event leads to some panic....once your furniture has travelled across the world, there is no avoiding it - you have emigrated and you better face up to it!



The flat is very small, but immaculately maintained and has, oh joy of joys, a washing machine! No more using a communal laundry and constantly searching for $2 coins! It also has a very sunny balcony from which we can see Dee Why lagoon and which is frequented by an array of unfamiliar and colourful birds. I've taken a few pictures and will put them on here when we have our own internet connection, as currently I am in an internet cafe down the road.

Since arriving here I've been feeling a lot more relaxed. I've been able to create some routine and the children are happier - the journey home plus homework is no longer taking the entire evening. Andrew seems to be getting on with the bus ok, leaving early in the morning (generally before me and the children get up) and getting home in time for supper.

Weekends since we've been here haven't quite been what we had hoped - we were mainly under house arrest last weekend with Anna having tonsillitis, poor love, and really sick with it. She had a sleepover on the Friday night with Zoe, but I got a phone call quite early on Saturday to let me know that she was saying she didn't feel well and had a sore throat. I spoke to her and asked if she wanted me to get her now, or later as arranged, and given that she said (in a small sad voice that pretty much broke your heart) that she wanted me to come a straight away, I knew she felt awful. By the time I got there, she was running a raging temperature, had been sick and was asleep.....anyway - after most of the day not being able to get her temperature down, and a lot of vomiting, I took her to the GP and tonsillitis was diagnosed. She's back at school now, a bit pale but raring to go....

Monday evening was an exciting one for George, as Andrew took him to a rugby league match. Manly Sea Eagles play just down the road, and apparently it is a real family occasion (although I'm not tempted to go..). George was especially impressed with the cheer leaders (that's my boy!) and now spends much of his time attached to his rugby ball. It's great to see George developing interests in sports, although he doesn't have much confidence in his abilities at the moment. We have spoken to the school about him doing basketball, and he is keen to join a cricket club when the season starts as well.

However, the most important sport is swimming, which they must be able to do well if I am to stop being such a basket case when they are in the sea. To this end I have enrolled them in the Carlile Swimming School and they will have hard core swimming lessons after school every Thursday at the Sydney Academy of Sport - which just happens to be round the corner from the house at Narrabeen. They are both a bit annoyed about this, as neither of them are big fans of swimming lessons, but as I've explained to them - it's either this or no going in the sea...

So - it's only just over a week before we get the house at Narrabeen. Unfortunately Andrew is unable to take time off work to help with the crate when it arrives, but obviously as the new boy this is understandable. However, the fact that the 'work' he will be doing whilst I am dealing with all this will be a surfing lesson at Manly Beach as some sort of 'team building' exercise is a little irritating.....

Catch you all again soon....

Hippo Birdy Two Ewes!

My baby girl was nine today......as always it only seems like 5 minutes since she was a newborn. And yet she seems so old for nine in many ways.....

Birthday celebrations began yesterday, when Anna chose to go to the Australian Wildlife Centre at Darling Harbour for a treat. We drove in......not a great idea really - the Darling Harbour complex is in the city centre, and I wanted to drive over the Harbour Bridge. You know how map reading causes much domestic disharmony? Well having sat nav doesn't help, because Hubby doesn't believe the sat nav either....well, at least it's not just me! However, we did eventually (after a considerable amount of swearing) find a car park, and took the monorail around the city to our destination. I was particularly interested in it because it was in the process of being built when I was in Sydney 20 years ago, and despite that it still looks rather space age zooming about on it's rail high above the ground. The children thought it was terribly exciting and giggled nervously clutching onto their seats, much to the amusement of other passengers!
The Wildlife Centre was a great success. Australia is evidently home to a large number of rather odd creatures, some of which I hope I never encounter. The ones I thought were cute I took photos of - including a loads of photos of the koalas, who are very photogenic and conveniently sit still most of the time. Apparently they sleep for up to 20 hours a day, and have very small brains. I know a few humans like that......

We were not reassured to discover that Australia is home to the world's most dangerous spider (the funnel web), the world's most venomous snake (the brown something...), and the world's most dangerous sea creatures. Virtually everything here could kill you it seems. Including the sun....

After completing our tour of all the awful ways to die Down Under, we walked over to the restaurant area and let Anna chose where we would eat supper. I took the above photo of the view across the harbour. I'm not much of a city girl, as you all will know, but I do think there is something a bit magical about those sort of city scapes at night.
We had a nice time eating Italian, watching the world go by and marvelling about the weather given the time of year. I swear George was having a good time, but Anna has her arm around him in this picture, which is guaranteed to illicit the sort of disgust you can see here!








I realise that the pictures have gotten all a bit out of sync here, but I can't work out how to change them! Sorry!

Anyway, this morning Anna leapt out of bed on first calling (v unusual) to open her pressies. Thanks so much to everyone who sent cards or presents or messages. It means so much to her and also to us - I wanted to make sure that this first birthday away from home was a happy one, and not too different to what she would have experienced at home. She loved all her presents, but she was particularly pleased with the iPod we got her, and the bikini Auntie Karen sent. Funnily enough, Anna lost her bikini bottoms at the swimming pool a couple of weeks ago, and since then I have been trying in vain to replace them. Inexplicably, no shops are now stocking childrens swimwear because.....it's winter! I honestly don't understand. There are people on the beach and in the sea everyday, but the shops are full of winter woolies! Anyway - that problem is now resolved, so thanks very much Karen!

I took Anna off to school armed with 30 chocolate muffins for her classmates and teachers, and when I picked her up this afternoon she had a sign hanging round her neck saying happy birthday on it. She seemed to have had a lovely day, and is pleased to no longer be so obviously the youngest in the class, as no one else was still only eight. But the fun didn't stop there. We had made arrangements to meet up with Sharon and her 3 children (Anna is getting very friendly with her daughter Zoe, who is a lovely sweet little thing), Maria and her 3 children and Lydia with Jack and Will (we think Anna and Jack have a bit of a mutual appreciation society going on!). We gathered at the gelato bar at Dee Why beach, bought them all icecreams and Anna got more gifts. What a lucky girl! The afternoon ended with all the children playing in the surf and the sand (more sand in the car.....)

When we got home it was pizza and birthday cake and then bed.......phew!

The other good news - for those of you who are not totally bored of my Australian lurgy - is that I have finally got my sense of smell back. For over 4 weeks I haven't smelt a thing, and Andrew has been telling me there is an awful smell in the kitchen. Today I smelt it for the first time, and oh my goodness me - yes it was awful. How Andrew hasn't taken the kitchen apart looking for the source I really don't know, but a couple of minutes of investigation revealed to me that the stench was emanating from the dishwasher we haven't been using and a brief look inside revealed a couple of inches of stagnant water covered in a moulding rotten food...lol. I've done my best with it, but all I can say is...thank goodness we move to Dee Why tomorrow!

Big Game Shopping, A Social Event and Mother's Day

All the kids
Hello Possum!
Stephie, Anna, Molly and Zoe

It's Mother's Day here today, so I'm taking advantage of the opportunity to celebrate for the second time. And of course, lots of love to all the other mothers who I know read this blog!

Yesterday was quite a busy day. First of all we went off to the Beadstudio again so that Andrew could buy me a Troll bracelet for mother's day (these are like modern charm bracelets - you register so that they always know which charms you already have, and you add to your collection as the years go on). I chose the lovely fish clasp, Andrew bought me a loveheart charm, Anna chose a beautiful blue and green glass bead, and then we bought the transformation charm as we thought it was appropriate. I LOVE IT! And there are so many gorgeous beads to chose from to add to it. So thanks Andrew!

After this we went off to Harvey Norman and bought - wait for it - a fridge freezer, a washing machine, a hoover, a plasma HD tv and a stereo. Andrew is still in recovery. I had a great time - lol. All we have to do now is buy some more sofas, a desk and a bunk bed. Hehehehehehe. As you can imagine, I'm having a lovely time. Service in Australian shops is extraordinary. People are literally falling over themselves to help you, but not in that sickly sweet way you get in the States. Buying stuff is like a social event - by the time you leave, you know their life story, are on first name terms and feel like they are an old friend. Now you get that sort of service in a few independent shops at home like the lovely Maison - but in chain stores? I think not..

Then we went on to Newport for a BBQ with new friends Sharon and Richard and Maria and Kenton. Both families have 3 children - Sharon and Richard have Eban (yr 6), Zoe (yr 4) and Joel (yr1) and Maria and Kenton have Molly (yr 7), Luke (yr 5) and Sam (yr 4). We were joined by another couple, Rob and Jo who had 2 slightly older children. Everyone was English with the exception of Jo!

Sharon and Richard's house was fantastic - on the top of a headland with far reaching views over the ocean and to Pittwater. We went down to Clareville Beach for a couple of hours before it got dark and drank wine and had nibbles while all the children played. It was marvellous how the children all gelled, with the 4 girls off doing girly stuff while the boys recruited other children to make an army, with Eban in command! Once it was properly dark and a bit chilly we went back to the house and had a very relaxed BBQ whilst chatting and getting to know one another better. The children ate outside, and once they had all gone off to play again, we found a possum on the table, finishing off the scraps! I've taken a picture - its not very good but it does give you a good idea of what they look like!

We got home after 11pm. I can see that we are going to make a good life here. The people are great, and the environment is captivating. I loved where we lived in the UK, and we were very lucky to live there and have such wonderful friends, but I feel more and more positive about being here.

We have a busy week this week. It's Anna's birthday tomorrow, and I've made arrangements to meet up with some people on the beach after school for milkshakes and icecreams. Then on Tuesday we move into the flat at Dee Why. I'm very excited about this, as although it is still very small and bijou, it is near the school, it isn't damp (which this flat is and I think it hasn't helped my health) and it has its own washing machine. I'm a simple lass these days! There isn't an internet connection there, so entries on the blog will be rather spasmodic.....but it's only 3 weeks! Then onto our first proper home in Narrabeen....

Love to you all xxx

Getting a life....

As you will know from Andrew's entry - I went out. It was a beading evening. Not necessarily something that I would normally do. However, it was a Year 4 class mum's event and obviously I am keen to get out and meet people. In fact, Anna's friend Keana's mum had sent me a hand written note asking me if I would like to go, which was very kind and another example of how friendly the Aussies are.

In the event I really enjoyed it. It took place at a shop called Bead Studio in Mosman, which is a very swish suburb (think Chelsea) and handily only down the road from where we are currently living. The shop is owned by one of the year 4 mums - Marlies - who is French, or possibly German (well European anyway!), and what you do is go there, choose a load of beautiful beads and make a piece of jewellry with it. Or if you prefer they will help design and make it for you. The beads were gold, silver, glass, crystal......it was such fun choosing what you wanted, and the whole shop is a dream for little girls. They do birthday parties which I will bear in mind for future reference. I made a necklace, which I'm going to send to my mum for her birthday in a couple of weeks. I hope she likes it - it probably won't be the most beautiful piece of jewellry she owns, but it will be the only one made and designed specifically for her and painstakingly put together with love.

Apart from making the necklace, of course I met some more mums, who all seemed very nice. It will take a while to really get to know people, but for the moment what is clear is that the local women are keen to welcome you into their community and that there are lots of fun events to join in. There is the 'Annual Class Mums Weekend Away' for example, which takes place in November at a spa up the coast. How cool is that? There is also a tennis day in a couple of weeks, but I'm not sure about doing that on account of the fact that they will never have seen a worse tennis player. And also I can't even laugh at the moment without collapsing in a coughing fit, so I think running about might be a bridge too far!

Yesterday I spent the day with Lydia. We had breakfast in one of the beachside cafes in Dee Why, and before we knew it, it was nearly lunchtime! Lydia offered to show me the shops in Dee Why, which was quite a laugh, as the shopping area is about to be flattened for reasons that are obvious when you look around it. Then we took ourselves off to the Mall, looked at clothes, had lunch and then it was time to pick the children up again! So a very lazy day....

Now, just a couple of messages.....Happy Birthday to my nephew Samuel, who was 14 yesterday. From his mum's blog, it looks like he had a good day! It's also Anna's birthday on Monday, so if you are able to send her a message via her blog that would be nice.

Traffic...

The Australian's seem to be pretty keen on traffic lights. Today on my drive from the flat in Neutral Bay to the school in Dee Why I counted them, and I have to go through 32 sets. It's no wonder I approach the journeys each day with some dread. Naturally they are mainly red when I approach them. I suppose, to be fair, the drive I am doing twice a day could be compared, in distance and importance as a route through a major city, to say....driving all the way round the North Circular twice a day, which no one in their right mind would do. The traffic is nothing like as heavy as it would be in London, although people here like to complain about it.

Another issue I have to deal with whilst driving is the constantly changing speed limit. Sometimes it's 50 kph, then 60kph, very occasionally 80 kph, and then just to make it really really testing, between 8am and 9.30am and 2.30pm and 4pm all areas around schools have a speed limit of 40mph. From a public safety point of view this is, of course, a good thing. But 40kph is really very slow. And I have to remember both where the school zones are, and be aware of what time it is. Given that there are cameras at traffic lights to catch you going through on red, and all these funny speed limits, there is the possibility that one could lose one's driving licence just on one school run!

Today after school we have been to the mall and bought George and Anna mobile phones. Naturally they are beside themselves with joy and I have been pronounced the Best Mother in The World (which of course I am). We've bought them because very soon they will be travelling to and from school on the bus, and in my new state of heightened anxiety about them, I can't bear that I can't contact them or them contact me if there is any sort of problem. Also with the children at the school coming from such a wide area, and me not really knowing all the parents, I don't like to think that they are completely remote from me when they are at other people's houses. They have been told that if they abuse the privilege, bad things will happen.

Speaking of school - the children are being taught American spelling. Aaarrrrggghhhhh.....

We've just been playing a silly game of 'what's your favourite....?' over supper. I have discovered that Andrew's least favourite colour is brown. I am shocked and distraught. At our house in Hordle, our sitting room sofas were brown. Our bedroom was blue and brown. We had a great big feature wall that was brown. Our dining room was two shades of brown. I have loads of brown clothes. I have brown eyes. He says that his favourite colour is pink. So after 17 years together I have just discovered that my husband doesn't like brown and is gay. I'm not playing that game again....

Beach Babies

At last I managed to remember to put the memory card back in the camera. As a result I've been able to record a lovely day on the beach at Dee Why. Dee Why is where the children go to school, and where we will soon be moving into another (temporary) flat. It's also where our friends Paul and Lydia live.
I think Dee Why will turn out to be my favourite beach. It's got a rock swimming pool (most beaches have these - they tend to be on the end of the bay and are enclosed swimming pools filled and flushed through by the sea - no sharks there) and local people tell us that quite a big octopus lives in the end drain, but we've had a good look for him with no luck! I'm sticking to my idea that this is a bit of an urban myth....Dee Why also has lots of lovely restaurants, cafes and other places to buy snacks - sushi bars, noodle bars, juice and smoothie bars. Anything you want you can get there, and then you can eat it on the beach. Today there was live music at the back of the beach where the restaurants are, which was rather jolly. Further along the beach it is just sand dunes, which I rather prefer.
The children enjoyed themselves trying out their new boogie boards. We had a bit of a dodgy moment at the beginning when I waded out to Andrew to berate him for taking them out too far (but when I got there I realised they were on a sandbar and the water was only going up to their knees) and then I decided to read my book facing away from the sea to save my sanity and my marriage. This seemed to work better and I think Andrew has forgiven me now.
I'm not sure where this anxiety about the children has come from. People who know me well will know that in general I am not prone to this sort of thing. I was trying to explain to Andrew as part of my defence that in a (totally irrational) way I think I am especially concerned about not letting anything happen to the children while we are this far away from home. Am I making sense? I fear not.....hopefully, eventually I will calm down.
Despite a neurotic mother though, you can see that George and Anna had a wonderful time. It's absurd to think that it is virtually winter here. However, you can kind of tell in the evenings. Whereas at home if it was 27 degrees during the day we would expect a warm and long evening, here it is pretty much dark by 5.30pm and the temperature drops quite suddenly around 4.30pm. I know this because if I am out I have a coughing fit! The sea is at its warmest though - the sun has been heating it up since about November and the water temperature is around 24 degrees.
I've bought a book about how to deal with stings and bites out here. It's concerning to discover just how many things are out to get you here! There isn't an environment that doesn't have it's dangers and some of them are pretty gruesome. We are kind of relieved that Great White Sharks don't really like eating humans and after they have tasted you they will usually spit you out. Small mercies. However, if you should bump into a box jellyfish you will experience excrutiating pain of a sort it is impossible to describe - George is currently reading Bill Bryson's 'Down Under', which tells of a swimmer in Queensland who has an encounter with one, and is still screaming uncontrollably after he was unconscious and had been administered with morphine. Eurgh. Apparently there is antivenom....Then of course there are the snakes, the spiders, the ants.....some of these creatures carry enough venom to kill 10 men with one sting or bite, which seems to be something of an overkill. It's surprising that mankind has actually managed to conquer this country! I am to the mall tomorrow to buy a first aid kit.....


PS The children keep on checking their blogs and are always disappointed if they don't have any comments. So if you feel you can, why not say hi to them? You'll make their day.

Failed again....

Once again I failed to put the memory card back in the camera. This is particularly irritating because we went to Palm Beach (aka Summer Bay) and there were photo opportunities. However, as George's new school friend Jack lives there I'm sure we will be back.

Palm Beach is the sort of place that you read about and look at photos of in a glossy magazine. Multi million dollar houses hang off the cliffs there with views of the beaches and the pacific you would die for. Cute little coffee shops and expensive boutiques abound. The sun shines. All is good with the world.

It takes a while to realise that you actually live in a place like this. Well, I suppose we don't live in Palm Beach, but it is only 20 mins drive from where the Narrabeen house is. But we are still very much in the stage of feeling like we are on holiday - because our experience is that these sort of places are only where you go when you are on your holidays. Imagine having access to all this beauty every single day of the year......I hope it takes a long while to wear off. I think it will - I could still look at the view in Milford as you entered the village along the cliff top road and congratulate myself on living somewhere so wonderful when we left. I think that when a place loses its magic perhaps it is time to move on.

A good thing that happened today was that I discovered that there is a huge secondhand book store about 5 mins walk from the house in Narrabeen. Books here are very expensive - paperbacks are about $28 - about £12, and you don't tend to get them at supermarkets and places like that. So finding this shop is very welcome. I know I will spend hours in there.

We also fitted the children out thoroughly with everything needed for a day on the beach boogie boarding. The day on the beach will be tomorrow, so I'll report back then. I'm expecting it to be stressful, in a constantly having to save their lives sort of way. Andrew will get frustrated with me and tell me I am being a ridiculous, anxious mother of the worst sort and I will go and hide in the loos. Just a normal day on the beach.

In the absence of any photos taken today, I give you a picture I found on the net of the sun rising over Narrabeen lagoon. Enjoy...

Normal service has been resumed....

It's been a tough week since my last entry.....however, so as not to bore you with my ailments further, I can say that with some new medication and threats of chest x rays, I seem to be turning the corner and can look back on my misery last Friday with some humour!

Despite my ill health (and the advice of my very nice doctor) life has had to go on as usual. The children have needed driving to and from school, and as a result I have been doing a small amount of socialising with some other mums from the school. They have thankfully been willing to spend time with someone they barely know, who is coughing and spluttering in the most unpleasant way and pretty much deaf - and for this I am very grateful! The school is very friendly, and they have this system called Class Mothers which helps you to get integrated. Although the term sounds a bit Stepford Wives, it is actually just 2 mums nominated for each class to organise social events for parents. So when your children join the school, you immediately start getting emails and phone calls inviting you to events and welcoming you to the school community. All very good. As a result I've met quite a few people, some of whom are from the UK, but Germans and French as well. It bodes well...

Also on the school front, George and Anna are so happy! It's wonderful. They are both making friends and enjoying the new challenges that the school is throwing up for them. Anna is learning Indonesian and George is learning French. You are probably thinking that these are two pretty useless languages - Indonesian is hardly a world language and France is a long long way from Australia - and I'd be inclined to agree, but the kids are enjoying it!

Tonight Anna is at a sleepover with her friend Keana, and George has a nice chap called Jack here for the night. He lives in Palm Beach, which is where they film 'Home and Away'. We'll be going there tomorrow to take him back and have a bit of an explore. Maybe we will see a star (although I don't think I could recognise anyone from it!).

I've sorted out a flat near the school which we will move into on 15th May, and we'll stay there until 5th June. The furniture from home will be delivered to the house at Narrabeen on 1st June, so that will give me a few days to get everything organised before we get in there. It's all starting to fall together.

The weather here for the last week has been wonderful beach hot. Everyone keeps telling me it is unseasonably hot for the time of year. However, they do also keep telling me that very shortly it will get cold. I do wonder what they mean by this. Do they mean I may have to take my shorts off and put on a cardigan? Or do they mean I will need a woolly hat and scarf? Time will tell. Which ever way it goes, the forecast for the weekend is really good, and it's possible that I will put my bikini on for the first time since we got here. It's been warm enough, it's just that when you feel rubbish you don't want to walk about in your underwear!

I will take some photos this weekend. The camera has been in the car ready for action all week. Unfortunately the memory card has been languishing in the card reader back at the flat rendering said camera utterly useless...

Many thanks for the texts and emails I've received telling me to get well soon. Doing my best!

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....

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!

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!