Hi Guys,

Just a small update at the moment to wish you all a very Happy Christmas and a wonderful, healthy New Year.

The kids wearing their t-shirts that I made to meet Nanny at the airport.

The weather is scorching here with the forecast predicting 35 degrees for Christmas day. We’ve put the pool up in the garden for the kids to enjoy (Darcie and Sam enjoy swimming – Adam just throws anything into it that’s not nailed to the floor so we might have to rethink the pool thing with the new house and just get a big pit that Adam can use as a land fill site). We’re now fully sorted for Christmas. It’s 1.30pm on Christmas Eve, roasting hot and Sam’s asleep (hoorah!).

Clean at last!

We’ve got beer and wine in the cupboard, more seafood than could supply Iceland for two months and gas for the Barbie….. it’s all systems go. We’ve got the Santa tracking website on standby so we can tell when the big man in red has his sleigh fully loaded and ready for the off.

There’s a free concert in Mandurah tonight that we might pootle down to it depends how many coffee liqueurs (affogatos), we’ve downed between now and then (we’re addicted). You basically turn up with a picnic rug and something to eat and you’re entertained in a Christmas fashion. Adam hasn’t been going to bed until 11pm, so we might need a distraction to wear him out, otherwise he’ll never sleep!

Our trip down to the Margaret River was somewhat eventful! The house that we’d booked to stay in that looked so lovely on the internet turned into a shack in the middle of the woods with an outside toilet! I kid you not!

How inviting would this be in the dark at 2am? No, not very! Bearing in mind, there was a four inch gap at the ceiling and the floor!! Yeuch!

We stuck two nights there, but in those 48 hours, we’d seen more scary wildlife than we’d seen in 13 months, so we moved on and luckily got a cancellation at the place where we took Paul for Father’s Day in September. We still had a good time (we drove 7 hours in one day to visit to the tree top walk in Walpole that took all of ten minutes to complete!

I'm on top of the world, Ma!

Paul wasn’t over impressed, seeing as he doesn’t do heights and didn’t even come on the suspended walkway that took you 40 metres up into the treetops). It literally was all day in the car to spend an hour walking round the forest… (o: Never mind, it’s another thing we can say we’ve achieved!

What's that Skip? Timmy's caught down a mine shaft in Wollomolloo??

We did see kangaroos in the wild. Mum was pleased as up until that point, she’d only see the dead variety by the side of the road! It was lovely to see their little joeys poking out of the pouches. At the holiday house of horrors, we also see our first Huntsman spider (we only saw a little one, but they can grow to the size of a dinner plate!!!!!!),

A Huntsman spider (with it's lunch in it's mouth).

a skink which is a lizard. These are good apparently as they eat the snake eggs (very reassuring!)

A Skink (or as Darcie called them - stinks).

and we came down for breakfast in the morning, and the mice had eaten our bread! Enough was enough. I can cope with most things, but an outdoor loo and wrestling with a rodent for my breakfast was more that we could take, so we checked out….

The rest of the break was lovely. We visited a few vineyards and sampled some nice wine. We also had two meals at the Voyager Winery which is my favourite.

Yes, the cake WAS huge!

It’s gorgeous there – the same place that we took Paul for Father’s Day lunch. The kids played in the sea and Sam got repeatedly stung by jellyfish.

How blue is that water?

They were only small, but they caused little blisters. I bought some home with me to pop into their pool to give it a more ‘marine’ feel (o:

Looking back, we’ve done loads and we’ve forgotten most of it already! Before our trip away, we went to the Perth Christmas Parade.

Happy soul my eldest, isn't he?

We went to last year’s and it’s good fun for the kids. It’s like to old style carnival we used to have in WGC. Very nostalgic!

We’ve also baptised Mum with the boat. We’ve only been out once so far as it’s been a bit manic with Christmas and everything, but she soon relaxed. We dropped it in the river, then scooted across the estuary for some fun, then pulled up for a BBQ. We did see a few dolphins, so that was lovely for Mum to see them in the wild. On the way back to the boat ramp, Mum didn’t even bother with her life jacket, so she must have been quite confident. The river isn’t more than 2 metres deep in most places, anyhow, so she wouldn’t come to much harm.

Oh, what else…… oh, just after Mum arrived, she babysat Cheesey whilst Paul, I and Sam and Darcie went to see Kylie in concert. It was absolutely fantastic!

Who do we want? Kylie! When do we want her? Now!!!

The show was amazing and her dancers!! Well, what can I say – she certainly puts on a show for her ‘gay’ audience! Woo! It was definitely on the THE best concerts I’ve ever been to, but then again, I love Kylie!

The kids all had brilliant end of year reports, with Sam getting B’s in all his subjects apart from music! I’m so proud of them, they’ve adapted brilliantly and apart from the odd moment when they’ve missed their old school friends, they’ve been very happy.

Santa visits Darcie's class. And yes, he is wearing shades!

Sam also pulled a blinder and won 4th prize in the school raffle which was a deluxe four man tent with chairs and inflatable beds (although after our ‘wild’ holiday, Paul said if I expected him to camp outside with (and I quote) ‘all that weird shit out there’ then I had another think coming!). Still, very nice prize – well worth ten dollars spent on the raffle tickets!

The house build has ground to a resounding halt for Christmas. Never mind, better the money’s in our account than theirs! The interest can pay for a box of crackers or two. They have delivered the bricks for the first floor though and this is a picture of Darcie standing near where the balcony will be. Everyone takes it easy over the next two/three weeks, so I shall update when there is some movement (not bowel movement - obviously - Paul goes every day, I'd be exhausted!).

And here is the weather from Secret Harbour today....

So, that’s about all the news I can think of for the moment. I will try and add more when I can. Please feel free to give us a call over the Xmas if you can. We are now 9 hours ahead though due to WA adopting daylight saving measures. If you don’t have the number, phone me and I’ll give it to you (ha ha ha!).

Love to everyone. HAPPY CHRISTMAS!!!!

This is Mum's holiday house - we haven't broken the news to her just yet!

Miss you all and send foggy WGC our love.

This will be a happier update than last time, you have my word on it /:o)

So, let me see, what have I got to tell you about this time? Well, I bet you didn’t know that we have left England over a year ago now? We flew from Heathrow on 17th November, so it’s been over twelve months now since I last set foot in a M&S (although I found a £25 voucher last week – do you think this would be enough to justify Paul letting me return for a week or so? Nah! Me neither!). Sam got very excited last month when he found a fiver in a pair of trousers. He wanted to take it to the bank to exchange it, but didn’t understand that it wouldn’t be viable. We could start our own little bureau de change I think with all the various coinage we have collected from different countries over the years – most of it ends up in the kid’s money boxes and they think they’re rich. It’s been a busy year and not one without its challenges, but onwards we shall strive.

People are starting to put their Xmas decorations up already. Imagine a huge illuminated Santa hanging off a palm tree and you will get a picture of the weirdness of Christmas in the summer! . There’s a house round to corner from us that’s got a huge Santa in an inflatable snow-dome. It’s got it’s own pump to inflate it and is lit up inside. It’s huge – must be about 4 foot tall. Very swish though – might invest in one for the balcony……. Dream on love!

We had the best day ever yesterday, when we all took a trip into Perth to watch the Red Bull Air Race http://redbullairrace.com

. We headed off quite early (well, for us, anyway!) and drove part way into Perth, where we parked the car and got the bus right into the centre of the action! It was the BEST day! The atmosphere was fantastic! They had video walls and big PA systems all over the place, so as they raced, you got commentary and atmospheric music; it was excellent! Before each pilot was allowed to compete, the following message came over the tannoy ‘you are clear to enter the box. Smoke on’ At which point the pilot turned on the smoke canister on the plane and he commenced the course. We had an excellent view, sat on the bank of the Swan River. The sun was shining, the music was fab and we all thoroughly enjoyed it.

Those magnificent men in their flying machines.

We did chuckle when they mentioned what a complete wash out the UK leg had been in Longleat as we sat with our ice cream, applying more sun cream than you could shake a stick at (on a side note; what a completely stupid expression that is! If anyone knows how it originates, please let me know. Thank you!).

The kids lap up the sunshine.

After the competition, Paul and Sam wanted to dash off, but it was such a lovely day and still early, so I made them wait to see what would be coming up next. Well, we were very glad we waited as there was a great display from a ‘smokey chopper’; a very small, agile helicopper (as Adam calls them) that flew really fast – backwards! It was amazing to watch. They even had a Qantas jet fly up the Swan with it’s flaps up and the landing gear down. It did a circuit one way, then turned and headed back to the airport, not before pulling an incredibly quick, steep ascent. Don’t get to see that every day! Then, the absolute best bit was a display by the Australian Air Force with their F18’s. Four did a display and pulled off some great formations, then one F18 came back and flew very fast, very low and the noise was fantastic! At the end of this flight (after we were all deaf), the pilot just flew it completely vertical for TWO MILES into the sky, letting off anti-aircraft flares as it went – just incredible (although the kids probably enjoyed the ride on the bus more!).

Not a sight you see every day!

I can't believe how cloudy it looks in the pictures - it was a scorcher!

The house has taken a turn for the better and the second slab was poured today. We now have stairs! They effectively build a large tea tray over the first floor and fill it with concrete; the stairs are also concrete and poured at the same time. I’ll post a few pictures, so hopefully you’ll get the picture. We also have scaffolding now too, so the house looks bigger. We will have to get a lift thingy soon to transport all the bricks up to the second level. Hopefully as the weather’s taking a turn for the better, it won’t be too long before the concrete has dried out enough to let the brickies start on the next layer. I bet the builders will want their next instalment before Xmas, so they’d better get a wiggle on!

The shopping centre is also due to open the first week in December. They’ve got all the dry goods in Woolies at the moment and the other franchises are all moving in ready for opening day.

Ummmm..... shopping.....

I must admit, it will make a nice change not to have to drive to the equivalent of Stevenage to do the grocery shop.

Speaking of the house, we also put a deposit down on a pool this weekend. We’ve gone for a fibre glass one in the end. Concrete is more expensive, is designed for awkward spaces and is rougher on the feet. As we have quite a large block, we can fit a ‘run of the mill’ size and shape on in quite easily. We’ve gone for a ‘Flamingo’. What do you reckon?
www.sapphirepools.com.au/content/fibreglasspools/index.php

First floor slab is now added.

We have concrete stairs!

The kids are doing well with their swimming lessons during school time, although the novelty of traipsing off to the local pool on a coach every day is wearing a bit think now and they are both knackered (although they are able to watch videos on the coach during the journey, so that cheers them up no end). Their swimming has come on in leaps and bounds though. Darcie no longer has to lie to the pool attendant on duty on the water slide and whizzes down it like a looney! (when we first went, she had to lie and pretend to be 6!). She does handstands and rolls in the water now and is a regular little mermaid. Sam is doing well and is hoping to pass level 4 (THE hardest level to get through apparently!). There are a few Xmas activities being organised and Darcie has a school trip on the 6th December to the …….. wait for it…….. fish and chip restaurant in Fremantle!! Ha ha ha! They do have tanks with marine fish in the restaurant and the kids will have a talk from a marine biologist before tucking in to a nice piece of fried Nemo. Only in Oz, eh? I think they are having a special assembly when they’ll be performing all their strange Christmas songs, but I don’t know when this will be. Darcie hasn’t fully forgiven me yet for forgetting that last Friday was ‘free dress day’ to raise money for the children’s chosen cause. They could take a dollar in and wear their pyjamas, have ‘crazy hair’ or just come in their own clothes; only I forgot all about it and Sam and Darcie were in their uniform like geeks! Oh dear! Good job Darcie forgot to brush her hair that morning; she looked like she was participating, but had a very frugal mother!

Darcie’s got a date to visit Year One next week. They can take some money and buy their own snack for recess, so that’s exciting for them all (Darcie likes the giant cookies – they’re as big as her head and last two days (o: ). Because it’s such a large school, they don’t allocate class teachers until two days before the kids go back; there are lists then taped to the library door. All the kids are mixed up every year, so they have to make new friends. Hard in one way if they are shy or have a really good mate as there is no guarantee that they will be together the following year. This is fine for Sam as he just gets a new group of people to irritate next year (o: I think Year 4 will have four classes and Year 1 will probably have three or four too. It’ll be a shame if Darcie is not with Amy and Sam is moved away from Chad, but they’ll see each other at break times and at least by the time they’re in year 7, they’ll know everyone!

Oh, and WA are getting daylight saving. Seeing as we are the only State who don’t alter the clocks, it does makes sense. We are getting a bit cheesed off with people over East calling us at 6am in the morning as their clocks have changed and they are now three hours in front of us. The 3rd December is D day, I think.

I’ve done some more Xmas shopping and put more stuff on layby; which is great, as long as you remember which shopping centre you were in, which shop, what you have actually bought (so you don’t end up buying the same bloody thing again!), and when and how much you have to pay for it. At least they store it until Xmas Eve, although I have already been warned that the queues are a bit mad if you leave it to the last minute to collect it all. I wonder if I paid them another $10 they’d wrap it for me too? Worth a try. Still doesn’t feel very ‘christmassy’. I don’t know if you ever get used to a hot Xmas. Time will tell I suppose…… well, four and a bit weeks!!!

Summer's here!!! Thumbs up!

:o(


We went to see the Consultant today and he said that they removed a large benign tumour from behind Paul’s nose (which is good news - sort of). Good news in that it was benign (that’s the good one!), but bad news in that it was (a) there in the first place, (b) quite big and (c) Paul will need further surgery to remove part of his sinuses that have been affected by the polyps.

The Consultant went on to use words that would have scored well over 150 in a game of scrabble, and left Paul and I looking at each other in bewilderment, but the upshot is that Paul will need another operation – sooner rather than later – at a specialist teaching hospital in Fremantle.

At least Freo is closer to us than Perth and ….. well, the tumour was benign (they are the positives!). The operation sounds a lot more invasive than the one he’s already had – it involves cutting round the profile of his nose, right down to his lip and effectively (as the Consultant described it) peeling his face back to reveal the affected area to allow them to treat the problem. It’s not supposed to leave too much of a scar – especially with the skill in reconstructive surgery and stitches that fade to a barely visible line, but is by far more intensive surgery than he suffered last week.

It took the wind out of our sails a little this morning. We were expecting a ‘…looks fine, take these tablets, call me in the morning’ type consultation – not ‘ah, yes, yours was quite an unusual case….. you’ll need another procedure sooner rather than later’. The Consultant was quite alarmed that it had taken so long to get Paul to surgery (ahem…. YOU cancelled the operation once, Sir!), but fully expected the next op to be scheduled a lot sooner than 9 months. Mum? Can you stay a bit longer? Maybe? Please?

Off for a lie down in a darkened room now. We’re off out later for a walk round Secret Harbour to see if we can find the dog that Paul’s kicked - to apologise.

The Hallow'een Hooter!

Well, first things first and I apologise for posting a year-on update rather than about Paul’s health – so here goes…..The operation took place last Tuesday (Halloween) and I don’t think I can remember seeing Paul that nervous! He was really worried about it. We all went to the hospital with him (and made him more stressed than he was about the op! At least the kid’s behaviour took his mind off the worry and he was just glad to see the back of us, I think! Although I don’t know why he was getting upset at Adam trying to strangle the anaesthetist with a stethoscope (only joking! – I’d already nobbled him with a ‘drugged’ jelly baby!). We left the hospital about 8am and Paul was due down to surgery at 9 – he was the first on the list. I took the kids to Hungry Jacks for brekkie and said they could have the day off school as long as they were quiet whilst I looked after the phones and tried not to ruin us (business-wise) whilst Paul was incapacitated. They spent the day lounging around, winding each other up and colouring things in for Halloween. They were pretty good on the whole! I promised them pizza for dinner, so we whizzed to Dominos and then waited for the trick or treaters…..

Good grief! It certainly wasn’t like WGC. The kids came in bright sunlight and were dressed in the strangest of costumes – mostly nothing to do with witches, devils or suchlike. My personal favourite was two girls wearing hula skirts and bikini tops??? No – I’ve no idea either! The kids were happy though and dished out the lollies before admitting defeat at 7.30. They’d been awake since 5.15am, so they did well.

Scary, aren't they?

Isn't it sad that we can only afford one sandal between the three of them!

Anyhow – back to Paul…… Can’t stay on topic, can I? I phoned the hospital at 12 noon and he was back on the ward. Drowsy, but OK. Then the man himself phoned me at 4pm and sounded like he was speaking to me from the inside of a wheelie bin. His oxygen levels kept dropping, so he had to spend the night in an oxygen mask, hence sounding like he was speaking to me through a bucket. We spoke again in the evening and he sounded OK. Then on Wednesday morning, he phoned to say they were releasing him at 9.30am! I dropped the kids off at school and whizzed up the freeway, only to have him phone me to say they’d delayed it to 12.30 – oh, what a shame – I’ll have to go shopping!

He did the ‘man’ thing – telling everyone who would listen that he was fine and OK to go home; ‘no, the pain’s fine!’ – and then was in agony for the next 24 hours! I picked up his prescription the following day and even the pharmacist warned me that they were ‘very strong’ pain killers. Well, that was it; he was comatose for the next day and a half. I don’t think it was a bad thing though and it made his rest and sleep to repair the damage. He’s got a check up with the Consultant tomorrow, so we’ll find out them what exactly he extracted from Paul’s nose. The amazing thing is, there has been absolutely NO bruising whatsoever. I’d braced myself for the worst – too much reality TV where they have nose jobs and look as though they’ve been punched in the face by Mike Tyson! The Consultant did do a ward round after his op, but of course, Paul was in no state to question him over how the procedure went, so it will be interesting to hear tomorrow what he did and what was achieved! He’s been in quite a lot of pain, but can actually breathe out of his left nostril now whereas he couldn’t get any air through the left one at all before. I shall update you when I hear the news…. (unless of course I forget, but have something more important like a new pair of shoes I bought (o: )

Apart from that stress, the kids are now practising their Christmas songs etc for the end of term. I had to let you have the words for Sam’s song; it’s so sweet!

Christmas where the gum trees grow.

Chorus
Christmas where the gum trees grow
There is no frost and there is no snow
Christmas in Australia’s hot
Cold and frosty’s what it’s not
When the bloom of the Jacaranda tree is here
Christmas time is near

Verse 1
From England came our Christmas fare
They even said what Santa should wear
But here down under for summer’s cool
Santa should dip in a swimming pool

Verse 2
Santa rides in a sleigh on snow
But down here where the gum trees grow
Santa should wear some water skis
And glide around Australia with ease

Verse 3
To ride around the bush where it’s dry
To cart all the presents piled so high
A red nosed reindeer would never do –
Santa should jump on a kangaroo!

Next week they start school swimming. I think they are more excited about the thought of going on the coach there and back – rush to sit on the back seat….! They’ll be even more grouchy and knackered than usual – oh, can’t wait for that one! We’ve also got the Red Bull Air Race coming up soon the weekend after next. I think it’s the last race in the series and best of all….. it’s free! None of this going into a draw for tickets and then having to pay a fortune to park, we can just turn up with a picnic, sit on the banks of the Swan River and watch the excitement! Paul says he’s got me a job as a co-pilot with the German pilot. I said as long as I get an ‘appearance fee/vomit fee’ and it goes towards our turn over, I’d give it a go!

Three weeks tomorrow and Mum’s due to take to the air. It’s all very exciting and I’ve still managed to keep it a surprise from the kids! Don’t know quite how I’ve managed – we’ve had a few hiccups, but I don’t think they suspect. The kid’s then break up for Christmas on 7th December and we’ve got a few things organised for the hols.

Mum – by the way, I’ve booked the Kylie tickets, so either you’re on babysitting duty for Mr Cheese, or you can keep your earplugs from the plane and come with us!

I’ll post an update on the house. They haven’t done a great deal more. The T bars have held them up unfortunately! We now have bricks over the balcony and the alf(resco), so it’s starting to look quite, well, housey! It’s looking quite large now and our neighbours are commenting even more on our fantastic views and how they’re going to lose theirs – ;o)

The crane placing our balcony girder in position

Bob does some welding on site - shame Dad couldn't have inspected his work!

Will try and add a quick update on Paul’s hooter when I can. Oh and you will be disgusted to know that we had to bring the air conditioning units out of retirement today. How can you go from being freezing one month, to sweating your bits off the next? Amazing! Hope you all enjoyed the fireworks and if anyone went to Burnham Green – bah humbug, I’m not jealous!

View from the front door - the pillar will hold the balcony up. That's the golf course to the front.

Coming together, isn't it?

Well, do you know that this time last year, we were holding our leaving party at the Clock? As usual, we’ve packed a hell of a lot into twelve months and we’re exhausted for it! It only seems like yesterday in some ways that we were in WGC, walking round John Lewis and enjoying the delights of the town centre – yet in other ways, it seems an age since we last saw family and friends. So, on the whole, what are our reflections?

Firstly, the month before we left England was hell on earth! It was a complete nightmare of trying to sort out six month’s worth of packing, selling, winding down the business and goodbyes into the space of less than four weeks! Hand on heart though, I don’t honestly know if it would have been any easier if we had more time to do it – it may just have prolonged the agony and made the goodbyes even longer and harder…. It’s just a shame that some relationships suffered even before we had made the move. There just weren’t enough hours in the day to fit everything in!

The kids have been stars! They have settled better than I ever could have hoped. They have jumped feet first into the Aussie way of life and seem to be really enjoying it! I know that academically, they are way behind the UK (Darcie for instance would be reading by now, whereas she hasn’t as much as been given a ‘reading’ book yet and is still ‘playing’ really in class). Sam too would be completing much more difficult work at Templewood and has struggled a little to go backwards (i.e back to using pencil and not being allowed to do joined up writing until at least Year 4 when he can try for his ‘pen licence’!). However, his confidence in other things has grown enormously. He has performed in an assembly in front of 300+ children, competed in the Sports Carnival and numerous other activities that he wouldn’t have got to attempt in the UK – all of which he has tried without fear and given them all a bloody good go. I’m very proud of both of them and the way they have coped with it all. Obviously, Mr Cheese has just bumbled about in his usual two year old fashion, but he is a happy little chappy who enjoys the weather, going on the boat and looking for ‘dolchins’. I do appreciate that had we still been in WGC, he probably would have been starting pre-nursery in January, and that galls me a little as he is more than ready for ‘something more’, but over here the system is different and they won’t even think about enrolling him in Kindy for at least another 12 months! I think he’ll have taught himself to read in that time if it means he can be more like his older siblings. He can already put on a video and operate the DVD player, so how hard can a bit of phonetics be?

When I look back at the blog, it makes me realise just what we have achieved in twelve months. Set up home in a ‘foreign’ country. Acquired all the ‘essentials’ without readily knowing where to go to obtain all these things (more difficult than you would imagine!). Started a business from scratch that is starting to look quite promising (o: Signed to have our house built and all the associated stress and bureaucracy that accompanies it! Bought a boat and had a year’s enjoyment from it without killing ourselves or drowning! Managed to avoid any creepy crawlies or snakes. Visited some beautiful places, many of them less than an hours drive from our house. Realised a dream to move to another country – lock, stock and barrel and made some good friends along the way!

The other day on the way to the hairdressers, I passed some people on the foreshore feeding pelicans. Just casually – like we would feed the ducks at Stanborough. Its things like this that we are already starting to take for granted! WA is beautiful. It’s a stunning place to live and only today as I was walking Darcie to school, I realised how lucky we are to be living a stones throw from the Indian Ocean on a golf course estate surrounded by such beautiful scenery. I know the kids don’t often appreciate it, but small things (like a stick insect landing on Darcie’s leg this morning as she walked into school – or a flock of colourful parakeets flying over the house, making more noise that a team of motorbike riders – or going to the park in Mandurah and seeing wild dolphins swim casually up to swimmers), do make an impression with them and cause the odd comment.

It’s not actually been as bad as I thought it would. The homesickness and missing friends, I mean. I really thought I would suffer badly and miss Mum terribly, but with the wonder of the 3p phone call and Mum’s Red Cross parcels, we still talk every day and manage to keep up with all the goings on on both sides of the globe. In fact Paul has found it harder than me, which I certainly wouldn’t have expected! I have also managed to withdraw from Eastenders! It is on UKTV here, but it’s so far behind I think Dirty Den’s only just died (for the first time 8-) Although I do find myself watching ‘Engie Bengy’ with Adam just to hear Ant and Dec’s dulcet tones! We get pretty much the same crap telly programs as you – mainly American imports between the hours of 7pm – 11pm, but we are starting to familiarise ourselves with the Aussie personalities and the equivalents to Eamonn and Fiona. We get ‘Deal or No Deal’, but without Noel (not necessarily a bad thing!).

As Paul says, the line between the UK and Oz is starting to blur a little now and sometimes memories overlap and you can’t remember how certain things were done in the UK (because we’re used to the Aussie way!). Things like being able to buy wine in the supermarket. A postman that used to walk on his round (rather than a kamikaze idiot on a scooter who REFUSES to get off his bike and drives over things instead!) and having a postbox at the corner of most streets – oh, and a letterbox in your door, rather than one at the end of your drive! Seeing kids on their bikes, riding to the beach with a surfboard attached to the back. Seeing teenage boys in wetsuits on skateboards carrying their boards to the beach! Being able to pay all your bills over the internet with Bpay and not actually receiving a paper bill – just an email when you have a new invoice to pay. Mobile speed cameras everywhere, with articles in the paper the day before telling everyone where they are going to be situated (they even announce them on the TV!). Double ‘de-merit’ points on all speeding fines over a public holiday weekend. Fines for travelling as little as 2kms over the limit! The price of petrol changing depending on the day of the week (always dearer on a Friday as people may want to fill up before going away for the weekend – always dearer before a public holiday weekend too :o( Free BBQ’s everywhere in the parks for all to use. Banks that charge for EVERYTHING! Getting asked ‘cheque, savings or credit’ when you go to pay using a bank card (and not having a clue in the beginning which one to pick!). Pet shops that still sell puppies. Being able to have a hermit crab as a pet (yeuch! – they are like spiders with a mortgage!). Oh and if I ever hear you moan about junk mail, I will post you a weeks worth of ours! We get four weekly free papers, and enough junk mail flyers every week to wallpaper a small downstairs loo!

I’m still getting email reminders from Ocado to place my on-line shopping order; Grant Shapps (local MP) has me on his mailing list from when I signed a petition (once!) and I get emails with special offers from Butlins and Center Parcs! In fact, I’ve had more emails from Grant Shapps than some of you lot!

Silly things we miss – like a Sunday morning stroll into town with the kids on their bikes, a quick coffee in Costas and then home again (yeah, right – how many times did we do that exactly??) I also confess to missing the shops. The fact that I know if I want decent quality stuff I can go to John Lewis or M&S, but if I want cheapy, I’ve always got Poundstretcher or Primark. There just doesn’t seem to be the choice over here. Supermarkets are dire! The aisles are too tall and too close together and they play crap early 80’s music whilst you are shopping, so that I’m distracted from the groceries and the trip turns into a game of ‘Never Mind the Buzzcocks’ trying to guess all the obscure music. (God, today, I took the kids to a Castaway Kids-type place and they were playing ‘Seven Tears’ – do you remember that song? How naff???)

Strange as it may seem, I would still like to be standing round the bonfire in Burnham Green next Saturday getting smoke in my eyes and dodging the fireworks! They don’t do firework night here – makes sense really given what it’s all about (in fact it’s illegal to purchase fireworks for home use anyhow). Halloween was strange too as we got trick or treaters calling in glorious sunshine wearing hula skirts and bikini tops – I think it’s only scary for the Dads who realise that’s what their daughter will be like in 8 years time (more terrifying than someone dressed as a devil, I think you’ll agree!) I still made Paul get a Pumpkin although it was the equivalent of £10, so he wasn’t chuffed!

So what else is different about life down under? I think we enjoy our weekends more and get out and do stuff together more as a family. Even if it’s only a trip to the beach, or the park, at least the weather’s usually nice and you can plan stuff without everything being called off at the last minute. We’ve socialised more – OK, maybe out of necessity in the beginning to get to know people and stuff. That in itself can be hard – sometimes you don’t feel like making an effort to get to know people and make friends, and it’s hard that no-one knows you or your family, so can’t sympathise or take the piss out of you (you have to get to know someone well before you can take the piss and that’s my sense of humour – OK, I know it’s childish!!) It’s still a huge emotional rollercoaster, but then life is I suppose. We all have ups and downs and the trouble is we don’t actually appreciate the here and now while we are in it and living it – we always seemed happier when we were younger / when we were thinner / before we had kids and had money! Trouble is, when we are in that position, we don’t appreciate the simple things and we always strive for more. I am making a promise to myself to try and be happy for NOW, with what we’ve got and count our blessings, because, god knows with all the stress we’ve been through in the last twelve months, I think we’ve done alright! We’re in a good place. We’re happy (relatively healthy (o-: ) and we’re all still together. Can’t be bad!

…………humph……………

Quite a frustrating tone to the update this week in as much as we paid the next instalment for the house and they have done exactly........... nothing since! Apparently they are waiting for some special T-bars and there has been a delay at the manufacturers and then they have to go for galvanising! We have chased the builder a few times and they say it’ll all be delivered in the next few days….. then the weekend arrives and another week elapses with no first floor. They have told us that the Floortech guys will be on site on Friday to get the scaffolding in place ready for the concrete to be poured for the first floor (although, they didn’t say which Friday, I suppose).

Other than the frustration over the house, everything else is plodding on towards the summer, Christmas and the school holidays. The kids are still knackered, we’re still working hard and Adam’s a little sod! We’ve booked the kids in for swimming lessons at a local pool; not for this pool the sane system of grading the classes by numbers – oh no! I had to go and register the kids as one Tuna and one Salmon! I felt like I was ordering lunch at the deli. The only had their first lessons last week, but Darcie was SO much better than she was in her VACswim classes in the holiday. She was like a little dolphin and did really well. Sam did great too. I think the weekly lessons are better for my lot as they don’t seem to cope very well with going every day for a week. This week I found out that they do two weeks of swimming with the school too this term, so they are going to be constantly wrinkled and smelling of chlorine next month.

Paul’s booked in for his Op on Tuesday (Halloween). We’ve got to be at the hospital ready to be admitted at 6.30am and he now needs an overnight stay. To be honest, I’m pleased about that. At least he’ll be monitored and looked after for 24 hours and by the time he’s released, I know he’ll be OK (ish!). I’m a bit jealous too! – the thought of 24 hours bedrest and no intruders creeping into your bed at night and then sleeping with their big toe up your nose for 5 hours – it’s almost worth having your nose broken and looking and feeling like sh*t for a week. Hell, I look and feel like that anyway (after the aforementioned bad night’s sleep, so a bit of bruising wouldn’t be so bad (o;) Next time you see Adam, smell his hair. He constantly has hair smelling of Paul’s armpit as that’s where he sleeps most nights! He goes to bed in his room, a mosquito must buzz in and wake him up (as he’s such a light sleeper) and as soon as his eye lids flutter, he’s out of his cot (like an extra from a 'Mission Impossible' film) and he’s in our bed before you’ve even noticed the covers being pulled back. I tell you, the Army ought to utilise his night time operation techniques. He could get into Baghdad without being seen, no trouble, if the way he trespasses into our bed is anything to go by. Perhaps he has those green night vision glasses in his room. I wouldn’t put it past him – probably swapped his Noddy for them in the playground. He’s nothing if not industrious! Good job Sam was never around in the ‘Swap Shop’ generation. I’d nip to Tescos only to find he’d swapped Darcie for a Mr Potato Head and probably replaced Adam with a ‘nearly new’ game of Twister.

The kids are getting more ‘aussie-fied’. Peppers are now ‘capsicums’, flip flops are most definitely ‘thongs’ and crisps are ‘chips’. Darcie’s voice is changing the most with the upward lilt at the end of her sentences. Sam’s still a bit ‘cor blimey, guvnor’ but he’s starting to get small Australian inflictions to his voice. He mumbles worse than ever and that seems to be a big Australian ‘thang’. Thankfully his use of the word ‘dude’ seems to have subsided a little and the novelty has worn off. Can’t say I’m sad about that one – I was getting mightily fed up of being referred to as ‘Mum Dude’.

Everyone’s gearing up here for the Melbourne Cup. It’s a horse race, and it’s massive! Every restaurant and bar are advertising special ‘Melbourne Cup’ lunches with big screens and betting available. I’ve been invited to a friend’s house and we have to wear our worst clothes (charity shop stuff) with a really nice hat. I don’t know if I trust them though. I’d probably turn up looking like Nora Batty and they’d all look like Madonna. It’s when they’d tell me to take my wrinkly tights off that the embarrassment would start and I’d have to admit that I actually wasn’t wearing any and I just had saggy kness (o:

I’ve attached a couple of photos; one of the new shopping centre that should be open for Christmas. You can clearly see the Woolies sign (Mum got really excited: ‘we haven’t got a Woolies over town – I love Woolies’ – she was very disappointed when I told her it was a food shop like Morrisons (o: ) The other photos show the new high school (which if it grows any bigger will need it’s own postal code!). It is apparently a centre for the Performing Arts and is going to be a speciality learning centre. That’ll come in useful with Sam no doubt and his thespian tendancies – I said THESPIAN!

The new high school - it didn't seem that close to our house in the beginning!

View of the school reception - impressive, eh?

That's the wonder of good old Woolies....

What do we want? 'A bottle shop'

When do we want it? 'NOW!'

Hi De Hi Campers!

Hope you are all well and have had a good few weeks since the last update. Not a huge amount to update on – I’m having to wrack my brains to think about what we’ve been up to as it’s 9.30pm on a Saturday evening and I have been partaking of some liquid refreshment of the grape-grown variety and my mind has just got up and walked out the door ;-) (plus I am old now!)

We have been plodding onwards and upwards. The kids have been on holiday for a fortnight and go back to school on Tuesday. This will be Term 4 and after an 8 week term (shortest of them all – hooray!), they will then break up for the summer/Christmas holidays! I must say, it’s been a long year for them. By the time it gets to their two weeks off, they are exhausted. We haven’t really done much this holiday though and concentrated on resting for the last term. Paul’s taken an afternoon off here and there and taken the kids to the pictures (they went to see Barnyard), Darcie had a sleep over at Amy’s and had another trip to the pictures (lucky duck!) to see The Wild. We’ve done lots of shopping and BBQ’s for lunch and it’s all been very relaxed and fun. The kids also did a weeks swimming course at the local pool through a scheme called VACswim. It's run during the school holidays and is based on kids all getting to learn how to swim for a dollar a day. The kids enjoyed it; Darcie had completely forgotten everything she learnt in her last classes and swam like a stone and Sam worked hard, but just missed out on passing his level. The classes were only half an hour, but every day we seemed to be in the pool for two and a half hours! The lure of the water slide and the rapids was just too great and everyday they emerged tired and wrinkly (we know how that feels!)

Paul fulfilled an ambition when we took the boat into Perth and launched it into to Swan River. He has always wanted to Skipper the boat right into the heart of Perth and he got to do that the other week.

That's a view of sunny Perth taken from OUR boat!

We did have some adventure though when we stopped for a picnic and beached the boat (that is to drive it up onto the sand, nose first). We secured it really well and went off for a barbie at one of the many playparks along the length of the Swan River; only when we came to leave, we hadn’t accounted for the tide going out…… The boat was well and truly grounded. However, after lots of strained muscles, the odd hernia and Paul falling into a hole in the sand and submerging himself (to which the kids and I wet ourselves with laughter – much to Paul’s disgust!), we managed to get all aboard and back to open water! We certainly have some ‘experiences’ on the boat! It was lots of fun though, and really gave us a ‘this is what it’s all for!’ feeling. The sun was shining, Perth looked beautiful and Paul was drenched! Life was cool ;-)
There is an X-rated version of what happened on the boat which is VERY funny, but Paul won’t let me publish it on the blog – you’ll have to email me for the full un-abridged version – tee hee!)

Let me think………. What else have we been up to…. Well, the AffinityOne website has been all updated and is very new and spangly. Paul has re-written it and we’ve had a professional company come in and update all the ‘behind the scenes’ bits, so it’s functioning a lot more efficiently. It’s never easy when the kids are on holiday trying to make phone calls and still run the business, but the kids have survived for another break, so we must have done something right (or not throttled them hard enough!).

The builders have cracked on with the house a little more (although the weather has been a bit pants lately and it’s rained a lot). We’ve had the summons for the second stage payment to be made, so this means that the scaffolding is on site and they will be getting ready to pour the second slab for the first floor. The have a poured concrete slab rather than floorboards, but it is ‘floating’ so we can pass cables and stuff around it – I don’t know what that means either, it just sounds impressive! You can clearly see the columns now to the front, and Paul has christened it ‘Battersea Power Station’, I think you can guess why! It is really starting to take shape now and you get a real feel for the size of the rooms.

See what we mean about Battersea Power Station?

This is a view from the Living Room through to the double front doors with more pillars!

Adam on the toilet (or at least on the soil pipe where the toilet will be!)

We now have columns in place for the covered alfresco area and the garage has appeared (almost overnight!). On a separate note, the Shopping Centre in Secret Harbour is looking fab and will definitely be open for Xmas. We have one third of the ‘Woolworths’ sign. It will make a nice change not to have to drive to the equivalent of Stevenage to go grocery shopping! I believe we are also getting a petrol station and a bottle shop (off license) in the not too distant future (alcoholic drivers rejoice!). The new Senior School is also growing by the week – although I think they’re going to have to get a wiggle on to be finished and open for teaching by February 2007. Every time we drive past there seems to be another ‘wing’ appeared.

Ooh, Ooh, I did some Christmas Shopping this week! Target had another ‘mega toy sale’, so I went a put a few bits on lay by! You pay a deposit and then pay it off every month; but the best bit is the store actually keep it for you until Christmas Eve, so you don’t have to keep it in the house and think of more and more ingenious hiding places for pressies. Brilliant idea – so long as I can actually remember what and where I bought stuff! I can’t tell you what I bought as Sam sometimes reads this, although I took Adam with me shopping and put two Thomas DVD’s in the basket. He was very happy and sang the Thomas theme tune all the way round the store. Until, however, the lady took them from him and wouldn’t give them back! He broke his heart crying and shouted in a very angry voice ‘Naughty lady! Home now – tell Daddy!’ I felt really sorry for him! So much so I bought him a lolly to stop him sobbing.

I also celebrated my first birthday in Oz!! Hoorah! I would like to formally thank everyone on here for my CARD (singular – NOT plural, you notice! ;+) Actually, it was the best one I’ve had in a very long time. Paul had actually gone to my two friend’s houses and knocked (on his own – unbribed) to invite them to a birthday BBQ he was holding in my honour. They came with pressies and food (Amy’s mum even baked a beautiful pavlova for my birthday cake with after eights and strawberries, it was fab!) and we sat in the garden all evening whilst the kids played, eating and drinking and laughing a lot. It was lovely and I was really chuffed that Paul bothered to do that as he knew I would probably be feeling a bit low and missing friends and my Mum. Paul excelled himself and picked out a lovely card (as opposed to what he normally does and grabs the one nearest to the checkout in Tescos!) and gave me money for a shopping trip. I’ve also booked a hairdressers appointment (thanks, Mum!), although after what they did to Darcie, I’ve been a little apprehensive. I might tell you how it went…… depends how it turns out, really.

We went to the Mandurah Boat Show today which was very good. Darcie was off playing at Amy’s so we just had the two moaning, whingers to drag around with us. We bought a waterproof boat cover to hopefully stop the damn thing filling up like a bucket and a small gas fired camping stove for when we go on ‘expeditions’ and want to warm out beans up on the move! We also looked at the next step up for us boat-wise which would probably be something we could sleep on. They’re not too expensive really, so when we’ve worked hard and have a bit of extra cash we can re-look at it. They had some gorgeous boats there for well over the million $ mark. Sam was quite taken with them and wanted to apply for a paper round immediately and start saving. Not that he’s very good at saving; he’s not happy until he’s spent everything in his wallet and that includes the small change.

Thats all for this week, I think. Keep up, won't you ;-)

Birthday blog!

Hi guys. We’ve all aged since the last blog entry – well, Sam has! My ickle baby is now 9! Scary stuff. Can’t imagine what I’ll feel like when he’s in his twenties and rolling home from the pub (who said ‘more wrinkly???’ Own up!). He thoroughly enjoyed his day. It’s the last week at school before a well earned two week break, and they really made a fuss of him. He got badges and sung to and was allowed to pick something out of the teacher’s birthday box (oooo eeerrr!).

Thank you for his presents and cards. Actually, he didn’t get presents; he got gadgets! A mobile phone, an iPod shuffle, a watch, a new battery for his PSP…….. a teenager would have been impressed with Sam’s haul, let me tell you!

The birthday fairy came up trumps again!

Sam really liked borrowing my iPod – not to listen to my dodgy taste in 80’s power ballads, but I download a lot of podcasts from a London talk radio station that I grew really fond of before we moved. Anyhow, Sam’s grown to really like listening too, so he has not only songs on his iPod (the Darkness, Buggles and Steps – a very eclectic mix!), but mostly has podcasts of LBC! He loves listening to them every night. I must admit it’s sad, but I think it’s really helped me not to be too homesick. Sam also got an ant farm for his birthday and collected about four ants this afternoon and he’s named them after the LBC presenters! Weird child, eh? Must take after his Father!

He is chuffed with his mobile phone that Nanny B bought him. He’s fantastic with it! When he used to go to the deli or the skate park with his friends, I used to make him take my mobile, just in case. He always phoned when he was told to and was very mature with it. If it means that we can give him a little more freedom to explore Secret Harbour, but can call him when we need him, or when he needs us, I don’t think it’s a bad thing! He’s already had a trans-atlantic call from Nanny B; how exciting! I’ve got a feeling that all his birthday money from Nanny D will be spent on ‘top ups!’ I’m not even going to show him how to send a text message ;-)

So, after school, we took Sam out for a nice meal in Mandurah. He really enjoyed it and they did the candle thing with the cake that I’d bought (sorry – made). The cake was fab (and huge!) and Sam was chuffed. Hoorah!

Whoa! Another year and he'll be setting off the sprinkler system!

I was explaining to Sam that he was born at 12.14 lunchtime. ‘that’s when you popped out of my tummy!’ I told him. ‘Did I really?’ he asked. ‘Actually, no’, I said, ‘you came out of my (front) bottom’. ‘Yeuch’ says Sam, ‘couldn’t you have found me a cleaner exit??’ I ASK YOU????

So, last week was the school Sports Carnival. Good grief, it was nothing like a Templewood Sports Day and I was really unprepared! It literally lasts all day because the school is so big and there are so many kids! There were Mums and Dads there who did the whole works and came with cool boxes and chairs and….. well, half their houses, really. I thought we’d done really well be remembering to take two deckchairs! Darcie was up first as they ran the events in age order. She was in the 50m flat race. She was very determined – all straight hands and gritted teeth for better aerodynamics. Paul tried very hard not to laugh as she did comedy running; running along looking at Paul, smiling, rather than the finish line….. but it worked, because…….

SHE WON!!!
Darcie’s teacher, Mrs Singleton is at the front in the scarf BTW.

Sam did very well in his flat race too, finishing 4th. Then in the afternoon they had team games and events. The whole thing was run like a military operation (but when there are 800 kids, I suppose it has to be!).The school is split into four factions: Dune (yellow), Ocean (blue), Tuart (green) and Sunset (red). Sam and Darcie are both in Ocean. The day was good and the kids worked really hard to do their best. It was cloudy though and quite windy, so you can imagine my horror, when I removed my sunglasses at the end of the day and I looked like I’d spent all day on the piste skiing!! I was SO sunburnt. I looked like a comedy sketch where they paint round your sunglasses – how embarrassing! However, enough about me…. back to the important stuff….

The children all rallied really hard to win faction points for their team. Lots of the kids even sprayed their hair in their faction colours and had team ribbons and everything. I’ll know for next year and I’ll make more of an effort next year, I promise ;-) The prizes were announced at the end of the day with individual trophies for each child who won the most points for each year of the school. Overall, the winning faction was….. OCEAN!!!

So, enough of the events, on to the house! They are coming on, but it’s still a couple of weeks away from the next staged payment and the first floor slab I think. So when the Supervisor said three weeks ago that they only had a ‘week/ten days tops’, he was obviously speaking Australian, which we should have translated to mean ‘two to three weeks, weather permitting!’. Never mind, better the money’s in our account than spent on 20 tonnes of concrete! Not a very environmentally friendly house ours; especially not when you add all the electricity usage, the chemicals for the pool (maybe) and the fossil fuels to be used on heating the water. Perhaps our next house should be an Indian TeePee.

We went to our new neighbours for a BBQ on Sunday and met all our neighbours-to-be from all sides. It was a nice evening and they all seem friendly enough. Our neighbours to the back have a daughter in Sam’s class (much to his disgust; he only ‘does’ certain girls!) and she does tend to stalk him whenever we’re on site! The only slightly uncomfortable part about the evening was when this one neighbour mentioned about losing her view of the sea because of our house. Once would have been OK, but she must have said about it at least 5 times! Sorry, but if they were that concerned, they should have bought our plot! I wouldn’t mind, but they camped out to buy their plot of land. They could have bought ours, but it was slightly more expensive. So how can they then moan that our house will block their view???? They even asked where we would be putting the fence as at the moment, they have a lovely view (yes, you would, because our house hasn’t been built! Wait until our monster’s up and all you’ll see is a brick wall! J Don’t mean to sound hard, but you can’t buy a cheaper plot and want the dearer plot’s views, can you? I just hope it doesn’t get awkward.

Anyhow, build a bridge – get over it! The house is coming on very well. We now have a downstairs loo, walk in pantry, home cinema, HUGE en-suite and a very vivid imagination to be able to visualize what it will all look like once finished! We keep visiting the site and arguing over what’s going where, then we have to come home and study the plans to see who was right. It’s our new party game. I’m winning 2:1 at the moment. It’s looking good, although already we’re looking at things, thinking; ‘why on earth did we want that to go there?’ Goodness only knows what we’ll be like when they put all the electric points in; probably won’t have any in the practical places. I won’t be surprised though. When it came to the electrical plans, we just went a bit mad with a magic marker!

So, this week marks the end of Term Three at school and I can’t wait! The kids are knackered and rude; well, Sam and Darcie are, don’t know about the rest of the school. The Company has sponsored the school newsletter for 10,000 copies as the school wanted the newsletter to go colour. I’ve put a link to it here: school newsletter but the funny thing is, it isn’t in the same format on the website! It looks much better than this one, but at least you get the idea and get to read the jist of it! It’s also funny that the school proof read it and signed off the print run, and only noticed on the first edition that they’ve got 10,000 copies of the Secret HABOUR News. They are currently being reprinted – D’OH!

Monday is a public holiday, so everyone has a day of rest. It’s in honour of the Queen’s birthday (I don’t know, before you ask!). The

.......... and here is the news..............

The house is coming on nicely. We had a site meeting with the Supervisor this week who (although only appeared to be in his late 20's) had everything in hand and seemed to be on the ball with the trades and the schedule of works. He thought that the brickwork for first floor level would be finished in less than two weeks - we were godsmacked at that, but then the next day, the brickies completed an entire outside wall of the house. So it looks like they will meet that schedule. Then we have to pay the biggest staged payment of them all (gulp!) and the scaffolding arrives and they go up further. I asked him what stage we'd be at by Xmas, and he said it we didn't have the roof on, it would be imminent.

This is a picture of Paul's office (well, will be!).
See, I am spoiling him with a golf course view!

Although, there could be a problem coming up with the build, as the last few blokes on the site have looked a bit dodgy!

They look like a right shower, don't they?

They were a special delivery from Nanny B. Poor old Adam had all the trucks from Bob, but they don't sell the people (doesn't make any sense at all really, does it? Welcome to Australia!!!). So SuperNan came to the rescue again and packaged over a complete set of the characters for him. He loves them - as the picture below shows his glee when he unwrapped them, but the trouble is, he insists on taking them to the building site with him. We then spend twenty minutes looking at what the builders have done and another forty minutes trying to find the characters that Adam has buried in the sand! I nearly gave up and abandoned Spud today; he was only saved by a last minute ferret about with my foot!

The builders need all the help that can get to have the house finished on time, so Bob and Wendy are reporting to site first thing on Monday morning to help; although Bob might melt a bit in his donkey jacket! We showed some Aussie friends and they did comment that Bob should really be wearing shorts, a singlet and thongs ;-)

He looks very pleased with himself, doesn't he?

So apart from the 'norm', it's been quite an uneventful week. Sam fell base over apex on his way home from school on Wednesday and has scraped all the skin off his chin. From a distance, it looks as though he is sporting a little goatee beard! Sam also got a certificate for doing really well in Indonesian class this week! He's done well as the other kids have been learning Indonesian for a few years now, so he's a star to even understand what they are saying! The school photos went well, apparently; we shall see what the pictures end up like! Good job they were last week, before the chin incident!

Darcie's class made vegetable soup this week (for the letter of the week 'V'). Next week it's whale sandwiches ;-) They have both been practising hard for next weeks athletics carnival. The weather's been quite nice this week and we've had to resort to sun tan lotion for the first time in months (although the weekend has taken a bit of a turn for the worse - must know we wanted to go out in the boat!).

Paul, Sam and Adam all went for a haircut today. Adam looks about 5, Sam had a crew cut and looks like a teenager and Paul looks like a newborn (in as much as he's got that much hair now!).

And whilst we were out....... well, see for yourslef what Darcie had done! She was VERY brave!

What a lovely weekend we had!

We picked the kids up early from school and pootled off on our drive down south. I slightly mis-calculated, and our 1½ hour journey was suddenly calculated by the Sat Nav as 4½!! Bugger! Never mind….. I packed the back of the car with as much stuff as I could empty out of the house (or at least, that’s how it felt ;-) and we trundled on our merry way. I think we’d got about half an hour down the road when we stopped at the Miami Bakery. It’s an award winning bakery that sells…. wait for it…… gourmet pies! Well, you know how the Aussies love their pies. I swear if you wrapped a piece of road kill Roo in pastry, they’d eat it! They even did a ‘garlic prawn pie’ but Paul was saddened that they’d sold out – yeuch!

Anyhow, the family were re-fuelled and we got to Dunsborough at about 5.15pm – not bad really as I don’t think we actually left ‘til gone one and we did stop a few times. The holiday let was lovely! It was a two storey – felt SO weird to have stairs again! It came with a BBQ (too cold and too much work to clean; see I am turning into a lazy Australian!), dishwasher (heaven!), two TV’s and a DVD player (so that Adam could have Pingu wherever he goes!) and the best….. wait for it………a SPA BATH!!! Yes, a bath big enough to actually cover your knees with water! Fan-bloody-tastic! So we unloaded the car (I unpacked – Paul moans that I’m REALLY anal, but I have to unpack before anything!!) and then went for a walk up to the boat ramp – about 1km. There was a tarmaced cycle track though, so the kids took their scooters and were happy. The boat ramp was like rush hour at Piccadily Circus! There was just boat after boat. They were all going crabbing. They had lights and drop nets and metal crab scoops. There were signs near the sea telling what was an acceptable size for keeping and advising everyone on the maximum catch numbers per day – all very strict. We stood watching and it started to rain. Then we saw something neither Paul or I have ever seen in our lives…. we actually SAW the end of a rainbow! It came arching over from forest behind us and dropped into the sea about 200 metres in front of us – amazing! I think the gold must have sunk though as it wasn't floating on the water.

Is it only me, or does anyone else have the urge to deposit Adam in the wheely bin? NO? Just me then!

So we had a big bowl of spaghetti that I’d cooked the night before and packed (it was nice, but next time, I won’t pack it with the clothes – only joking!), then we all fell into bed; as Peter Kay says, the sea air makes you sleep…. Not before we’d all had a go in the spa bath though! Individually, that is! Adam laughed a bit too much for my liking once the jets were turned on – it was tickling his ‘bits’ apparently! Perhaps that’s why Sam had more baths in two days than he’s had since he’s been in Oz??? Note to self: don't let Sam use our Spa bath in the new house!

The morning came and I had a strict itinerary for everyone with things that were to be enjoyed! That’s an order! We left the cottage and went to Cape Naturaliste where (if you’re VERY lucky), you can see whales on their migratory journey. I was so hopeful and we stood and we stared at every white cap, every sea bird, every current…. Until…… WE SAW THEM!!! They were quite a way out to sea and my camera wouldn’t focus very well, but if you double click on this picture, it will enlarge and you can see………. A WHALE FLIPPER! I was SSOOO pleased! It completed made my trip – didn’t care what else happened – I’d seen a whale in the wild!

Double click - it's Free Willy! No, Mum - not THAT sort!

After this excitement, we visited Nigli caves – only about a ten minute hop in the car. This too was fab. There was a guided introduction where they told you all about the man who found the caves in Victorian times, and how they used huge, great whicker baskets to ferry all the Victorian tourists down into the cave with the help of pulleys and a donkey! The kids loved it – Adam especially loved all the nooks and crannies (much to Paul’s disgust – he was a man stressed to the limit with too many stairs, too many black holes to disappear into and not enough light!). They even had a slide that the kids loved that went through the cave – a real adventure and they spent a good half an hour on that alone! It was a very enjoyable trip, but 701 steps later, we needed refreshment and visited The Caves Hotel for lunch – yum!

Going down....... menswear, hoisery and intimate apparell!

After a re-fuel, we headed into the Margaret River – the wine capital for Western Australia - and let the kids run loose in the Candy Cow where they hand make sweets. Darcie was in piggy heaven! She bought a gob stopper that’s almost a big as her head! I tried to encourage Sam to buy one, but he’s no sucker (geddit?). After this, we popped in to a local grocery store and stocked up on a few provisions and headed back. It’s amazing the amount of ‘better’ food you can buy there. All gourmet and hand made, with cheeses from local dairy farms and olives from local growers. Delicious, but made us realise what we are missing; namely Tesco’s finest!

The next morning, I was slightly less strict with my itinerary – I didn’t even put my Sergeant Major’s cap on! Sam had another spa bath ;-) and we headed off the Margaret River again.

On the way, we stopped off at a Venison farm. The kids played with a friendly ‘PR’ dog on the porch and we shopped, buying some venison sausages, ham and steaks. Sam and Darcie tucked in to a venison sausage, thoroughly enjoying it until Paul pointed out what it was ‘made’ from! Sam’s little face dropped. ‘It’s funny Dad,’ Sam said, ‘but sometimes, you don’t enjoy stuff as much when you know what it’s made of!’ How true. Tonight, I’ve made Toad win the Hole with the venison sausages – kind of like Bambi in Batter (goes nicely with my Kangaroo Lasagne; or Kanga/Sangne.

Beautiful view, isn't it?

I’d booked Paul in to the Voyager Estate Vineyard for Father’s Day lunch. It’s a beautiful place – very much similar to Brocket Hall in Welwyn. The menu was fantastic and the kids meals were huge and didn’t come with chips which is always a bonus in my book! We had a fabby scoff and a glass of wine that was recommended by the Vineyard to be taken with each main course. It was the best dining experience that we’ve had since we’ve been here.

Darcie does a posh lunch - good job you can't see Adam to the side, drinking his melted ice cream through a straw! Class, eh?

My favourite photo of Adam from the weekend. I really think I've captured him here!

Even the kids ice creams for dessert came with a designer chocolate sauce and decoration. It was great value for money and Paul was given a waiter’s corkscrew as a FD present. Oh, I forgot to tell you what the kids made him…. Sam’s class made Rocky Road (like Debbie’s flapjack, but not as nice) and Sam made him a lovely card. Darcie decorated a stubby holder (a polystyrene device to pop your beer into and keep it cold) and made a great card. She also made wrapping paper and bought Paul a West Coast Eagles (AFL team) cup – Sam was disgusted; he’s a Docker’s supporter! Adam gave him nothing – apart from a few more grey hairs a another wrinkle over the course of the weekend ;-)

So all in all, a fabby time was had. Sam didn’t want to come home he was enjoying it so much. He made us agree to return in the summer holidays.

Back to reality when we got home and it’s been a busy ‘ole week! Business has been quite busy with lots of enquiries, which is nice. We are sponsoring the school newsletter too, so that’s all in the pipeline at the moment. The school want to go full colour with the newsletter, so we’ve agreed to pay for the printing of the template. It looks fab! More on that when it gets finalised, although it’s nice to support the school….. Speaking of school, Darcie received a merit certificate in assembly today for ‘always being polite and helping other members of her class. You are a star, Darcie!’ Hoorah!! We got a note from her teacher yesterday to say that she’d be receiving her certificate, but Darcie didn’t know, so she was very pleased. We asked her tonight how she felt about receiving it and she said ‘very proud’. Bless!

Sam and Darcie both have their school photos this week. Again, it’s all different to Templewood. You get sent home the info with all the packs available and they offer different themes and frames as well. What concerns me though is that I’ll pay out for their photos and then get a really crappy picture back of a gimpy looking child. Of course, I’ll have no grounds for complaint as they’ll simply reply: ‘but Madam….. that is what Sam looks like!!!’ Argh! Sam has told me that he’s taking hair gel in for ‘proper preparation!’ I’m more concerned that his photo will be taken after lunch – forget the face, everyone will be concentrating on what he’s dropped down his t-shirt! Think I’ll give him a pot noodle for lunch tomorrow!

On a positive note, also, although Paul’s operation was postponed until the end of October, his bloods came back today and his cholesterol has dropped dramatically – so happy days!

Oh - and we have brickwork on the house! We have a kitchen wall and a window. I'm getting on the phone tomorrow to a blind company for an in-home measure and quote! The house is starting to look a bit bigger now - I suppose walls will have that effect. I'll post some more photos of the house when I download them from the camera, although how exciting CAN a wall be??? As a reminder, click on 'My Photo Album' to the top right hand side and I'll put some more pictures here that don't feature on the blog.

Take care guys - and Happy Birthday to Abi Fraser and Abi Wright. Both birthday girls today!