I will update this blog completely on our return!!!

Well, we eventually arrived in the Cook Islands, which has been a long held ambition.It was not to be a disappointment.

We had to cross the date line whilst flying, so we arrived in Rarotonga before we had left Nadi. Interesting..... The taxi driver that picked us up at the airport had brought beautiful floral garlands for us to wear on our heads.I was really pleased with mine, but I was not too sure how Jim felt about having flowers in his hair. The driver took us to Muri Beach where we had booked into a small resort by a superb beach. The accommodation was a little one story house which was thatched. There were about eight of them set around in gardens and about ten steps down to the beach. We hired a motor scooter and whizzed around the island's one and only road for four days. We found great places to eat, snorkel, shop and relax. The locals are very friendly too. After four days we got itchy feet again and as we had heard of this idyllic island called Aitutaki, we decided to do some research and the next day we were winging our way on a small plane across the South Pacific. I can not put into words how beautiful this place is, you need to go and see it. It is the island that was used in the filming of "Castaways" It was so peaceful with very few inhabitants, about 900 at the last count. The sun shone on beautiful vegetation and the turquoise sea lapped onto the white sands and the water temperature was in the 80s. I will say no more!!!! The photograph of Jim on the previous posting was taken there.

Current Location: Newport Oregon
Current Mood: cheerful

Well here I am again. We have travelled a few thousand miles since I last updated this blog, but i must find the courage and the time to get something down. We will be home and everyone will think we are somewhere between Australia and the Pacific Islands.......Talking of which.....Yes, we love Fiji. It was quite an experience. The best part of which was when we took off to a smaller island in the group called Treasure Island. It was a treasure too. It took all of about 20 minutes to walk around. We stayed in a little thatched hut and swam and snorkeled every day in the crystal clear water which was about 85 degrees. There was so many fish and coral to see. Amazing.

We spent about 2 weeks in Fiji before flying off to The Cook Islands. The first island we visited was Roratonga.

Current Location: Roseburg Oregon
Current Mood: good

Well, I have been jolted into action by several queries to my non-posting to my journal. Well it is only because we are always so busy having fun!! But I have decided to try and pick up from where I left on my last entry which was Canberra. I also do a hand written diary so I do have lots of information to bore you with!

Well, yes, Canberra, what can I say? We drove there only to find the place was empty as it was Canberra Day, and therefore nothing was open. Then discovered that we could only find accommodation for one night as parliament was due to sit the following day, so all hotel rooms and apartments were already booked. Having found Canberra was closed! We decided to take the one night on offer and return to Sydney the next day. It was raining and quite miserable and we had trouble finding a restaurant open. Very disappointing. But things looked better after a nights sleep and it stopped raining. We paid a visit to the museum and took a tour of Parliament House. We managed to get into PM’s question time and it did not seem too different to the “bun fight” that happens in the UK. Lots of questions put by the opposition about share dealing of a senator and side stepping of answers by the PM  Jim loved it and I had trouble dragging him out so we could get back to Sydney that day. I must say though I did find Canberra a bit soulless.

The following week Jim did a day’s trip on a sailing ship called the James Craig. It is a beautifully restored tall ship. He seemed to have fun but I decided to have a day’s retail therapy instead. My lovely cashmere sweaters I had brought with me, and not worn, but I needed for Tasmania had acquired lots of little moth holes whilst hanging in the wardrobe in Balmain. So off to the shops for replacements!

The next few weeks were very busy sorting things out before leaving Sydney. We visited all our favourite beaches again and saw friends for the last time for a while.

One high light during these weeks was a personal tour of Government House arranged by our neighbour Kerrie. She has friends in high places! We saw rooms that the public never usually see. We popped into the rooms that the Queen and Prince Philip slept in on their last visit to Sydney. We ended the visit by supping champagne (or the Aussie Equivalent) on the veranda overlooking the harbour and botanic gardens. As the sun set overlooking the harbour it was perfect end to yet another day. (Government House is where the Governor of New South Wales used to live but now is only used for visiting dignitaries i.e. The Hedges)

Easter was then upon us and we were off to spend part of it with Carole and Ian at Palm Beach. We had yet another lovely day with them and made arrangements to meet up in Brisbane a few week into the future.

The last few weeks we crammed in a visit to Fort Denison, a trip on a jet boat around the harbour, a cruise, yet again around the harbour and visited many favourite haunts and beaches of the past four months.

It was then time to say goodbye to Balmain and all our Aussie friends. Sad, but we had another two months in Australia before the final goodbye.

We flew to Tasmania after spending several days packing and re-packing and throwing yet more stuff away! But we eventually made it. Tasmania is quite charming and we ended up regretting not allotting more time to the visit. We went from North to South and then up the East coast, visiting some beautiful countryside en-route. It was well worth a visit and I would like to go back sometime and spend a little longer. We did manage to fit in a visit to the old penal colony of Port Arthur which was extremely interesting.

After leaving Tasmania it was time to meet up with Carole and Ian again in Brisbane. We stayed a few nights with them in their apartment and they showed us around all the places of interest. It really is a lovely city. It is all quite new and has managed to make the river a special feature of the city by making it possible to walk miles along the river bank. There are also many beautiful buildings to visit and admire. The unfortunate lack of rain was very apparent. Even the botanical gardens looked very brown and lots of newly planted shrubs and trees were dying. Everyone was praying for some serious rain. We were in Brisbane for Anzac Day which again the Aussies celebrate in style. There was a procession, which lasted several hours, through the streets of Brisbane to honour the people who had served their country during war time.

It was time to leave Carole, Ian and Brisbane behind. We picked up a hire car and headed out of town. We took the road into the hills and saw several of the dams, which are very low in water. We stayed at places called Crows Nest and Kingaroy before heading to the coast again. Staying at Hervey Bay enabled us to visit the biggest island of sand in the world. It is called Fraser Island and a world heritage site. We travelled over by ferry before boarding an articulated bus. This was necessary to climb the sand hills everywhere. The main track out of the resort is just one sand hill after another. Difficult to explain but it was a very rocky ride. The only cars able to travel along it are four wheel drives and they get stuck at regular intervals. I am told that they turn over quite frequently too. After a couple of nights in Hervey Bay we travelled on to Noosa. This has been one of my favourite places in our travels. It is a place with lovely beaches to swim from and lots of National Parkland around to take walks in. We stayed overlooking the river that flows out to the ocean there. There seems to be water everywhere. We did take a boat trip up this river for lunch on one day. The food here was really good too. There was lots of really fresh fish. It was really yummy.

Back to Brisbane to catch another flight, but this time to Adelaide. We thought it was a good idea! But unfortunately, we found it very boring. The best thing we found was the food market. I have never seen a better food market anywhere in the world. We spent a very happy few hours looking and tasting.

The next place on our list was Perth, so off to the airport again for another flight. From here we spent another day on another beautiful island, this time Rottnest Island. We took the ferry across, but this time we cycled around the island. I think I may be getting “islanded out” if you know what I mean!

Freemantle was another place we visited from Perth. The conducted tour of the prison was a highlight here. It was built by convicts and later used to house them and then later by the local criminals. It is now just a tourist destination.

After leaving Perth we decided to go south and the first place of call was Bunbury and then Busselton and on to Margaret River before arriving at Albany. It was a lovely trip and we saw some stunning beaches. We visited a lighthouse at the point where the Indian and Southern Oceans meet. I again put my fear of heights behind me and climbed to the top for the view. It was worth it We then had to drive all the way back to Perth in a day, so arrived tired but in time to catch our flight out of there onwards to Cairns via Ayers Rock. Yes we saw it after all having decided not to make a stopover there. It is quite something!

We arrived in Cairns and just spent two nights there. It was very busy with people going off on reef adventures but as I had a v.bad cold we decided to head up to Port Douglas before going diving on the Great Barrier Reef. On arrival and after settling into our new apartment we decided to drive to Mossman Gorge which was a lovely day out walking in the rain forests and seeing all sorts of birds and animals. We then drove towards Cape Tribulation but our time ran out and we had to return to Port Douglas. It was the Port Douglas festival that evening and there was a very happy parade through the main street. I am not sure who enjoyed it most, those taking part walking or dancing or the adults and children watching. It ended with a really amazing firework display. Aussies certainly know how to have fun!

The next day we were off on the bus by 8am heading towards a day on the Great Barrier Reef. We had booked initially for snorkelling, but once out there we got into the spirit of it all and decided we would like to dive again. I am so glad I did. It was wonderful experience, being down deep in the water again with all the fish swimming around. The coral was as good as promised. The colours and varieties of the coral and fish were endless. We did two dives on different reefs. They were both outer reefs and called ribbon reefs. The third time we decided just to snorkel, but that was incredible too. We arrived back at our apartment after a very long day, tired but happy. I was so glad I had made the decision to dive.

The next day we left Port Douglas. We stopped for the night at a place called Mission Beach. Not much there, so our mission was to get out again the next morning and head for somewhere more interesting. We drove as far as Townsville, which on paper seemed a good place to stop. It had a wonderful esplanade which was a joy to walk along. There were lots of tropical plants and trees. There were swings and water parks for the children to play in. It was really well laid out and we enjoyed that loads, but the rest of the town was not so good, it was in need of a facelift in the centre of the town so the next day we packed up yet again and headed for Airlie Beach and the Whitsunday Islands.

Well, I have to say sailing around the Whitsunday Islands is one of the top highlights of our trip to Australia. We organised this from Airlie Beach and were picked up at 8.45am from our hotel and were aboard and sailing by 10.00am. Everyone else on board was at least 30 years younger than Jim and I, but that was not a handicap. They were a great group and introduced us to “goon” (boxed, disgusting wine) as well as a few other things. The skipper Nick was great. We had lots of sailing, snorkelling (wonderful) and playing of cricket and football on beautiful beaches as the sun set. We sailed around Hamilton Island, Haman Island, North Moll and lots, lots more. After two nights and three days we all disembarked, but did meet up again that night for a night of eating and drinking (not goon this time)

The next stop was about 450kms further down the coast at a small place called Yeppoon near Rockhampton. We found a very good apartment and decided to stay for three days. There was a beautifully long beach to walk along each morning. We paid our usual visit to the botanical gardens which they seem to have in every town. I managed to pick up quite a few annoying insect bites here again! Yeppoon was a very nice place to spend a few quiet days and we enjoyed it enormously.

We left the next morning and south again, this time heading for Bundaberg where they distil the world famous? rum. Also the ginger beer that Jim has got so addicted to! We stayed in a small place on the beach called Bargara. Another long beach to walk along!
We, of course, paid a visit to both the rum distillery (free samples) and the ginger beer factory (more free samples) whilst we were there. The highlight was a rodeo held to celebrate Bundaberg Day, when the entire town stops work and plays for the day. It was another first, actually seeing grown men trying to ride bulls. Ouch!!!!!

Now we are back in Noosa and staying for a week before leaving Australia to make our way to Fiji. I must say I have had to catch up with this blog very quickly, before our time here is up. I always have my hand written diary to refer to. Be warned, I will be back!!!

Current Location: Noosa
Current Mood: cheerful

Yes, as you have probably guessed from the photo, we are again in Sydney. This is the view we get from our front doorstep!

I think I pick this journal up at the end of January. My birthday! It was good. I had lots of presents and cards from home. I just really missed the Hedges custom of singing ‘Happy Birthday’ and the blowing out of the candles, though Jim did get a cake and two candles which stated my age to all. We spent the day swimming at one of the beaches near Manly. I never thought I would be able to swim in the sea on my birthday. It is usually snow, ice and rain!

We visited the Opera House to see Sondheim’s ‘Sweeney Todd’ which was excellent. We nearly missed the performance due to the late running of the ferry from our wharf, which meant that we had to run all the way around Circular Quay, and arrived puffing and panting, but we did make it in time for curtain up.

We have done so many new things in the last couple of months.

We have visited most of the beaches around Sydney. We have swum in the water at Bondi, Clovelly, Cronella, Palm Beach, Manly, Shelley Beach, Pearl Beach, Cougee, Bundeena, etc. etc. and enjoyed them all.

We have spent time in China Town here having a look around a beautiful Chinese Garden and having a Dim Sun lunch with friends.

We went to an open air cinema in the Botanical Gardens with the harbour at night as a backdrop. The film was ‘Notes on a Scandal’ with Kate Blanchard and Judi Dench (Our mode of transport from that was in the back of a bread van, another first!)

One day we took a long drive south of Sydney through the Royal National Park and along the stunning coast as far as Gerrigong before heading inland to Kangaroo Valley (yes it is a place, not just Earl’s Court in London!) It was stunningly beautiful.

After a week, the hire car went back as the driver and navigator seemed to fall out quite a lot about which way we should be going. (Of course, the navigator was right every time)

We, as planned, flew off to Melbourne for two weeks. We stayed in the house of the lady that owns the house we rent in Sydney, whilst she went on holiday to Vietnam. It was a convenient arrangement for everyone. As usual, we left no stone unturned in our quest to explore! We spent a couple of nights on the Mornington Peninsula with friends of Hannah’s. They were very hospitable and we enjoyed the personal tour of the region very much. Friends we met in Vietnam made contact and arranged a re-union meal and then a wine tasting day. We had lunch first at a restaurant situated on a billabong. I didn’t really know what one was until then. They say travel improves the mind!!! I am open to learning of that sort. The Melbourne cricket ground was a must on lists of places to visit, so we took a conducted tour. We took a drive along the Great Ocean Road (again stunningly beautiful) and visit an old gold town called Ballart where they have re-constructed a gold mining settlement. All really good touristy things to do!

We arrive back from Melbourne late Thursday afternoon to re-pack and organise ourselves for going off to Pearl Beach with our next door neighbours here, Kerrie and Warren. They have another house up there. All Aussies that we have met seem to have two homes. Lucky or what! The first day we spent going on the postal run up the Hawkesbury River to all the remote places where the road mail cannot reach. They also deliver all the staple foods, like bread, milk etc. I had no idea that people could live so close to a big city like Sydney, yet have no road access. The only access to a lot of these River People is by boat. It is stunning country as you can imagine. On arrival at Pearl Beach later that evening, we found that the house was within 1 minute of the most beautiful white sandy bay. We did not make it into the water until the next afternoon though. We had lots of walks and were shown around by Kerrie and Warren’s friends who live locally. The locals show such hospitality towards us. Eventually it was time to leave our little bit of heaven and return to Sydney on Monday afternoon. It was quite nice to be ‘home’ as we think of our little house now.

Since then our big adventure was walking across the Sydney harbour Bridge on its 75th birthday. That was yesterday, it was a great Aussie party again. There were lots of families and groups of friends joining together to celebrate the day. As I speak we are packing a case to go off to Canberra for a few days. Not sure what it will be like, conflicting reports, but we feel we should visit the capital city of Australia, just to say we have been there!!! I will try and keep you posted.

Current Mood: busy

It is so long since I have updated this journal I had to have a quick check as to how I ended last time. Ah! yes, the Bridge Climb !!!!!! I have just about recovered.

Life is so hectic that when I do have a spare minute to up-date this log I am so tired I cannot summon enough energy to put finger to keyboard. As you can probably tell by that, we are still enjoying every minute of this trip. I will have to look in my hand written diary to try and remember what we have been up to this last month.

I think our biggest news after we had completed the Bridge Climb was the birth of our first Grandchild. Born to Andy and Hannah on 19th January and weighing in at 8Ibs. (Why do we always quote the weight??) Mother, Father and Son are doing very well. He has been named Archie, which I personally like very much. I wish we could be there to give him lots of hugs and cuddles, but he and I will just have to wait until September. I have seen him live over Skype though and he is really really lovely.

We next had a trip to the theatre with Michael and Inka. It was great to see them again. Michael is a good friend from my Liverpool days He found us this house that we are living in at the moment. It was interesting to visit the theatre here. Not quite sure about the plays we saw though!!!

The next weekend we headed off to the Hunter Valley with Carole and Ian for a spot of wine tasting. Another great hardship,I know! Tasting wines in Australia with people you really like!!!Some-one has to do it. Ian did all the driving, so that left it up to the rest of us to do all the drinking. Needless to say we returned with a bottle or two or three(who's counting) of wine plus cheese, jams etc. It was another high-light of our stay in Australia.

Friday 26th January AUSTRALIA DAY dawned warm and sunny(as do most here, not all, but most) We headed off to Circular Quay to see how Australians celebrate their day. I have to say nothing like the English celebrate St George's Day !!! The ferries were all bedecked with garlands and flags as well as most of the population. There were lots and lots of families out to enjoy their day. As we headed across the harbour on our ferry there were shouts and cheers from all the other craft on the water. The first formal event we watched was the ferry race. The ferry boats( all dressed to the nines, as my Mum would say ) took off from Circular Quay to some far off point out towards the Heads and then returned to complete the race under the Sydney Harbour Bridge. All the other dressed boats followed them all the way. Such an amazing sight. We then went and inspected lots of vintage cars in one of the parks. Not really my scene.....but one does these things for love. We managed to shout so loud at the American Express enclosure which was showing the Australian Open Tennis I became hoarse. Some silly game in competition with the crowd at the ground in Melbourne. These Aussies are quite mad!!! But it gave Jim some peace for a few days. We waved the Australian flag with the best of them and then returned home to Balmain in the early evening for a great firework display in Darling Harbour and a fly past by some jets !!! Don't ask me what they were but they were loud and fire belting from the back of the aircrafts. Scary as they seemed to just fly over our balcony!!! A fitting end to a really happy day.

We have visited most of the beaches here now. They are all different, surf,swimming,snorkeling,diving etc etc. There are beaches to cover any requirement.

Due to the hospitality of the Australians, we have had to now join a gym, as I have put on weight and Jim was missing his tennis. So, off we go, about three times a week. We have to go on the bus, so it is real determination and hopefully we will eventually feel the benefit. All I feel, as I speak, is more tired !!!!

We visited the opera House again to see a Sondheim production of Sweeney Todd. It was a real treat and I have run out of words to express what a wonderful time we are having here, so I will return ,as the saying goes. There is lots more to tell.........

Tags: tired
Current Location: 3 Weston Street

Firstly, the Blue Mountains were fabulous. Lots of beautiful scenery and plenty of wild-life. The animal kind, of course. We did the tourist circle,as one does, frightened of missing anything. We traveled by 'skytrain', walked on air and went hurtling upwards on a vertical train and then at a more sedate pace we took to an old fashioned steam train, which is probably better for my nerves! The trouble with that was I ended up with a black face from looking out of the window. Still it was great fun. As well as all that motorised transport we managed to stay at two beautiful log cabins and saw lots of wonderful birds. Have I mentioned that Jim and I have become 'twitchers'. not really, but anyway enjoying spotting one or two. The colours make it quite difficult not to spot them actually. Then to cap it all we saw Kangaroos!!!jumping in their family groups through the outback(are you impressed with my technical term) I just couldn't call them fields....We also stayed on a farm that reared their own strain of alpacas. (Not too sure how that is spelt) So after five days we returned to our little dolls house and civilasation as we have been accustomed to know it! We had another fantastic experience.

Then it was the day Jane and Tim were due. I was looking forward to seeing them very much, but not really what we had planned to do together!! Before we left Tunbridge Wells, Jane asked if we were up to climbing the Sydney Harbour Bridge and because I was not sure she would book it and it seemed very far in the future I said "why not" Now I know "why not" I am petrified of heights! Jim and I headed off to the fish market early that morning as I had a memory of Jane saying how much she liked shell fish and lobster. There is no better place in the world(I don't think) than Sydney Fish Market for a wonderful display of every sort of fish. The ferry didn't turn up! Not a usual occurrence in Balmain East I have to say. Sometimes late, but not turn up!!!! Anyway we got the bus and eventually completed our task before Jane and Tim arrived. Over lunch the thought of the impending climb seemed to disappear, but when we were in the city a bit later I think Jane realised what she had let her self in for. She was overcome by a few nerves I think, so we returned to their hotel for calming down session. At 6.35pm we reported for duty and started the pre-climb talks etc. We ended up in blue and grey jumpsuits, very pretty! Harness' to attach us to the Bridge, just in case we thought of jumping me thinks! Headphones, so our leader could keep in touch and a headlight to see in the dark. We did the sunset climb to enable us to see Sydney by day and by night. I will not go through the climb step by step, but I did manage to do it and once we reached the arch I actually started to enjoy it until I remembered we had to go back down all those ladders and walkways past all those trains and cars!!! It was one of the most amazing sights, the view out over Sydney and suburbs by day and then when dusk fell and all the lights of Sydney stretched out before us. Wonderful!! I have just re-lived my fear again by putting it down on paper, but it was really worth it (I think)

Current Location: Weston St Balmain
Current Mood: trembling

Well, I thought I had better sit down and up-date my blog, otherwise I will forget what we have done when! I think I last added to it on the run up to Christmas. We have had a fantastic time here in Sydney.

Before Christmas, we had two lots of friends arrive from the UK. Firstly it was Christine and Terry, who were following the cricket (don’t mention the cricket here! We have had so much stick) We spent two very enjoyable evenings with them and they came to see our little dolls house, here in Balmain. The next visitors were David and Tina, with whom we had a very convivial lunch, once I had worked out my mobile phone to pick up messages!

Then it was Christmas itself.

We spent Christmas Day and Boxing Day with a friend from Liverpool days and his family, which was much appreciated and enjoyed. It made being away from our own family not quite so difficult. We watched the start of the Sydney/Hobart yacht race on Boxing Day. We watched from a boat on the harbour. It was an unforgettable experience. The boats wait until the race starts and then they all fall in behind and follow the yachts out as far as the Heads. The Heads are, of course, the Headlands guarding the entrance to the harbour. It was one for the old memory box!!!

The weather has improved here and there is lots of sunshine and very warm. We have spent a few days at the beaches. Manly is great, lovely sandy beach with big breakers. A lot of surfing is done there, but Jim and I had enough trouble standing up against the breakers without trying to stand on them! Great fun was had by me, rolling around in the surf like a beached whale! We have done a lot of walking and exploring too. We did a 10klms walk around the Manly Bay, which was very scenic and lovely but felt much more than 10klms in the heat of the day. We caught the bus back after that!

I have, of course been shopping, for clothes. Most of mine had become a bit washed up in our previous three months (that is my excuse anyway) The centre of Sydney is really great for shopping. Much better than anywhere else we have been.

New Year’s Eve was spent with our next door neighbours. They had a nice dinner party and then we watched all the fireworks and the procession of all the boats around the harbour. They were all decorated and lit up. (Another for the memory box) As we got no sleep all night due to various parties, we spent a very quiet New Year’s Day !!

The following Sunday we made our way to Palm Beach to visit friends Carole and Ian, who live in an amazing house. It is built on the side of the bay and goes down floor by floor until the bottom deck is reached. There are folding windows which lead out into a very nice bbq area and onto the beach. The little harbour is filled with small dinghies and yachts with sea planes taking off every now and again. Needless to say, we had another lovely day and arrived back to our little house tired but happy.

Since then we have been to the Sydney Opera House to see The White Album, which is a tribute to the Beatles. Guess who managed to sit next to another ex-Liverpudlian? We had a great chat about the time the Beatles were making their way. To go to the Opera House for a performance is not to be missed. We had a drink before the show and an area overlooking Circular Quay. We had a view of a cruise liner just leaving harbour, so we watched that as the sun went down and waved them on their way. It was quite magical!

We have been into our other next door neighbours for supper, together with some more of the locals. We have such warm feelings towards the neighbourhood and its people. They have been so welcoming. Just what we were hoping for when we took this house for the four months.

Today we are off to the Blue Mountains for four days, so wait for the next episode!

Current Location: Balmain East
Current Mood: happy

Well, we have been here for a week and our feet have not touched the ground!!!We were happy to leave New Zealand behind, even though we had enjoyed it enormously. The trouble was the weather was not good We were looking forward to really hot sunny days in Sydney. More of that later.

We arrived at the airport and took a taxi to our little home. When he heard the address, the taxi driver got very excited about the view we would have and how we could sell seats for the firework display on New Year's Eve!!!!But we had heard all these comments before from various sources. Well, when we did arrive at our little doll's house he was right. We have direct views of the Sydney Harbour Bridge from our living room and the balcony outside our bedroom. Yipee!! We can see the people climbing the bridge (see you there in January Jane and Tim!!!) It is an amazing position. We love it because the ferry comes to our doorstep and buses run from about 100 metres away. So no problems getting around. We,of course,being a girl born near to Liverpool, choose the ferries above all other means of transport. We are having an amazing time.

Socially, things have not stopped either. We had Christine and Terry from TW here, just after we arrived and spent two lovely evenings with them, catching up. The day after we last saw them Tina and David(our next door but one neighbours in Nevill Court) arrived and we managed a very convivial lunch with them, before they rushed off to do more exploring of Sydney. Also, my old(in the way I have know him for a long,long time)friend from Liverpool,Michael has been more than hospitable to us since we arrived. We had lunchtime drinks and then a wonderful evening meal with him and Inka(his wife) and are due to spend Christmas Day with them and their family and then on Boxing Day we are off on the harbour with them to view the start of the Sydney/Hobart yacht race. So many people have been so hospital. New Year's Eve we are spending with our new next door neighbours, who are hosting a party and then next Friday we go over to Palm Beach to meet up with Ian and Carole, who were so kind as to let Zoe stay with them on her visit, earlier this year. I tell you it is just unbelievable the hospitality we have received.

Oh yes, the weather, which I touched on earlier!!! Well, we have only had two and a half days of sun since arriving. We are told, this is very unusual, but we were told that in NZ when it snowed. It is now Christmas Eve and it is raining 'Cats and Dogs' just like it is at Christmas in TW. Never mind, at least it is warm.We have got six months to find some good weather and I am sure we will.

I have missed out our last few weeks in New Zealand, not because we didn't have a great time, just because it all seems so long ago now and I have it all in my hand written journal, that I am also keeping. I may insert some of the more interesting details when we have more time.

The other thing(and I am probably too late) A Very Happy Christmas and Prosperous New Year to all my readers!!!

Current Location: Sydney Harbour Balmain East
Current Mood: excited
Current Music: Christmas Music