Wonderful Waddesdon Manor

Go Steve!  Kids and sweeties and longish distance car trips are not a good mix.  So en route back home from the Cotswolds Steve looked for a National Trust place we could visit.  We're members you know! Thanks Mum and Dad - brilliant present.

Anyway - the place of choice was Waddesdon Manor, it seemed to get a bit of a plug on the National Trust site so we thought "what the heck, let's give it a go".

So off we detoured to the glorious, divine, magnificent Waddesdon Manor.  And the photos are only of the outside.  Inside was a whole other story!  We hired audio headsets and were given a run down of around 30 of the most stunning rooms imaginable.

And as a bit of background about the Manor...

Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild (1839-1898) bought the Waddesdon Estate - originally nothing but farmland - in 1874. He wanted a country retreat built in the style of a Loire châteaux and engaged the French architect Gabriel-Hippolyte Destailleur, to design something for him. The foundation stone was laid in 1877. The completion of the Bachelors' Wing in 1880 and the main part of the house in 1883 were celebrated with house parties of twenty guests.

Great attention was also paid to developing the Victorian style garden. The Parterre was restored and other 19th century garden features were recreated. More recently the Aviary has been renovated and the Coach House and the Stables converted into a gallery for the exhibition of contemporary art.

And so here it is, the magnificent Waddesdon Manor (can it possibly get any better?).

Art works in the garden

A bit of a laugh

Have a look here  if you'd like to see the exquisite interior of Waddesdon Manor.  Trust me it is worth it!

The Cotswolds Day 2

And just when we again thought it couldn't get any better, just have a look at this....

Broadway and surrounding countryside

Another wonderful day in the Cotswolds, highlights included eating the BEST ice cream ever, seeing a stream with water so clear you could see the trout at the bottom and visiting stunningly beautiful old villages with houses that are centuries old.

Bibury and Stow on Wold

The Cotswolds Day 1

The plan for the Cotswolds was to visit all of the old historic picture-perfect English towns that the region is famous for.  On Day 1 we did none of that.  Instead we got distracted with none other than Sudeley Castle, Hailes Abbey and Snowshill Lavender Farm.

Sudeley Castle was once home to Queen Katherine Parr, the last and surviving wife of King Henry VIII. Henry himself, Anne Boleyn, Lady Jane Grey, Queen Elizabeth I and Richard III all feature in the castle's history.   And check out the creepy grey face below, she is a more recent addition methinks!

Sudeley Castle

And then it was on to the ruins of Hailes Abbey, a Cistercian abbey founded in the 13th century. And just in case you didn't know - the Order of Cistercians is a Roman Catholic religious order of enclosed monks and nuns, with an emphasis on a life of manual labour and self-sufficiency.

Hailes Abbey

And then on to something a little newer and just down the road - Snowshill Lavender farm, where we got to roam through the lavender fields. The weather was terrible, but that didn't stop us enjoying the colour and smell that accompanies a massive field full of lavender in bloom. And yay - despite the wind and rain managed to get a few shots of bumble bees J

Lavender fields

Brecon and Huw and Bec's wedding

We arrived in Brecon a bit late on the 13th and blame that squarely on Blenheim Palace, it was so grand and beautiful it proved hard to leave.

We were made very welcome by Carol and Bob, who very kindly put us all up for the weekend and showed us around Brecon. The kids were in a permanent state of excitement and had all sorts of fun exploring the garden, picking raspberries and playing with Bob and Carol's pooch Frankie.

Brecon, top photo is the view from Bob and Carol's upstairs bedroom!

And on Saturday it was off to the wedding, and what a wedding it was!  Firstly we all got scrubbed up.

And then came the ceremony in the beautiful Brecon Cathedral.  The bride, groom and bridal party looked fabulous!  Not a single detail was forgotten including, of course, an umbrella for the bride.  Did I mention that it rains quite a bit over here?

And then it was on to the reception.  It was held in a palatial marquee in one of the fields of Bec's family farm.  The scenery was stunning and the paddock grass was like prize winning Australian lawn! Note the sunshine!!


Click here to read more....

Blenheim Palace

Leaving Oxford, heading towards Brecon and a last minute decision. Let's swing by Blenheim Palace. Oh my Goodness!

Blenheim Palace is currently home to the 11th Duke and Duchess of Marlborough. It was built in the early 1700's as a gift from Queen Anne and a grateful nation to John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough following his famous victory at the Battle of Blenheim in 1704.

Blenheim Palace is opulence and grandeur on a scale to behold, starting with the enormous front courtyard, columned entrance, arched windows and 20 metre high entrance hall, complete with a painted dome ceiling. And from there it was through to the room Winston Churchill was born in in 1894, along with an exhibition of his remarkable life in person, in the palace and in politics.

From there we took a guided tour of the State rooms, rooms that are designed to impress. And impress they did! High gilded ceilings, lavish furniture, grand portraits and enormous tapestries depicting the Wars of the Spanish Succession.

Blenheim Palace

Our guide was excellent and by the end of the tour my head was spinning with details of Dukes, Queens, Lords and Duchesses. And to cap everything off, we were treated to a recital on the most enormous organ, with pipes ranging in size from a few inches to 16 feet. The kids were well behaved, even the guide commented on their "exemplary" behaviour, and their faces were a delight when the organ playing began.

Exemplary Kids !

From the palace we headed, by miniature train, over to the Pleasure Gardens, which included the Marlborough Maze, Adventure Park and Butterfly House.  Our brief visit to Blenheim Palace turned into a 5 hour stay and we all enjoyed every minute of it.

Butterfly House

Oxford

Two nights in Oxford is not enough.  We arrived ravenous in the late afternoon and didn't manage to  complete the 30 minute walk into the city as we discovered, just next door to the hotel, the Prince of Wales Pub.  There we enjoyed a feast and the most delightful company of locals, who welcomed us with open arms the minute we stepped through the door.  And, much to Emily's delight, there were a couple of dogs and a tiny little pup in the pub.  They too are made welcome and we've all noticed how dog-friendly it is over here.

After lunch we did complete our walk into the city and here are just a few pictures of what we saw on the way.  A couple of things to note

• the weather - the top left picture is of our hotel bathed in glorious sunshine with bright blue skies, the bottom right shows the torrential rain we got caught in on the way home!

• the narrow boat - we met the two owners of the boat through Scruffy, their aptly named pup.  We got chatting and they explained they were stuck, the river had a status of Code Red due to all of the recent rain and they were unable to pass through the locks.  They very kindly invited us to tour their boat and it was surprisingly roomy inside.  It was a real treat and a big thanks to Scruffy for the introduction.

The sights on our walk into town

A good part of our full day in Oxford was taken up with a 2 hour walking tour, with the exuberant, proud, recent Oxford law-graduate Fred. Despite completing his degree Fred has started his own tour company in Oxford. The walks are free, but participants are encouraged to leave a tip if they feel it is worth it. Fred was worth it! He was born and bred in Oxford and being a graduate had first hand experience of college and university life. He was obviously (and very rightly) proud of his beautiful city and his passion and enthusiasm were infectious. I think we all fell in love with Oxford that day.

Beautiful Oxford

London

London is special.  From the moment we emerged from the Westminster underground I was hooked.  And here's part of the reason why.

I LOVE Big Ben!

And the wonderful sights continued.

Not to mention the street entertainers.

And if I had to choose only one photo to share that captured the sheer beauty of our day in London it would be this one.

And despite all the wonderful buildings, buses, fountains and grandeur, it was this fellow that truly captured my heart and imagination.

Maldon

Had a lovely albeit wet day yesterday.  We visited Maldon, a very picturesque port town on the east coast of Essex. The day was not without its mishaps - Daniel ran into a pole at a playground and got a bloody nose, you'd think he'd be super cautious around long thin pole like objects (but that's another story J).

Beautiful Maldon

And then we stumbled upon this great strawberry picking place :)

I have also embarked on my first British project -  can't help myself.  This one is just a mini one and is already complete.  And just to keep you in suspense and glued to this space I'm not telling what it is, but will post photos when I take them after the rain stops.  But don't hold your breath, as it's pretty much been raining on and off since we arrived!  Can't believe the British Grand Prix at Silverston escaped a shower, although Wimbledon was not so lucky.  It must have been a late night watching it in Aus!  Also - how heart-wrenching was Andy Murray's post-game speech (although secretely I was going for Fedderer).

Oh yeah - we had one more little adventure yesterday.  Whilst Steve was off gallivanting in London watching the tennis and Formula 1, Jeremy managed to lock himself in his room.  All of the doors have very sticky handles and this one just wasn't going to budge.  After about 15 minutes Daniel was near tears and beside himself with worry that Jeremy would starve to death!

Anyway, as you do in a crisis, you go and pester the neighbours, but unfortunately to no avail, not even 6ft-infinity John could get the door open.  So, the only option was out Daniel's window, a quick scurry along the roof and in through Jem's window for a daring rescue.  Only problem two set of blinds were knocked down in the process and I was too feeble to make the 3 ft jump up and in through Jem's window.  Still the most important aim of the mission was achieved and, much to Daniel's relief, the starving child was extracted from window one and chucked back in through window two.  Meanwhile I waited for a very small footstool to aid my daring leap through window two.

Phewee, drawing on my athleticism (and the footstool) I nimbly entered the locked room and after a brief 5 minute wrestle with the door ta da - victory.  All that remained was a very inelegant retrieval of the stool (big lean out through window, bum in air - say no more!).

Mission accomplished -

• skinny kid saved J, 
• stool retrieved J, 
• door unlocked J, 
• blinds still down L

Whewee, what a day.  Jem - relieved after his ordeal and brush with starvation - had a snack and me - I had a cup of tea.

Southend on Sea

Southend on Sea is about 40 minutes south of Billericay and on the mouth of the river Thames.  We spent 3 nights there at the lovely and very Faulty Towers-like Cobham Lodge Hotel.

Cobham Lodge Hotel

On the morning of day one we had a birthday breakfast for me J then took a train to Leigh on Sea, a tiny fishing village just two stops away.

Leigh on Sea

And then in the afternoon it was off to the longest (and perhaps the windiest) Pier in the world!!  Interestingly Southend on Sea is supposed to be the warmest and driest spot in England and it was cold, windy and rainy just about the whole time we were there.  Doesn't sound too good for the rest of the country then J.

Southend on Sea Pier

Day two was spent here....

Adventure Land

I was keen to really test the camera out with all sorts of action shots on roller coasters, but after about 5 spinny, vomit-inducing rides that was it for moi!  As I'd stagger off each ride, feeling increasingly seedier and thinking "yay - ticked that one off", the kids had already double backed and were in line again.  Thankfully they had the confidence to go on the rides minus adult.  Even Steve gave up after an upside down stint on "The Claw"!

We also discovered penny pushing machines.  I remember these from Blackpool when I was not much older than the boys.  Tim and I were hooked from the word go and they are just as addictive now.  After about an hour of playing we had to physically drag the kids away to cries of "Oh come on, just 2p more pleeeaaase!"

Donna, Billericay and a sneak peak at our new house

Today we met up with Donna.  It was so lovely to see her and finally get to see Billericay after all the months of planning.  Thank you so much Donna for all your help with our adventure, I couldn't have done it without you!

And how exciting it was to see the house.  It is light and bright and quite lovely.  The neighbourhood is gorgeous and the kiddies were delighted with the big green fields and freshly mown hay just 50 metres away from the front door.  They have already learnt about the farmer, his tractor and his GUN but that didn't stop them making hay stacks and generally mucking about in his field.

Our new house, car and hire car (light blue)

Arriving in the UK

Believe it or not we all got a reasonably good nights sleep on the plane and arrived spot on time at Heathrow at 6:25am.  Our driver was there to meet us and by 8:45am we were at our hotel in Brentwood, nice and early for our 2:00pm check-in!  I think the receptionist was a bit shocked to see us, but she very kindly stored our bags, took my number and promised to do all she could to get us into our rooms as soon as possible.  I'm sure we all looked a bit tired and dishevelled and she must have taken pity on us. 

We had a quick walk up to the High street and about an hour and a half later got the call that our rooms were ready.  Now that is service!

Over the next few days in Brentwood we opened a bank account, got ourselves visa credit and debit cards and thoroughly checked out the shops, restaurants and pubs.

The boys also got their hair cuts.  I planned on reading the paper whilst this happened but the minute the barber started cutting, down went the paper, up went the eye brows, down went the lower jaw and wide got the eyes!  This was a hair cut like no other.  Scissors snipping at a million miles an hour, tufts of hair flying - think Edward  Scissorhands, think hedge pruning! Both boys were excited about their "awesome" haircuts, but even more so when they got to pick sweeties from a bowl as they left the shop.

We also discovered the most beautiful park just outside of the city.  Highlights included spotting wascally wabbits, chasing ducks, feeding deer and watching a crazy spaniel diving for sticks in the lake!

Miss M chasing a duck

Brentwood birds

Tail up!  Tail down!

Wheee heeee - we like this park!!

Day 4 - Yangon - Myanmar - Our last day

Our last day in this wonderful place and we started in style.  A walk to the shopping centre for breakfast – spring rolls, strawberry shake, juice pops, coffee, shan tung soup and a weird pork rice thing - followed by a ride in a very decrepit taxi to the Strand Hotel.

We then took a ferry across the Yangon River with a gorgeous little boy called Lucky.  His English was excellent and despite being only 10 years old he was an accomplished tour guide.  It was hot, rainy, crowded and a total contrast to the other side of the river.

Crossing the Yangon River 

Then Indian curry for lunch, a quick swim at the Australia Club and bit of packing and then off to the airport for our flights to Bangkok and then on to London.

Day 3 Beauty Salon - Yangon - Myanmar

Alrighty then. Today is the day Emily and I visited a Myanmar beauty salon.

Emily opted for a 45 minute nail treatment.  And I made my first mistake - the body scrub for me please. J

And so began a chain of unfortunate, but increasingly funny, events that 45 minutes later had me in hysterics. 

It started with the preparation – I left Emily comfortably reclined having her nails attended to and squeezed into a tiny little cubicle with a green vinyl bed, a flimsy screen and a sheet roof hanging down so low that even I had to duck.  And then – it was off with the threads and on with a freaky pair of black granny knickers. 

Then came the sand blasting.  Scrub, scrub, scrub with what felt like extra-course, industrial-grade, ultra-gritty P12 sandpaper. Not relaxing - things were not going according to plan.

And throughout the onslaught I kept thinking of Bear Grylls and his tips for surviving a sandstorm in the Sahara.  Take cover!  Seek protection!  Whatever you do - get out of the sand – it can strip your flesh, expose bone, it can KILL!!

Enough of the drama and on to stage 2.  Off with the ultra-course, super-abrasive, P12 grit and on with a (comparably) delightful menthol medium P120 grade grit that (comparably) felt like a cool velvet feather.  Following the cooling application came the cooling fanning, followed by some more cooling fanning and then a bit more.  A bit goosey by now.

Stage 3 – bubble contraption.  Still gritty and smelling like a eucalypt leaf it was off the bed and on to a small pouffe in what looked a bit like a kids plastic tee pee.  All ok except for the hair - a big black one.  For most people this would not be an issue, but for those who know me, stray hairs are so not my thing!  Things were moving quickly and it was only a the briefest of glances that revealed the hair, how many others were lurking?  Was I sitting on one?  What was that funny smell?  WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT NOISE? 

In amongst all this relaxation was a power explosion, yes that’s right – a power explosion.  Not a tiny little blip like you get in Australia when the fuse blows, that is no power explosion, THIS was a power explosion.  Needless to say the hairy steam bath was cut short.

And all through this time I had been wondering how my chilled gritty menthol nudey body was going to get clean. 

Which brings me to stage 4 – a shower of course, only one problem, no power, no shower J.  And during the transition from bubble to shower cubicle I happened to notice that not only was I gritty and mentholly, but also bright orange.  Sort of like a minty, sandy, naked Ooompa Loompa.  As you could imagine I was feeling a little vulnerable and couldn’t help thinking about Emily and her nails in the other room.

As the shower slowed from a cold trickle to a cold drip all was not lost, in came a big bucket of extra chilled water.  I emerged from stage 4 a bit gritty, a bit orange and and very goosey to find Miss M, complete with 20 trimmed, clean, hot pink nails, chatting to happily to Mick who’d been waiting for 10 minutes while I was otherwise engaged in stage 4.

That’s it for me and body scrubs, next time I’m in the beauty salon in Myanmar I’ll get my nails done J

Day 2 Yangon – Myanmar

Semi-regretting the early night for the kids, the little buggers were up and at ‘em at 6:45am, which was bearable for me but, not surprisingly after his 3:00am bedtime, was totally unacceptable to Steve.  Mick has heaps of kids DVDs and Garfield the cat kept them entertained for an hour, thank you Garfield.

Then it was back to the Australian Club for tennis lessons and a swim.  Aargh, this travel thing is tough.

Tennis lessons at the Australia Club

And feeling lovely and refreshed we visited Shwedagon, a 99m gold Pagoda that dominates the skyline of Yangon.  It is the most sacred Buddhist pagoda in Myanmar and according to historical records it has been in existence in one form or another for 2600 years.

The weather was perfect, we had a lovely guide and took some gorgeous pictures. Many of the Myanmar visitors, however, seemed more interested in taking pictures of Miss M than the pagoda!!  In fact that happened just about everywhere we went, she was a huge hit and received many compliments, pats and cheek pinches.  She lapped it all up of course and very graciously posed for pictures (see examples below J).

The magnificent Miss M...

Emily graciously posing for pictures

And the magnificent Shwedagon

Day 1 Yangon – Myanmar

Our day went a little like this….

Picked up by Driver number 1 – Joseph - at 8:30am and taken to the very ritzy Strand Hotel for breakfast.  Steve and Mick had Mohinga – the traditional Myanmar breakie and I had the one below on the menu J.  Both are savoury noodle-based dishes, Steve’s with fish and mine with chicken and coconut.   The chickens had fluffy pancakes and fruit.

The Strand Hotel

And then after breakie we were picked up by Driver Number 2 – Mr Christie – for a tour of Yangon, including

·         the house Aung San Suu Kyi lived in as a child from 1945 to 1947, the year her father Bangyoke (General) Aung San was assassinated.

·         A beautiful lake and very green park

·         Scott Market, where we bought the boys Angry Birds t-shirts, shorts and hats. 

Then lunch and a swim at the Australian Club for Steve and the kids while I shopped for Myanmar jewels with Jill, Jennifer and Enriko at a massive retailer called Lady Luck (as you do). 

Back to the Strand for drinks and dinner. Mick’s lovely house-keeper Mia looked after the kids, made them spaghetti (the best they’ve ever had and you should learn how to cook like that Mum!), gave them a bath and then sent them to bed for a much-needed early night.

We, on the other hand, partied on! Me to 11:00pm (gasp) and Steve and Mick until 3:00am!

Myanmar and Mick and Mick’s house

I’m letting the pictures do the talking regarding Mick’s jaw-droppingly gorgeous house, complete with guard, house keeper, gardener and driver! 

Michael's Mansion

We arrived late Thursday, Mick met us at the airport in his new Beema and true to rainy season in Myanmar the heavens opened.  It was a wide-eyed trip to Mick’s house, where, on arrival wide-eyed took on a whole new meaning (see pictures again).  Wow, WOW and WOW!

After exploring every inch of his magnificent house, built by the British in 1927, it was off to dinner.  Geckos kept the kids entertained until the food arrived (thank you little geckos), but they didn’t last too long after that.  Miss M was asleep at the table by 8:30pm (albeit 12:30am our time!).

An early first night in Myanmar for us.

5 hours in Bangkok

It is amazing how much you can squeeze into a short space of time if you really try, and a huge thank you to Steve’s work mate Anna for her fabulous tips and instructions on how best to spend 5 hours in Bangkok.  Anna is a seasoned Thai traveller and gave us a mini-itinerary that worked a treat, right from catching the train to the Siam Paragon Centre and the eye-poppingly good Ocean World to my personal favourite - an unexpected bonus visit to none other than Madame Tussaud’s.  And in amongst all of that we ate, yes eating is fast becoming one of our preferred past-times, although it is hard to steer the kids towards Tom Yum Goon when Burger King is on offer.

The kids absolutely loved Ocean World and, apart from the 7 different tarantulas on exhibit, I loved it too. (I know, I know – what the hell are scary evil hairy-legged tarantula’s doing in an aquarium – I asked myself the same question)

Fun at Ocean World

But I loved Madame Tussaud’s even more, from the minute I got a sneak peak at Tom Cruise (how short is he!) I was hooked.  It was funny how certain characters made be think of different friends: Picasso for art-teacher Kate, Beethoven and Pavarotti – for pianist and performer Dianna, George Clooney for George Clooney lover Lill and the Queen for Mum and Dad.

Still can't get over how short Tom is!!

The kids didn’t quite get the whole Madame Tussaud’s thing and Jeremy very annoyingly asked about 20 times “Can we go now?” GO WHERE JEREMY!?!

And after this wonderful Thai treat it was back to the airport – Myanmar here we come.

A word of thanks

After very kindly helping us pack, weed the garden, iron the clothes and clean the house, Mum and Dad very kindly put us up for 5 nights, then very kindly took us out to dinner* on our last night then very kindly drove us to the airport in the wee small hours.

Thanks Mum and Dad.  We are very lucky to have you.

*Mork’s at Florey shops - YUMMO – go if you want some excellent Thai – and be sure to book!

The adventure begins

And so the adventure begins….. with a delay.  Not that it really mattered, it just meant we sat around Canberra airport instead of Sydney airport, which at least meant we could spend a bit more time with Mum and Dad, although after the poo incident they were probably glad to see the back of us, well Emily at least, or her bottom at the very least J.

And then the adventure continued on and on and on. A 1 hour delay in Canberra, 3 hours wait in Sydney, 9 hours on the plane, 1 hour through customs at Bangkok, 1 hour fluffing around storing luggage, 20 minutes waiting for the hotel shuttle bus and 30 minutes driving to the hotel! And all of which was not helped by feral kids and helpful suggestions that it would have been much better if we’d flown business class and why didn’t we?

We were up at 5:13am that morning and 19 long hours later we spent our first night away in the very comfy beds at the Convenient Grand Hotel, conveniently located in the middle of nowhere.

Four things you really don’t need to happen just before your overseas adventure

And here they are, presented in chronological order

• Someone nicks your licence plate.  Irritating at the best of times, really irritating when it happens on the day you’re selling your car!  Long story short – got hold of the spare plates I’d ordered and paid for following a minor car accident in September 2011!  Sometimes it can pay to shove paper work out of sight and completely forget about it until you are packing the house up for an overseas adventure J.

• The real estate agent goes to your house without telling you and then TAKES THE HOUSE KEYS WITHOUT TELLING YOU!  Steve, did you take the keys?  No, did you?  No.  Are you sure? Of course I'm sure, yes, I’m sure, I'm pretty sure, well maybe I did, oh look I don’t know, did you?  Luckily this one was short-lived.

• Emily has the squirts and poos all over the toilet and her undies and the mat in front of the toilet.  Steve treads in the poo and walks down the hall, Emily treads in the poo and walks through the bedroom.  Oh goody, poo everywhere, just what you want on the night before you leave on an overseas adventure.  Sorry Mum!

• You set your alarm for your overseas adventure for a nice and early start of 5:00 pm!  Thanks Mum for the gentle knock on the door J.

How the adventure began

So, how does it happen that we’re off to the other side of the world?  It’s not like we’re off for a little weekend away.  This is an adventure of grand proportions, with a pretty significant investment in time, money and effort.   It could all go horribly pear-shaped or be the best time of our lives.  Personally I’m going for the latter J.

I've wanted to do this for ages and I think it all started with my love of travel, which began when we moved to California for two years, continued with a stint in Edinburgh and then a year in Japan.  My feet got itchy and I’ve been scratching ever since.

About 18 months ago my friend Donna and her husband Stewart and their three kids moved to the UK for 2 years.  As well as making me green with envy it also got me thinking.  I’d been thinking for years, but this was new outcome-oriented, money-where-your mouth-is, action-speaks-louder-than-words kind of thinking. 

And so it began, way back on 24 October 2011 when, via a casual email about Daniel and the broomstick (but that’s another story), I snuck in the idea.  It went like this…..

Glad to hear you and Stew have been able to get out and about a bit more.  York is beautiful and so is Whitby.  Like I said Donna – I am practically green with envy as I’m typing this.

Which brings me to this cockamamie idea which you can just dismiss straight away if you think it’s a doozy, but anyway – here’s the thought...

I’m still a keen bean to come over but am finding it hard to work out quite how to begin on the planning front (i.e. no job, no accommodation).  I’ve been looking at house swapping, but funnily enough there aren’t that many families keen to come to Canberra!

Anyway, the thought is that when you guys finish up in Billericay we turn up and take over where you left off – house rental, buy your car (providing it’s not a lemon of course J), pick your brains about the kiddy’s schools etc.  I feel a bit cheeky even suggesting it given you’ve already done all the hard work but am struggling to think of an alternative.  I was also thinking that perhaps I could get a job teaching, although the very thought of that nearly scares me to death.

Anyway – what do you reckon?  Do you think something like that might work?  Let me know what you think.

That was the start and after 8 months, 200 emails, 5 passports, 10 visas, 5 plane tickets, a car sale, a (still-waiting L) house rental, a very sad puppy goodbye and some excellent farewell parties (thank you Miss Vicki, Lill, Emma and all those who came to the George and Adore Tea J) off we popped.  Oh - and did I mention the VR, career change and 3 months of relief teaching.  It doesn’t rain, it pours.

A running update

On a cold, foggy Monday morning on June 4 Daniel raced around a 1km track at the ACT cross-country championship at Mt Stromlo and came 2nd for his age group!!

His little legs were pumping and he was nearly pipped at the post, but he managed to hang in there and out of about 60 nippers in the race there he was - Number 2 across the line.  He was pretty blase about the whole event, meanwhile me, Steve, Emily, Jeremy and even Grandad were on the sideline, screeching, jumping up and down in fits of excitement and generally showing off.

Go speedy Daniel - we are very proud of you!