andrewsfamily.id.au

Merry Christmas to you all.

 
We had a great time for our first Christmas in Australia (as a family).  We drove up to Carol and Bob’s house in Forster on the 23^rd and were there till the 27^th.

Tony, Heather, Declan and Angus arrived late on Christmas Eve and all the children enjoyed playing together, most of the time.  We spent a lot of time at the beach where Jack and Declan were busy trying out their new Tonka Trucks.

On Christmas day we all got up early and had a multitude of presents after breakfast.  As usual the kids were spoilt.  Then while we were waiting for lunch, I took my kayak down to the beach for a surf.  There were a lot of surfers there, so I moved up the beach out of their way.

After a huge lunch of turkey, ham, prawns, crab and lobster, washed down with champagne, we let the food settle and then took all the children to the tanks.  This is a very sheltered beach with a couple of natural pools for swimming in.  They had a great time.

David and Rachel arrived on Boxing Day with Blake, and we had a meal that evening with all of us together.

Since we’ve been back in our house, we’ve been finishing our unpacking and sorting the house out.  The garage is now half full of boxes which we’re not emptying yet.  Books and music mostly.

Today we started the long task of finding a house to buy.  We’re not really ready to buy yet, but we want to know what we get for our money and see which houses get stuck on the market.

Dashing through the bush in a rusty Holden ute,

Kickin’ up the dust, esky in the boot.

Kelpie by my side singing Christmas songs,

It’s summertime and I am in my singlet, shorts and thongs.

 
Oh Jingle bells, Jingle bells,

Jingle all the way.

Christmas in Australia on a scorching summers day.  Oi!

Jingle bells, Jingle bells,

Christmas time is beaut’

Oh what fun it is to ride in a rusty Holden ute.

 
Engine’s getting hot, we dodge the kangaroos

Swaggie climbs aboard – he is welcome too,

All the family is there, sitting by the pool,

Christmas day the Aussie way, by the barbeque.

 
Jingle bells…..

 
Come the afternoon Grandpa has a doze,

The kids and Uncle Bruce are swimming in their clothes,

The time comes ‘round to go, we take a family snap,

We pack the car and all shoot through before the washing up!

 
Jingle bells….

We’ve been in our house for one week now and we are beginning to settle in.  We do not have an internet connection yet, so we haven’t been able to read and respond to emails yet.  Hopefully that will change this weekend.

The house has been a little bit of a let down.  It seems to us that they ran out of time in the renovations and did not get it all finished.  So we have given a long list of items to the owner, and we’ll see if he gets round to doing them.  Having said that, it is a nice house in a lovely area.  Sarah has been making friends with the neighbours, one of whom has invited us to a locals Christmas drinks on Saturday which will be fun.

We haven’t been to the beach everyday, but I take the long route to work each morning on my bicycle so I can at least see the sea.  It is about a 8.5 kilometre cycle ride for me to get to work which is quite a nice ride, and I’ve got my eye on a new bike in the January sales.

Jack is booked to go to the local Primary School at the end of January.  It isn’t too far away but it is up a steep hill, so not easily walkable.  And we are still trying to find a Pre-School for Grace to go to.  Most seem to be fully booked up, so it will take some perseverance to get her settled in one.

At last we are finally moving into a new house.  We will be renting for the next 6-12 months until we find a nice house to buy.  We have been waiting for the new house to finish being renovated so we have had to stay in a serviced apartment for an extra week, but we get the keys tomorrow.

Sarah, Jack and Grace are in Forster at the moment sorting some bits and bobs that were left there 6 years ago, and I am driving up tonight in a van.  We will bring these few things down tomorrow, plus pick up a new fridge and mattresses, and all of our shipping is arriving on Saturday.

It will be a very busy few days for us, as Sarah and I are going to a Christmas bash tomorrow night, and we all have tickets to see The Wiggles on Saturday afternoon.  But it will be lovely to settle down after being on the move for 4 months.

The new house is a stone’s throw from the beach in a lovely part of Newcastle.  We decided to spend the extra money to be a really good spot for our first summer.  You can hear the waves crashing from the deck and back yard.  We’ll send the address around and you can look it up on Google Earth.