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Last week we finally took possession of our land.  The estate is looking good with all the grass, trees and plants growing nicely.  We have been down a few times now and meeting other people down there discussing various house plans etc.

Our plans are in council waiting for approval, then we’ll be able to start building.

The only problem is that we are now paying a mortgage as well as rent, so we will be a bit strapped for cash for the next few months.  But it will be worth it when we move into our new house.

We had a lovely surprise when we returned from our holiday.  There was a phone message saying that Sarah had won the Toronto Lions Club Raffle.  We went to pick up the prize the next day (taking 2 cars).  The prize was a galvanised trailer full of ‘stuff’.  There was a bike, garden bench, microwave, pressure spray, power tools, toys…. It was amazing, just like another Christmas.

Now our garage is even fuller than it was before.

Between Christmas and New Year we drove up the coast from Forster for a few days camping near Coffs Harbour.  We were staying in a large caravan park beside a beach, with a lot of things to do.  The caravan park was very spacious, even though it was full, and the camping area was amongst a lot of trees.

We spent a lot of time beside the 2 pools, one of which had 2 slides which were put to good use.  There were a lot of other children there so Jack found other people to play with.  Grace preferred to stay with us.  Both Jack and Grace also went to the kids club a few times which was nice for them (and us!).

We had a couple of day trips out to Coffs Harbour.  The first trip we went to the Pet Porpoise Pool.  Here we saw displays of dolphins, seals and reptile.  The dolphins were amazingly agile and leaping great heights from the water.  It was wonderful seeing the children’s faces whilst they watched the dolphins, they loved it, especially when the crowd got splashed.

New Years Eve was quite wet so we drove back into Coffs Harbour and went to a sweet factory and to the Big Banana.  We’d passed the Big Banana a few times and the kids wouldn’t let us go without seeing it up close.  There are various shops here and a banana plantation to walk through.  Very interesting seeing the bananas at different stages on the trees.

That evening Jack went to a disco while Grace tried to go to sleep, of course she was still awake when we got back from the disco, so they both had stories for a while.  Then Sarah and I were not far behind them to bed.

We were able to pack up the tent dry, which saved trouble later and drove back to Forster during the day.