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As I and a couple of colleagues are staying in Melbourne a lot at the moment, we have a 2 bedroom serviced unit on permenent rent.  This week was my turn to be In Melbourne and it is also the school holidays.  So, last weekend, Sarah, I and the kids all drove the 1000 kms down to stay for the week.

It was a long drive over 2 days, but not too stressful.  Then, once here, there have been so many good things for Jack and Grace to do.  We are staying right beside the ocean with a footpath along the shore for their scooters.  They have been to many different playgrounds.

Monday they went to a railway museum and I was told that Jack was so excited he kept running round and around.  Tuesday, they all went to a craft market on a waterfront in Altona and then found a wonderful park to play in.  Yesterday they went to a children’s section of the Botanical Gardens in Melbourne, this has been on one of the holiday programs on TV and was really good fun.

I’m not sure what they’re up to today, but tomorrow we’re all going to a Science museum with lots of buttons to press and levers to pull.  It is Anzac Day tomorrow, so I’m not working and we may bump into marches around the streets of Melbourne.

Tomorrow night we’re starting the journey back so that we will arrive home late on Saturday.  This will gives us some time on Sunday to get the house a little more in order.

Though i have still been going to work each day, it has been lovely to have the others here with me, so I have some company in the evenings.

Last week, we were on the move again.  The house in Faul Street has been up for sale for the past 6 months and we didn’t think it would last the 9 months till our house is ready.  Sarah, was also fed up with the constant stream of prospective buyers coming through the house.

So we found a small house in Kotara South which was in reasonable condition.  It was a difficult move as I was in Melbourne the week leading up to it, so Sarah was packing boxes by herself.  Then over the weekend, with a few helpers, we moved most of the boxes in ours and Bob’s trailers and started organising them in the house.

On the Monday morning, we had a company come in to move the heavy stuff and then actually moved into the new house.  Over the following few days Sarah and Carol worked hard cleaning the old house before we handed it back.

The new house is still full of boxes but we are slowly getting through them.  A lot have been packed away to not open till we move into our house at the end of the year.  This house has a nice garden for the kids to run around in, and should be warmer than the other over the coming winter.

Last Thursday the builders finally moved onto our land.  So far, they’ve levelled the land a little and marked the foundations out with paint.  It’s very exciting to see it actually starting.  Jack and Grace were thrilled to see the digger on the land.

As next door is also being built by the same builders, they are doing them together.  This should be to our benefit as they signed contracts 3 weeks before us.  This will mean the finish date will probably be earlier.

Last weekend we had a visit from Sue Oakey, with mother and daughter.  Sue is an old friend of mine from St. Albans and it was great to see people from home.  They were visiting Sue’s brother in Sydney and made an overnight journey up to Newcastle to see us.  We had a lovely time at the beach and seeing the Koalas at Blackbutt.

We also had a wonderful time just chatting.

We had a really busy weekend over Easter.  We were lucky enough to be able to take over Min and Hordy’s house in Sydney and made full use of it.  On the Friday i arrived in Sydney after working the week in Melbourne.  Sarah, Jack and Grace were already there and have a great time seeing the dinosaurs in the Australian Museum.  This exhibition had just opened and was packed with kids and their parents.

The Saturday was my birthday, so after a morning shopping for a wetsuit, Dave, Cass and Xavier with Vic from England, came over for a drink and a bite to eat.  Good to enjoy my birthday with friends.

On Easter Sunday morning we met up with Tony, Heather, Declan and Angus in a park.  All the kids had a lovely morning playing together.  Then we decided to head off to Darling harbour.  Once we got there we found a festival of circus going on.  It was fantastic, we all got to have a go at juggling and plate spinning, watched a couple of clowns and listened and watched Genzo’s Electric Orchestra.  This was amazing, the band were all attached to trapezes and spent the show flying around.

To top it off, on Monday we went to the Royal Easter Show.  This is a Sydney institution, which is a mixture of country show, fairground and displays.  We first watched some kids shows and songs, then while Sarah and Grace stayed there, Jack and I went to watch some motorbikes jumping up and down blocks.  We then had lunch watching the arena where we saw some amzing V6 utes and motorbike show.  Sarah’s chief bridesmaid, Lana, was also there, so we met up with her and her family.  It was really good to see them as I had not seen Lana since before Jack was born.  Later we watched some horse riding, bought show bags and left before we finally passed out.

A great weekend, and 2 very tired kids (and 2 adults) at the end of it all.