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The weekend we decided to take a new car for a test drive.  So after soccer and ballet, we picked it up and drove all the way through the Hunter Valley and out to Mudgee, about 4.5 hours drive.  We stayed with Dave and Fiona Brown who live in Mudgee and spent a great evening with them.

Yesterday morning, we went for a lovely walk up a hill near their house, then back in the car after lunch for the long drive home.

The car we borrowed was a Hyundai Santa Fe 7 seater,  and a lovely car to drive.  We are just doing up our Subaru ready to sell, so we need to look at how much we can afford to spend on a new car.  Even so it was lovely to do the long drive in a brand new car.

We’ve just paid for flights to England for a holiday in July.  It will be almost 4 years since we left so we’re looking forward to seeing everyone again.  The best cheap flights we found were with Air China, so we will go via Beijing.  We wanted to have a stopover on the way, and a few days in Beijing will be  very exciting.

Once in England we will have 3 and a half weeks to fit everything in.  We want to catch up with all the family, all our friends and have a holiday ourselves.  The last week is already booked at a manor house in Derbyshire with all the Andrews family.

Then a slow boat to China, well a slow plane to Sydney via Beijing and Shanghai and back for work and school.

We have just had the most amazing (and busy) Australia Day weekend.  As Australia Day fell on a Tuesday, I had the Monday off work and we went to Sydney for 4 days.  We camped in Lane Cove National Park, which is only 15 minutes from the city centre but set amongst the trees of the National Park.

The first day we went to the Powerhouse Museum which is having a ‘Back to the Eighties’ exhibition.  This was fun, but even better (at least for Jack) was the learn to dance to Michael Jackson thriller workshop.  Jack plays Michael Jackson almost constantly and knows all the words so it was heaven for him.  It was extremely hot and humid that day, so after a short walk around Darling Harbour we headed up to Dave and Cas’ house for a barbeque.  Great to see them and Xavier who is growing up quickly.

It rained during the night and wasn’t a sparkling day on the Sunday so we stayed around the campsite and Lane Cove.  We went for quite a long walk up and down the river and had a long play in the pool.

Monday was the not best of days as we had to drive down to Nowra for the funeral of Don Pollock.  Don was Bob’s best friend and has always treated Sarah, and so the rest of us, like family.  There were a lot of people there for a very moving service, and we heard all about the work he did as president of Basketball Australia amongst other things.  All of Sarah’s family were there and we had dinner with Don’s children before we headed back to Sydney.

The next day was Australia Day and we were up early packing up the tent before heading into town.  We had tried to catch up with Sarah’s cousin Annette and her family over the weekend, but as they were away they invited us to their boat for Australia Day.  So we arrived at the wharf where their boat was moored and found an amazing luxurious motor launch.  Also a lot of Annette’s family who we hadn’t seen for a while.  Tod, Annette’s husband, steered us out of the mooring and into the harbour with thousand of other boats to watch the ferry race and other events.  Then after a couple of hours of this, we let down anchor in one of the bays and spent the afternoon with a barbeque, diving and swimming off the boat and playing in the tender (jet boat) and kayak.  An absolutely amazing day, we were so lucky to have been invited.

We drove home in the evening and collapsed straight into bed after a very tiring but great 4 days.

Lance and Mary arrived in Australia the weekend before Christmas and we welcomed them with some wonderfully hot weather.  We spent the first few days going to various beaches and enjoying the sea and sunshine, we also set up the croquet set for a few games on the lawn.  Lance also went to Newcastle Croquet Club for a game one morning.  On Christmas Eve, we all went to the Cathedral and then, after the kids had gone to bed, Lance and I spent a few hours putting up a trampoline in the garden.

Christmas Day started off with church for the Grandparents and breakfast for the others.  After a huge pile of presents we had some fun in the garden with new water pistols, badminton and of course the trampoline.  We had cheese and biscuits for lunch and then all went for a walk along the break-wall beside Newcastle Harbour.  The clouds started to come over then and the rains started.  Once home, we cooked up our Christmas dinner of prawns, lobster, ham, finished off with a delicious pavlova.  Very Australian and different from the usual English Christmas dinner.

Next day some of us went for a swim before breakfast and then a wet walk through Glenrock Reserve.  The sound of the cicadas was almost deafening at times.

Between Christmas and New Year we went up to Forster to stay with Carol and Bob.  Even though it rained every day we still had a great time and managed to go to the beach and Seal Rocks lighthouse.  When the rain was at its hardest we went ten pin bowling which was great fun for all.

Back to Newcastle for New Years Eve and we decided not to go to Sydney for the fireworks but to go to the display in Newcastle instead.  This was a much easier and more relaxed event.  We parked near the river, sat on the river side and watched the fireworks with no pressure and crowding from others.  Then it was an easy trip home.  When we’d got the kids to bed, Sarah and I went for a walk around the estate.  There is a family who’ve moved in a couple of months ago who set up their band in their garage.  The street had been blocked off and half the residents were having a party in the street.  We left about 1 but apparently the band kept playing till about 6am!!!

We spent the next few days building a vegetable plot in the back of our garden which we then planted with cucumber, beans, leaks, carrots, butternut pumpkin and watermelons.  Some are beginning to come up now so we’ll look forward to these and others we will plant soon.

After saying goodbye to Lance and Mary on the Tuesday, I went off to work and of course it was the first sunny day for about 2 weeks!!.  At least they had some good weather in Melbourne and India.

Last Friday was our 10th Wedding Anniversary and we made sure we celebrated it both by ourselves and with the children.

On Friday we got the kids off to bed early(ish), after cricket and a party.  Then open a special bottle of wine.  When we arrived in Australia 3 years ago, I’d bought Sarah a bottle of Penfold St. Henri Shiraz for her birthday.  We’d been waiting for a special occasion to open it and had never found the right time,so this was it.  We had a couple of steaks on the barbeque and some salad and the delicious wine.

Saturday was very hot and after spending the morn potting an orange and a lemon tree, and some other gardening, we spent the afternoon at the beach cooling off.  then we all went out to a Japanese restaurant for Teppanyaki.   the food was cooked in front of our table and we all had great fun trying to catch food in our mouths and in our bowls.  After dinner we had ice creams beside Lake Macquarie before going home.

Today has been even hotter (42degC or 107degF).  Both jack and Grace had Nippers this morning, a special ‘King of the Beach’ carnival with the 2 other surf clubs on the same stretch of beach with Merewether.  they both had a good time and expended lots of energy.

We just stayed at home in the afternoon in the air conditioning and the kids have gone to bed very early.

It has been really hot and humid today, but tonight at 9pm it has finally broken with a big crash of thunder.  Now it is pouring with rain and Sarah is worried the plants she has planted by torchlight will be washed away.

Yesterday afternoon, we finally had our house warming party.  We only decided to hold the party at the end of last week, but still quite a few people came.  It was a lovely sunny afternoon and all the kids were able to play in the water slide and with water bombs on the lawn.  Meanwhile the adults sat in the shade drinking champagne and beer.  It was a really nice relaxed afternoon with plenty of good conversation and fantastic nibbles.

We have all had time off over Easter and it has actually been nice spending some time at home instead of going away.  We have had a few days out and the kids have been playing with lots of friends.  Meanwhile Sarah and I have been hard at work around the house.  The biggest item has been a brick letterbox which I knocked up in a day (and a bit).  First attempt at brick laying so its probably good we plan to render over the top.

We are now on the final stretch of getting the landscaping done.  Council has given us approval to continue with the wall, concretors have been to core-fill the wall (though left again due to rain) and a landscaper is booked to come to finish the work off.  The only thing remaining thing then will be some rendering, some steps up the wall, and plants to be planted.

We had our first go on Ebay last weekend and this weekend we go down to Sydney to pick up a cubby house for the back of the garden.  Probably needs a coat of paint but it looks good apart from this.

Tomorrow we go up to Port Macquarie ready for my race on Sunday. Unfortunately there has been torrential rain, and this is due to continue for the next few days. And where are we staying…. in a tent!. Let’s hope we get a good spot in the campsite and don’t get flooded out.
It will be good to be there a few days before the race to soak up the atmosphere and get ready in a relaxed fashion.
Then we will return on Tuesday so the kids can go back to school for a couple of days before the term finishes for Easter.

This weekend we went down to Sydney to see Wind in the Willows performed by the Australian Shakespeare Company.  This was performed in the Botanical Gardens of Sydney and went between 2 different areas.  It was great fun for the children, loosely based on the story.

The show started beside the main pond, and both Ratty and Toad arrived by boat.  Lots of songs and joking combined to keep the children entertained, and in the middle they had to go exploring the wild woods looking for a lost otter child.

After the show we went to stay with Lana and Goran and their 2 girls.  It was lovely to see them and we spent the night at their house.  The girls all played together all evening, with countless barbies and other dolls, and Goran and Jack spent a lot of time playing with quadbikes and remote control cars.

Yesterday we had a wonderful(!) 4 hours in Ikea before driving home.

The last couple of days before Christmas were spent clearing the house and putting half empty boxes back into the garage.  We wanted to have a relatively smart looking house for Christmas Day.  On Christmas Eve we all went to a carol service in the Cathedral and Carol and Bob arrived down from Forster.

The kids were amazingly not up too early but had emptied their stockings onto the landing going through everything as the rest of us were getting up.  Then it was a very tasty and slow breakfast before we got to open all the presents under the tree.  There was a huge pile and, as always, most of them were for Jack and Grace.

Soon after, both Jack and Grace were cycling around the estate on their new bikes (it is amazing how many other of the kids have shiny new bikes), meanwhile Sarah and Carol were putting the finishing touches to Christmas lunch.  David, Rachel and Blake came over to visit before lunch so there was much unwrapping to be done.  We did not have a huge meal, but there was plenty to eat and still leftovers for later.

The rest of the day was spent at home and chasing Jack and Grace around the estate.

Over the next week it was extremely hot and we spent a lot of time at various beaches.  Jack is beginning to get a lot more confident in the waves and is happy to surf in on the body board.  Grace still enjoys jumping in the waves and will deeper with someone to hold on to.

On New Years Eve we went to a friends house in Merewether Heights.  We had a barbeque out the back of the house and then watched the 9pm fireworks, in the distance, from their front deck.  When we came home around 10:30 there were still a lot of people around the estate pond and lots of children riding round on their bikes.  But we called it a day and retired to our home.

I am now back at work.  But I have had to take today off, we are having the back of the house excavated (again) and we’ve discovered a problem with the rainwater drains which aren’t filling the water tanks.  So the plumbers are here and (after 6 hours of scratching their heads) think there is a broken pipe under the driveway.  At least that means we can continue with concrete at the back of the house.