Well the weather is becoming Autumnal now, colder in the mornings and the sun is setting at 8pm now, the Aussies are all gutted that they have not had a decent summer and now it’s Autumn – welcome to the UK summer!! It has officially been the wettest summer EVER on record – Hhmm, never mind El Nina I think it’s El Marsho!! Steve spent 3 weeks in New Zealand then they had a severe earthquake – there is a link somewhere! A lot of the girls at work have family and friends over there and this has been the final straw, a lot are looking to leave New Zealand now.

We have just a fantastic weather for the past 3 days, 25 – 28 degrees and clear blue skies, absolutely lovely. On Saturday we took a ferry from the city along the Yarra river to a place called Williamstown, the place where the first settlers landed in 1853 (really not much history here!), but a lovely place with fantastic views of Melbourne from across the river, we had a great day there.

We have bought Ellie a bicycle as she is going on a Duke of Edinburgh weekend on April 2nd for her silver award, which includes a 2 day cycle ride, so thought she had better get some practice. We have just got in from a lovely bike ride, along the beach path with the sun shimmering over the sea, and up to Mordialloc, around the pier and country park which is a bit like Pennington flash and back home. It has been a long time since we have been on a bike ride and could do with some padded shorts!!

I enjoyed my sailing day on Sunday, the weather was pretty grey and drizzly but fun never the less. Cathy (the doctor owner of the practice) has made us a lovely lunch with wine, didn’t mix well with the kwells though so only had a sip! Didn’t feel sea sick though!! As I hadn’t sailed before and didn’t know how to do the sails etc I was used a ballast – cheek! I had to keep moving to different sided of the yacht depending on which side was leaning, to counterbalance it. We were out for a couple of hours and I had a go at steering even, then went back to the yacht club and changed – it is VERY posh, and met the husbands, had drinks and nibbles paid for by Cathy whilst listening to the jazz band playing! A very enjoyable day.

I have just taken delivery of my NEXT order. I discovered that next will deliver to Aus, any amount for only 7 pounds delivery, so Jane came over and we ordered a few things each, as she is from Liverpool and also misses next at Gemini! A lot of the companies deliver to here, M& S and Debenham’s, but the returns may be an issue so you just have to order things you know will be OK. The clothes here are not bad, not into fashion so much as the UK, and they can be expensive.

Ellie seems to be settling into her new school well, she has a camp on 14th March for a week, they are doing horse riding (can you imagine!), scuba, surfing and lots of other activities, then Duke of Edinburgh camp day after her birthday. She is also becoming involved with the debating society and has started venture scouts on a Wednesday evening.

My work at the practice is going well, it is interesting and varied, like a mini A&E some days. Last week we had a chest pain, acute asthmatic child, bleeding pregnancy and trauma injuries needing suturing, oh and a bead up a child’s nose! It is so different from UK, you would be sent to casualty straight away, we also do a lot of minor surgical procedures, I was cutting for a doctor doing sutures the other day.They do look after their staff here, I had a neck, back  shoulder massage for 30 mins on Tuesday by a masseur they pay for once a month, then sent for lunch afterward’s.  The district nursing is good money but a bit boring, all aged care. I have said I will do every Thur & Fri through March for them, and Tue & wed at the practice, so am a very busy girl! I need to work to pay for all the flights etc I am booking. Tom flies out next Sat and we have booked Sam & Toms flight for next Christmas- we need to explore Australia whilst we are here, there is so much to see. We have found a lovely old lady to look after Xena whilst we are away. Her name is Val and she only lives around the corner. Maria used to use her to mind her dog when she came to Aus, she had moved house but we did some investigative work and tracked her down. She doesn’t dog mind  a lot now as she is getting on but she loved Xena and said she was the image of her Labrador that passed away last year, so she has agreed to mind her when we go away. She has  a lovely little garden and said the dogs sleep in the corner in her bedroom,  she lives across from the beach where she takes them every day, I think Xena wont want to come home!!

The agent is going to our house in UK to do her 3 month inspection and to discuss with the tenants whether they want to extend their stay in the house, if not they will advertise soon. They have been there 10 months now, and it was 12 months ago since we found out we were definatley moving to Australia, we were in Tenerife for the half term hols with my parents when Steve got the phone call, what a journey we have been on since then. Wanted down-under was on TV last night, a couple that were moving to Melbourne, so funny listening to their expectations and watching their reaction when they arrived here, and expecting that they can pick up a big house for next to nothing when in reality Melbourne has the most overpriced property in the world! It has been voted second best place to live in the world though and it really is a fantastic place to live – just so bloody pricey- Oh, and the weather is VERY changeable!