Well, its 1 year and 3 days since we touched down in Australia! This time last year we were staying with Stuart & Maria, sorting out a hire car etc, we have learned a lot since then. I cant help wondering what the next 2 years will bring, that’s when we will have to decide whether we stay or return to Blighty. The Aussie dollar remains very strong, the economy is booming, and everything is expensive! The interest rate is 6.5% for savings which is good for us (not that we have that much now!) but the mortgage rate is 7% which makes for big repayments on very big mortgages, it is predicted to raise again in the next month or so. People are complaining that the cost of living is high, and the cost of fruit & veg has doubled because the floods have wiped out all the crops, bananas were $4 a kilo, now &11 because they are grown in Queensland and house prices continue to rise. Petrol has also reached an all time high, $1.45 a  litre (75p). Rates should return to normal in a few months, that’s if no more disasters occur! The good news for us is that the exchange rate against the US dollar is at the highest for 10 years or so, so where we would have got 0.6 US dollars, we will now get nearly  1.1, we are waiting to see if it goes higher!

We have finalised our holiday to Hawaii finally. A few people have told us that Waikiki can be a little like the Gold coast, which to us Brits means  like the Costas in Spain. But it does have the largest mall in America, great surf and beaches, Pearl Harbour and rugged landscapes, so we have decided to stay there for our last 6 days only. The previous 8 days we will spend on Maui, a smaller island 35 min flight from Honolulu, it has been voted the most beautiful island in the world,  still has an active volcano and some stunning beaches,  should be very relaxing. We have researched travel insurance which covers natural disasters including tsunami, volcanic activity etc, you just never know….

Work continues to go well, I have been on a 2 day practice nurse course in the city on Thur/Fri. I had to find my way in by train, then tram, don’t think I did it quite the right way but got there eventually, I am so bad with directions! I haven’t traveled in rush hour before, and was surprised  to find that the 07.30 train was packed allready when it got to my station, and we are 30 mins out of the city, so quite a few stations to pick up at still.People ended up standing up the aisles, and these are long trains with about 8 or 9 carriages and the trains run every 4 mins. Mind you it only costs the equivallent of 5 pounds for a return journey so it is very well used. On Fri I met Steve after work and we went for a drink on the South bank, it was chilly but the bar had the patio heaters on so was a nice environment overlooking the river at dusk (5.30 now) on a lovely Autumnal evening.

The weather is definitely changing now, getting quite cool at night. Last night was the coldest night so far, falling to 6 degrees. The day temp is about 17 degrees and it is dark at 6pm now, so depressing. The UGG boots are back out of storage now and the Winter doona (duvet) is on, Aussie houses are not made for Winter and get cold, though there is some progress, the government have introduce a new energy efficiency program where all new houses from next month have to have insulation and double glazing! Our garden shed at home is better built than some of these houses here , and that’s no joke!!

Steve is changing jobs from next week, he is staying with Fujitsu but moving onto a big government contract they have just signed for 5 years and will be working as the lead enterprise architect. He will be working from a different location, more into the central business district in the city and the job will be more in line with the job he was doing in the UK before we left, I think he is looking forward to the change. There are lots of jobs advertised for other companies but if he moved the new company would have to take over the sponsorship of our visa, so we’ll see how this goes first.

Ellie is doing well and has adjusted well to her diet and her injections! Sam is recovering well from his surgery, needs 3 months of physio now but mobile again now, and Tom got home ok and is back to his studies and Xena is well. She knows what time the possum walks along the fence every evening and watches it through the window, then barks at it when it has gone -daft dog!!