Just got back from Xmas in July, quite a strange experience. We went to a restaurant called ‘Cuckoo’ which looked like a Bavarian lodge, there were  17 of us. There were lots of christmas decorations and a tree, but that’s as far as the Xmas theme went.It was basically a Bavarian thigh slapping, yodaling (how do you spell that?) affair, we sang along to the song out of sound of music (Do-a-Deer etc!), with the singers in their ladenhosen, jingling cowbells. We laughed so much, they thought we were really enjoying their show and said we could buy their DVD if we liked! The food was good though, and we had a good time at  the aptly named restaurant! Afterwards we went to the little village of Sassafrat, bit like Grange over sands, tea rooms and gift shops. The area was really nice, very Lake district – called Dandenong Ranges, it is a national park, quite high up, much cooler, and lots of trees, just like Grizedale forest really, so it is in an area that we will definatley exploring more, and its only a 40 min drive away.

The house is getting there, we have heat now, though its not great, have bought bar stools for breakfast bar and bedside cabinets, just waiting on delivery of a low level entertainment unit for living room, and our new bed has arrived, called a queen size in Aus, but equal to kingsize in UK. A lot of Aussies get king or superking (6ft6″ wide) but it would never fit in a UK house when we come home!

Have put my application in for the district nursing bank, and went to speak to practice manager. The nurses over here only get 4 weeks annual leave plus bank hols (8), so said that I may need more hols for christmas when Sam & Tom are over, or when we come home on hols, so she will speak to the doctor who manages the nurses when he is in on Tue. If that doesnt work out I will just try to work casually.

Ellie had her first tennis lesson on Wed, she did well, learning forehand etc, next week is learning to serve. I have my first lesson tomorrow morning with Caroline, so we’ll see how that goes.

Hve ordered our Marks and Spencer underwear! Ordered and paid online, Maria will pick it up at the store and bring it back over with her on 10 days when she comes home – cant wait! Knickers are $15 a pair here, dont know why, can get cheaper ones but rubbish. Have found out that M&S deliver to Aus, 15 pounds postage regardless of the ammount ordered, plus you dont pay VAT because they are being sent out of the country. The rumour is that they are going to open a store in Melbourne because of the demand! Wonder if they will do the sandwiches aswell?? I really miss TK Maxx and M&S, there aren’t any bargain shops here like B&M either, no cheap toiletries or makeup, just have to watch the supermarkets and chemist’s for special offers!

Have put a few pics on Flickr