It’s been a busy Christmas and New Year with Sam & Tom being here we have had something planned for pretty much every day. We have seen the sights of Melbourne and beyond and had some amazing weather. The temperature peaked at 43 degrees just before Sam left, it was so hot we could do no more than sit in an air-conditioned pub and drink cold beer! The only rain we had was on Christmas day which made me happy as we had decided to have a traditional Christmas dinner, the sky went black about 3pm and the rains came – it was so nice, the christmas lights twinkled against the dark sky and it felt like a UK christmas, much better than a 35 degree day! We spent New years eve in the city, first attending a comedy performance at the royal botanical gardens, taking our own picnic and wine etc and then heading to the centre and watching the fireworks- a good night. Both the boys are now back in blighty, think the temperature change is affecting them though, at least they can watch the cricket test on tv yet and see the nice weather again!
So it’s back to normality and work, we have both had 3 weeks off work and it was hard going back. Ellie returns to school following the summer hols on Feb 1st. She has been working both her jobs dong a couple of days a week and has built an impressive balance on her savings account.
My job is going well, my manager came out on visits with me and gave me some great feedback, now she has put me forward as a future leader and I am doing a 4 day course as well as having to do more study and gain a qualification in palliative care, why cant I just go to work and then come home, always something to do!! Steve has resumed his job for now.
We have put in an application for a house back in Beaumaris where we first lived (dodgy house), it is a lovely home and I’m sure the many other people that were viewing it have also applied, so I very much doubt we will get it. If not, we will just stay here, though this house really is too big for just the 3 of us and I dont think we’ll be having more visitors this year. We are really hoping to come back to the UK for next Christmas so please order the picture postcard snowy landscapes for us now! Flights arent available for a few months yet and depends on the price of course. I havent worn any of my Christmas dresses here or glitzy shoes, usually sun dress and flip flops!
I will put more pics on Flikr.
January 15, 2012 at 12:08 pm
Seems having a picnic and taking your own booze at the Botanical Gardens, seeing a comedy on New Years Eve was fantastic, better than paying £4 for a pint at the MEN.. sitting in cramped seats…
Glad Christmas day resembled a bit like being back in the UK, but those temps you had are mind blowing..
Seems Ellie is doing great at her 2 jobs, hope she spends the money on something special for herself..
Good luck in getting the house and that your jobs go well..
Take care
Margaret xx
January 22, 2012 at 5:36 pm
Sounds idyllic , will have to see if I can persuade Richard to come for a visit. Not holding my breath though, house needs soo much spending on it, that’s if our guests want to stay in bedrooms lol x
February 18, 2012 at 7:40 pm
Sorry we dont want the snow. But it will be lovely to see you if you do come home for a visit.