Granny and Grandad arrive!!!

Well, Judy and Tony arrived on the 19th at 9.30a.m having stopped off to visit Richard, Natasha and Hattie in Dubai en route. We were waiting out in the street to greet them and there was much excitement at their arrival. One of the most important things we did that day was watch the "Strictly Come Dancing " final, which we all really enjoyed.The next day, I took them into the city on the train and went up the Eureka Tower, followed by Dave's walking tour around Melbourne.

On the 22nd, we headed down to Anglesea on the Great Ocean Road where we had rented a house for 5 days. The car was so full of food and presents that Jack, Sam and Will had to take the train and bus down there! The first day we hired boards and wetties and had another surf lesson whilst J and T looked on (see fotos on Flickr). Christmas Eve was Granny's birthday and they played golf at Anglesea golf course, watched by the kangeroos who live there. In the evening we went out for a nice Chinese meal.

Christmas Day dawned a bit dull, but by midday the sun had come out and it was 27 degrees. We had a typical Aussie Christmas lunch - prawns, mussels and oysters freshly caught (not by me!) and cooked on the barbie by Chris. Later we went for a walk along the beach, before returning to cook the turkey and have the English Christmas meal!

Chris went for a hilly bike ride to Lorne on Boxing Day and the next day took J and T along the GOR to see the 12 Apostles.

Today (28th) they went to watch the cricket at the MCG which J and T were very impressed with (the MCG not so much the cricket!).

We have a fun-filled week in store before they head to Brissie in the New Year for a week.

Sam's Helicopter Ride

Jack survived Schoolies week and got his VCE results on Friday morning at 7a.m. He did well, getting all B's so now has to decide what he wants to do next.

Chris's operation went well, although he did faint afterwards on the operating table. Theoretically this should not have happened because they had eliminated the pathway that was causing the problem. So, on Friday, he had a stress test, which involved being wired up to a running machine and being put through his paces. I am glad to say that his ECG came back as being normal, so he will just have to see if the blackouts re-occur when he starts running again.

Sam and Will finished school yesterday and can now look forward to a 7 week Summer holiday. Today, Sam took two of his friends (Harry and Aaran) on the helicopter flight that Chris had arranged for the "One Year in Oz" party back in August. The flight took 20 minutes and flew all over the sights of Melbourne, as you can see on the Flickr fotos to the right. They all said it was awesome!

Granny and Grandad arrive early on Monday morning and this time next week it will be Christmas Eve.

HAPPY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!!!

December already!

Well, I can't believe it's a month since I did the last blog, shoddy I know!

What's been happening this last month...? Nothing too exciting which is why I haven't up-dated it!

Jack sat his exams and overall they seemed to go quite well. We will see on results day! Since he finished, he has spent his days sleeping till at least 11a.m, watching TV and playing on the X Box. At the moment he is on his "schoolies" week - a week away with 15 mates in a house by the sea on the Mornington Peninsula. Not heard much from him, so assume he's still alive! How I'd love to be a fly on the wall there!

Sam and I attended the launch of the Australian Open yesterday. The CEO was there and gave an inspiring speech, as was Todd Woodbridge who was once a Ballboy himself, before becoming a player. This year is quite an historical year for Australian tennis - 50 years since Rod Lever won the Grand Slam and 100 years since the first Men's Singles title was won. They brought in the Winners Trophies... they call the ladies single trophy Daphne and the mens singles trophy Norman, don't know why, maybe after the first people who won them? Sam was given his uniform and we are glad to report that it is not pink, but a nice blue, the same colour as on all the AO signs, which looks great on Sam.

I had my second Triathlon yesterday, this time in Mordi, so we didn't have to go far. However, it was very windy (29kph) and so the sea was VERY choppy and I would never have gone in under normal circumstances. Unfortunately, they decided to go ahead with the swim and everyone struggled, with many people being pulled out of the water into the lifeboats (at their request). I managed to get round but it took me even longer than before, so annoyingly I came 10th overall this time (not happy! )

Chris goes in for his heart operation this Thursday (8th). He was recently diagnosed with a condition called "Woolf Parkinson White Syndrome" where he has an extra pathway in his heart that shouldn't be there. For the past 4 years, he would often feel like he was going to black out when he was running and his heart would go into tachycardia. The operation has a 95% success rate, so hopefully he should be able to return to exercise very soon.

Only 2 weeks till Granny and Grandad are here with us for Christmas so we are all very excited :)

First Triathlon of the Series

This weekend the Triathlon Season started and for Jacinta, Natalie and myself , this is what we have been training for for the last 6 months! Got up at 5.15a.m to get some breakfast inside me, then headed off at 6 to Brighton, with near-on perfect conditions. Just amazes me how many people are crazy enough to turn up for these events so early on a Sunday morning AND to pay good money for the privilege of putting ourselves through this anguish! (nearly 1000 participants!).

So, you are given a swimming cap coloured according to your age category (gold for us) and are sent off into the water in "waves" according to the colour of your cap. We were off at 7.15a.m. There are 2 big buoys out in the water to mark out the distance (which looks so far when you are standing on the beach!) and also lots of people on rafts to help you if you get into any trouble. Because Jacinta and I were in the last group to go off the water was all churned up with sand and you couldn't see ANYTHING in the water except dirt - it was disgusting! Also, the fact that there are 30ish people all jumping in the water at the same time is pretty daunting and you get kicked, bashed and swum over! Anyway, I survived to tell the tale but didn't do too well, coming out of the water in 16th position.

You then have to run up the beach, trying to undo your wetsuit at the same time, run up some steep steps (they don't make it easy for you!) and "transition" onto your bike, (which is hiding somewhere amongst 900 other bikes!) This involves trying to get out of your wetsuit, putting on socks and bike shoes, putting on sunnies and having a drink all at the same time and as quickly as possible! (whilst trying to catch your breath and with the adrenalin pumping!) You then have to run with your bike to the exit point where you can get on your bike and head off.

I felt like I was steaming it ( it's a great feeling passing other people) and I was, making up lost time from the swim and coming in 4th.

On finishing the ride, you have to park your bike in the same place, take off your helmet and bike shoes and exchange for running shoes and start the run. Even having been on the bike for a short time, your legs are like jelly when you get off and have to start running - it's a horrible feeling. Managed to pass a few more people on the run and came 6th making my overall position 7th - not bad for the first one, especially since I was only 15 seconds behind 5 and 6.

And then the endorphines kicked in...!!! Felt fantastic to have finished and then to find I'd gone from 16th to 7th just made my day! If I improve on the swim who knows where I may come :) Can't wait for the next one - December 6th at Mordi... BRING IT ON!!!!

Jacks Graduation

Last night we attended Jacks Graduation Ceremony which was held at Sandown Racecourse, as he has now officially left school in Australia, although he still has his exams to do. This is equivalent to him completing his "A" levels in the UK and the score he attains will determine which University he goes to and what course he will do. He may do a football coaching course first (called SEDA) before going to Uni but at the moment he is keeping his options open.

Other things happening this week :- Monday was a year since we met Natalie, so her and I celebrated by spending the day at the Peninsula Hot Water Springs. Then, in the evening, we all got together for pizza (Nat makes immense pizzas!)

Tuesday was Nat's 40th birthday and she has been celebrating all week! Tomorrow they are coming to ours for a celebratory birthday dinner.

This weekend is Melbourne Cup weekend, so a 4-day weekend. Chris and I went to see the film "The Cup" last weekend so on Tuesday, when we watch it at Nats, we will have more idea what it's all about! (Recommend the film!)

Sam had another tennis training day and it's only a week till the Triathlon Season starts!

Back to School

Well, the holidays have ended and the Boys have gone back to school ( a year since they started school over here!) A lot of the time was spent sleeping. And sleeping. And sleeping! Sam managed a P.B of sleeping in till 1p.m having gone to bed at 11p.m the night before!!! Even Will turned into a true teenager and slept in till 10a.m most days! Jack was very good for most of the holidays with me waking him up at 9 so he could get on with his revision. He, too, set a new record - having his first "all nighter" in Melbourne, managing to get into a nightclub and then also the Crown Casino, where he won $40! As I was going out for my 50km bike ride on Saturday morning at 8a.m, he was just coming in!

I did manage to get Will up early on Friday since we had decided to visit "Sovereign Hill" at Ballarat, a 2 hour drive away. This is where the first gold-mining took place in the 1850's. The place was set up just as it would have been all those years ago (as you can see from the pictures above) with people walking around wearing traditional dress and events going on throughout the day. It was a good day out.

Sam had some good news the second week of the holidays - he got a phone call from the bike shop where he worked for a while this time last year, asking him if he could go in and make up some bikes. So he worked 3 afternoons and hopefully has got his foot in the door again ready for the run-up to Christmas.

Monday morning proved a bit of a tricky one! Sam got up and off to school ok, but for Will it was a bit of a struggle being woken up at 7.45a.m! He got up, then promptly lay down on the sofa for another 15 minutes trying to wake up! I drove Jack to school because he goes in late on a Monday so I drop him off on my way to tennis. It was the quietest journey I have ever had with Jack in the car! He uttered not a word as he was still in a comatose state due to coming home Sunday morning at 4.45a.m! Think those late nights will have to be put on hold now for the next 6 weeks till his exams are over!

Holiday Update...

Sams tennis training went well and he came home really buzzing about it! The colour that the Ballkids are to wear is not being revealed until December, but they have said that they are going to keep the same colour for 2 years. He was given a nice cobalt blue colour T-shirt, cap and water bottle to keep him going.

On Monday, Will and I drove to Churchill Island with Natalie and the Girls, which is on Phillip Island. Before we crossed the bridge onto Phillip Island, we stopped off to see the pelicans at San Remo, which were being fed at 12 o'clock (see fotos). Churchill Island is an old working farm in picturesque surroundings and the children were able to milk a cow by hand. We also watched a sheep being sheared, a dog rounding up sheep and turkeys and had a wagon ride. It was a good day out, finished off with fish and chips back at San Remo.

Yesterday, I had a lovely, relaxing day spent at the Peninsula Hot Springs down on the Mornington Peninsula. These are a series of outdoor thermal mineral pools all at different temperatures and you go from one to another - lovely! After that, we went for lunch at one of the wineries before returning home - it's a hard life!!!

Sam is on a football course for 2 days at the end of the week but apart from that, nothing else much is planned.

Sunny's 1st Birthday!

This week we have had two things to celebrate. Firstly, it was Sunny's birthday and he was turning 1! Will was very excited and lucky Sunny had a party at the doggie park with all his friends. Natalie made him a birthday cake and special cakes that the dogs could eat, also biscuits made in the shapes of bones and dogs! He was very spoilt and had lots of presents!

Yesterday (21st) was our 20th Wedding Anniversary, so I met Chris after work and we had a meal before going to see Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Love Never Dies". We enjoyed it but it didn't quite match up to the Phantom, which is our very favourite show that we have seen 4 times!

The Boys break up for a 2 week holiday tomorrow but nothing much planned. Jack will hopefully be working/revising hard for his final exams which are coming up in November. Sam has his first weekend of Ballboy training and has to be at the Rod Lever Stadium for 8a.m Saturday and Sunday - ouch! So I guess it will just be me and Will going off for days out!

My foot seems to have made a full recovery and I am now back to running 45 minutes. However, today I had a break- through in the pool. I swam 60 lengths (1.5km) in 50 minutes - the furthest and fastest I' ve swum so far! Not bad for someone who couldn't swim before Easter! Watch out 2012 Olympics.... I may be there!!!!

Goodbye the Summers:(

Just a little final update from the Summers trip. We had fun watching the penguins, especially as it is the mating season and they were up to all sorts of antics!!! And Ian enjoyed his ride on the Harley Davidson, being whisked into the city along Beach road. We then went to the Dandenongs for a few hours, to see the view of Melbourne and to have a cream tea in the village of Saasafraas. Alice and Matthew also got very close to a kookaburra. Then, unfortunately, it was time to take them back to the airport for their return trip home via Dubai.

Spring is officially here having had the warmest winter in Melbourne in 157 years!

Another 2 weeks have whizzed by. At the beginning of the month we were "Sunny Sitting" for 5 days. Natalie and family went away for Sascha's 7th Birthday and we looked after Sunny the dog! This is a perfect scenario because Will and Sam would like to have a dog but Chris and I don't, so being able to look after Sunny is the perfect solution (and didn't put them off!). Sunny doesn't mind who looks after him as long as he has love and attention... and food!

Yesterday, Chris went to Mt. Buller with Jason for the day to go skiing! They left at 4.30a.m and after a 3 hour drive, arrived at the slopes. Since Buller is not so high up as Hotham, the snow wasn't as good, nor were there so many runs but they had a great day and returned home, very weary, at 8.30p.m.

Chris's sister and family touched down in Sydney this morning! They are having a 3 week holiday, starting off visiting their cousin in Dubai. They are coming to stay with us on the 25th August, just 10 days away, so we are all excited. It's strange knowing they are in the same country as us now and needless to say, we have been texting all day! More to follow on their visit in a few weeks :)

Will had his last AFL match today since the season has finished, except for those going through to the Grand Final. This, unfortunately, was not the Chelsea Seagulls since they only won 1 match! However, the match today was probably the best one all season - it was so close and could've gone either way. In the 3rd Quarter, the Seagulls played the best ever, pulling back to a draw, but unfortunately, they lost in the final quarter. It was such an exciting game and a good one to end the season on!

A chilly winter's day in Melbourne today ....18 degrees!!!

Afternoon Tea at the Windsor Hotel!

On Saturday afternoon Natalie and myself headed into the City to enjoy our Mother's day present - afternoon tea at the Windsor Hotel! It's a bit like going to the Ritz, so we dressed up and arrived at 1p.m for our 2 hours of pure heaven! We were presented with a glass of pink champagne each, then had scones, mini quiches and pies and cucumber sandwiches (without crusts of course!). After that, we helped ourselves to an enormous array of desserts and were glad that we had been for our 30 mile bike ride in the morning!

In the evening, Chris and I had been invited to a "Christmas in July" dinner party, so more eating!! This is quite a popular tradition amongst the Brits over here. The Christmas tree was up, Cliff Richard was playing and we had a full turkey dinner - alas, no Christmas pud :( Amazing how it did actually feel like Christmas and we had a great time.

After my efforts of the half marathon I am now suffering with a possible 2 stress fractures to my 4th and 5th meta-tarsels and tendonitus, so I am not allowed to run or play tennis. Bit annoying since I followed my training plan exactly and my wishes to do another half next month and possibly the Melbourne Marathon in October are now going out the window :(

My foot is all strapped up and I am having ultra-sound on it which seems to help.

I am allowed to cycle though, so Chris and I headed off this morning to St. Kilda , Chris on his new bike. Unfortunately, he is now much faster than me again so think I will have to up-grade my bike again (ha ha or just cycle with Natalie!)

Sam has had his first info through about the tennis and he has to be in the city for 8.30 a.m for his first two training sessions! That went down really well, especially as it is the first 2 days of the holidays!! I'm sure it will be worth it!!

My First Half Marathon!

Got home from skiing on Friday 4.15 p.m and Saturday was Jack's 17th Birthday! We went to Mainstreet (our favourite haunt in Mordi) for brunch (eating out for breakfast is very big here), then he went out with his friends in the evening.

This morning, I ran my first half Marathon. The race was starting at 7a.m in the city, so we had to get up at 5a.m but I had actually had quite a good nights sleep so it wasn't too bad. Managed to eat some breakfast, then Chris, Natalie and myself headed out at 5.30a.m. Having parked in the PwC car park , the meeting point was Federation Square (in the dark!). I was quite relaxed which surprised me. The course took in all the sights of Melbourne and I wanted to run it in under 2 hours. I came in at 1.59 hrs so was really pleased and quite emotional. Chris and Natalie were fantastic supporters and kept popping up all around the course shouting and waving - it was great!

When I originally decided to do the half (about 10 weeks ago), I was just doing it for me as my new goal. Then last week, Natalie's father was diagnosed with Bowel cancer, so I decided at the last minute to run to raise money for The Cancer and Bowel Cancer Research Trust. Most of you I sent an email to with a link to my fundraising page, but here it is again because not many of you have used it! Just put into google "runmelbourne.everydayhero.com.au/morgsinoz". It's very easy to donate and it's a secure website . You can put your own amount in or tick one of the boxes and it doesn't matter that it's in dollars, your credit card can handle it!

My Dad was dubious of using it but he managed!!! Well done! And a very big THANK YOU to those of you who have already donated, it is very much appreciated.

The rest of the afternoon has been spent ferrying Boys to footie matches, so now we are going to collapse in a heap!

Skiing.....in Australia!

Hi everyone from snowy Hotham, north east Victoria.....Australia!!! It seems so strange to be skiing in July and in Australia....but we are.

It is great to be able to drive to Hotham without having to worry about flights and transfers. Hotham is north east of Melbourne and about a 5 hour drive. We decided to stay overnight at Bright on Saturday night to break the journey a little bit - leaving about a 1.5 hour Sunday morning drive so we could then ski in the afternoon.

Setting out from Bright Sunday morning the weather was cold and cloudy....but no snow yet. After about an hour we started heading up steep and windy mountain roads, climbing higher and higher. Caroline had decided to sit in the back as she isn't too good with heights.....and roads that have a steep drop over the edge!

After 30 mins on the mountain roads we came to a checkpoint where you had to have chains fitted to the car wheels. We had borrowed some off our friends so we paid the chap a few dollars to fit them for us. Straight after this the snow got thicker and deeper and the roads more icy. Our fully laden car (5 people, 3 suitcases, food for a week and ski gear) was coping well so far....and then the blizzard hit. The car in front came to a stand still and the driver got out to tell me he was turning round....visibility was down to 10 metres and the snow was going sideways. I knew we weren't far away and felt I would rather carry on up hill than to turn around and head down hill....so we bravely carried on. 15 mins more careful driving later we arrived in the resort....phew.....now it was about 11:30am.

We headed straight for the ski hire shop (no messing), got our skis sorted and after a quick hot chocolate were heading for the slopes! We managed a couple of hours skiing which felt great to get back into it! After that we checked into our chalet which is lovely. It is 2 storey and very new....all close to the slopes and fully equipped...even wireless internet :-)

So the last couple of days we have got up fairly late and venture onto the slopes about 10ish. We head back to the chalet for some lunch and a break before hitting the slopes again in the afternoon.

The boys skiing has come along really well and they are all confident skiers now. Jack and Sam basically bomb it to the bottom as fast as possible whilst Will takes it more leisurely with Caroline and I. Chris holds the record for the most falls so far with Jack a close second (clearly the others aren't pushing to the limit like we are....). Chris is realising just how unfit he is now as his legs turn to tree trunks by about 3pm....and a beer beckons :-)

Tomorrow night there are fireworks so we will go and watch them I expect!

Below is a little video clip of Jack in action and if you want to see more photos then look at our usual Flickr site here.

Jack the ref....

Hi everyone.

Just a quick post to let you know that I have added some photos of Jack that I took yesterday. He was refereeing a mens game in Melbourne....was quite a difficult game actually with 7 yellow cards being dished out.

Jack is doing really well and enjoying it very much, including the money of course. Last week he became the youngest ever referee in Victoria to take charge of a Victorian Premier League (VPL) U21 game. We are really proud of him!

Visit our usual Flickr site by clicking here to see more photos.

10 months!

Will had a good birthday weekend and enjoyed not one, but TWO birthday cakes! I made him an AFL football cake with sparklers which he had with his friends.Then Sam went to HUGE efforts with Natalie to make an AFL jersey cake in the Geelong colours - it was fantastic! Natalie, Jason and the girls came round for tea on Will's actual birthday where he had the cake and we played the chocolate game once more!

On Saturday evening, Chris and I went to a 1960's Ball with work, based on the theme "Mad Men" which is an American drama which seems to have passed us by! Apparently it's been on in the UK but we have never seen it. I dug out a dress and was madly sewing netting into the lining (to make it stand out) just hours before we were leaving. Piled my hair up 60's style, whilst Chris was busy using a whole pot of gel to smooth his down on one side! Boy did we look dashing! The best bit was when Sam said... "Just imagine if you were going on the train like that!!!" which, in fact, we were! It was a good, fun evening, with live bands and dancers food and wine.

More fantastic news we received yesterday.... Chris has got promoted to "Director!". We have been waiting about 6 weeks to hear, after he was put forward by his boss and had to put a case forward as to why he should be promoted. So last night we went out to a Mexican restaurant to celebrate. He certainly deserves it after all the hard work he has put in and the new work he has gained for PwC since his arrival in Australia. Very proud of him :)

The Boys finish school on Friday and have 2 weeks holiday. The second week we are going skiing to Mt. Hotham which is about a 4.5 hr drive away, so we are all very excited about that! It'll be very strange skiing in July and interesting to compare with Europe. So the next blog will probably be from there...!

Good News!!!

Well, the news is in, hot off the press! We had an email late this afternoon to say that Sam has got through the trials to be a Ballboy in the Australian Open 2012!!! How pleased are we all!! He got 1/300 spaces out of 1,200 kids, so did really well. He starts training in September and has 3 training sessions a month. Even the parents have to go to two - how exciting!

Wills Birthday on Monday, so he is having a birthday weekend! He is turning 13, so 3 teenagers in the house! He is having some friends round for the day tomorrow who are also sleeping over - fun,fun,fun! So I will put some fotos on next week and report back then :)

Sorry :(

Well, just wanted to apologise for not having up-dated the blog recently, but really, there has not been anything exciting to report on!!! Life is just in the swing of work (for Chris), school (for the Boys) and training (for me!).

We are now officially in Winter, but the weather has been nice - cold mornings and evenings but lovely and sunny by lunchtime, so temperatures ranging from 3 degrees through to 15/16. At least I can still get the tons of washing dry outside!

Sam had a week at school called "City Camp" - no camping involved at all, but every day meeting up at Federation Square in the city and doing sight-seeing basically! He had trips round the MCG Sports museum, Ethiad Stadium and Rod Laver tennis arena, plus got to interview some AFL players, so at least it was better than school!

Will had a 3-day camp at Portsea last week where they did exciting things like rafting, zip wires ,climbing etc which he really enjoyed. Shame it was only 3 days though. Unfortunately, when I was on my way to pick him up on Wednesday, someone pulled out into the side of my car at a roundabout. All Ok but just the inconvenience of getting it fixed.

I started swimming lessons 5 weeks ago at an in-door pool, learning how to free-style. As a child I only learnt breast- stroke and have never been happy in the water, so decided to overcome my fear so that I can compete fully in the next Triathlon season, starting in November. Last week, to my absolute amazement, I managed 22 lengths (with flippers and stopping every so often to recover!) but was very pleased with myself. Still need to sort out the breathing out under water bit but amazing to see what I have achieved in 5 weeks!

Sam's football team are still performing well, having only lost 1 match so far. Will, unfortunately, is the opposite! His AFL team have not won a game yet and yesterday got absolutely hammered, not scoring a single point with the opposition scoring 290!!! Unbelievable! One lad from their team went off in an ambulance with a broken wrist - brought back all those awful memories of when Sam broke both of his 18 months ago :(

Chris is working incredibly hard and getting a bit fed up - more work than play. His project that he has been doing in Sydney is now starting in Melbourne which means at least he is getting to spend more time here. He is winning new business all the time for PwC but they haven't got the experienced staff to implement it and he feels it is all falling on him. So he is also interviewing people which is very time consuming and not very productive. Anyone want to come and work over here let us know!!!

June already and we have been here nearly 10 months - the time is just rushing by. Anyway, will report back when we have something interesting to write about :)

Mother's Day

Mother's Day over here is not the same as in the UK but the same as in the USA, so it was May 8th over here. Will and Sam got up at 7.10 a.m, unheard of in the Morgan household at the weekend! Sam had made pancakes at Nat's the day before, so they came into our room with pancakes and ice-cream covered in maple syrup, strawberries and banana - yum! I was very impressed! Then Jack got up and presented me a wonderful present from them all, which is a Weekend Afternoon Tea at the Hotel Windsor in Melbourne, and equates to going to the Ritz! He had organised it with Jason so that Natalie got the same present, so we are off to that in July- how lucky are we?

The day got even better when Sam scored the winning header in his footie match!

Yesterday was Sam's 15th Birthday! He had his friends Harry and Aaron stay overnight on Friday because yesterday, he had his 2nd trial to be a Ballboy at the Australian Open next January. There started off with 1,200 hopefuls for 300 places, and Sam had got through to the last 800! It took place at Melbourne Park, the home of the Aussie Open and consisted of a multiple choice test, fitness test and ball control skills. He really enjoyed it, so we shall just have to wait and see - it's all good experience.

Then in the evening, we had Natalie, Jason and the Girls over for a home-made pizza night, followed by games, which consisted of the chocolate game ( if you throw a "6" on the dice you have to put on a hat, scarf and coat before attempting to cut and eat a block of chocolate) and the flour game (a dome of flour with a sweet on the top. Each person has to cut a slice of flour away and whoever knocks the sweet off has to use his teeth to get it out of the pile of flour!) Lots of fun and laughter! I will try and load some piccies onto our Flikr site :)

Life returns to normal...

Well, now the excitement of the Easter holidays is over, life gets back to its normal routine, apart from the Royal Wedding of course! Unlike you UK-er's, we did NOT have a day off, but since it was starting at 8p.m over here, I guess that was fair play! Not such a big deal over here by any stretch of the imagination - not seen any merchandise at all with Will and Kate on! But, did find a few interested girlies to have a little get- together with down the road! Robyn had decorated her house in toille and fairy lights and resurrected the best English china, so that we could all enjoy a right Royal knees-up! We dressed up and all took food and wine and had a most enjoyable evening :)

The footie season got officially underway on May 1st. Jack had his first reffing match "in the middle", earning himself 80 pnds compared to 15 pnds in the UK!!! It was a mens game and quite tough by all accounts, Jack having to give out several yellow cards. He is the youngest- ever ref in the state of Victoria to ref a mens match - he should be over 18 to do this! But because he had such a good reference from the UK, they have let him start early here!

Sam has been made Captain of his team for the year, which he was very pleased with. They won 2 - 1 which was even better!

Wills AFL team were thrashed at their first game, but he got stuck in, not at all bothered that he is the smallest and youngest and should be playing for the year below! They were so impressed with him that he won an award for his courageous and stirling efforts (even though at one stage he threw the ball as if it were a rugby ball!!!) Yesterday, he also won the cross-country out of half the school year so was on a real high!

Today, I tried my hand at "Stand-up Paddle Boarding". This is a relatively new sport over here which has developed over the past 4 years and where you stand up on a board much like a surf board but bigger and ...paddle! Today I stayed in the mariner while I got my balance and learnt the basics and it was pretty easy-going, but I guess it will be more challenging once you hit the sea! Watch this space...!

New blog views available...give them a try

Google have launched some new ways to view our blog. I was having a play around with them and I really like the way some of them work - they made me re-read some of our previous posts.

Take a look by clicking on the views below:

Flipcard view

Mosaic view

Sidebar view

Snapshot view

Timeslide view

I think the mosaic view is my favourite...cool!

If you want to create a link then just put in the usual blog address and add a bit extra at the end. For example, the URL for the flipcard view would be:

http://morgsinoz.blogspot.com/view/flipcard

Easy :-)

Surfin' Video...

We have put together a short video of the boys surfing at Apollo Bay over Easter......look out for a special clip of Chris surfing too....and some great photos.....hope you enjoy..... If you are wondering where Caroline is, she was chilling on the beach sipping a Chai Latte (her new drink of choice...excluding a good glass of red wine of course).

Easter on the Great Ocean Road

Hi Everyone...hope everyone has been having a great Easter weekend...we hear that the weather in England has been really sunny!

The Easter weekend here is a nice long one as Friday, Monday and Tuesday are all public holidays (Tues is ANZAC day), so we headed down to the Great Ocean Road for a couple of days. The start of the road is about a 2 hour drive from Mordialloc and it basically runs all the way to Adelaide winding along the coast with spectacular views.....however we weren't going to drive quite as far as Adelaide.

Our first stop was Torquay (Bell's Beach) which is the surfing capital of Victoria and this weekend the Rip Curl Pro surf competition was underway. Surfing is a hugely popular sport here and Kelly Slater who is 10 times world champion is a bit of a god. There were very big crowds and we couldn't actually see much but the atmosphere was good (lots of people with bleached hair and wearing Rip Curl, Billabong and Quicksilver clothes....).

After that we headed to Anglesea where we had arranged to stay at the holiday house of Maureen and Michael's friends. Anglesea is NOTHING like the Welsh place....it is a lovely coast site hamlet with a great beach and cool cafes. We went for a walk along the beach and the boys played some AFL (yes....) before we went for some food.

The next day we headed further along the Great Ocean Road taking in various sites - there really are some spectacular views...even the boys managed to tear their eyes away from their laptops in the car :-). Our favourites were the 12 Apostles and the London Bridge......lots of photos on our Flickr site as usual.

However the highlight of the trip was our surf lesson which we had in Apollo Bay. It was something that we just decided to do on the fly...and was great fun. We hired boards and wet suits and despite the weather being a bit dodgy it was brilliant fun. Jack had done it once before over New Year so we were expecting him to be an expert....and actually he was pretty good! The following day the 3 boys hired the gear again and headed out for more fun....this time they all improved and managed to stand up. It makes you realise just how good the professional surfers are...but I think the boys are addicted now!

That's all for now....we are busy planning our next trip - probably skiing....but New Zealand or Victoria...decisions, decisions :-)

The Jordans arrive!

We made it to the airport for 6a.m on Monday 11th April just as Jane, Olly and Alice walked through the doors. They had had a good trip, stopping off at Singapore for a couple of days to meet up with Jane's sister, so weren't too jet-lagged.

Since we were home by 7.30a.m and because the weather was going to be good, we headed straight out to Healesville to show them the wildlife of Australia and this time, actually got to see a wombat! She was 7 years old and called Florence!

The week was full- on - city trips, Mornington Peninsula, parties etc and Jane even took herself off on a one day trip down the Great Ocean Road, including a 10 minute helicopter ride over the 12 Apostles!

On Saturday, we met up with some other English friends who have just moved out here from Romsey - the Pockneys. We met them at the MCG and watched a FANTASTIC Afl game between Carlton and Essendon, which ended in a draw. This was followed by a trip to Wagamama for dinner, so it was a great day.

The week was over all too quickly but we had a great time, sharing our experiences with the Jordans, with the result being Alice and Olly want to move out here because they think it's so fantastic!

The holiday comes to an end...

Well, Mum and Dad are now winging their way back to England :( The house seems quite empty without them, especially at the dinner table. We had a lovely day on Friday though, going to Phillip Island to see the penguins. Got down there for lunch and then went to the Koala Conservation Sanctuary, where we saw 9 koalas including a nine month old infant. It was so cute and woke up to feed off it's Mum. She then spent ages grooming it and giving it cuddles. The three of us stood there for half an hour just watching him (there was no one else around!) Then we went off to see the penguins. While we were sitting waiting for dusk to fall, we watched a seal playing in the sea. The penguins came up off the beach at 7.30 p.m so not so long to wait this time, but they were equally as entertaining. Unfortunately, you are not allowed to take photos of them so we can't put any on the blog.

It was lovely having Mum and Dad here and for them to see everything and meet everyone, so they know who and what we are talking about. Hopefully, it won't be too long before they can come out again. Our next visitors (Jane, Olly and Alice ) are arriving next Monday (11th) - VERY early in the morning (5a.m!!!!) so just gives me time to do all the washing!

By the way, our clocks went back at the weekend so we are now 9 hours ahead of the UK. This means no chance for early morning phone calls from this end since by the time we wake up, you Guys will (most probably) be in bed :( So we can only call at the weekends from now on.

Tassie....

Last week, Mum, Dad and myself flew to Tasmania to do a whistle-stop tour of the island. After only an hours flight, we landed at Launceston, where we picked up our hire car. Our first stop was a place called Cataract Gorge, which is only a 15 minute walk out of the town and where the North and South Esk rivers meet with the main Tamar River. We got the chairlift over the first basin and when we got off it, were met by some friendly wallabies! Spent a couple of hours there afterwhich, we went to find our B and B, which was great and did a mean breakfast.

Over the next couple of days we headed westwards along very winding roads towards Cradle Mountain and Lake St. Clair, but unfortunately, because the weather was so bad, we didn't get to see much. Still raining, we arrived at Hobart where we stayed in another lovely B and B and had a good fish "n" chip meal at Meurs. We did pass through some pretty villages called Strahan and Richmond, but to be honest, there's not much to Tasmania and I don't think I'd go again, especially with the Boys - they would be bored silly! It's great if you like walking holidays in the rain, but funnily enough... I don't!

On Saturday, Sam had his first friendly and won 2 - 1 which pleased him. Last weekend, Will played in his AFL game. Unfortunately, they didn't quite have the same result! However Will did get credited with an 'assist' which is great for a first game (he plays the position of pocket forward)

Yesterday (Sunday ) we went to the Australian Grand Prix which was a great experience. Gates opened at 10.30a.m and we pitched our spot on a hill right by the first bend - along with 50,000 other people! There was loads going on all through the day until the actual race began at 5 p.m and it was good to see Lewis Hamilton on the podium at the end in second place. At the end of the race everyone rushes onto the track and heads down to the podium - Jack and his mate Dan ran off....and turned up home a couple of hours later!

Today, I took Mum and Dad down the Mornington Peninsula where we stopped off at Arthurs Seat for a good view and a lovely walk. Then, off to Sorrento for a delicious lunch, before returning home at 5p.m. Tomorrow is going to be another gorgeous day and we are off to Lysterfield National Park to see the kangeroos :)

First two weeks...

OMG! Can't believe it's two weeks since I updated the blog! I was sure I did it last week but think I must've just put new pictures on Flickr and Facebook. We have done soooo much in the last two weeks that I don't know where to start!

In the first few days we went into the City and up the Eureka Tower, did the walking tour "Melbourne by Foot" and visited Redhill Craft market. Took Mum and Dad to Healesville Wildlife Sanctuary where we saw lots of lazy koalas, platypus, roos and lots more.

For our birthdays, Mum and I went to see Mary Poppins at the theatre (which was supercalafragerlistically fantastic) whilst Dad had a look round the MCG Sports museum. After that, we went on the Colonial Tramcar Restaurant on which we had a 3 course meal whilst travelling around Melbourne!

Thursday we went to Anglesea to meet up with Mum and Dad's friends and then after school on Friday, we drove to Wilsons Prom which is a National Parks area located 2.5 hrs away from Mordialloc ( a cross between the New Forest and Yosemite!!!) We had booked two cottages as we went with Natalie, Jason and the girls and spent a lovely Bank Holiday weekend relaxing and chilling out. The weather was fantastic and we spent all day Saturday at "Squeaky Beach" surfing on the waves and swimming in the sea. The scenery is pretty spectacular and we saw several wombats and kangeroos and a group of 24 emus!

Tomorrow, I am taking Mum and Dad to the Dandenong Ranges and Friday we are hitting the city once more.Then next week, the three of us are off toTasmania!

Loads of new piccies on Flickr...

Mum and Dad arrive!!!

Well, March 2nd arrived and so have my parents. I was very impressed that all the Boys wanted to come to the airport to meet them, even though it meant getting up at 5.30 a.m! Maybe it was more the fact that they would be late into school that appealed?! They had a good journey flying Business Class with Qantas and we were all a bit teary-eyed when they walked through the gates.

After dropping the Boys off at their schools en route, we arrived back at ours at 9.30 a.m. They unpacked, showered and then we walked along the beach to have lunch at the beachside cafe. They don't seem to be too jet lagged though fall asleep very early in the evening (so what's new?!!!)

Yesterday, (Friday) we headed into the city and went up the Eureka Tower and did the "Melbourne by Foot" walking tour, after-which they were exhausted!

Sam made it into the "A" team of Brighton F.C so is now training twice a week. Will has joined an Aussie Rules team and he, too is training twice a week. So things are getting back to normal on the "running the kids around" front!

This week, Chris bought me a beautiful new road bike for my birthday. We have just come back from a ride to St. Kilda and for the first time EVER, I was faster than him!!! This bike is amazing - just makes cycling sooo easy!

6 months

Hi Everyone,

Not a lot to report on this week, but amazingly, it's 6 months already since we arrived in Oz! My! How the time has flown and how much have we done!

I have kept up with my fitness regime this week, even though the Tri is over, starting a cycling club on Tuesday and tennis at a new club on Thursday. Friday, I felt like I'd been kicked in the kidneys and ached all over, having played 3.5 hours of tennis non-stop the day before!

Chris, Natalie, Jason and myself had "Take 2" of the Colonial Tramcar Restaurant experience, and although storms were forecast, we managed to see out the night with a feeling of "deja vu". Having stopped off at a bar on the way there, it didn't take us long to relax into the atmosphere

The food was great, as was the company and the whole experience - would definitely recommend it :) Photos, as always, on Flickr.

My First Triathlon!

Well, the day I had been training a mere 3 weeks for had arrived! Needless to say - I had a very bad nights sleep. When I went to bed, my heart was going mad - the adrenalin was pumping round so fast! Sleep was very fitful and when Sarah Hamlet sent me a text sending me "Good Luck Wishes" at 5a.m, I decided to get up and have a cup of tea! How English is that!!

Nat and I cycled down to the beach, only to be told that the swim had actually been cancelled due to the poor water quality since the flood a week earlier. I was actually a bit disappointed, because although this was the part I was dreading, I had actually been training every day in the sea that they said wasn't safe enough ...oops!

Instead, it had been replaced with a 500m run, bare-foot, along the beach - still wearing the swim cap - what was that all about?!!! This was actually to my benefit, although it is hard running on sand that has been indented with hundreds of other people's footprints!

That run was then followed by a 8k bike ride and then a 2k run. None of it sounds very far on paper, but believe me, the final run was a killer after the bike ride because your legs feel completely dead. What I would normally run very easily seemed a real struggle. BUT... I finished!!! And lived to tell the tale! And will probably do another one very soon so that I can experience the swim part.

Overall, I came 77th/230 and in my age category 17th/38, so I was quite pleased :)

The Morgans and the Pribils then returned to ours for a well deserved BBQ breakfast cooked by Chris :) I would like to thank Chris, Sam and Will for turning out at the crack of dawn (literally) to support me - they were fab! Sam and Will had written on their chests "Go Mum!" which was sooo lovely. Will did a great job videoing the event and Chris and Sam on the fotos. THANK YOU my lovely Boys - U R gr8!!!

There is a little video below (thanks to Will the camera man) and more pictures on our Flickr site (or take a look to the right..)

Floods in Mordialloc!!

Well, we had a bit of a surprise last night when it started to rain. Will came home from school warning us that a storm was on the way.....did we listen...?

Within 10 minutes the rain was lashing and the water levels started to rise. The drains from our house are quite slow normally so suddenly there was no way they could cope with the mass of water. The road out the front of our house was about a foot deep and the garage was getting flooded as the drains overflowed!

I (Chris) was at work when all this was going on and Caroline was giving me updates. We were meeting up in the centre of Melbourne in the evening with Jason and Natalie for a meal on a tram that takes you around the city! So Caroline left Will and Sam baling out water from the garage and headed to the station with Natalie! The trains were running fine and I had helpfully reported that there was no rain in the city :-)

However, with perfect timing the rain started lashing again in the city just as Caroline and Natalie stepped off the train. Unfortunately they got absolutely soaked walking to the bar where Jason and I were waiting...

After a swift glass of champagne (as you do) we headed off to the tram restaurant, but now the rain was really heavy. The roads were all flooded in a foot deep of water and I decided to take my shoes off and roll up my trousers - a good look! We crossed the road with water up to our knees but soon realised that there was no way the tram was coming so we headed off to another restaurant.

Once again the Morgan rain dance hits again - it's the middle of summer in Melbourne.....and there are floods...hmmmm...

In reality I think we got the tail end of the Queensland cyclone so should think ourselves very lucky.

By this morning some of the water had subsided but many roads are still blocked. Take a look at our Flickr site for lots of photos....like the one below:

OMG....it's hot!

Caroline (walking to the car and wearing a cardi):

"...it feels really cold today...what is the temperature...?"

Chris (laughing):

"33c!"

It is amazing how quickly we have adjusted to the different temperature here. If it is below 22/23c it does actually feel cold! I go to work most days without a jacket which is rather nice.

Today it has hit 36c in the shade so far and possibly still rising. Won't be much fun for Andy Murray.......

...our visitors have gone :-(

Sadly our visitors John and Joss returned to the UK yesterday after staying with us for a week. We all had a lovely time together and it was great to see them and catch up with all their news.

Caroline had arranged a fun packed week which went as follows:

Monday: J&J, Caroline and the boys headed into the centre of Melbourne to take a look around. They took the train as it is very quick and only costs $3 for a day pass if you are a Senior Citizen!! Following a walk around the various lanes they took a tram tour around the city before heading home for tea.

Tuesday: A trip to the Dandenong Range which is about an hour drive from our house. From here there are spectacular views back across Melbourne and the surrounding area. It is also a lovely area to wander around with little villages to explore, serving cream teas!

Wednesday: This was Australia Day (or Invasion Day as the indigenous people call it) so a public holiday. It marks the arrival of the First Fleet in Sydney in 1788 but is generally seen as a day to celebrate being Australian. Jack wanted to hang our Union Jack out the front of the house...but we decided not to! We spent the day at Phillip Island which is about a 90 minute drive away. Here there is a very famous penguin colony and people come to see them returning from the sea at sunset to return to their nests on land. It was a really great day and before seeing the penguins we stopped off at a Koala reserve. Here we got to see Koalas in their natural habitat including a baby Koala. There are some lovely pics on our Flickr site as usual (look to the right of this post). Also we stopped off at Surf Beach and had fun for a couple of hours in the rock pools and playing on the beach. Will and Sam decided to take a swim even thought the temperature was a cold 23c (....we are local now...). We ended the day watching the penguins return at sun down...they are so cute and I have no idea how they can find their little nests!

Thursday: John and Joss headed back into Melbourne to do some more exploring and visited the Immigration Museum, the Bodies exhibition and the Aboriginal Art Gallery.

Friday: A lazy day including a walk along Mordi beach and a nice lunch at a local restaurant. Sadly J&J had to leave about 6:30pm to catch their flight and we were sorry to see them go.

So it was a lovely week, great to see John and Joss and we are looking forward to our next visitors in about 4 weeks time.