Sydney Bridge Climb

We had a great first day in Sydney today. This morning we took a bus tour around the city stopping off at a few areas to stroll around - mainly Darling Harbour and the Rocks areas. After that we headed over to Bondi beach where we had a lovely lunch.

Then we headed back to the harbour area for our Bridge Climb. After putting on our sexy grey outfits we headed on up the 1600 steps and 3 hour round trip.

The views from the top were great and the lights of the city were just starting to shine. We all made it back safely and headed for the nearest pub for a swift one. Jack texted us to say that he is having dinner with Shane Watson tonight....not bad for some!

Tomorrow we are taking the Manly Ferry and doing the Opera House tour....more updates then and more photos on our Flickr page as usual..

Our first Christmas down under...

Hi Everyone....Happy Christmas from all of us down under!

We have had a really lovely past couple of days experiencing our first Aussie Christmas. We were hoping for boiling hot weather....which we only got a bit of...but we still managed to have a great time.

On Christmas Eve our friends and neighbours the Pribils (Natalie, Jason, Sascha, Chiara and Sunny the dog) came round for a BBQ. I felt under pressure as this was our 1st BBQ we had provided for some real life locals...but all came good...phew! We had a great time just chatting and drinking some good wine...and evening opening a few presents:

On Christmas day we went round to our English (well, also Aussies too) friends the Gates. They live a couple of miles away so we took the train - which was free on Christmas Day! They had gone to a huge amount of effort and prepared a wonderful fish lunch - prawns, lobster and gorgeous salads etc. After this we were completely stuffed....but at 7pm we then had full roast turkey and all the trimming!!! We won't need to eat for weeks now. Thanks to Jackie, Dave, Jodie, Cara and Josh for a lovely day....Aussie Style.

On Boxing Day we went to watch the cricket at the MCG - an amazing stadium where 85,000 other people joined us. That's an amazing amount of people to watch a cricket match. The atmosphere was brilliant and England performed outstandingly to get Australia out for 98 - incredible! To cap it all we managed 157 for no loss of wickets. Our seats were right next to the Aussie players' entrance so Jack enjoyed providing their players with some helpful comments once they were out and returning to the dressing room. Ricky Ponting below particularly appreciated it I think....

Here is another view but as usual there are more pictures on our Flickr site...

Tomorrow we are off to Sydney for the week so look for more updates soon!!!

Lots of love to all...

Skippy...

Well we finally got to see some real Australian wild life today at a park about a 40 minute drive away. The boys have been stuck inside the last couple of days so we decided to get outside for a bit.

We had a nice walk around a lake and then suddenly we spotted some Wallabies just standing there in the long grass. Although quite shy they just stood there and had a good look at us! We saw about 7 or 8 on our walk along with loads of lovely orange butterflies.

One of the Wallabies had a little Joey sticking out of her pouch - if you look carefully in the picture above you can just see his feet poking out :-)

"We never have weather like this..."

With all the bad weather back in the UK I thought you might like to see what a typical Sydney Summer's day looks like :-)

I was working in Penrith this week which is a suburb of Sydney. Suddenly the skies darkened and the most incredible rain came lashing down. This then quickly turned to hail stones the size of golf balls. Our office became flooded within 10 minutes and we had to put all the computers on the desk to stop them getting damaged! The traffic lights failed and cars were then crashing into each other...it was about 30 minutes of panic for everyone.

Then, just as quickly as it had started the sun came out and all was back to normal....

Everywhere I go in the world I hear the phrase "We never have weather like this...."

Maybe I should go to Africa and license my rain making services....

Everywhere I go I always take the weather with me......someone even wrote a song about me..

Christmas is coming....

Hi Everyone,

Well Christmas is coming and the boys have finished school for the summer - didn't think I would say both of those in one sentence...seems strange! They are now off school until February....what a life eh..!

Caroline bought a lovely real tree this week and had fun putting it up and decorating it yesterday. Lots of houses have decorations up and it is amusing to see all the Father Christmas figures hanging outside especially when the weather is sunny and hot!

Sadly for me (Chris) I still have a couple of weeks work yet. I finish on 23rd and then return on 7th January. I am really looking forward to our Sydney trip aswell as going to see England play at the MCG on Boxing Day. I am hoping that my rib is better by then (I think I have cracked or bruised a rib recently playing football...what an old crock!)

Weather today has been rubbish - showers and quite windy. We went into Melbourne to visit the Immigration Museum, continuing our plan to be tourists at the weekend. It was good...but not excellent. William gave it 4/10, Sam gave it 2/10 and C&C gave it 6/10. Jack didn't come with us as we are too embarrassing...but he is making chocolate brownies for pudding tonight :-)

Last night Sam and Jack went to see the local Melbourne football derby (Heart v Victory). They went separately with their own friends but both enjoyed it - score was 3.1 to Melbourne Victory. The stadium (AAMI Park) is really lovely - the stands are in the shape of big footballs and holds about 30,000. However although there were 23,000 there last night attendances can be as low as 3,000. The World Cup would have made a huge difference to the popularity of football here so people are really disappointed that Australia didn't win the 2022 bid..

OK, must go...Caroline is cooking a beef roast...yummee. Last night we had Kangaroo steaks for tea - they are very nice with a slightly stronger flavour than beef....and cheap too!

Tonight we are going to catch up with 'Strictly'.....and I am already getting excited that it is not long to the BBC Sports Personality of the Year... :-)

Love to all.....CCJS&W x x x x x

December already!

Hi everyone,

Glad the snow has gone now and you can return to normal - for a little while anyway! I actually managed to get my Christmas cards sent last week and also sent a few parcels home. Post over here seems quite pricey - it cost $35 (£22) to send a medium sized parcel home - hope it gets there!

Went to South Melbourne market on Friday with Jackie and her mum, Viv, who is over from the UK at the moment. Our start was a bit delayed, since we discovered Jackie's car had a flat tyre so had to get that sorted first. South Melbourne market was smaller than Vic market in the centre of Melbourne, but had some nice stalls.

Then, Saturday morning, I went to Red Hill market down on the Mornington Peninsula, with Wills friend Robs mum (Emma) and a couple of others. It was an early start - I was picked up at 6.45 am but worth it - a lovely day and a great Christmas market, full of home-made wares - jewellery, arts and crafts, wine etc. We left by 10.30 and were glad we had gone early when we saw the length of the queue to go in at that time!! We stopped off at a winery on the way back - never too early for a glass of wine and great views!

In the evening, Chris, Sam and myself went into Melbourne to see the International Cycling Championships in the velodrome. Quite exciting (for the first couple of hours anyway!) to watch all the races, but need to read up on all the rules for next time - it was quite complicated. Chris Hoi and Victoria Pendalton were there and we cheered on Jason Kenny to victory!

Boys are into their last week of school (did Jack ever get started?!!). Officially, the school term goes on until the 17th, but apparently, in the last week there is no registration and no work is done and hardly anyone goes.Hence, the Boys have interpreted that as they finish on Friday!

Chris played with Jack and Sam in their indoor footie league on Thursday night which they drew 10- all, but unfortunately, took on a couple of injuries! The twist to his old ankle injury seems to have recovered but the elbow in his ribs which we thought was bruising, hasn't. We are now wondering if he has actually cracked a rib since he still seems to be quite a lot of pain. Don't think he'll be playing again in a hurry....!

Arthur and Martha

It's been interesting watching the news about the UK and how cold it has been. Thanks for everyone for sending through all of the lovely pictures of everywhere covered in the snow! It was great to see a picture of the Romsey Market Square covered in snow....seems so far away (...oh yes, it is).

For us it is really strange to see all of the houses now with Christmas decorations as the weather is so warm! Having a warm Christmas will be an unusual experience for us all...but I think we will get used to it :-)

Today it has been very hot and sunny - about 30c - so we decided to head down the coast a little bit to a place called Arthurs Seat.

It is basically a large hill (about 300m high) from which there are wonderful views up and down the Mornington Peninsula. As it was such a lovely day the views were amazing. We have uploaded some photos to our Flickr page

After that we headed back to Martha's Point on the coast where we found a lovely little cafe by the beach. Four full tummies later (Jack wasn't with us..) we went and sat on the beach for a while. With the temperature at 33c we only lasted about 30 min before heading home.

It is a lovely beach but the water is absolutely freezing!! None the less there were plenty of locals prepared to take the plunge..

One month till Christmas!

Not much to report this week.Will was sent home from school one day because he hit his head on the locker. He had only just got to school and his locker is on the lower level. When he stood up, he wacked his head on the locker above that had been left open. No blood but he was suffering a bit from concussion. He really was not with it for several hours but I am happy to report that he is now fully recovered and back at school.

Jack has been enjoying his last week off on "study leave". Sleeping in till 10 a.m, then down to the beach or watching the Ashes, which started on Thursday in Brisbane. He is going to have a real shock on Monday when he has to get up early and return to school! He has done well in his 4 exams that he did absolutely no work for, getting some of the highest marks in the class - the teachers couldn't believe it!

Sam texted me yesterday really upset because they had moved all the tutor groups around for the new academic year (starting on Monday) and he was in a group that he knew no-one except one boy who he hated and smelt of B.O! Luckily, I spoke to the Deputy Head and he has now been moved to the same group as his friends Harry and George. As things seem to be just settling down for him, it would've been a real set-back. He went to see the new Harry Potter film with school yesterday and thought it was fantastic. He has never enjoyed Harry Potter but is looking forward to the last one coming out.

I have been in school this week helping to prepare for the second hand book sale. I managed to get most of Sams books for next year but unfortunately, Jack needs two new ones that cost $73(£45) each!!! We will seriously be broke this month with having to pay for their school fees, books and Christmas!

My friend, Natalie, brought her new puppy, Sunny, round after school. William is in love...! We will put some fotos on our Flickr site.

Chris has been in Sydney again this week and he will update you now...

Hello - Chris here...yes, I have had the pleasure of being in Sydney this week. I have been working with a client team who are based in Katoomba which is in the Blue Mountains. This is a beautiful area about 100km north of Sydney and it really reminded me of Yosemite in California. On Tuesday and Wednesday I was running workshops with various people which meant starting work at 6:30am (the field engineers start very early...). It was hard work but they went very well....the trouble was I ended up doing 2 x 16 hour days which meant I was rather tired! I was back in Melbourne on Friday (a bit bleary eyed) and am looking forward to a rest over the weekend. Sadly the weather isn't great - raining hard at the moment but I hope to get out for a run or cycle ride if possible!

Another week flies by....

Can you believe ... we have been here nearly three months now! This week has passed in a flash even though I didn't have much on. Chris has been in Sydney and I am waiting for him to arrive back as we speak (Friday evening.) Since all the Boys are out tonight, I am going to whisk him into Mordi for a romantic dinner for two - well, maybe just for dinner!!!

This week has been filled with VIP Christmas shopping nights to raise funds for Brighton School and "Phoenix Cards" coffee mornings - a hard life! Alas, no more Tupperware nights - shame:) Thursday, I ventured into Melbourne all by myself on the train and returned to Victoria Market (in the pouring rain) to buy some Christmas presents. It's actually very entertaining going to the meat market near to the time they are closing. All the sellers are shouting out their bargains of the day and it's definitely a case of "he who shouts loudest sells the most!" I enjoyed myself immensely wondering around, even if it was only 16 degrees and raining! I think I must be getting used to the Aussie climate, because I was really cold! And you Guys back home are enduring only 6 degrees and frosts!

The Boys are all fine. Jack finished his last exam on Monday (tough having four exams) and did absolutely no revision for any of them! Results will tell... He doesn't return till the 29th November - what a scive! He is hard pushed to get up by midday then spends the afternoon at the beach with his friends ... life's a beach!

Sam is getting into his footie and Will, well, he's just Will - all X-box and Nerf guns:)

Tiger, Tiger....

Caroline and I had a good day today at the Australian Master Golf tournament. We were expecting terrible weather but were really lucky - it didn't rain all day!!

The course is located 3 train stops away so we got there by 10am and spent the morning walking around the course watching various players - mainly Tiger Woods and Sergio Garcia. Tiger was playing in a very erratic manner - one minute he would play a brilliant shot and then he would hit it into the trees.....his mind must be on something else.

On the 2nd hole we were standing by the bunker when Tiger landed his balls straight into it. From right in front of us he then chipped out of the bunker and straight into the hole. I filmed it on my phone here:

If you get the chance to see the highlights on the TV then look out for Caroline and I as we were standing directly behind him. I was wearing a Wales rugby top (and by the way someone came up to me and said 'Bore Da'.....I told them it was rude to swear...)

The tournament was won by an Aussie in the end - Stuart Appleby...he posed for me for the pic at the top of this post ;-)

Back home now and looking forward to some dinner and a glass of red wine....

33c.....er..and it's raining....!

I thought you might like to see the temperature gauge in the garage showing 33c. The weather is certainly heating up now and for the first time I didn't wear a jacket to work today!

They say that you can get four seasons in one day in Melbourne.....so this evening we have had torrential rain - so much that the drains started to overflow in the garage and there was water everywhere.

I am hoping the rain holds up for Sunday when Caroline and I are off to watch the Australian Master golf tournament......I wonder if Tiger Woods can swim!!

Been another hectic week at work but we had official confirmation that we have been awarded the project that I worked on not long after I joined PwC here. Also my current project has just got the green light for the next phase.....so to put it mildy I am very busy!!

Hope you all have a good weekend....love to everyone!

Mid-week news

Hi Everyone!

Well, just thought I'd annoy you all by up- dating you on the weather, which has been hot and sunny all week, averaging 26 degrees but up to 32 tomorrow! I know this is in complete contrast to you Guys, who have had torrential rain and dark days, but just to make you feel better, it is heading our way at the weekend!

I have had a busy week this week social networking. The other day when Jack was working, an English girl brought stuff in the shop and said " You've moved to Steedman St, haven't you?" but didn't leave her number. So we wondered who she was. Then, last week, she knocked on the door and introduced herself. Turns out, she lives in the next street along, as do 3 other English families. So I spent an afternoon with her and tomorrow, she is having some of these English people round so I can meet them.

Tuesday evening, I went to a school meeting at Jack and Sam's school. Because it is coming up to the end of the school year, they have a second hand book sale, so I have volunteered to help (time on my hands and good way to meet people.) It's a big fund-raising event for the school and if you help, you get first pick of the books! It's a huge event and takes a week to sort out, so I will be spending a lot of time there at the end of November.

Last night, I went to the cinema with Jackie to see "Made in Dagenham" which was good - lots of well-known faces in it. Today, I have been out to lunch with the lady who runs the letting agency we rent our house from and tonight , it's the Boys footsal game.

Friday night, I am going to a Tupperware party!!! Can you believe they still do those over here? At home, it's all Pampered Chef parties - just shows you how far behind they are here.

Saturday, we are having our neighbours round for tea. I go running with Natalie (she is training for a triathlon and runs faster than me pushing her daughter in the buggy in front of her - how embarrassing is that!) They have an older daughter who is 6 , so they are coming round to meet the rest of the family.

Then Sunday, Chris and I are off to the golf - in the rain!! Will let you know how that goes...

Jack had his training yesterday for his new Christmas part-time job at Ozmosis (bit like "Republic") which he starts next week. Will has had 2 days playing inter-school cricket, unfortunately losing both days. He came home on Tuesday nicely sunburnt in the face because they hadn't worn hats. Hopefully, all of the Boys will have learnt from this. The sun is so much more fierce here because we are nearer to the equator and you don't really go out with anything less than factor 30.

Sam is going to his friends house (Harry) after school tomorrow for a sleepover. Since it is going to be in the 30's they will be making use of his brand new swimming pool - maybe I should go along to look after him!!

Weekend Update

Hi Everyone....just a little update to share what we have been up to over the weekend....

I got home about 10pm Friday night from Sydney...looking forward to a relaxing weekend. As we had a broken week with Tuesday off due to the Melbourne Cup we were all thrown a little off kilter.

However Saturday was a lovely sunny day and I was desperate to get out on my bike as I didn't have the opportunity to exercise all week :-( This time I had to cycle on my own as Sam decided that he didn't want to come but I still had a great ride to St Kilda and back - about 30 miles (50k). It is such a lovely route along the Beach Road all the way to the city and there are so many cyclists about that it feels like taking part in the Tour De Melbourne! I took the picture above at my halfway point - was lovely to sit there for 5 mins and have a drink - temperature was about 22c so not too hot..

Saturday evening we headed into Melbourne centre to the Comedy Club. We had free tickets courtesy of PwC and Sam bought along his friend Harry. We had a good time and the boys learned a number of new phrases (all part of their Aussie education of course) - all very funny though. Jack couldn't come as he had a cricket match that finished a little late (..and that is something that Jack would definitely not sacrifice!!).

Today (Sunday) Jack and I watched the Pompey game in the morning. It was on live at 4am so we recorded it and watched it first thing. Sadly Pompey lost but their great run of games was bound to come to an end soon. Anyway it was good to see them play and to hear the crowd....including Big John's bell.

This afternoon we went to the cinema to see The Social Network - it is the story of Facebook and the guy who had the idea. It was really good and enjoyed by everyone.

Other news is that Caroline and I have bought tickets to the Australian Open golf tournament. It takes place in Melbourne next week and we have grandstand tickets for the 18th hole on the final day (Sunday). The course is actually quite close to where we live (3 train stops or 15 min drive) so look out for us on the tv....that is if you want to watch it at about 6am UK time!

This week I am in Sydney Wednesday I think but in Melbourne the rest of the time. Hopefully the Qantas plane will hold it together but at least my frequent flyer points are racking up nicely!

That's it for now....we are off to watch Strictly on iPlayer (I have found a way to watch it here now so we have been catching up with The Apprentice and of course Strictly).......

The Weekend

Saturday we decided to go to an exhibition in the City called "Amazing Bodies" since it was finishing the next day. It was a good choice, because by the time we arrived, the heavens opened and it lashed for 24 hours! We went by train and all the people going to the Melbourne Cup were getting on in their lovely dresses and hats. Such a shame because it was a complete white wash and they were all on the train going home - soaked!

The exhibition was really interesting. The exhibits were of different animals and showed all different parts of their bodies which had been conserved using a process called "Plastination"where they take out the natural fluids of the body and replace them with a gel-type form. Hence, all the parts on show were actually real, not fake! I was in my element of course! I'm sure you could google it if you wanted to know more but I won't go into any more details!

Sunday it was still raining so we all went to the Factory Outlet place I found the other day. Jack found a shop selling Abercrombie and Fitch and Hollister clothes at knock down prices so they bought the shop up! Then in the evening, Will had four friends round for Halloween and they went Trick and Treating. They are not into it so much over here but they still came home with half-filled swag bags so they were happy!

Yesterday (Tuesday) was Melbourne Cup Day so Chris had the day off work. We all went (even Jack!) up to the Dandenong Ranges - part of a large National Park, about an hour east of Melbourne. It was a pretty drive up the mountain with very steep roads and the rhododendrons were coming out. We drove to a lookout point called "Skyhigh" which had a great view of Melbourne and pretty gardens and walks through the gum tree(eucalyptus) forests. We even saw two Kookaburras! On the way back down, we stopped off at one of the several quaint villages called Olinda. These villages are renowned for their Devonshire teas and Pie shops! There was a Christmas shop there, so I bought a glass bauble with a blue angel inside (made in China!) and a heart-shaped hanging ornament. Don't know where I shall hang it but hey! I liked it!

Good day at work today

I have been working in Sydney this week again. We have been preparing for a big workshop that we ran on Friday with about 25 people. A huge amount of effort but it went really well and the client was very pleased.

As part of the preparation for this myself and a colleague spent the day with one of the field engineers so that we could understand their job better and the challenges they face. So I spent the day with a chap called Frank who looks after the Manly area of Sydney. This is north of the city centre and where lots of the well off people live. The set of beaches known as the Northern Beaches are simply stunning - lovely surf rolling in on wide sandy beaches.

As I was staying in the centre of Sydney I caught the Manly ferry at 8am which took me to Sydney where Frank was there waiting for me. I took some photos from the ferry - see our Flickr site here. The ferry ride provides some great views of the city including the bridge and opera house. A huge ocean liner was also docked right in Circular Quay.

Any way I had a great day with Frank fixing phones and internet problem for customers - I really enjoyed getting my hands dirty although nearly got bitten by a spider when we lifted the lid on one of the telephone pillars!!

The highlight of the day was getting called out to a house on Whale Beach - you can see a picture of me standing on the beach at the top of this post. It is a lovely beach where Home and Away is filmed (there were camera crews on the beach.....of course if I had time I would have said yes to their casting request ...). The minimum price for the houses in this area is about $5m! I am looking forward to taking Caroline and the boys back here when we visit Sydney for New Year.

So although I got home on Friday night very tired it was actually a great week. A really different experience for me....a bit better than my regular commute to London :-)

Result!

The Boys did well in their indoor footsall game - came back from being 3-2 down to win the match 6-5 and that was against big, beefy men! The Boys were fitter and more agile and played really well! Met Sam's "double" tonight - a friend of Jacks called Nick. He is the image of Sam (obviously NOT quite so gorgeous!) but two years older and therefore taller. Spooky... seeing Sam in 2 years time! Didn't get home till 10.40 p.m .

I have had a nice day today. First of all had a new friend come for a coffee (a neighbour who lives a few of doors down) called Natalie, who also runs and then Wills friend Rob, his Mum phoned up and asked if I'd like to meet her for lunch, so I did! And it was very nice!

Then met up with Wills school teacher to see how he is getting on and she said he's settled in really well and made loads of friends, so that's good.

Chris home from Sydney at about 9p.m :) Been 30 degrees today - hot, hot, hot! Barbie for tea.

Melbourne Cup Week

Chris has been working in Sydney again this week. Yesterday, he went out into the field with some Telstra consultants and was working in Manly - maybe one of the best beaches in Australia. He had to take the ferry but was kind enough to send me a couple of fotos of the view....

Weather is good here this week, lovely and sunny. Jack had P.E on the beach today which was a bit of a novelty! I had a go at playing tennis again after 4 months off, due to tennis elbow. I strapped my arm up and it held up pretty well whilst playing with Jackie, but was aching a bit the next day. Today it seems fine again, so will have a go at the social tennis evening on a Wednesday evening at Mordialloc Tennis Club, just around the corner. Hopefully, Sam will come with me.

Today, I went for a 6 mile beach walk with my neighbour, stopping off on the way home for a coffee - very nice. Tonight, Jack is playing cricket and then he and Sam are playing footsal (indoor footie) - but not till 9.15p.m. Guess who has to pick them up!!!

On Tuesday, it is Melbourne Cup Day and a public holiday to all those living in the state of Victoria. It's a bit like Royal Ascot and is Australia's major Thoroughbred horse race, held since 1860 at 3p.m on the first Tuesday in November, over a 2 mile course. It's a really big thing over here, especially because it is celebrating it's 150th Anniversary this year. Nothing planned as yet but I'm sure we will find something to do!!

Jack SHALL go to the ball!

Thursday, Jack was invited to the Year 12 Prom, or as they call it over here, the "Formal". He took Jodie Gates and we had to be at their house at 3.30p.m for champagne and canopes! It was very nice and the girls all looked lush! At 4.30p.m the limo arrived and they were taken to a venue at Albert Park Lake in the centre of Melbourne. Jack enjoyed himself (food was good) and I picked him up at 11p.m.

Friday was another nice day weather-wise and we had a barbie in the evening since it was 28 degrees!

Saturday was our first day of our mission to be tourists and visit somewhere every weekend. I found on Tripadvisor a "Melbourne by Foot" tour, which we undertook. Met a guy called Dave at Federation Square and did a 3 hour walk round the streets of Melbourne seeing streets and things of interest you wouldn't know existed unless you were shown (see our Flickr site for some of the views). Even Sam and Will found it interesting. Afterwards, we went for our first curry in Melbourne which was recommended in the "Cheap Eats" book, or as I tend to call it, the Not so Cheap Eats Book since everywhere is more expensive than the UK! It was pretty good actually, taste wise! After that, Chris and Sam went off to see a footie match at the Aami Stadium whilst Will and I ventured home.

Today, Sunday, we have had a nice, relaxing day. I went for a 5 miler along the beach while Chris and Sam went for a 30 mile bike ride along Beach Road to St. Kilda which they thoroughly enjoyed. Will had 3 friends round for the afternoon whilst Jack played cricket.

...that's more like it....

Hi everyone - Chris here with a quick update.

After a couple of weeks pretty flat out with work I managed to work from home today which was very nice indeed! I finished up about 5.30 and decided to go for a lovely run along the beach. I thought you might like to see some of the views as I took a couple of quick pics.

Weekend news

After the excitement of our container arriving, life seems to have fallen into a work/school routine, so nothing too exciting to report on on a day to day basis. Therefore, the updates on the blog may become less frequent, say on a weekly basis rather than day to day. Trouble with that is, I can't remember what we did do last week! I will have to write it down!

You would never believe the weather we experienced here on Friday - raining all day, followed by gale force winds all evening and night-time - it was quite scary! We thought we were back in England! I took myself off to Westfield shopping centre ( a good place to be in the rain!) just up the road because "Trinny and Susannah" were making an appearance! I was quite surprised anyone knew who they were over here, but apparently they get paid to come over twice a year. They were supposed to be on at 1p.m but were 20 minutes late and then Susannah had food poisoning(so she said) and had to go because she felt so ill! All that aside, it was an entertaining hour or so. They picked out 10 women from the audience and pulled them apart, before re-dressing them. Most of them did actually look better afterwards!

Saturday was spent with Chris linking up all the surround sound in the lounge, bedroom and study which took a bit of doing, especially as our main PC decided it hadn't enjoyed the overseas move and stopped working (power supply problem).

Sam worked all day at the bike shop and came home with his new bike - a 27 gear Avanti hybrid bike with disc brakes - very smart. He was sooo pleased with himself! Not bad for his first months earnings! I think he will have to be careful though - Chris has his beady eye on it!

Sunday evening we were supposed to have been having a BBQ at our house with the Gates and also our new neighbours. But the weather was still overcast and chilly, so I decided to cook a meal and sit indoors. Jack and Josh went off to footsal training. It was a good evening:)

Chris and I decided over the weekend that in order to make the most of our time here, we will spend every Saturday being tourists and exploring Melbourne, be it in the form of exhibitions, art galleries or the zoo! It would be a shame to return to England and not have seen it all. William may be forced to go to places he may not be interested in but it will be an educational experience for us all!

D Day... our container has arrived!

On Tuesday 12th October, our much longed for container was delivered back to us, after 6 weeks in transit! "Wridgeways", the company responsible for it this end, arrived at 8 a.m and left at 1p.m. The first thing Will noticed (he still hadn't left for school) was that our belongings were in a different colour container which I thought was very observant. It left Romsey in a grey container and arrived in Mordialloc in a blue one, with 3 or 4 boxes having been inspected at customs.

The first things off were Chris's bike and the Dyson!!! The two guys quickly set to work bringing all the boxes in with me directing them to the correct rooms. I then set to work un-packing all the items for the kitchen - and there were a lot of them! I did wonder how I was ever going to get through it all but by 1p.m the kitchen was sorted with only one item broken in transit.

The removal men put together all the beds and plumbed in the washing machine (incorrectly I hasten to add), unpacked the big goods like the sofas and book cases, then left, just as Jackie turned up with a chicken pie for dinner. We sat down for a bite to eat, washed down with a much needed glass of wine, then set to work again, sorting out the Boys bedrooms. By the time Jack and Sam came in from school it was all looking pretty civilised. And so nice to see our stuff again, especially our sofas and kitchen table and chairs - we will put some fotos on our Flickr link.

Wednesday was a continuation of Tuesday, un-packing the rest of the boxes and I finally finished at 2.30p.m just in time to pick up Jack and Sam from school because it was raining. Then, in the evening, I went to the cinema with Jackie and girlfriends to see the new Julia Roberts film - Eat, Pray, Love which was a nice change of scene.

Today,(Thursday), Will stayed off school because he is full of cold ( he was yesterday too but I sent him in!). He must've been feeling rough because he was supposed to be having a friend back to tea which we have had to postpone till next week! The washing machine (which has now been sorted by our kind neighbour who is a plumber) has been working overtime because all the bedding smells musty where it has been boxed up for 6 weeks. I also put together a desk for the study and a coffee table for the lounge that we bought at Ikea at the weekend. Tomorrow, I will be ironing all day I think. All Chris's work shirts and suits look like they have been screwed up in a ball for 6 weeks.

Chris is on his way home from Sydney as we speak and should get in about 6.30 p.m. Hoorah! Chilli for dinner tonight, another big glass of wine and we shall collapse onto the sofa in a heap! TGI Friday tomorrow!

1st Week of School Completed!

Well, the first school week is over without any dramas! Boys seemed to have enjoyed themselves (as much as they can since it is school!) and the travelling to school by train has not evoked any negativity. Will brought his first friend home to tea last night - Rob- who is a really nice lad, so he has our approval!!

Good news on the container! It has passed through customs and is being delivered on its due date (sounds like a baby!) on Tuesday! Hoorah! At long last we will be able to sit on a sofa, Chris will have his bike, the Boys will have the X-box, we will have the computer, I can iron on an ironing board and start cooking and baking again since there are only a limited number of meals you can make with 2 saucepans and a frying pan! I am even looking forward to the Dyson arriving because the carpets in the bedrooms are filthy! How sad is that!

They pulled out one thing that they will not allow into the country - my red, heart-shaped Christmas wreath that I hang on the front door which is a bit of a laugh because it's made out of plastic! (not allowed anything in made out of natural wood). Bit upset about this because I only bought it last year - £8 from Wilkinson LOL!! I had the choice of having it destroyed at the cost of $70 (paid by PwC) or sending it back to the UK at the cost of $250 (probably not paid for by PWC!) - tricky decision - not!

The weekend's here! Sam has already left for work - 8.30 till 6.30 today and Jack is off in a mo for a couple of hours. Chris and I are going for a run along the beach and tonight we are going out for a meal in Mordi with an English couple who moved out here the same time as us who Chris works with.

We need to book our flights to Sydney for New Year because they are filling up quickly but have a bit of a dilemma:- Jack does not want to come with us! We are going for a week from the 27th December and Jack would rather stay at home and go to a NYE party with Josh. Chris and I obviously think this is absolutely ridiculous since he may not get the opportunity to go to Sydney again - please send us your comments!

Right, had better get up and go for this run, can't sit around all morning blogging! Enjoy the sunny weekend in the UK!

Not a bad view for my evening run....

Hi Everyone,

Chris here with a quick update. I am working in Sydney at the moment on a new project working with one of the large Telco companies here. It means being in Sydney a couple of days a week possibly up until Christmas which isn't ideal but hopefully it won't be much longer than that.

On the plus side the project is very interesting and it will mean that I get to see Sydney and the surrounding areas. I am working with 2 teams - one based in the Blue Mountains and the other in the Northern Beaches....so it could be worse :-)

This evening I went for a lovely run at dusk around Sydney harbour, right under the bridge and round the back of the Opera House. Above is a picture I took as I paused for breath outside the Opera House. What you can't appreciate from the picture was the sound of Madame Butterfly emminating from inside the Opera House...was amazing.

Back home with the rest of the Morgs tomorrow night so looking forward to that..

WEDNESDAY - 3rd day at school

School seems to be going OK - all coming home happy which is good. Long may it continue!

Today, I drove Jack and Sam to school, one as an experiment to see how long it takes, but really because I was going their way anyway. It meant they could all have a lie in and re-charge their batteries - these teenage Boys need their sleep! So I didn't wake them up till 7.40a.m and they felt much better for it! Left the house at 8.20a.m and were at school by 8.45a.m, so 25 minutes. Coming home it only took 15 mins.

Having dropped them off, I parked the car at Jackie's house and we hopped onto the train into the city to go and see the ABBA exhibition. It was great! Full of memorabilia including some of the lovely outfits they wore! Abba songs playing all around and we even had a go at karioke (don't think that's spelt correctly... sorry Sue!) - since there was no one there we knew we didn't care if we embarrassed ourselves!!! Unfortunately, it finishes at the end of October, otherwise I would definitely be taking my Mum and Lisa there!

When we came out, the lovely sunny weather had been replaced with lashing rain! Luckily, the station was only a few minutes walk away and since Jackie had splashed out on an "Abba" umbrella (one of those see-through ones that comes right down over you!!) we were OK.

Because it had been raining over lunch at school, they cut the length of lunch break and start the lessons early, so had to pick up Jack and Sam at 2.55! Dropped Sam off at work on the way home and Jack now gone in as well, so nice and quiet here for a bit! Better make the most of it!

(Chris is in Sydney Tuesday - Thursday and had a 7a.m meeting this morning... yuk!)

1st day at school...

Well we waited with anticipation for the boys to get home from school......and here is the verdict...

Jack:

hello :) today i had to got to school for the first time in 3 and a half months which i did not like the idea of but really it wasn't too bad. Everyone at the school is really friendly and everybody comes up and introduces themselves to you which they wouldn't do in England. We had to get up really early as we had to be in school at 8:15 meaning we had to get the 7:41 from mordi station so the early start was a bit of a shock! When i got to school i spoke to my head of year who seems nice enough and then i went off to tutor and lessons. As josh had introduced me to quite alot of people i knew at least 1 if not more people in each of my classes which was good. Today i had english, p.e, food tech and business. In english we are doing the same stuff i did for my GCSE so it is easy to understand all of it. The other subjects seem okay although P.E is different to english p.e where it is much more focussed on the body rather than about the sports industry which is a bit disappointing. Overall the day went well and Brighton seems a nice school :)

Sam

Hi everyone!

Today Brighton school was blessed as I joined there year 8 gang and they were all quite friendly. The day started early, to early, with my photos being taken for my I.D card followed by being introduced to my tutor and tutor group. The first lesson of the day was Maths and they were doing what I'd finished on England so all was well there, after that we headed over to French and that was all about vocab and I knew quite a lot of that as well. Then we had break 'Recess' as they call it and I was having trouble finding my locker, they all look the same! Apparently I sound like Ozzie Osborne and the kept asking me to say "Shaaaarrooon"! I think they're deaf! At lunch I met a English kid who used to play for Sheffield United Academy so I'll be making friends with him. On the hole it was a good day

Will:

hi guys as you may or may not know I have started school at Mordialloc college.

I was a little bit nervous on the way (as any one would be if they had to start a new school on your own) when me and mum got there we saw my teacher again ,Miss Hughes, and i went in and she showed me all the teachers and my locker and class tub. shortly ,my class came in and i met my new class mates .I made a few new friends and lucky for me I am not the only new kid a few months ago about 3 people joined as well so that's good .They are all very friendly ,they also insist I say ' would you like a spot of tea !' hope you are all okay keep me updated please lots of love will xxx

A trip down the coast...

Hi everyone....I have just added some more photos to our Flickr site here which you might like to see.

Today we drove down the coast a bit (away from Melbourne) to the Mornington Peninsula - it is about an hours drive down to the point. As the weather was really sunny today and 21c we thought we would hit the coast and just do a bit of exploring. At Sorrento we had a lovely lunch (Will had "the best chocolate milkshake ever") and then just drove up the coast stopping at Rye and Mornington.

The whole bay is just one long beach that runs for probably about 50 miles. There are lots of little towns along the way full of cafes and little shops. Caroline even found a shop selling M&S clothes! There are lots of place to stop for a BBQ with lots of public BBQ areas - you just put money in the slot to use the BBQ...easy!

If you want to see a map of where the photo above was taken then click here

OUR FIFTH WEEK...

Monday morning saw our internet being installed so we can now skype anyone who has this facility. They also came out and mended our landline which has not been working even though it had been connected - just a small matter of a wire dangling from the roof that hadn't been wired in!!! Our telephone number is ... +61 395 871 639.

Tuesday we went into the city and did a tour of the Etihad Stadium - one of the five sporting stadiums in Melbourne. It is mainly used for AFL (Aussie Rules) matches but also international cricket games and concerts - Robbie Williams has performed there and U2 are coming in December. It has a seating capacity of 53,000 and has the largest retractable roof in the southern hemisphere which takes 8 minutes to open or close. We were the only ones on the 1p.m tour and the Boys really enjoyed it :)

On Wednesday, I drove( by myself) to Anglesea to visit some friends of the family who used to live in Hampshire and who had chinchillas (like Dad). They emmigrated to South Australia 50 years ago as £10 Pomms and travelled 6 weeks by boat with their belongings on board. The parents - Eileen and Len travelled with their 4 very young children and started life "Down Under" - how brave was that! No internet or skype to keep in touch then!

Anglesea is a pretty little village at the start of the "Great Ocean Road" to the West of Melbourne and it took me just over 2 hours to get there. It was Eileens 83rd birthday and I met Eileens twin girls Mel and Pat and their husbands Dave and Peter, who have all visited Mum and Dad in the UK over the years. I stayed overnight and the next day we took the car over by ferry to Sorrento at the tip of the Mornington Peninsula (you can get the map out to follow this!) and visited a National Trust garden called "Heronswood" at Dromana. It was very picturesque and we enjoyed a lovely picnic looking over the water with Melbourne city visible in the distance.

We then parted ways and I then drove up the Mornington Peninsula back home to my Boys, which only took 45 minutes. It was a lovely 24 hours - good company, great food and excellent wine!

We found out yesterday that our container has arrived in Melbourne - hoorah! However, it now has to go through customs so we are looking at the 12th Oct for it to be delivered to our house ( I am secretly hoping it may come a bit earlier!). Clocks spring forward an hour this weekend so we will be 10 hours ahead of you. And the Boys start school on Monday... at long last! So a big week next week! Will they be able to wake up in time I wonder? Think we may have some very grumpy teenagers for the first few days!!! Will let you know how they get on :)

Our 1st BBQ!!

Hello! Just a quick post to share some photos that we took this afternoon.

The weather here today is nice and sunny....hitting 22c. This morning Jack and Sam played football in a friendly for Brighton. There was a mixture of ages from 14 - 18 and Sam and Jack played on the same team.

They both really enjoyed it and Sam coped really well playing with the older boys/men. In fact he nearly scored twice and set up his team's goal.

This afternoon we had our first BBQ on the terrace which was lovely. Then we decided to drive down the coast a bit to a place called Chelsea. It is about 15 mins from Mordy and the beach just stretches on for miles. There were lots of boats coming in and out of the little harbour. Also there were quite a few jelly fish washed up on the beach - William counted about 8 of them.

Take a look at the pictures on our Flickr site here.

Had a good day Thursday. Jack and Sam weren't working so we decided to make a day of it and head into the city. Managed to leave home by 10.30 (quite a feat in itself with the Boys sleeping requirements!) and visited "The National Sports Museum" at the MCG. It was excellent! Even Will enjoyed it and I did think he may be a bit bored since reading was required!! Had loads of info about all Australian Sports people, especially cricket, so will be a good place to take my Dad when he comes over. The highlight was a little theatre portraying Shane Warne as a hollogram in the MCG changing rooms doing an interview. It was so realistic people go up to him at the end and ask for his autograph! Amazing!

After that ,we went by tram to the new Docklands shopping area (bit like Gunwharf but still work in progress). Would be nice to visit with my girlfriends rather than Sam and Will who really weren't in the mood to appreciate it!

Friday afternoon the table tennis table arrived - hoorah! Alas, instruction-less! Fantastic! We had to walk into Mordi to buy a wrench coz guess what - our tool box is in the container! It's amazing how you take things for granted - until you don't have them! Try ironing work shirts without an ironing board... interesting! But there's just no point buying another one when you know it's arriving in a couple of weeks!

So, eventually managed to build it and even Jack was impressed when he came home from work!

Friday evening we had Dave Gates birthday party and when we got home, Chris had returned, exhausted but in one piece.

Today (Saturday) we have had a relaxing day. Chris and I went for a 5.5 mile run along the beach (not so relaxing!), Sam worked all day and made up 8 bikes earning himself an amazing

$80 (£55)! We have had tennis table contests and watched the AFL final! The latter was pretty nail-biting stuff, between Saint Kilda and Collingwood - neither team having been in the final for over 20 years. Collingwood were leading by over 20 points at the half-way mark, then St. Kilda came back and it ended as a draw 68 - 68! So they have to have a replay next weekend!!!

The other exciting thing we booked today were tickets for the Boxing Day Test at the MCG! What an experience! Then we are flying the next day to Sydney for New Year celebrations for the week - something to look forward to.

Watching the re- run of "I'd Do Anything" (finding Nancy for "Oliver") at the mo! ...

Zzzzzzzz

Well that was one of the hardest weeks I have worked in a while! It started on Monday with a 7am flight to Sydney to lead a proposal for a big project...at short notice.

We had one week to respond and a huge amount of work to do. I had 6 partners working on it with me (translated as...giving me their opinion...but not actually doing that much really). Anyway after lots of ups and downs in the week we did a really good job and submitted a really strong pitch. We will find out next week whether we have been put through to the final round.

Although it was stressful and tiring (3 hours sleep last night) it was actually a great opportunity to really get time with some of the senior people in my part of the company. The good news is that if we win the work then I am going to be the Programme Director....

Sadly I have just got home and Caroline and the boys have gone to a party round our friends the Gates - it is Dave's birthday....so I will be off to bed soon!

It is a big weekend in Melbourne as it is the AFL finals - everyone is talking about it. I would say it is just like FA Cup Final day...maybe even more popular. The MCG is sold out (100,000 tickets) and 10,000 people just turned up to watch the teams train this morning! Collingwood are the favourites (bit like Man Utd) and they are playing St Kilda who are generally more popular. Should be good and I am sure we will watch on our new HD TV! If only we had a sofa to sit on too.

We had an email this week to say that our container is still on track to arrive in Melbourne on 30th September. It then takes 2 weeks to clear customs....can't wait to get all of our stuff....especially my bike as I really want to get out onto the open road!

The weather in Melbourne is still quite variable - generally about 16c with clouds and some sunny spells. In Sydney this week it has been quite warm and sunny - it generally seems to be a couple of degrees warmer there.

The main things I miss about home:

- Green countryside
- Decent tea bags (they are too weak here)
- Football on at the right time of the day (I am losing touch with all the news)
- Sky Sports News (Fox Sports is good...but they talk about AFL all the time!)
- Friday Night with Jonathan Ross
- Dark and warm beer
-.......oh yes...AND ALL OF YOU!!!!!!

Back soon!

Chris

Sorry for the lack of blogs this week but there really hasn't been too much to write home about!

Chris went off to Sydney 5a.m Monday morning and hasn't been seen since! He has really been thrown in at the deep end, trying to put a proposal together for a client he's never even met! He has been working ridiculous hours, getting into the office at 7.30a.m and not leaving till 10.30/11p.m! Tonight, (Thursday) he thinks it might be an all - nighter because the bid has to be on Friday. Let's hope he doesn't get too many more of these!

Jack has been going into the fruit and veg shop for a couple of hours every afternoon, which sort of breaks up the day, especially as they don't get up till 10 at the earliest!!!

I went for a 5 mile run along the beach yesterday morning. There is a pathway that runs alongside the beach for miles and miles, beautiful sand on one side, amazing houses on the other. It's a nice easy run (no hills) so I think this may become my new course, as long as it's not too windy.

Decided a couple of days ago that I would buy a table tennis table for the Boys. Wanted to buy one at home last year but nowhere to store it. Here, we have our great big garage and can also roll it outside to play. Thought it would be something we could all play whilst waiting for our container to arrive and half the price than in the UK. So Jack and I started bidding on Ebay and were chuffed to bits when we won it ( Jack had some good tactics!). Because they wanted $60 (£40) to deliver it and we wanted it straight away, we decided to pick it up in our big van. So, yesterday afternoon, we drove 45 mins to another part of Melbourne only to find when we got there that no way was it going to fit in even our big car, so we had to drive all the way home again and pay for delivery! Goodness knows when it will arrive!

I went out last night for my first "Girlie Night Out!". Jackie invited me to the cinema where we met three of her other friends who also play tennis. The cinema was lovely - really plush and up-market, much nicer than Odeon Leisureworld. The seats are huge and comfy and get this .... you can buy an alcoholic beverage and take it in with you!! The film was really good, called "The Kids are all Right" with Annette Benning and Julianne Moore - definitely recommend it though not heard anything about it.

Two thing I keep forgetting to mention (bit random but I will throw them in!) is that everyone keeps to the speed limit here - it's great! On the main "A" roads it's usually 80 (bout 65 at home? Not sure) but you don't have any mad people going tons faster. The fines here are huge and they have speed cameras everywhere so no one wants to get caught!

The second thing I forgot to mention from day one(and is VERY important!) is that I have my very own ....walk in wardrobe!!! How Sarah Jessica Parker is that!!! Mind you , compared to her WIR, mine is a cupboard! But hey! Whose comparing sizes! I'm very pleased with it and that's all that counts!

Friday evening is Dave Gates birthday so we are heading over there for our first Aussie BBQ! They have loads of people going so it will be a good chance to meet some people. Unfortunately, Chris won't be home in time for it and don't think he will feel up to socialising. Think he will be crashing out all weekend in recovery mode!

Have a good weekend everyone - can't believe how the weeks are whizzing by! Let us know what you have all been up to...

TV Mania.....!!!!!!!

Hello....Jack here! We have had a good weekend. Sam worked on Saturday and made himself 65 bucks at the bike shop. Dad had a busy weekend spending lots of money! Dad went out and bought us a new 50 inch TV for the living room as we are going to put our one from home in the garage with the X-box.

The good news is that I finally got my birthday present...a new T.V/DVD player! Only 2 months since my birthday! On Saturday night I went out with Josh to watch the AFL game round his mates, it's the grand final next week! Mum and Dad went out for their anniversary on Saturday as Dad is away in Sydney all week with work.Went to a lovely fish restaurant in Mordi called "Doyles" - we will take any visitors there because it was lovely!

Not sure what we will get up to this week(it's 2 weeks holiday for the Aussie kids too). Hopefully I will be working a few days and I think we might go into the city another day but I am sure we will find something to do (watching the new TV?!)

FRIDAY 17th SEPTEMBER

First and foremost...."HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAREST DADDY!" we are celebrating your birthday before you are so it will be a long party! Think this is the first birthday I haven't spent with you in a very long time, but fear not, I will definitely be raising a glass or two (or three or four!!!) to you! Love you lots. Have a great day!

Sam went back to the bike shop at three yesterday and put together three bikes, earning himself 30 dollars! Will went along too because he was bored and earnt himself 5 dollars by polishing them! So they were very pleased with themselves! They didn't get home till 6.30p.m, just as I got back with our new car. Drives really well, nice and smoothly, so I'm sure we will pleased with it. It's nice to be high up again in the driving seat!

Jack had a bit of struggle getting up at nine this morning for his first day at work. Will let you know how he gets on!

Off to buy more school uniform today, then meeting Jackie for a coffee in Brighton....

THURSDAY 16th 1.30p.m UPDATE....

Both Jack and Sam have a job!!! Went into the bike shop in Mordy to enquire about second hand bikes and the Guy who runs it is from Bath! A complete bike fanatic having cycled round the world and full of local info! He will train Sam how to put bikes together that come in from the factory in a box and pay him 10 dollars a bike.( The guy will obviously check the bikes over to make them road worthy!) The more he does, the quicker he will get so the more money he will earn!

Jack has got a job in the fruit and veg shop in Mordy starting tomorrow! Following in his Uncles footsteps!

Fair play Boys!

THURSDAY 16th SEPTEMBER.

Hi (or should I say G'day!)

This is Caroline just doing a little update on what's been going on this week. Afraid there wont be any photos because Chris is "The Master" of blogging but since he wont be home till late tonight, thought I'd have a go!

This week we have been spending a FORTUNE at the shops fitting the house out with a few basics, just to tide us over till our stuff arrives in the container, which may still be another month away (nightmare!). It's due to arrive in Melbourne 30th September but then has to go through customs which can take up to two weeks.

The house is lovely but a little echo-y since it has wooden floors throughout the hallway and lounge. Since there isn't a lot of furniture and no curtains (roller blinds everywhere) and because it is open plan, it can be very noisy , especially when the Boys get going! We have to escape to the bedroom for some peace and quiet!

What we intend to do in a while is convert the garage into a room for the boys and put a sofa, TV and X-box out there. The garage is single width but has space for three cars. It is fitted out with lots of storage and a fridge for their tinnies ! We will put some carpet down and they will be sorted! Will also put Wills drum kit out there and there will still be space for a workroom for me, if and when I decide to do some curtain work.

We have been to both schools this week for enrolment and again, spent a fortune on second hand school uniform. Brand new, the prices are outrageous! We are talking £50 for a pullover each, £30 for a pair of trousers and £50 for the jacket they have to have. Plus shoes, shirts P.E uniform - our bank card is quaking under the strain! I tell you, it makes you realise how cheap everything is in the UK. A whole school uniform for a tenner aren't they advertising in some places?!

We were very lucky with Wills uniform yesterday though. Someone had donated a school bag (60 dollars new and it's compulsory!) to the shop and didn't want any money for it. It was practically brand new and even better - inside were two pullovers and a polo shirt all Wills size! Hoorah! We ended up just paying 10 dollars for a pair of shorts - result!

Over here, you have to pay for all the school books and exercise books, even 17 dollars (£10) for a planner! And 500 dollars a year just for miscellaneous stuff. Times 3 Boys - you can see where our money is going! And this isn't even private school, this is Government funded - ha! What a joke! It seriously makes you realise how lucky we are with our state schools! We will never run them down again!!!

Today we are having Foxtel (cable) put into the house (the guy is here already and it's only 8.30 a.m!) so we will be able to get all the English footie (I'm so happy as you can imagine!!) and UK TV (that I am happy about!). Then this afternoon, we are picking up our new car. It's three years old but still cost us £20,000! We sold my lovely S-Max for £12,000 and that was three years old too!

Hey ho! I'm sure there are some benefits living over here - just haven't found too many yet! Petrol is cheaper and the train is miles cheaper - £160/month for Chris's train fare compared to £500 at home.

The Boys are fine but getting a bit bored since all the kids here are still at school till tomorrow (then it's two weeks off). Without the X-box , lego and all their stuff from home, they don,t have much to do. Jack has spent the last couple of days trying to find a job (with no success as yet) and Sam thinks he might try a paper round delivering the freebie paper (The Leader). At least it will give them something to do and earn some money.

They have "The Melbourne Show" starting in the City tomorrow for ten days (a bigger version of The Romsey Show) but unfortunately, all the jobs have gone for that.

Chris's job is going fine - meeting lots of people and getting home now at about 6.45p.m He will probably be starting on a project soon.

Our next aim is to find a soccer club for Sam to join and clubs in general for all of us so that we can make some friends. Jack has joined a cricket club and goes to soccer training with Josh. Will wants to try Aussie Rules footie but the season has just come to an end.

Thats about all for now. Please, please keep emailing us (I don't have everyone's email addresses on this laptop) and commenting on our blog. We really look forward to hearing from everyone and if we don't get any we get very sad:( !!!!

Lots of love to you all from "Down Under" xxxxx

Mordy...our first day

Sunday afternoon saw us moving into our new home. Then in the evening the Gates family came round with a bottle of bubbly and we had a takeaway to celebrate.

When we stayed in the CBD we were woken by the traffic and sirens going off continuously, hence we were looking forward to a good nights sleep. However, as dawn broke, we were awoken not by pigeons (like in Romsey) but parrots squawking their heads off and at 7 a.m, workmen starting work on the house opposite!

Sam and I headed off to the big"Westfield" shopping centre 7 minutes down the road to make purchases for our new house and to start stocking up a very empty pantry. When we returned at midday Jack had just managed to get out of bed! Since the sun was shining, we headed down to the beach.

Chris went on the train to work today which is just under an hours journey, so was home at 6.30 p.m - rather different to his commute to London! Long may it continue.... :)

The picture above is of the main road through Mordialloc where there are lots of little shops and cafes.

New home, new car!

We picked up the keys to our house today and are just as pleased as when we first viewed it. All we need now is for our furniture to arrive and we will be set.

We had a little explore and walked to the station (9 min) and then onto the beach. It is a lovely

little beach with a marina also - there were lots of people fishing and just generally walking around. The temperature today has been 18c which isn't bad for early Spring!

Also we managed to buy a car today. After much debating and discussion we decided to get a people carrier type car although the selection here is quite different to the UK. We bought a 3

year old Toytota Tarago which is an 8 seater giving us the practicality that we need. Not quite the same as Chris's BMW....maybe that's for next year :-) Chris drove a hard deal and managed to get a 2 year warranty, full service and even reversing sensors....as well as $2k off the price!

Tonight we are off to the Comedy Store in Melbourne where Chris managed to get some free tickets thanks to PwC. Here is a little picture that I just took from our balcony...remember there are more pictures on our Flickr page here

Aussie Rules.......OK?

We've just got home from a great evening at the MCG tonight where we watched our first Aussie Rules game. It is the semi final play offs at the moment before the big final on Sept 25th. The MCG is a wonderful stadium with a capacity of 100,000. For tonight's game it was about half full but the atmosphere was still good. Will and Sam really enjoyed it as there are lots of goals and the game keeps moving all the time. Even Caroline managed to stay awake until the last 20 minutes :-)

It has been a good week on the whole this week....

• Chris has a good first week at work. There are a couple of interesting projects on the horizon, the people are very friendly and he had a good time on Thursday evening at a PwC triva evening where his team came 9th out of 60....not bad for a Pommy!
• Sam and Jack were very happy to hear that they have been offered a place at Brighton school. They really wanted to go to this school rather than the local Mordialloc school. However, Will feels that the Mordialloc school will suit him much better.....and it is only a 10 minute walk from the house!
• Caroline and the boys were able to explore Melbourne a bit more this week. They visited the Eureka Tower for great views of the city and also the old State Gaol.....where I think it was tempting to lock a certain 3 boys up but apparently that's not allowed :-(

This weekend we are moving into our new house which we are all excited about. We get the keys on Saturday and we will probably move our stuff in on Sunday (see map below for the actual location). On Saturday we are also going to look at a car....probably something similar to the S-MAX that we had in the UK (although they don't do that here).

View Larger Map

On Saturday evening we have some complementary tickets to a Comedy show in Melbourne thanks to PwC....the boys in particular will enjoy it I am sure.

So a good week with some 'big ticket' items sorted. Once we have moved into our house then I think we can all get into more of a day to day routine....

Hi Ho....Hi Ho...it's off to work I go...

I had a bit of a shock to the system on Monday as I had to go to work! After a long journey in.....well, a 6 minute walk I made it in on time for an 8.45 start. The first two days have been really good and mostly just covering induction stuff - lots of forms to fill in, new processes and systems to learn....and of course I was given my laptop!

Everyone is very friendly and happy to help which is nice. There are a couple of projects for me on the immediate horizon both of which are in Melbourne which is good!

Caroline and the boys have been sorting out items for the new house to tide us over until our container arrives in mid October. We had a trip to Ikea last night which was exactly the same as the UK including prices. Caroline has also found an Aldi and her new favourite shop is KMart - lots of bargains.....including 4 bottles of wine for $20 :-)

The school situation is still up in the air at the moment. Whilst the boys all have places at Mordialloc High School (which is 10 minutes walk from our new house) they would ideally like to go to the school in Brighton. At the moment it is not 100% clear if this is possible but we hope to find out soon. There are lots of things to consider such as travel time, style of teaching, facilities as well as academic results of course...

On Sunday we move into our new house so we will provide some more updates soon!!

Our New Home

We are all feeling really happy today as we have found a new house to rent that we are all pleased with - 18 Steedman Street, Mordialloc or 'Mordy' as the locals call it.

It is a lovely single storey traditional 'Ozzie' home with 4 bedrooms, a lovely big living area and a study/5th bedroom too. It is 10 min walk from the beach (OMG....what a beach too), 10 mins walk from the station, 10 mins walk from the local school. The train journey into central Melbourne is 35 mins....just a little bit less than Chris's usual 2 hours (+) commute!

The people who own the house are in a similar situation to us except they are moving to China - a lovely Australian family. What is great for us is that they are happy to leave some key items such as oven, dishwasher, fridge/freezer and even some items of furniture for us - perfect!

We also looked at 3 schools today so have a couple of options on some good schools - more information to follow once we have had some discussions over the weekend!!!

Here are a couple more pics of the house: