...it's off to Melbourne now

Hi everyone - just a quick post today to say that this is our last day in Port Douglas as we are now heading down to Melbourne. The flight time is just over 3 hours and we get there around 5pm so should be in our apartment by 7pm if all goes well.

We are being picked up on Tuesday morning to be shown round some properties by our relocation consultant and then will spend the rest of the week looking at schools and houses.

We have had a great first week in Port Douglas and it was lovely to be able to finally relax for a bit after such a hectic couple of months. It's exciting to think that we are now heading off to our new home for a couple of years!

We'll keep you updated as the week progresses....CCJS&W

The Great Barrier Reef....

Wow...what a great day we had today on the Great Barrier Reef!

After being picked up at 7.45am (ouch) we set sail for the Reef on a lovely boat with 'Poseidon'. We were advised to take some sea sickness tablets on the way as it was a little choppy but really wasn't too bad. Jack and Chris had opted for a scuba dive and unfortunately Sam was not allowed to do this due to his history of asthma. However Sam, Will and Caroline were looking forward to snorkelling.

On the 1 hour journey to the Reef Jack and Chris were briefed on how to use all the scuba gear etc and on a couple of tests you have to do before they let you dive (such as learning how to blow air out of your face mask). There were 3 different dive areas in total.

At the first area Will, Sam and Caroline went for a snorkel and saw a lot of brightly coloured fish moving in and out of the coral and also some larger fish who were being cleaned by lots of little fish. Jack and Chris experienced their first ever scuba dive and went down to a depth of about 10 metres. It was a fantastic experience for all of us - being right amongst the fish and coral was absolutely amazing.

At the 2nd dive location Will, Sam and Caroline spotted a Reef Shark which was about 1.5m long and lots of giant clam shells (which are up to 150 years old). Jack and Chris saw a squid and a couple of cuttle fish (which suddenly turned white and darted off really quickly). We were also lucky enough to get really 'up close and personal' with a turtle (which was quite big - about a metre long)...brilliant.

Jack enjoyed the scuba so much he decided to do a 3rd dive but Chris joined the others for a snorkel. We saw a huge fish that was really tame and was happy to move in and out of us all. Will and Sam were able to touch the fish and he felt all slimey...

It really was a great experience and the boys were all saying how it was the best thing they have ever done. Jack was enquiring how long it takes to get a diving certificate so maybe this will be a new hobby for him!!!

There are more photos on our Flickr site here including some of the boys taken underwater!!!!

Tomorrow is our last full day in Port Douglas so we are heading to the local market and Will is interested in returning to the Rainforest Habitat Centre that he and Caroline visited yesterday where they held a Koala, snakes etc.. and hand fed Kangaroos and birds...

Daintree Rainforest Trip

We had a lovely day on Thursday at Daintree Rainforest which is about 45 mins drive from Port Douglas. We were picked up by our driver at 9am and taken on a tour around the forest. It was really interesting to see all of the different plants and animals and how they all depend upon each other. Later in the morning we had a boat trip along the Daintree River and we were lucky (!) enough to see 2 crocodiles - one was 2.5m long.....

After a lovely bbq lunch we then headed for Cape Tribulation where Captain Cook's ship ran aground - this was beautiful. Another walk in the forest followed this where we saw a huge lizard

amongst other things. Chris and the boys went for a swim in the river......it was rather cold to start with but lovely once we were in.

Our guide for the day Ross was excellent and he really made the whole experience really interesting....even the boys agreed (Sam gave a 10/10).

Last night we went out for a final meal with the Hutchings family before they return to the UK today...good food and good company.

Today (Friday) Will and Caroline headed off to Daintree Habitat Sanctuary where

Will was lucky enough to hold a Koala. He also touched a python and a crocodile and fed some kangaroos which

had baby joeys in its pouch..ahhhh.

Tomorrow we are heading off to the Great Barrier Reef for the day which we are all really looking forward to.....more posts to follow..

Remember more photos are on our Flickr page here

...time to celebrate...

We had a great evening last night as our friends 'The Hutchings' came round for dinner. They are currently coming to the end of a 5 week holiday of a lifetime in Oz - check out their blog here. Amazingly the place they are staying at is only 2 minutes walk from our place!

We had a bbq (of course) with some lovely rump steak, chicken, burgers etc.....and just a little wine. The evening got even better when Jack had an email from his school with his GCSE results - he achieved 6 As, 4 Bs and 2 Cs....an excellent result and we are really proud of him. So needless to say it was a late night!

Whereas we all slept well the first night, last night wasn't quite so good for Chris and Caroline - woke up between 2 and 4am. However the boys slept all the way through which is good.

Today we are chilling by the pool and Caroline has gone for a run along the beach. Tomorrow we are taking a tour of Daintree forest which we are really looking forward to.

Weather here is 29c and mostly sunny. Melbourne weather is raining all the time and 15c. Chris had a nice email from his new work colleagues and they said that there are signs that spring is on the way!

Thanks for all your comments - keep them coming....we really like to read them.

...1st day in Port Douglas

Just a quick update...we all had a good sleep last night. We went to bed at about 8pm and we all managed to sleep pretty well. Chris woke up at 6am and decided to go for a run into Port Douglas - Jack joined him for the first 30 mins. Chris then ran back along Four Mile beach (see pic on the left) and it was so inspiring that he ended up running for 10 miles!! The beach was full of people out strolling, doing yoga and exercising....even at that early time!

Later this morning we met up with our friends 'The Hutchings' for some late breakfast and then headed into Port Douglas to look around. We did some food shopping as we are having a big bbq this evening - the villa has a really nice bbq area along with a tennis court....

More posts soon....but in the meantime here is a pic of the boys.....

We've arrived!!

Well we have finally arrived in Port Douglas after a long and tiring trip. Everthing went to plan but it feels like we have been travelling for days.....because we have!

The flights were all ok and we all managed various amounts of sleep. The stopover in Bangkok was quite quick but we did have quite a wait for our domestic flight to Cairns. Anyway we arrived in Port Douglas about 2pm and our apartment is very nice indeed. We have a pool right outside the back door and it is spacious and modern.

This evening we are just going to do a little exploring, find something to eat will then crash out to bed...probably to wake up at 3am! The next couple of days we will probably just chill out on the beach so there won't be many updates. On Thursday we have our first trip to Daintree Forest....more then!

...only hours to go now...

Been a hectic two days as all of our stuff has been packed and shipped off to Australia now. The packing firm sent 3 chaps on Thursday to pack all of our stuff and they were very efficient and friendly. In fact they were a bit too efficient as anything lying around the house got packed (William was close to being put in a crate at one stage...hmmm...tempting). Our 20 foot container was absolutely packed full with no room left at all - we did manage to squeeze a few extra items in such as our dining room table and chairs which we were pleased about.

Seeing the lorry pull away knowing that the next time we see our stuff will be in Melbourne....was quite an emotional moment....gulp!

Last night we had a really lovely meal with both sets of families. Was great to catch up with everyone....not so great to say goodbye though....

Only a matter of hours to go now....Jack and I checked everyone in online....taxi comes at 5pm and our flight is at 10:15pm.....next post will be from Australia...

....nearly there...

Well the long 'to do' list that has been on my office wall for the past 3 months only has a couple of small items left now......we are very nearly there....only4 days until we leave the UK!

It's really starting to become 'real' now as we have started all of the goodbyes. The boys have been seeing lots of their friends - Sam had a surprise party with his mates which was really lovely.

Caroline had been ruthless in clearing out the house. 'Freecycle' has been inundated with various Morgan paraphernalia such as a '5.1 Surround Sound system', 'Black and Decker Sander' and a variety of lego and playmobile!

We have sold Caroline's car (despite a small setback along the way) and also have a tenant for the house....moving in 2 days after we leave....things seem to have come together right at the last minute!

If 10 was 'I can't wait to get there' and 1 was 'I am dreading going' I would say I (Chris) am at a 7 at the moment. I think as the week goes on this may change...we'll see. On Friday we have a 'last supper' with our family so I am sure that will be very emotional...