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 :)