Ningaloo Reef

We escaped the ravages of the city (Perth's beautiful but it is a city) and headed north again. Lucy wanted to visit Turquoise Bay so her wish was our command. The Ningaloo Reef is a fringing coral reef on the west coast of Australia. It basically means that you can walk off the beach & snorkel - unlike the Great Barrier Reef where you have to get a boat trip for 2 hours before you even reach the reef!
One of the closest towns to the reef is Exmouth. Exmouth is very small and I had booked us into the Best Western which is about 6km north of the town. Well the Best Western is housed in what used to be the Female Naval Officers Quarters so you can guess what it is like - barracks yes! To be fair Best Western have tried to build a resort in the middle of a naval base. There is a pool, palm trees, hot tub, outdoor barbecue area, clean comfortable rooms and fantastic staff. Still I think Gary was ready to divorce me when he saw what I had booked. The charms of the place were not immediately obvious.
Gary & I headed into town to buy provisions. The town has a couple of restaurants but we decided that life would be easier if we cooked for ourselves. As we walked to the supermarket we noticed some unusual pedestrians - emus!!! They're everwhere, just wandering around, minding their own business.
On the first night we did eat out (crocodile spring rolls - yummy) and on our way back to the hotel discovered that there were kangaroos outside the hotel. Every evening the hotel is surrounded by kangaroos of varying sizes munching on the freshly watered grass. We also have cockatoos flying around. So now the hotel has redeemed itself.
Ningaloo Reef is in Cape Range National Park. We've been heading down to Turquoise Bay most days to watch the coral. Lucy had some issues with her mask initially but we've now borrowed masks from the hotel & her mask doesn't leak. Her problem now is that she's worried about what might be swimming on the coral so would only swim over the sandy parts!! On our last snorkelling day Annabelle managed top persuade Lucy to swim around the coral but she still refused to swim over it!
The other gem about the Ningaloo Reef at this time of year is that turtles come onto the beach to nest. Our first day out we went to the main nesting beach to look at the Turtle Exhibition. We wandered onto the beach to find a turtle nesting. Usually they only nest at night so this was a real treat. On our first snorkelling day we saw a turtle swimming off Turquoise Bay. The next time we went to the Turquoise Bay we counted 9 turtle nests. This week has been a real treat in terms of seeing wildlife.
Ningaloo Reef was a quiet peaceful week relaxing by the pool or on the beach. There didn't seem to be much evidence of Christmas hype around the place.
Our flight out was delayed as the airport was awaiting the arrival of a helicopter which had been out rescuing people from the cyclone further north. Although the cyclone has visited places we have, our paths have never crossed - phew!! Anyway we eventually got the plane back to not so warm Perth.

Missing you all

Will be home in a couple of weeks

Geraldine xxxx

Perth the first time round

On the Tuesday 8th December we finally arrived in Perth, not much to do at 10:30 so we went to bed. We stayed in the Seashells Apartments at Scarborough.
Scarborough is one of the beach suburbs of Perth. It was really windy but had beautiful sunsets. We met up with Steve, Mary and their children George, Bethan and Robbie. Steve & I worked together many years ago in Liverpool. They have a lovely house with a pool & we had a great evening with them. It was good to catch up.
We knew nothing about Perth so caught a city tour bus to get our bearings. Perth isn't very big. It sits on the Swan River & is quite pretty. When we go back to Perth we'll be staying on the edge of Kings Park & have already decided what we're going to visit.
On Friday we caught a ferry over to Rottnest Island. The island is 11km long and no private cars are allowed on the island. The best description is that it's a little bit like Centerparks. We hired bikes and spent the day cycling around the island swimming and snorkelling off small beaches. It was lovely. Rottnest Island is famous for its quokkas. Quokkas are marsupials & look a bit like a mini kangaroo. They are really cute & quite friendly. As they are wild you're not allowed to feed them or interact with them. Bit tricky when this cute creature comes up to you. Unfortunately I trod on a tail - oops. The quokka didn't seem to bothered!
After a final relaxing day in Scarborough we caught the plane to Exmouth.
xxxxxxxxxGeraldinexxxxxxxxx

Broome

Broome is paradise on earth. We stayed at a resort called 'Sea Shells' in a lovely apartment. The resort was quiet as it's the rainy season in Broome. Apparently, this means that every so often a few drops of warm rain fall.We didn't really see any rain at all. The temperature was about 35 degrees and quite humid.
We just took it easy for the first day in Broome - after all the running around in Darwin we all needed a bit of a rest.
The next day we headed off to Willie Creek's Pearl Farm where we learnt all about pearl farming. They also showed us how to chose a pearl & then look after it once you get it home. The pearl oysters take quite a lot of looking after. There are jobs for backpackers cleaning the shells which pay $1000 per week - hard work but lucrative. We met a couple at the pearl farm called Adam & Becki (more of them later).
One of the most impressive sights in Broome is Cable Beach - white sand going down to turquoise sea with a blue sky. At sunset you can ride camels along the beach. Adam & Becki were involved with one of the camel ride companies. Annabelle & Lucy rode one camel while Gary & I had a camel each. You climb onto the camel while they're sitting on the ground. They then stand up bum end first - tricky hanging on!! We then walked along the beach for quite a long way. The biggest concern was that a croc had been spotted on the beach the previous day (not sure what would have happened if the camels came face to face with a croc). As we got towards the end of the ride Gary's camel decided to take a nip out of my back.
Broome is just gorgeous and very relaxing. Definitely somewhere to put on your list of places to visit.
We left Broome to fly to Perth. Broome Airport is a series of wooden benches under large fans......



Top photo - Geraldine on Cable Beach
Bottom photo - Camel riding on Cable Beach - girls are on 5th camel from front, Geraldine on 6th Gary on 7th

Darwin

We arrived in Darwin to be welcomed by a thunderstorm - fairly familiar theme. Luckily this was the only rain that we saw for the 3 days in Darwin.

Our first full day in Darwin was spent on an open topped double decker bus very like the one I used to go to school on (obviously not open topped - bit cold for Mow Cop). We saw the sights of Darwin including the gaol, the Museum (cyclone Tracy and Sweetheart the croc) and all the other highlights. Darwin's a fairly small place but has the most expensive real estate in Australia outside Sydney!!

On our second day we went to the Kakadu World Heritage Site. Kakadu is 220km outside Darwin. We did get to see some fantastic scenery and Aboriginal rock art. We also cruised on the Yellow Billabong where we saw crocodiles. Although the boat was flat bottomed and never going to capsize Lucy was terrified (given recent events) of the boat capsizing leaving the Massons as croc food. We also saw kingfishers, sea eagles and jabirus (Australian storks).

On our third day we headed for the Litchfield National Park. This time we went on a croc jumping cruise. They bait the crocs & get them to jump for the food. We were asked to keep the children in the middle of the boat as well as our hands & heads within the confines of the boat. After the croc cruise we headed into the park where we went swimming in crystal clear rock pools at Wangi Falls & Florence Falls. In the photo you can see Gary, Annabelle & Lucy swimming in the pool at Wangi Falls. The swimmimng was blissful and refreshing.

We left Darwin having had a hectic but interesting few days. Onward & upward to Broome....

The Ghan

We had a fantastic time on the Ghan - the train which took us from Adelaide to Darwin.
The crew were brilliant & a lot of fun. They welcomed us onto the train and then showed us to our cabins. Susan was looking after our carriage for the trip (she came from Solihull originally). The cabins had a sofa & were en suite. Susan turned the sofa into bunk beds when we went for dinner.
The food on the train was fantastic. The best bit was that Annabelle loved virtually all the meals that were presented. They had some excellent wines too.
We got on the train 11am Sunday & arrived in Darwin 5pm Tuesday.
On Monday we stopped Alice Springs where we could choose to do a variety of things. Gary & the girls decided that they wanted to go on a helicopter flight - so off we went. It was great fun seeing Alice Springs from the air.
On Tuesday morning we stopped in Katharine. This time we decided to go canoing down the river. The first trauma was when Lucy discovered that there were crocs in the river. They're only freshies (freshwater crocs) so they are quite small & tend to hide away from humans. After a lot of coaxing we got her into a canoe with Gary. Annabelle & I climbed into the other canoe.
We were sent upstream, the ranger said the going would be easy as they hadn't had too much rain. Off we paddled.....
The first little mishap happened when Annabelle passed her hat & sunnies to Gary (not sure why). Both fell in the river. The hat was rescued but the sunnies sank without a trace - one unhappy Annabelle!
A bit more coaxing and we managed to get paddling again. We eventually reached a point where the current was quite strong so decided to turn back and float downstream. Suddenly Annabelle became hysterical - she'd just noticed that there were spiders in the canoe (think they might have been there all along). Gary brought his canoe alongside to try & help sort out the spiders. Annabelle meanwhile was dancing about in the front of the canoe - I thought we were done for. Something then landed on my hat & crawled onto my sunglasses - I pulled it off my face & threw it into the river. It was a spider the size of your hand!!! At that point I decided that it might be a good idea to come out from under the trees. We started to paddle downstream. Gary & Lucy were far ahead. We suddenly realised that they had capsized and paddled like fury to catch their canoe. We then realised that Lucy was clinging to a branch to stop herself from being washed downstream so we turned our canoe round to rescue Lucy. Gary lifted her into our canoe (I thought we were going to capsize too) and we took her back to the jetty where she went to get the ranger to help us. Annie & I then set off to collect the canoe, hat and barrel that were all floating downstream (we're still trying to work out how many points each item is worth). Another English girl on the trip took her canoe back upstream & helped Gary retrieve the paddles. At the end we were all very wet but agreed that the canoing was more fun than the helicopter ride.
Anyway we got back on the train for the last hop to Darwin where it was raining!!!
Take care & see you soon

Love Geraldine xx

Leaving Seacliff

A thousand apologies for no recent posts - as our time in Adelaide is coming to an end our free time is disappearing.

Mum & George have been here so we've had a crazy time trying to keep up with the oldies..yet more wine tasting and the challenge of finding a beer that George liked. He ended up blending his own!

I finished work 3 weeks ago and had a really nice send off. It's been great working at Flinders but all good things must come to an end. I left Flinders on Friday. The next day we went to the Barossa to see Tanunda Town Band play the Last Night of the Proms in a winery - what a hoot!

I then flew to Sydney for 11 days to teach on the MOET/GIC/MOET courses (as you see yet another reference to wine). The teaching was hard work but fun & we have given MOET a good solid start in Australia. The teaching was interspersed with nice meals overlooking the Opera House & cocktails in the Shangri-La. Definitely a great gig.

Eventually I got back to Seacliff with the hopes of a nice restful week at the seaside haha..

As I've finished work we're no longer eligible to stay on the work visa so have had to convert to a tourist visa. Yet more red tape, form filling, a trip to the immigration office and $1000 later we were granted visas to stay in Oz until early January. Lucy, bless her cotton socks, was hoping that the visas would be refused so we could go home sooner. Slight problem with that - we would miss out on our big trip around Oz.

Oh I nearly forgot - the girls did have a school closure day on Monday so we went swimming with the dolphins. It was fantastic & we have some brilliant photos to show. We went out on a catamaran, got dressed in wetsuits & then every so often jumped in the sea & were dragged along by ropes. The sea was quite choppy but the dolphins were interested in coming to play -excellent.

Anyway, back to the big trip.

On Sunday we're getting on the train to Darwin. It's called the Ghan. We're travelling Gold Class which means we get fed (useful on a 3 day train trip). Whilst we're eating breakfast
they put the bed away & get it out again at teatime. We thought we could show the girls the desert & how big Australia is. We will get to stop at Alice Springs & Katharine. When we get to Darwin there are various trips planned to Kakadu & Litchfield Falls.

We'll leave Darwin on 5th December & fly to Broome - the pearling centre of the world. Apparently it's beautiful - white sand, blue sky and blue sea. On 8th December we fly to Perth for a week. We'll then fly north again (it was the only way I could get the flights sorted - got a few frequent flyer points though) to the Ningaloo Reef to take the girls snorkelling. After a week on the reef we'll fly to Perth again & back to Adelaide for Christmas.

Our week in Adelaide is already packed with parties. On 30th December we fly to Sydney for New Year - should be fun as we've booked a boat on the harbour for New Year's Eve. Eventually we fly back to Manchester arriving on 6th January 2010.

I'm really sad to be leaving Seacliff - it's a great place to be even when the sea's wild (like it is at the moment). The beach is coming alive now. The yacht club is open so people are sailing every weekend. The beach is full of children doing Surf Life Saving - definitely something I would have had the girls doing if they had been here for longer. The kids start when they're about 4 - they look so sweet doing their life saving drills.

Take care everybody - I'm sad to leave here but am looking forward to seeing you all in January. Internet access permitting I'll post on the blog more often

Lots of love
Missing you all

Geraldine xxxx

Masters Basketball Sydney

Well folks - all that time spent on the basketball court hasn't been wasted. Gary's team made it to the finals. They played against the Russians & lost. So they got a silver medal - very lovely.

Missing Gary

Hi folks

Gary's gone to the World Masters in Sydney to play basketball for 10 days so I'm single Mum home alone but that hasn't cramped my style.

I went for a walk along the beach Saturday morning to stretch my legs (and get rid of those wine inches). I was feeling a bit sad cos Gary had gone! All of a sudden this vision of loveliness happened buy. Two gorgeous hunks, bronzed & sweaty, jogging along the beach. I thought I'd imagined it!! I was enjoying the memory of the vision as I walked home when they passed me again - bliss. Being in Oz has certainly become even more interesting :)

As Gary left Sally & Graham reappeared. They knocked on the door early Saturday morning having just got off the plane. They decided that as it was such a lovely day they would take their yacht out on the water. It was also the Opening Day for the Yacht Club so there were loads of boats racing on the water - it was fantastic. I can now see the attraction of being in a sailing club. We spent the afternoon on the boat having tea & cake, oh and then cheese & wine. The day was finished off with a Gourmet Barbecue at the Yacht Club which we gatecrashed.

Gary was grumpy that we were on the boat while he was in cloudy wet Sydney on boys trip playing basketball - I ask you?!

The weekend was lovely & warm but it's now started raining again (funny drought this). The girls are grumpy because they're in out of school club while Gary's in Sydney. Ever get that Monday feeling? Anyway only a few more days then Mum will arrive from the UK so we'll just have to do more wine tasting.

We are definitely coming back to the UK. We go walkabout in November so will only be contactable by email/ phone. We'll catch up with you all when we get back. For those of you planning to get pressies for girls - please don't worry about it. If you really want to we'll get then when we get home (our luggage is already over the limit!)

Missing you lots - big hugs to all

Geraldine xxx

The Gold Coast

Annabelle: Last week was the start of the holidays between term three and term four and we went to THE GOLD COAST, however mum couldn't go with us because she had to go to work.
We left home on Saturday the 26th of September at about 4:30am to catch our flight at 6am to go to the gold coast, when we got to the gold coast it was 28 degrees.
A few hours later after sitting in a traffic jam we got to the place we were staying, THE GRAND APARTMENTS, we had the rest of the day being lazy and going swimming in the sea and the pool.
The next day we went to SEA WORLD. It was fun, we saw the dolphin show, the sea lion, the polar bears and all the other aminals there however there wasn't any killer whales.
On Monday we went to the WARNER BROTHERS MOVIE WORLD, and went on many rides inculding the scooby doo ride and the wild wild west ride also we saw the Hollywood Stunt Driver show.
Lucy:
I'm talking about the last two days that we were in gold coast!
At about 11:00 o'clock we went to wet 'n' wild water world, there was like splash landings but bigger!! Frist me and annabelle went on the lazy river. Then all of us went in the wave pool they were giant waves! Then we went on mammoth fall it was a 8 person ride we went on it twice and when we went round a bend I mostley felt as if i was going to fall down to dad!!!
The next day we were out of the room by 10 am and we went to NSW and backthen we went in a zorb (a ball that you sit in and it has water in it and you go down a hill) then we went to the airport and flew home!!!

lucyx PS Miss you lots.

City-Bay Fun Run (or Walk)

Every year 30 000 people run or walk 12km from the centre of Adelaide to Glenelg at the beach. As we missed the Race for Life this year Annabelle, Lucy & I decided that we would join Linda & her crowd for the City-Bay. We walked with Linda & Liz. Emily was at a sleepover so she missed the fun. Michael & Jonathon ran the 12 km in a little over an hour.

We set off at 8:20am and arrived in Glenelg 2hours 8 minutes later. The girls were absolute stars and enjoyed the fun of it all. We saw Lego Men, Star Wars characters, Batman, Wonderwoman and Superman to name a few.

There were lots of supporters along the way. Our favourite was the 2 old couples who had a tray of nibbles and glasses of champagne to hand out. Once we had the champagne the rest of the walk certainly went with zing.

The carrot for the children was a trip into Baskin & Robbins for scrummy ice cream. Gary then came to collect us but there wasn't enough room in the car to take everybody home. Liz, Linda & I walked the 6km back home to Seacliff along the beach.

Once we got back to Seacliff Gary served a great barbeque with lots of new recipes from his Aussie barbeque book. We washed it all down with lots of champagne - well why wouldn't you celebrate this fantastic achievement?!!!

The Show

Lucy: On Tuesday me and Annabelle had a day off school to go the show. The show was like going to the fair and more because it has show jumping, wood chopping, races, fireworks and motor bikes doing stunts. We went on the 40 year old Ferris wheel called the sky master.
Then we went on the sky flyer it's like these seats going about 10 metres high and then we spun around really fast!!! Then for lunch I had a Dagwood dog its this sausage on a stick dung in batter the a little bit dung in tomato sauce and it was really yum!!! Then we went to see the animals border collie puppies the were really cute but the were $15000 each!!! Then we went on lots of rides then we went home. But the show only on in september.

Missing you lots Lucy xxxx
P.S. Can't wait till jan

The Fraenkels Boat

On Thursday, as I was in theatre with my hand somewhere unmentionable my phone rang. Gary & the girls were out on Sally & Graham's boat enjoying cold beers. The temperature had suddenly shot up into the high 20s. I said I would get there as soon as I could.

When I left work I drove down to the beach. Graham came to the shore in the dinghy to collect me. I hitched up my dress (not very well) and waded into the sea. Then I had my first Mr Bean moment as I tried very inelegantly to hop into the dinghy. Needless to say I ended up like a dead fly, flat on my back & legs akimbo in the bottom of the dinghy! I tried to maintain what little dignity I had left as we sped across the water to the yacht anchored offshore. Once we reached the 37 foot yacht Graham asked me to throw Gary the rope which I was sitting on (Mr Bean moment 2). Once I had retrieved the rope I threw it to Gary who tied the dinghy to the yacht. It then dawned on me that I had to get from the dinghy to the yacht (Mr Bean moment 3)! Thankfully I didn't fall in the sea but my dress was so wet it wouldn't have mattered.
A few drinks later it was time to go home. I decided that I would help Graham take the yacht back to its mooring at the Marina rather than risk the dinghy again. If we forget the dinghy I'm sure I could get very used to sitting on the yacht with my beer/wine enjoying the gorgeous sunshine & watching dolphins all day......

Love Bean x

Annabelle:
On Thursday when we got home from school our neighbour Graham wanted to know if me, Lucy and Dad wanted to come on their boat with them. A little while later their daughter Lucy came on.
We jumped off the boat and swam in the sea.
Then we went to Brighton, on the boat, and saw dolphins and had fish and chips.

Lucy: On Thursday we went on Graham's boat and we swam in the sea.It was fun.

Gary had fun too xx

Whale watching

Hi Guys

Last weekend we headed down to Port Eliot with Linda & Eric to go whale watching. On Saturday & Sunday we watched Southern Right Whale mums playing with their calves. They were really close in to the shore. We saw 5 mother whales and each one had their own baby. An awesome sight!!! Unfortunately the photos aren't too great.

We've past the halfway stage of our trip down under. Time seems to be flying but we have to have a few more adventures before we come home.

Missing you all.

Lots of love
Geraldine x

Spring

We've had a very quiet week this week. After Mel left the weather became wild. We had a massive storm that caused damage to buildings & blew trees down. The waves were so huge that they crashed onto the pier. Surfers were actually jumping off the pier with their surfboards trying to catch the waves.
Sally had told us that spring would start on 1st September but with the wild storm & only a week to go we didn't believe her. Guess what? On the first day of September we woke to find a glorious sunny day with a temperature of 22 degrees. Amazing! Hopefully the weather will just get better from now on.
Not much else to report - we're just starting to plan our walkabout at the end of the year.
Hope all is well back home.

Take care, missing you all
Love Geraldine x

Sydney

To end Mel's Aussie adventure we went to Sydney. We stayed at the Old Sydney Holiday Inn which is on The Rocks - the place that the British first came to Australia. The hotel was in a great position. The view from the rooftop pool was of the Opera House & the Harbour Bridge.

We arrived late on the Tuesday night. On the Wednesday morning we tried to have a dip in the pool but it was so cold that we didn't last very long!

We then headed out to the Botanic Gardens to have breakfast with the flying foxes! Mel didn't realise what the flying foxes were at first as they were awake & flying around even though it was daytime! After breakfast we wandered around to the Opera House where we did a tour. The tour was fantastic. We even got to listen to the Australian Symphony Orchestra practising for a few minutes.

We then headed down to Circular Quay where there were a couple of aboriginal buskers playing on their didgeridoos (an English boy was heard to tell his parents that he thought they were fake!!!). We hopped onto the Manly Ferry which gives one of the best views of the Sydney Harbour. We had lunch in Manly before we headed back to Sydney.

Our next bit of fun was to climb up the pylon at the end of the Harbour Bridge - the large oblong structure at the left hand end of the bridge. In the pylon is an exhibition about the building of the bridge. From the top of the pylon you get fantastic views of the whole of Sydney - definitely another highlight.

We then went out for a drink with Chris & Dave Kettle before we met Neil's (Mel's significant other & fab karaoke DJ) brother Jason for a $10 steak (much better than the $10 pizza the previous night). Paying $10 for your steak seems to mean that you don't get much say in how it's cooked.

The next morning I woke at the crack of dawn, literally, and headed back onto the roof to watch the sunrise over the Opera House. Awesome! Once I managed to get Mel out of bed we headed out to Darling Harbour for brekkie. We then went shopping in Paddy's Markets - just a whole different world - Neil benefited hugely from the trip!

The Sydney Tower was our next stop. It's supposed to give the best views of Sydney (it used to - not since they built the skyscrapers though). Finally we wandered back to the Opera House via the Botanic Gardens. We had lunch beside the Opera House with a great view of the Harbour Bridge - well we just had to have another glass of fizz. With the glorious sunshine & the stunning views there was nowhere better to be with my little sister.

All too soon the trip was over & we headed back to Adelaide. Mel has now gone back to the UK seriously bitten by the travel bug.

Annabelle says thanks for all the great presents that you have sent out for her birthday - you're all very kind.

Time to sign off - wish I had a portkey

Big hugs

Geraldine x

The Riesling Trail

Hey Folks

Just when you thought we had drunk Australia dry we found another source - the Clare Valley! We went to Minataro (top photo) in the Clare Valley for the weekend. Clare Valley produces lots of lovely wine but is famous for its Riesling. Yes, we know - yucky German wine but the Riesling from Clare Valley is nothing like. It's dry & lovely.

So in the spirit of Masson entertainment we took the McKendrick clan and Sally & Graham cycling along the Riesling Trail. The Riesling Trail is a gravel track a bit like the Salt Line in Sandbach.

We got the bikes from Cogwebs in Auburn which is run by a lovely lady called Judy who came from Dorset. Judy didn't have any kids bikes so Mel & Lucy rode a tandem (tee hee). Sadly, I have no photos to prove this .

We didn't realise that the track from Auburn (where we collected the bikes from) to Clare was a gentle uphill which wasn't helped by the headwind!

Eventually we reached Crabtree vineyard. I think that the wine maker in Crabtree was glad to see the back of the 'Dirty Dozen' (bottom photo) after we ate all his cheese, biscuits, breadsticks, olives & drank most of his wine. Gary did buy 2 bottles of Shiraz by way of small recompense but that was all we could carry.

We then got back onto the bikes & continued uphill on to Penna Lane wines where we had a lovely lunch. After lunch & the obligatory wine we went back to the track to take the long downhill back to Auburn. Thank goodness we did the uphill sober!

Today we visited Burra which is an old copper mining town - not much copper left now though. The kids got dressed up in period costumes & put on a little show in Burra Town Hall. It was like they were tots again.

Hope you're all having fun - got to finish this bottle of Crabtree wine before it goes off!!

Missing you all

Love Geraldine x

Gary

Hello Everybody

Just thought you would all like to see Gary on his sabbatical. More importantly you can see the view from our balcony. Unusually he has a pot of coffee - it's normally a bottle of red wine.

Wish you could all share some time on our balcony too.

Love Geraldine x

our trip to kangaroo island

We woke up and got packed and put all our stuff in the car and drove to cape Jervis. At cape Jervis we went to the toilet because Annabelle said that the toilets were all like a wave inside!Then we played cards to make time go faster while we were waiting for the boat. When the boat arrived anty mel drove on because the driver was the only person allowed in the car while they drove on. Then dad wanted to get on two minets until it went!!!When we got to penneshaw we drove to cape willhoby because the Mckendricks suggested it good place to go!Then we drove to our apartment.When we were at our apartment me and dad went to check in and there was a puppy and it was wild! Then we went in the swimming pool it was hot as a hot bath!!!After we went to bed!!!

The next day after a morning swim and breakfast, cooked by Daddy!! we went to Kelly Hill Caves. We had to walk down some really steep steps then we saw lots of staligtites and staligmites they were really weird. It was awesome down there. We werre going to back for the adventure caving but didn't get time. Then we went on to the koala walk we saw 4 koalas in the tree and a kangaroo - daddy thought one koala was drunk because of the way that he was looking at us.

Daddy drove us over some really muddy and dirty roads - he drove really fast through a river to try to get me & Aunty Mel wet but it didn't work.
We found a place out in the country where you could choose your own Marron (fresh water lobster things) and taste some wine. We decided to take mummy there the next day for lunch.

We collected mummy from the airport then we went out for dinner to celebrate Annabelle's birthday.

The next day we went to see the Remarkable Rocks and Admirals Arch, the Remarkable Rocks were weird . At Admirals Arch we saw loads of seals all resting on the rocks because it was too rough for them to go out into the sea.

The next day it was raining but we still went on to Seal Bay - we walked on the beach with all of the seals - one baby seal was really nosey and came up to us - he was sniffing Annabelle's feet and she didn't even have any socks on - just her flip flops. We couldn't go to Little Sahara because it was raining so much. I'd like to go back to Kangaroo Island so that I can do the sand-surfing

I think Kangaroo Island is funky and I'm really glad that we went to visit.

See you soon

Lucy xxx

Happy Birthday

In the month of August it a very special persons birthday, mine, Annabelle Masson's Birthday to be precise. Each year I have a party, invite most of my friends. But this year I didn't want a party because I couldn't my friends from England. But that all changed when I got told that P!NK, the rockstar, was coming to Adeladie and doing concerts only days away from my birthday. So dad got the tickets for 8 people, me, lucy, him, lucy's friend parya (pa-re-a) and my friends louise, lorna and emily.
They all came after school on Tuesday 4th August, we had mexican and ice cream cake (in the middle of winter) before we left for the concert.
When we got to The Adeladie Entertainment Centre, we went on the Bus that follows P!NK around, IT WAS AWESOME!!!!!!
After that we went into the arena we sat down and to our suprise EVERMORE start playing, they joined P!NK on her tour.
When P!NK came out onto the stage she was pulled out from under neath the stage. After a lot of great songs by P!NK (some rude ones as well) and her telling us about being hit on the head and a man talking in the steam room we went home.
And that is what I did for my birthday this year!!!

Adelaide Migrants

Gday Mates

Mel has arrived safely in Adelaide after spending a few days in Singapore. Sounds like she had a great time in Singapore with lots of sightseeing and Singapore Slings in the Long Bar at Raffles.

The day she arrived Linda, Eric, Gary & children took Mel to see the Aussie rules football. The 2 local teams Adelaide Crows and Port Adelaide Power were playing. As for all footy matches, it was cold and wet. Poor Mel was jet lagged but seems to have enjoyed it. Unfortunately, I missed the fun cos I was working.

Gary & Mel headed off to the hills on Tuesday for a wine tasting tour. We were going to head off down to McLaren Vale for a cheese & wine tour on Wednesday too but Annie had a relapse & was sent home sick from school within 5 minutes of being dropped off! Annie & Lucy then had a pupil free day on Thursday so they all went to Monarto Zoo. Monarto is a bit like a safari park but you get driven around in a bus.

Last night we had our neighbours Sally, Graham & Lucy over for a fondue. Amazingly, I held it together this time & managed to serve starters, fondue, dessert, do the forfeits and let our guests out of the house before I went to bed. We had a really fun night with lots of good company and good wine (yes more). The biggest challenge in all this was buying a fondue pot!

Today we went to Port Adelaide which was really interesting. We went on a dolphin cruise & saw loads of dolphins. We also went to the seahorse farm where we stroked a shark , saw seahorses and a leafy seadragon (have a look online if you haven't seen one - they are weird!). Then we went to the Maritime Museum where Annie & Lucy discovered that Massons and Blanchs had emigrated to Adelaide in the 19th century. Amazing!

Mel's crashed out - must be too much excitement!!

Hope all is well back home. Thanks Lorna for sending us the photo - I opened your email at work & nearly blubbed. It was lovely to see you all having a drunken time - just sad that we hadn't been with you. Anyway we raise a glass to you all back home. Take care

Lots of love
Geraldine xx

Catching up

Gday Cobbers,
How're you doing?

Well did you all see Harry Potter? What did you think?
We've discovered a cinema in Brighton (about 20 minutes walk) where they show 2 feature length films. The place had about 30 people in it. We watched the first film (September about the aboriginals getting equal pay). They then had an intermission. Once the man had served everybody their coffee/ ice cream etc & we had all sat down he started the next film. We then watched 'Is there anybody there?' with Michael Caine - it has some great one liners but isn't anything too exciting. The cinema is called the Windsor and is really old. They charged us $8 each! Cheap night out.

Annie has been really poorly - I even took her to see the GP. She was checked out for swine flu which she didn't have. Lucy went to Linda & Eric's while Annie was really ill. When she came back she wouldn't go anywhere near Annie until the swine flu results came through. A week later and a course of antibiotics Annie is still coughing like crazy & has not gone back to school.

Time seems to be flying here & we've lost sight of a few birthdays - sorry. Your presents & cards are on their way - better late than never.

Contact situation - we are 81/2 hours ahead of you. It's 8am here which means it's 11:30 pm back home. My UK mobile receives text messages but won't let me text back - not sure why. You can phone me on that or my Australian mobile (0439 246146). We will try & look at Skype this weekend. My email is geraldine.masson@tiscali.co.uk - don't have all your emails.

Mel arrives on Sunday - we have all sorts of great things planned (most involving wine).

Lucy is great - she has gone back to school (they just had 2 weeks holiday).

Gary as always is basketball mad. He's playing and refereeing. He's discovered the joys of public transport and often travels by train.

Take care Pommies
Missing you
Love Geraldine x

Getting Old

Yesterday Michael (Linda & Eric's eldest) was 18. Richard (Paula & Rod's son) was 18 last month.
Linda & I were arranging some activities for when Mel comes to Adelaide. On one website to book accomodation we had to choose our age group - we fell into the 'over 45' category. How/ when did we ever get to be so old?
(A little bit of philosophy now I've got some time to pontificate!)
Geraldine x

Our Aussie Home

Hi Guys

If you want to see our house check it out on Google maps. I found it on the Aussie Google website. Type in 243 Esplanade Seacliff SA 5049. When you look at the street view you can see our house. The house on the left with the car on the drive is our nextdoor neighbours. The yellow 2 storey house is ours - you'll be able to spot our balcony where we drink wine. As you pan around you'll see some building work - those flats are now finished. Keep panning, cross over the road and you'll see the yacht club (with the funny square bit on its roof). Then you'll see a double garage. The garage on the right belongs to Sally & Graham. Keep panning and you'll see the car park. On the far side of the car park is the beach & then the sea. Isn't it great? Don't worry we'll be landlocked in sunny Sandbach soon enough.

I'm on call today so not much happening. Hope you're all well

Love Bean xx

my frist friends

On this post i'm going to talk my australian friends the 1st friends i made was Rachel she showed me around my classroom the 2nd friend is Parya (pronounced parry a)Rachel's friend. The 3rd friend i made is Michael a friend of parya and then tyler.
Lucy xxx

Beside the seaside

We sat on the balcony today watching dolphins swimming in the sea - bliss!

Old Friends

Hello Up Over!

The big excitement is that we moved into our beach hut this week. Well it's not exactly a beach hut but it as at the beach. We wake up in the morning and have a great view of the sea. Gary & I have started walking on the beach every morning which is lovely. It takes about 45 minutes to walk to Brighton Pier & back (and you all thought we were in Australia, haha).

We walked to the pub for dinner last night with Linda & Eric. The food was lovely. We also went out for dinner with Linda & Eric to Magill Estate on Thursday. Magill Estate is the Penfold's winery where it all started. We spent more on the bottle of wine that we would normally spend on a meal out (for the whole family)! The food was lovely but truly extravagant. We won't being that too many times.

An update on the quiz night - we came 3rd. We had to do a few things including taking some of our clothes off, me finding lollies (translation sweets, confusing cos I was looking for the sticks!) in a tray of flour. I wouldn't recommend this as one guy went home & I spent the whole weekend with bits of pastry on my eyelashes, up my nose etc. Our big success (Mike & Gary's really, Eric was the foreman on this one) was the construction of the tallest tower out of a newspaper & some masking tape.The winner was the structure still standing at the end of the evening. Ours wasn't the tallest but it was the tallest at the time of judging. You can see the boys efforts and mine after I found all the sweets.

Our other bit of news is that we went to see Simon & Garfunkel on their "Old Friends" tour. They were fantastic, the band was excellent, the sound was amazing but they are old. I'm glad we went because I don't think we'll have another opportunity. The sad thing is that the people in Adelaide sit down at concerts & clap politely! Those 2 guys were working hard on the stage & nobody got up & danced. Eventually I did but people didn't like it. The only time the audience woke up was at the end when they wanted encores!! They certainly deserve any!

The girls are having fun. Annie off to a disco tonight. They're on holiday for 2 weeks. Gary will have fun entertaining them in the rain - I think he should take them to the Gold Coast. Can't persuade him though.

We now have internet access at home but Gary reckons we can only get it outside, not sure why. If you want to skype that would be great. We don't have a landline but I have my UK mobile & an Aussie mobile 0439246146.
The new address is:

243 The Esplanade

Seacliff

South Australia 5049

Since I started this blog last week the weather has become wild with freak storms - bit like a British summer but I here you're all having a heatwave.

Take care

Lots of love

Missing you all

Geraldine x

Back to work

Hi Guys

Sorry about the lack of contact recently. Life has suddenly got busier since I started work. Work is fine. Everybody is really friendly. The only problem is the paperwork & the computer. I feel like the new kid at school all over again! My first day on labour ward was fun with one (English) woman nearly having a cardiac arrest on me! I had visions of being on the next plane home.


The girls are getting pretty tired with all the commuting to school so we're looking forward to living down at the beach. One great thing about the commuting is seeing all the white cockatoos flying around. They're huge.

One of the advantages of starting work a week late was that we were able to go away with Steve (my boss) and Kerry to Port Willunga in McLaren Vale. We stayed in a lovely bungalow close to the beach. We walked down the beach each day and then went off to the 'Sea & Vines' festival. Some of the vineyards open their doors, get a band in and serve food. You buy glasses at the first vineyard which you then carry around as you go from one vineyard to the next. Gary thought I was nicking them! It was a bank holiday weekend - the bank holiday was to celebrate the Queen's Birthday!


We went to the cabaret last week. It was a little bit like the Edinburgh fringe with lots of comedy shows. The first show was called 'Every Film That Was Ever Made'. 3 people ran around the stage reenacting scenes from various films. It was very funy in parts. Didn't get some of the Aussie jokes & it seems like the Aussies hate Nicole Kidman. The second show we saw was a woman Julia Morris. She was an Aussie stand up comedienne. She was in the UK for a while where she worked for the BBC and also was the warm up act for Catherine Tate. We'd never heard of her before but she was very funny.


Today we went to Penfolds & had a tour of the winery. We ended the tour with a little bit of wine tasting (getting used to this now!). The big revelation is that the good Aussie wine isn't exported & bottles of wine like Rawson's Retreat are considered poor quality compared with what is available here. Their 'iconic' wine Grange (their words) retails at $650 a bottle for the 2004 vintage. I'm not sure how they can justify to charge that much. We're going back for dinner next week when they'll give us a snifter of the Grange 1996 vintage. Let's see if it really tastes that good. The wines we tasted today weren't that great!


In the true spirit of getting involved we're going to the Quiz Night at the girls school on Friday night. Interestingly, it's for over 18s only. We need a team of 10. We've begged, stolen & borrowed friends to get our team together. We also need to take our own food, drink & coins!! We'll see what happens...



We move into our place on 24th June. The address is 243 The Esplanade, Seacliff , 5049, South Australia. Gary is supposed to sorting out the phone. I'll let you know if & when it happens.


Hope you're all well.

Take care

Missing you all

Love Geraldine x

PS The marble cake has been renamed 'Marble Hill Cake' as Marble Hill is near to here

Today i went to cleland wildlife park i stroked a koala and feed: Kangaroos, Potaroos, Wallabies, Pelicans, Wombats and Ducks.

Skype

The Rolfes skyped us on Monday. Unfortunately I don't know how to skype & Annie is away until Friday evening. Will post instructions when Annie returns. Maybe we can skype some of you on Saturday? We're out Sunday/Monday for the Queen's birthday.
Geraldine x

Boring School Again

Today I went to school. My teacher was a very nice teacher. I have got some very nice friends, they are called Rachel, Parya and Asher. I have to wake up at 6:30 in the morning every day because we live so far from school. They are very nice friends!
The school is called seacliff primary school. Annabelle is going K.I. (Kangaroo Island) tomorrow! She has to be at school tomorrow at 6:00 so she has to leave at 4:00 which is 8:30 in the afternoon in England!!!

17 again....

Hey guess what? Gary let me drive the bug - it was like being 17 again. Mum used to have one of these. It's a bit tricky to start in the cold (wish I'd brought my woollies) but great once it gets going. The girls die of embarrassment every time we go out in it - tee hee.

Have you seen 17 again? Girls it's better than HSM3. Gary enjoyed learning some new baskeball moves (Holmes Chapel Hornets take note).

We've found a nice house to stay in on the Esplanade in Seacliff. It has 3 bedrooms and 2 sofa beds so can sleep up to 10 people. The master bedroom has a balcony where I'll be sitting with my cuppa in the mornings & my wine in the evenings! The house is just across from the Yacht Club and the beach so should be fun. The only problem is that we can't move into it until 24th June. Once we get sorted I'll post the address. We also need to sort out a phone line. My mobile refuses to send any more texts (think O2 may have blocked it even though I'm on a contract) so I think email may be a better option. I have an Aussie mobile (0061439 246146).

We also enrolled the girls in school. They're both going to Seacliff Primary School (high school starts from year 8). Annie will be in year 7 but is the youngest in her year group. Lucy will be in year 4. They start school on Monday 1st June. Annie goes camping with her class to Kangaroo Island from Wednesday to Friday next week.

The school is a friendly local school a bit like Wheelock. We went to meet the head Greg Miller yesterday. When we arrived he was wearing a T-shirt, jacket, trainers, jeans & a crazy hat. We sat chatting for about 20 minutes before he explained his slightly unconventional clothes. The school assembly was to celebrate the apology to the Aboriginals by the Australian Government. The hat was an aboriginal hat and the T-shirt had a motif representing the reconciliation. The school is a very happening place with lots of energy. Lucy was very keen to get started as there were lots of friendly children and lots of computers. So at 3:30pm on Friday we were standing with the school secretary buying school uniform ready to start school on Monday.

As for me - well the saga continues. I got my FRANZCOG and thought it would be plain sailing from there. A quick interview at the Medical Board and an email to immigration was the plan to get my registration & visa sorted so I could start work on Monday 1st June. Needless to say we met yet more resistance & changing rules. The Medical Board meet on Tuesday 2nd June at 4pm. If they are okay with everything that I have submitted they may say it's okay for me to work. It will then take another 2 days to convert the visa. So the soonest I may be able to start work is Tuesday 9th June (Monday is bank holiday). Watch this space - we'll be lucky if it's sorted by then.

Apparently, people in Australia are not allowed to take leave in their first year of work! I will accrue the equivalent of 12 days leave in my 5 months which I will be paid for but cannot take as days off!

Time to sign off now

Hope you're all enjoying the heat wave

Missing you all

Geraldine x

By Annabelle

Annabelle:
Hi, having a nice time here in Australia. BAD NEWS I have to go to school and the school uniform is horrible (Jonno: no kidding...). There are two dogs called Brackenand Jule (said you-la). We are staying in the (Jonno now being scribe) Adelaide Hills with Uncle Eric, Auntie Linda, Mike, Jonno, Emily and Chris. There are tonnes of animals here, 2 dogs, 1 cat, 2 guinea pigs, 3 sheep, a few budgees, a lot of chickens and a billion millipedes. We went to see Night at a Museum 2, and it didn't have an austrailian accent like everyone said. The cat here bites people alot, and it looks like Casper (Beth's cat). All the kids fight all the time. There are also a few fishs, but the tank needs cleaning out a bit.

Key to photo (for those of you that don't know):

Uncle Eric - dashingly handsome man on chair (note no grey hairs)

Chris - sitting on Eric's lap

Jonno - holding cat

Linda - surrounded by her nearest & dearest

Mike - in the stripy blue top

Emily- sitting on Linda's lap

Bracken - dog at the front (Jule too shy for the photo)

cinemas again

Lucy: Today we are going to see 17 again at the cinema I've never been to the cinemas this much before!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I took Ula on a walk today and half way back she lay down and she didn't stand up for ages!
Annabelle has got a book called Angus Thongs and perfect snogging and she nearly at the end !She only got it yesterday!

Meeting Buddy

Geraldine: Hey guys it's good to hear that you're enjoying a great bank holiday. Guess we switched the weather as all we've had is rain all weekend. The Aussies are thrilled, but we're not. But the rain didn't stop us enjoying a barbie at the Michels. Mike & Liz Michel are good friends of Linda & Eric.

This is Mike with his pet rainbow lorakeet Buddy. Mike teaches year 7 girls and Buddy goes to school with him every day. Buddy wanders around the classroom and the pupils take it in turns to wipe up the poop! Mike says he's waiting for a complaint from a parent when one of the girls goes home with bird poop on her uniform! Rainbow lorakeets are flying around in the wild here. We see them in the trees most days.

The barbie was great fun. Lots of scrummy food with new recipes to bring back to the UK. My contribution was waffle berry pudding - they loved it! True to form there was a lot of drinking. Linda tells me I shouldn't have mixed my drinks - I ask you I only drank champagne all night but apparently mixing pink & white isn't a great idea! Linda tells me that I asked who'd brought the boat (I was swaying at this point) and then I fell on the piano. I think they're all making it up 'cos I don't remember a piano.... I'll have to throw a fondue party.....

The interview - I know many of you have asked. The interview was vile. I was grilled for an hour and a half. Ever played the football game on the wii fit - well it was a bit like that. I felt physically sick for about 4 hours afterwards. I was convinced we were coming home. The good news/ bad news is that I have been granted the Fellowship which means that we'll be here until January. Just need to sort out my registration & visa now.

Gary has joined a basketball team called the Rhubarbs! He's the youngest by about 5 years. He's also made contact with basketball SA - they've asked him what he wants to do in terms of playing, refereeing etc.

Anyway time to sign off. Missing you all - sounds like you're having fun. Who's party did we miss? Let us know if you want to visit.

Love Geraldine

Geraldine Masson FRANZCOG

Lucy: We have been to see the 'Night at the Museum 2' instead of going to Clelland Park where you see the kangaroos because it was raining! Annabelle and I have been on guitar hero on the play stashion, it is really hard + really fun and I have been on super Mario galxey on wii it was really hard. Then Mum went on the wii fit and she trashed the other people!!!!!!!!

Annabelle:

Herbie rides again...

Lucy: In our place that we stayed in there was millipeds everywhere! There were weird pigions with Mohican hairstyles they looked really funkey. In an old fashioned beetle we went to the beach and we found loads of shells.
I went in the swimming pool yesterday. It was really warm but cold aswell!

Geraldine: We had our first trip out in the VW beetle - highly entertaining, might have to consider a plan B!
I popped into Flinders Hospital today & met the new team. Everybody was really friendly. Lots of expats.
We also went down to the beach and drew up a shortlist of accomodation to view. We'll go & look at the insides sometime next week.
Sorry to hear that you're enjoying the rain. It's 22 degrees here & Lucy is complaining about being too hot. Hope the bank holiday doesn't disappoint. Enjoy the weekend.

Take care
Geraldine x

Are we there yet?

Lucy: Today we are so tired and in Robe we had to stay in a static caravan and I got a bite on the left side of my head!!!

Missing you lots Lucy xxx

Geraldine: Port Fairy (top picture) turned out to be a bit prettier in daylight but still very much stuck in its 1970s time warp. Our journey from Port Fairy to Robe involved a slight detour to Cape Bridgewater where we had a lovely lunch sitting in a beach bar - just what we had imagined being in Australia would be about. Apart from going to see the Petrified Forest (some weird rock formation) and blowholes (weird waves crashing against the shore) the trip was fairly uneventful. We eventually arrived in Robe which was a lovely place. We stayed the night in a static caravan with no bed linen for the girls! Not sure how I managed to book that one! Played the 'I'm the stupid pommie' card with the lady on reception who took pity on the girls & provided some duvets.

The next day we did the long drive up to Adelaide. After some 1200km we finally arrived at the McKendricks. Amazingly, Gary managed to find their house even though we haven't been here for 10 years.

Wildlife spotted en route: emus grazing in fields, a kookaburra sitting on a telegraph wire, pelicans, alpacas and an echidna (giant hedgehog). Amazingly the fast moving roos seem to feature as road kill fairly regularly whereas the bumbling echidna manages to get across the road without getting squashed.

The one thing this journey has shown us is the vast empty spaces in Australia. Melbourne was fast moving, crazy and crowded. The roads were up to 5 lanes wide in the centre of town. On the journey between the 2 cities the only place we saw crowds was at the 12 Apostles. The rest of the time we could drive for miles without ever seeing another car. Adelaide is much more 'small town'. Less crowded and less rushed.

We're having a great time enjoying the McKendrick's hospitality. Linda & Eric are well. Michael is studying hard for the IB which he sits in November. Jonathon was thrashed by Lucy on the wii at bowling. Chris was out & about on his bikes & Emily managed to con Eric to write a note to the teachers saying that she hadn't done her homework on account of the English people. None of the boys managed to con Eric!

Our only little problem was the fact that the boys had booby trapped our beds with plastic snakes. One very tired, tearful Lucy wanted to go home to Sandbach!

There is a menagerie here with one white cat (yes Islay it is terrorising me - Caspar's doppelganger), 2 retrievers, guinea pigs, budgies, chooks and even a koala sitting in the tree outside our room. Lots of local wine and excellent food.

We headed up to Mount Lofty today to show the girls the view. I'm off to Flinders Hospital to meet the team tomorrow.

Yes I am logging in to geraldine.masson@tiscali.co.uk. Gary is using gary.masson@tiscali.co.uk. Lucy is using massonlucy@googlemail.com. Annabelle is using ABFluf@googlemail.com.

Has Mrs Williamson had her baby yet?

Hope you're all well

Lots of love

Missing my mates

Geraldine x

We're going on a bear hunt .....

Lucy: Hi we have seen Koalas , Kangaroos , Galahs and Crimson Rosellas in the wild. Today we are going to robe.
Still missing you all Lucy

Annabelle: Hi we started the Great Ocean Road on Saturday, after five days in Melbourne.
On Saturday we hired a car from Hertz in Melbourne and drove to Apollo Bay. We stopped many times to look at the waves, they were 3m high. When we arrived in Apollo Bay in the afternoon then we had hot chocolate and cake in a coffee shop while we played chess. On Sunday we went to then gym for about half an hour while we were watching the marathon. Then we went on a bear hunt, i was the first person to see a koala. We eventually we saw about 10 koalas. On the way back to the Apartment we saw 3 kangeroos, their brains are about the size of a peanut. On Monday we drove to Port Fairy. On the way we did a Tree-Top walk. It was alright but we walked over 2km. The next stop was at the 12 Apostles however most of the Apostles had collapsed into the sea. Then we stopped of at Loch Ard Gorge there was a ship wreck there but you couldn't see it. Then we stopped of at London Bridge there is a story about a couple who walked across the arch 2 minutes before it collapsed and were rescued by a helicopter - problem was they were having an affair so didn't like the media attention!

Geraldine: Sorry we haven't blogged for a few days - wifi connection has been dodgy down under! Great to see all your posts on the blog. Keep them coming:)
The Great Ocean Road is awseome - you should put it on your list of things to do before you die! The rock formations are far more impressive than you can ever appreciate on a photo. Annie was giving us a geography lesson about coastal erosion (so she did lern something at school!).
Lucy thought the waves in Colonsay were bigger than these 3m waves in the Southern Ocean. You certainly woiuldn't catch me in the sea at the moment - it looks cold & wild.
We took the girls on a bear hunt - they didn't want to go until they realised we were looking for koala bears. The smell of the eucalyptus trees in the forest was very refreshing. We were lucky to see the koalas at feed time, one guy was fairly active (as active as koalas can be) and determined to get to his leaves. We did try to persuade them that there was a nice eucalyptus tree in Sandbach that they might like to inhabit, but to no avail (sorry Sally & Dave).
We saw a flock of galahs sitting on telegraph wires - how bizarre. They have grey backs & pink breasts. There used to be a galah on Neighbours many years ago, you may remember.
We're now in Port Fairy - not quite what you think from the name. We had a traditional pub meal in the Caledonian Inn last night....
One great revelation is that the Clangers are alive & well on the south coast of Australia! In Apollo Bay & Port Fairy we have definitely heard Clangers. Not sure what they are but they sound like Clangers. I'll let you know once we find out.
We're driving up to Robe today & will arrive in Adelaide tomorrow. Once I get a connection lead for the camera we'll load some photos from our trip.

Take care everbody - missing you lots
Geraldine x

Gday Possums, Melbourne

Thursday 14th May 2009

Geraldine: Hi guys - arrived in Melbourne safely. The weather is fine - a little bit cooler than UK (but very cold at night - thankfully discovered the electric blanket!). The days are shorter - very autumnal. Everybody's body clocks are all over the place & unfortunately in different directions! Certainly makes for interesting days when you can perm any number out of 4 asleep at any time!

So far we've been to the Melbourne Museum which is awesome. The girls were unhappy because it was full of kids on school trips. Apart from that it certainly was worth the trip with lots of things about Australia & aborigines. Another interesting thing was the computer room which housed part of the first Australian computer (the room wasn't big enough to house the whole computer) and a component of the Control Data computer that I remember Dad working on in the 60s (take your daughter to work day!).

Lucy is in love but I'll let her tell you all about it. I might not be able to persuade her to come back to England without the object of her affections!

We're going to the aquarium today which has penguins in an Antartica setting - not even chill factor has penguins!

We'll leave Melbourne on Saturday to drive up the Great Ocean Road. Hopefully, we'll get to Adelaide sometime early next week.

Missing you all
Geraldine x

Lucy: One day when we were walking to a restrant we went past a park and we saw these little creatures. They look like big squirrels and they come out at night. We didn't know what they were so we asked this lady and she said they are possums. They are much more braver than squrriels. Yesterday there was this baby possum and it went right up to dad it was nearly climbing up dad's leg!

I am missing you all very much
Lucy

Second Stop : Melbourne

We arrived in Melbourne at 7:00(time in Melbourne). At the airport there was a beagel sniffing everyones suitcases and bags.
We are now staying in BIRCHES serviced apartments. Last night we went and had thai it was nice but filling. It hasn't rained yet in Melbourne and it is cold everyone is wearing coats.

First Stop : Singapore

We are now in Singapore in Changi Airport. We are waiting for the swimming pool to open, so we can have a nice cold refreshing swim on the roof top of the airport in the warm heat.

big byes

Thank you all, for coming to our party. It was great, all the food was lovely. Big byes to you all, it's going to be a big adventure for us all!!!
Bye again!

Lucy created a blog

We are going to Australia for 8 months from May 2009. This is the blog about our trip down under. We'll post news and photos for you to see. Please feel free to write back. We'd like that.
Love Gary, Geraldine, Annabelle and Lucy xxxx