Rugby Final

A sad day! Having been constantly given a hard time by the Aussies over England's poor performance in the lead up to the Rugby World cup, it was FANTASTIC to beat them in the quarter finals. To then go and beat the French in the Semi final was the icing on the cake. To be honest, after those 2 wins we didn't really care if we won the final against South Africa or not...but it would've been nice.

We got up at 2.30 in the morning and travelled with another English couple to a pub in the city. Most of the people in the pub hadn't been to bed (like us old folks) and were totally drunk. There was a mixture of South Africans, Australians and many English fans all glued to the TV screens around the place. Noone noticed the sun come up as we watched our boys battle it out against the Springboks.

But it wasn't meant to be (even if that was a try really!). We held our heads high as we went for a McDonalds breakfast wearing our 'England' t-shirts. Well done boys...maybe next time.

A weekend at The Farm

One of things that we wanted to tell you all about was our weekend trip to the Outback. We went with Brett & Helen and Kerry & Dave (plus kids ranging from 1 - 18 years old). Helen & Brett's friends own a 26,000 acre sheep ranch in the middle of nowhere and so we went bush for a couple of days. They had warned us we would get dirty, and being English we naturally equate 'dirty' with 'muddy' but not so in Australia! We got covered in dirt - red dust-dirt.

On the Saturday night we had a camp fire and cooked our food in the fire. We got a load of veggies & meat with a couple of oxo cubes and wrapped it tightly in tin foil. We then put this in the embers of the fire and 30 minutes later we each had our own delicious stew - yummy. No washing up either - result!

We had a great time riding around on motorbikes and chasing kangaroos! Neither of us had ridden a motorbike before and loved the experience.

It was a fab weekend and one we would love to do again. Maybe Helen & Brett will take us out when you come to visit...

Photos

Sunset at Semaphore jetty. Andy & I raced home and went straight to the beach to watch the glorious sunset.

We've managed to set our computer up at a friend's house while we sort out the internet so I've downloaded a few photos. This one was taken at Andy's birthday back in July. A whole bunch of people (all of whom have become friends) turned up to wish Andy 'Happy Birthday'. It was a great evening.

Andy was impressed with his birthday present - 10 different types of Australian beers for him to try and the legendary Tim Tams for drinking tea through.

It's been too long...(Swing Low Sweet Chariot!)

It’s been way too long since I updated our blog. I’ve been waiting ‘til we got internet access at home so that I could download some photos, but it’s all taking too long. I will get some photos up soon, but in the meantime, a quick update…

We’ve now moved into our own place – a 2 bed ‘unit’ (terraced bungalow) which is 0.6km to the beach (about a 10 minute walk). Our rent is reasonable and it’s good to have our own place. We’ve been busy shopping and have bought a car, a washing machine, a fridge freezer, a blender, an iron and some plates! We’re getting there, slowly but surely. We still need to get a bed but having spent 2 whole days driving round and lying on a zillion different ones, we got so confused we gave up. But tomorrow evening will see us catching zzzzz in a variety of shops – how on earth are you supposed to know after 5 minutes that you would be comfortable on this bed for 8 hours a night for the next 10 or so years?!

Andy continues to work hard – he’s getting loads of Handy Man stuff. He’s currently helping renovate someone’s kitchen and Pete has asked him to do a couple of days a week for the next few weeks. He’s still working at his coaching too and things are slowly taking off there. I’m still doing relief work (supply teaching) and have just enjoyed 2 weeks school hols! I’m in 3 schools now and am averaging 3 or 4 days a week. I could sign up for a agency to get more but to be honest, I quite like knowing the schools I’m in and don’t want to end up in some nightmare place. There are a lot jobs coming up now for the new school year in February so hopefully something will work out there.

We’ve pretty much chosen a church to be a part of. It’s called SALT (www.salt.org.au) and it’s a small house church with a great feeling to it. There are only about 20 people in it but we love it. It’s a bit different to anything we’ve been part of before – well, I guess it’s similar to the house youth group we used to do in Chelmsford. But anyway, we’re really happy there and praying that God will show us what part he wants us to play.

I guess we are settling in slowly but surely. We have made some great friends – people who have gone out of their way to welcome us and help us settle. I (Carla) am not as homesick as I was (which is just as well – I was tearful every weekend for quite a while). However, I had no idea things would feel as tough as they have been. It’s funny ‘cos I look at our circumstances and know that we have everything we need, yet nothing prepared me for the emotional toll it would take. We take so much for granted when we have grown up in a place and have slowly accumulated the things we need.

Still, I am grateful for the opportunity that we have. The weather is beautiful (25c today), the beach is so close, the people have been fantastic and we even saw dolphins swimming in the sea last week. And to top it all England beat Australia in the Rugby World Cup! And then we beat the French!!! Can life get any better? (Maybe a win against South Africa…)

Wow – what a long post. Wonder if anyone will actually read it? Let me know if you have….