Happy Christmas!

Happy Christmas to you all. Hope you had a great Christmas - we certainly did. We flew to Perth on 16th December and stayed with our friends Michael & Jane for 2 weeks. We had a lot of fun and were thoroughly spoilt.

We had lunch at Wills Domain - a winery in the Margaret River region. It has to be one of the best meals we've ever eaten. We had a platter for 4 which included salmon, duck, giant prawns, chorizo sausage, roasted vegetables, dips (like pesto & sundried tomato) and a selection of delicious cheeses. All washed down with a glass or two of crisp semillion sauvigon blanc. What a life!

Christmas was celebrated with lunch at Jane's sister's where we were made to feel very welcome. Christmas in 40 degree heat feels very strange but we enjoyed it. We went to church in the morning, follwed by mince pies in Kings Park overlooking the Swan River & Perth's skyline. Then we took a quick trip to the beach where the Aussies were 'doing Christmas' in style - there were a number of people in bathers (swim gear) with Santa hats on. After lunch we returned to Michael & Jane's place for a well earned dip. . .

After Christmas, Andy & I returned to the Margaret River for a couple of days. We did quite a bit of wine tasting as well as visiting the cheese and chocolate factory. We swam a lot in the sea near Yallingup which is the most stunning beach.

It was great to be back in Perth - it truly is a great city and we can't believe how many people we've met that have travelled around Australia and not made it to Perth. We were sad to leave as we had such a great time, but seeing as we were flying to Sydney for New Year, we didn't complain too much!

Summer's here & it's nearly Christmas!

How strange is it to be getting ready for the school summer holidays whilst Christmas shopping? Christmas will certainly have a different feel for us this year. It just feels all wrong hearing radio stations playing songs like, "I'm dreaming of a white Christmas" and , "Oh the weather outside is frightful...let it snow, let it snow, let it snow" when it's 36 degrees outside. Even in school some of the kids have been doing art work about Frosty the Snowman!

We went to a 'Carols by the Lake' evening where everyone took their picnic stuff and we had a BBQ whilst listening to Christmas carols. We even had candles for when it got dark but as you can see, the candles were battery operated as real candles could have been a bush fire risk! One of the local schools sang an Aussie Christmas Carol which made us laugh so I've printed the lyrics for you...

Aussie Jingle Bells.
1. Dashing through the bush in a rusty Holden ute,

Kicking up the dust, Esky in the boot,

Kelpie by my side, singing Christmas songs,

It's summer time and I am in my singlet, shorts and thongs. Oh!

Chorus

Jingle bells, jingle bells jingle all the way,

Christmas in Australia on a scorching summer's day,

Oh! Jingle bells, jingle bells, Christmas time is beaut,

Oh what fun it is to ride in a dusty Holden ute.

2. Engine's getting hot, we dodge the kangaroos,

The swaggie climbs aboard, he is welcome too.

All the family's there, sitting by the pool,

Christmas day in the Aussie way, by the Bar-b-que. Oh!

Chorus

* Holden is the name of Vauxhall cars & a Ute is a typical open back van
* Esky = cool box

We're both feeling pretty settled now which is good. It's taken 6 months but things are finally falling into place. Andy had a job interview last week and we should hear from that soon. Even if he doesn't get it, he's got plenty of handy man work available and he's just as passionate about coaching and is developing that all the time. I start back at school at the end of January and it will be good to have my own class after doing supply work for 5 months.
Our Aussie mates!
Our new friends have been incredible to us. We had 3 invites for Christmas day and they have really been sensitive to how we are feeling about being away from 'home' for Christmas. We are busy every weekend and usually get an invite round for dinner a couple of times a week. They have just been great and we know how fortunate we've been.

We're off on holiday today! We're going to Perth and the Margaret River region for a couple of weeks. Margaret River is a wine prodcucing area and we're looking forward to doing some tasting and getting reacquainted with some of our favourite Aussie wines. Then we're flying to Sydney so look out for us on the harbour bridge on New Year's Eve. We get to celebrate 2008 11 hours ahead of you and they usually show the celebrations on TV so we'll wave! We're going to spend two weeks in and around Sydney, staying with friends before we fly back to Adelaide mid-January.

We now have the internet at home - only took 7 weeks (!) But we're now off for a month so postings and emails may still be sporadic. Thanks to those who have stayed in touch with us even though we have been pretty poor at staying in touch with you. We now have our webcam setup - I have loved being able talk to my family 'face to face'. So on our return maybe we'll be able to speak 'face to face'!

Well, I am going to sign off here. I need to get packed - musn't forget swim wear, body boards, sun block etc. Christmas must be coming!

Snow in the UK...36 degrees in Adelaide!

Wow - great pictures of snowy England on the BBC website! I miss not listening to "Snowline" on the rubbish local BBC radio station, hoping that my school will be closed (and yes, I'm speaking of the adult Carla!)

The opposite is true here - the last couple of weeks have seen the temerature hit 36 degrees a couple of times. The rest of the time has just been lovely and hot. We've spent quite a bit of time in our friends' pool and have almost plucked up the courage to go for a dip in the sea. Although it is hot, it's not at all humid which is great.


(Sorry - no sound...we'll work on it for future film epics!)

We went to see Justin Timberlake in concert on the 3rd November which was fab. It was a great concert and we boogied the night away.I know I'm gettng old though - I had to put tissue in my ears because the screams of the girlies was so loud it hurt. (yes, that is Justin Timberlake, not a ghost)

I (Carla) had a really bad bout of tonsilitus which made me feel really awful. My left tonsil was so swollen it was touching the epiglotis! I had the cold sweats for a couple of days but had a great nurse (Andy) so am feeling better now.

There's not really a lot more to say - life in Adelaide is beginning to feel 'normal' as we are settling down so much more. We still haven't got a landline or internet at home. This is because the incredibly effiicient phone line people took 4 weeks to come out and connect us up only to connect the wrong house...twice! Unbelievable. Come back BT, all is forgiven!

Take care & wrap up warm (LOL) x

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….