I haven’t really been doing such a stellar job of keeping my blog up to date with events from the last few weeks have I? I guess we’ve been so busy running around doing things that I haven’t really had a moment to myself to sit down, reflect and write. I did manage to shove up loads of pictures of us opening pressies and the like but so much has been going on since then I am afraid that this post may become behemoth in size.

Christmas on the beach

An antipodean Christmas and New Year is certainly different, even if you have your parents around. I’ve had interesting Christmases before but when it’s actually supposed to be the norm it is most unusual to sit on a beach, dipping your toe in the sea on Christmas day.

It’s also very strange having Summer and the Christmas holidays all at once. I don’t envy all my pals back home who have returned to work, I still have another 4 weeks of hols left, but I’m sure I’ll be desperate for a longer holiday in 6 months when I should be getting another, medium size break for either Christmas or Summer.

It is lovely though and although we had to ‘ship’ everything, including the fridge (in the form of an eski) down onto the beach, the day had a very un-chrismassy relaxed feel. Usually, Christmas is a massive job from start to finish, breakfast, present opening, cleaning up from present opening, preparing 3 course lunch, eating lunch, cleaning up after lunch and then keeping everyone entertained all afternoon before preparing a buffet style leftovers option for all the other visitors who may appear during the evening. This Christmas we ate cold meat and salad (probably what would normally be the left over bit) and then wandered off to the beach. Simple and strangely relaxing! I didn’t even have to worry about what my “Christmas outfit” would be. No posh frock.. just my

bikini….

Feeding the ducks

Pretty early on mum established a relationship with Honk and Honk .  She discovered the duck and chicken feed available at Coles and they have been spoilt every day since.  They have been chomping their way through bag after bag of the stuff!  Unfortunately for Matt and I the ‘honks’ like to come to our bedroom window and make loud noises until she goes out to feed them!  Not sure what’ll happen when she leaves on Sunday Hopefully they’ll return to their bread diet as before.  They’ve certainly been fattened up over the holidays! Matt keeps looking at them an muttering “Good life Pizza, ginger jam.. Hop on!”

Bruce Meekat says "g'day"

Mum and the fake Pandas

Of course, mum wouldn’ t be satisfied with just geese and ducks and so we’ve visited the Zoo,

Moriala and Gorge Wildlife Park.She’s spent an hour taking pictures of pandas and hogging the panda exibition spots (holding off small children who wanted to cuddle them) We found Bruce Meerkat and she’s even cuddled another Koala. We did attempt to see Dolphins at Port Adelaide but unfortunately – and unusually, they decided to swim the opposite way up the river.  We spent 2 hours on a boat and when we got off we found them under a bridge. We had some pancakes and a wander around the town too. Dad took some piccies of the lighthouse (a strange one it is) and mum found some pirates to talk to.

Light House Port Adelaide

No Dolphins - Sulk - Port Adelaide

Pirates at Port Adelaide

Relaxing in the Hammock

Despite being dragged around all of these lovely wildlife parks (he loves it really!) Dad has managed to get some rest. Whilst hanging about in the hammock or messing about on a sun lounger he has taken the opportunity to be all entrepreneurial and see if he can expand the business out here. He’s even flown to Melbourne for meetings, met with bank managers and accountants and registered websites. He probably now knows far more about Australian business and tax practices than I do (despite having had a business for 12 months).

Chim Chimeny!

I’ve kept mum busy.  She was being annoyed by grass that was not the regulation half an inch in length and really doesn’t understand the concept of a dishwasher.  As a result, she decided to the mo the lawn dust in her new dress and turn into a swamp monster.  She has also managed to get through 2 bottles of fairy liquid (I’ve had the same one for a year now… never use the stuff!) Was amusing to see her very muddy face when she realised what she looked like. Especially after she’d already marched out the front to have a chat to the locals resembling something like chimney sweep.

Windy Penguins

Apart from spending time on the river I’ve also taken them to Victor Habour so we could visit the “Little Penguins”, visit somewhere new and let Matt enjoy a bit of the “holiday” feel whilst we celebrated the New Year. Hilariously, it turned out to be a

Up the Bluff Victor Harbour

bit nippy and windy the night we chose to visit Granite Island. Well… that is if you can call 16 cold. I honestly have no idea how they’ll survive when they get back.  Mum has been describing temperatures that are well into their 30s as temperatures “like back home”… Perhaps that’s the air-con working well?… too well?

We walked up the Bluff, a very beautiful hill /hump on at the pinnacle of a lovely sweeping bay, ate fish and chips, “froze” whilst watching penguins waddle about and enjoyed the facilities at the McCracken Country Club. All very lovely.

House Hunting

Some time has also been spent looking at real estate and land. I’ve driven mum and Dad around loads of the areas that we’re thinking of buying in.  We can’t afford anything here in Grange so we’re looking further down south in Port Noarlunga / Moana or slightly further north in Largs’ Bay / Semaphore.  We’ve been approved for a mortgage (yay!) but we’re attempting to be very careful this time… Interest rates are rising, new builds aren’t going up as fast as they were (even though it all looks like it’s booming and the house prices just keep going up… surely that has to stop at some point? Probably, knowing our past history, at the point where we have just finished unpacking the boxes.  It’s fun having a look around though :0) Mum’s fancied herself as a bit of an Amanda Lamb I think!

Ipads... addictive.. apparently...

If you’ve seen my faceache or Twitter status updates then you’ll probably know that one of the gifts I got at Christmas was an Apple MacBook Pro.  I’m using now… So I’m attempting to be different and try something new and stylish.  Mum and Dad arrived with Ipads in tow.  Picked up in Singapore – because everyone had one – I don’t think they can actually go more than 4 hours without playing with it!

Dad’s got the radio, the papers, his email and the archers on his.  Mum’s got solitaire, tennis (which she plays enthusiastically whilst dad’s trying to sleep – occasionally knocking him with her tennis elbow) and soooo many more apps.  I constantly here ” can I have… it’s only 59p”.  She’s even discovered she can get mild porn Mils and Boons to read on there! She is as I speak, warming up dad for the purchase of Series 1 + 2 of Merlin for the plane home… lol  They’re worse than the flipping kids!

Botanical Gardens SA

Motor Museum SA

LOF gets Floaty

Piccies!

Coming at ya!

They arrived just over a week ago and they’ve experienced just one day over 30. It’s been cloudy, rainy and cold (oops) until today (phew). Of course, when I say cold I mean about 20 (at lowest) and I guess, if you’re reading this from the UK, you want to scratch me and spit a bit (oh no that would be a cat). The sun is out today and we’re sat out in the garden. Mum, refusing to stay out of the sun (silly girl) has her legs in the full sun, dad is lounging on the steamer and I’m sat at the outdoor table typing It’s probably 25 today. Nice

We had a great time chugging along the Murray last week.  There were some rather ‘funny’ moments.  The top ten would include moments like when Dad managed to wedge the side of our house boat onto the swim deck of the boat parked next to us as we were leaving Mannum.  The poor kids aboard the boat came dashing out to help us to un-wedge it! Thankfully, their parents were in the shower at the time.  They offered to fetch them but, needless to say, we didn’t really see a reason to draw to their attention the small dilema we had caused.  We managed to sail off eventually, with a little bit of front to back spinny wheeling.

Then of course there was the moment we drove straight over the buoy that was casually floating in the river to mark the entrance of the marina we were heading towards.  The ‘thud, thump’ of a large orange plastic marker bumping under the house boat whilst praying that it would appear (intact) out of the back of the boat, really is the only way to travel!

Mum worked out after taking about 500 pictures of them very quickly , that Cockatoos really are not that rare out here, Dad has sampled a range of  different beers and Matt has had a well deserved rest as we chugged along taking in all the sites.

Since we’ve been back mum and dad have single handedly solved the slow spending that was affecting trading figures here in the city.  Mum has purchased 8 dresses (in three days) and dad has been raiding the likes of Rodd and Gunn for shorts and T-shirts.  I hope they get to wear them again when they get home   At least they get to wear them out here

Mum has also taken the time to sample the various Lamingtons.  So far, I believe the Michels Bakery one is winning.  Although it was actually the same size as her head! Matt ended up with the mashed up second half of this one.  He, unfortunately, is at work until Xmas eve.  At least it’s going to be all sunny and nice this weekend

We’re planning to be on the beach on Saturday.  I bought a couple of tent poles and was planning to place a tarpauline on them to create a bit of shade.  We’ve purchased a 50L cool box Esky and are nearly ready to go.  That was until Ma’ spotted the gazebo in KMart that has sides to prevent flies.  Now there are threats of xmas decorations.  Ah well.. It’s Christmas after all!  Matt pulls faces when I carry a chair down there!  Goodness knows what he’ll think on Xmas day as we set up camp! Fun, fun, fun!

We’re sailing along in a lovely house boat called the Black Shiraz. It’s warm and sunny and Mu and Dad are having a whale of atime! Mum’s been driving!!! lol Here’ are a selection of pics! I’ll add to them over the week. Internet is sketchy!

First of all, an apology.  I haven’t posted for a while.  I’ve been having such a busy, busy time of things recently and I haven’t had the time / energy to post! lol  BUT I have soo much to catch up on.. So… get comfy my pals and read along

The last, rather brief, mostly video, post I wrote was an announcement that Mini and Ad were in Australia and were engaged!  All jolly good news Since then I have been busy entertaining them.  They left me on Monday morning to go on an adventure down the Ocean Road; they should be flying somewhere over Pakistan by now as they are going to land Friday evening (UK time).

The funniest thing about having people to stay is you’re never quite sure what kind of activities they’ll want to take part in or at what pace they will want to do them.  Whilst they were here I learnt that it is best not to expect to do very much at all until about 11:30 at which point they will have managed to get up and dressed and will be ready to step out and do something interesting.  Nothing wrong with that at all – after all they’re on their holidays.  It gave me the morning to check emails and do work related things  anyway

Koala spotting at Morialta

So, what did we get up to in those afternoons? Well on the Saturday after their arrival we all trundled off to Morialta conservation park to do a bit of koala spotting.  We saw at least 5 before we made it to the waterfall at the centre of the park.  There was some debate over which walk we would endeavour to complete.  You see Adam and Matt had consumed a little bit too much beer the night before and I had a cold… then it started to pour down… proper, torrential CAPITAL R Rain!

Rain at the Waterfall - Morialta

So that was that!  5 Koalas and a short sprint back to the safety and shelter of  the car!  Adam, upon feeling the rain falling down the back of his neck,  immediately recovered from his hangover – Miracle cure!

Sand Whale Building

During the week, whilst Matt was at work, Mini had to visit the beach. It was sunny and lovely and after a cuppa at the Jetty Cafe she set to work on collecting “special shells” (still not sure what that means) and then making a sand castle.  When Adam put his foot in the middle of it, it turned into a whale.. Not sure how… Not sure why a whale has a large hole in it either but it kept Mini entertained enough.. She even dragged Matt back that evening to have his picture taken with it.  I think she was concerned that the sea, a dog, or a happy child may come along and get rid of him.  Rather over protective of that “soap dish” style whale she was!

Whale Watching at Sunset

Garden Time

In the afternoon, whilst waiting for Mr W to return home from work I put Adam to work on the garden… MOAH HA HA!  No really, I was going to do it and he insisted. Possibly because it was an excuse to just put his Ipod headphones in and get some Me time!! Lol.  He did a very nice job too, whilst Mini found one of those fluffy caterpillars from previous posts and made it  a house out of a leaf……. lol I’m sure it was very comfortable and very happy when it realized it could eat it’s house…

During the next day we stayed in.  Adam wasn’t feeling very well so we just ended up chilling in the house.  When Matt got home we headed off to Glenelg though and visited the chocolate cafe and the pier. I think Adam was particularly impressed with Glenelg and all it’s cafes and bars

Aboriginal art Adam

The following day meant a visit to Adelaide’s city center in search of a large koala pencil case for Mum, amongst other things.  We also visited the SA museum.  Do you think Adam chose his “life” circle T-shirt on purpose?

Cleelands park was the order of the next day.  That place where you can cuddle a koala and feed the kangaroos.  Unfortunately, that was all we managed to do.  It began pelting it down with rain and we had to retreat to the cafe and home again!

Koala group shot!

Adam and his new Kangaroo mate

Wii boys

Several evenings were taken up playing games on the Wii. I attempted to convince Matt that we NEED Wii Guitar Hero but it’s not happening yet.  Need Pete to work on him a bit more! lol He and Adam played a lot of the real thing (as in actual guitars) all week anyway so I guess that’s ok..!

The final weekend was very busy too.  Pancakes at the port, dolphin tours, tennis, dinner at Redpoles (It was Matt and I’s 2 year wedding anniversary!) It was all going on!  Finally, we had to go and pick up the hire car for Mini and Adam’s trip down the Ocean Road.

It was a very busy, action packed week and a bit   I think they had fun.  We certainly kept them very busy I hear that they have met Carl Kennedy on the set of neighbours though.  I’m pretty sure that that would top anything else they have done the entire time they’ve been here!!

Here are some more piccies…. just in case you haven’t seen enough yet!

On the Dolphin Tour

At the Warrawong Sanctuary doing the night walk

Tennis Anyone?

Snogging on the beaches- EURGHHHH!

Beach Posers 2

Sea Side Piccies

Beach Posers 1

On a serious note.  I loved every minute of having Mini and Adam around and it was so hard when they left.  It made me remember how difficult it can be to be on the other side.  It’s not the wrong side of the world but I miss my lil’ sis when she’d not around.  I’m really glad she made it over for the “summer” … Hope she can make it again for the actual Summer one day. Then she can have her beach holiday!

They’re here and they’re running a muck!

and getting engaged!  — OOOOhhhh!

The ring!

The Location - Day Dream Island's Jetty

When we picked him up from the airport 10 days ago he walked straight past us in a daze. His eyes were hazy and he looked like he hadn’t slept for days. He hadn’t! After trying to stay awake and failing by lunchtime, and after having 10 days to finally get used to the time difference and sleep through the night he’s just got back onto the plane to jet back off towards England again; poor bugger!

We’ve had a busy 10 days and have sailed, driven and walked all over the place in order to get a real sense of Australia. lol You’ve already seen the extensive photo collection from Kangaroo Island and have suffered the 20min commentary on the pictures that goes along with it. Needless to say we did have a good time. However, it was FREEZING! No one told me that the island was so cold! It must be about 5/6 degrees lower. I only took my flipflops and I seriously regretted it! I did get to see some cool penquins at last and it was good fun

Mr Bogus and Lof really enjoyed their random ‘conversations’ which meant absolutly nothing to me – or anyone else for that matter. For example, If one of them said “Captain” it would make the other burst into fits of hysterical giggles for ages… mmmm crazy.

Apart from Kangaroo Island Mr Bogus also got to visit Cleelands Wildlife Park where we made sure that he got up close and personal to a Koala and some Kangas. A visit to Australia isn’t complete without looking at the wildlife which Mr Bogus proclaimed to be “strange”.

We also took him to Harndorf where, of course, it is OCKTOBER FEST! This led to all sorts of hilarious consequences as the gents hit the pub before lunch and began sampling the beers. I almost convinced Bogus to by a Digeridoo for Dunk but didn’t quite manage it Was really funny though. I am certain that LOM will be itching to visit and sample some of the Schnitzle (How ever that’s spelt)

After drinking the beer and visiting the knife shop – I know… why?
We then decided to go and visit the local chocolate factory. I was told it was really exciting.. Perhaps I’ve been spoilt by cadbury’s world but a large warhouse full of sweets on sale with rooms to the side where someone might be making something but weren’t on that day isn’t anywhere near what any of us expected to find. I was amused by their signature chocolates though. For example, the chocolate cowpat – one of which Bogus devoured in the car on the way home. There was even a “Hereford”
cowpat. It was milk chocolate with a dollop of white chocolate ontop lol.

He also got to experience Australian cinema and “frozen coke” and a “spider” when we went to the SA museum to see the live redback. A spider of course is also a drink…
Here’s a yummy one I ate. Lemonade, lime syrup and a dollop of icecream

We got some really ace pictures on our travels. Especially of the spring animals and babies. You can check out the kangaroo Island ones here and the others from Ants visit here

There’s a reason why Photostory should be kept away from people with beer…

Whilst up in the Northern regions of Queensland we also had the pleasure of catching up with some people that LOF and I talk to all the time on WOW.

So here’s Faraday and Darkaos in all their fabulous glory!

Thanks for driving up to meet us! It was good fun

So we got as far as the story of LOF, a whip and a toad.
We went to a local bar where, for a small sum of money, you can watch Cane Toad racing. You are given a ticket on the door with a number on it. We didn’t realise until later that that Cane toads needed jokeys to kiss and cajoul them into participating. It was with even more glee that we smiled when Dad’s number was pulled out of the hat. Surprisingly, Dad refused to take part!! SHOCKING! so LOF, being the brave and wonderful man he is, kindly stepped up.

The first thing that had to happen was that he had to have toad assigned to him. He ended up with the only lady toad. Then he had to kiss her before he put her into a pot to start the race.

All jockeys were equipt with a whip (a party style pokey whistle thingy)and were told to get ready. Now the following video has a bit of a blank moment. That’s when I had to look down because one of the toads had raced off and was hopping around my feet!!!

Yes, they are real and yes they are poking them with loud paper things to make them move. The idea is that you get them to hop off the table into your hands and then you place them, gently, into a bucket. You can see that the lady toad did not like her male jokey! and LOF came last… Poor thing!

LMAO