Lovin' Launceston

First stop on the grand tour of Tassie was Lanceston, a quiet little town on the river. We hung out at Cataract Gorge, where there was a chairlift over a lake (half way across I wondered if it really was a good thing to do with Thea), a swimming pool, and some stunning scenery. A cruise on the river completed the stay.

 
 
 
 

All aboard

Departing marvellous Melbourne for the delights of Tassie.

The highlight of Joyce & Mike's trip to see us was a two week holiday to Tasmania. Thea, Daddy, Nanna and Gramps travelled on the Spirit of Tasmania ferry for an 8 hour day trip across to Devonport on Tassie's north coast. Mummy and Dulcie took a flight which got them to the same place in around an hour.

 
 
 
 

A night on the tramcar

How much fun can you have on a tram?

One of the first things we did when W's folks were with us was to get on board the travelling tramcar restaurant and have 5 courses and a few drinks (can you tell?) whilst gliding round the city's tram tracks. I was paranoid that drinks would spill on the bends, but said tram has been fitted with some sort of stabilising gear to make sure it doesn't happen. The decor is an Australian version of victorian, so a bit chintzy. But huge fun.
 
 
 
 

Thea's Birthday

Here's some pictures of Thea's 4th birthday a highlight of which was a trip up the Dandenongs in Puffing Billy. Thanks for all the lovely presents fro her fantastic friends.
 
 
 
 

Christmas and New Year family visit.

We're back in business. I'm going to stop apologising about the gaps between blogs now. It's starting to get repetetive.

What an absolute stormer of a Christmas and New Year we had. V's brother Matt, wife Sarah and the neices Bella and Saskia made the trek round the world to spend their holidays with us. It was so special to have family here over Christmas. The four girlies got on extremely well (most of the time!) and the adults had a blast too.

It's hard to pick out the highlights as it felt like there were so many of them. Ok then, you've twisted my arm. Here's a few:

The trip we did along the Great Ocean Rd - incredible views. Stayed at the dream beach house at Skene's Creek: massive seaviews from windows and balconies. Two minute walk to beach where the kids played in the creek and Bella, Vics, Matt & Will spent many a happy hour boogie boarding. Once we got Sarah in a wetsuit she enjoyed the sea too. Walks along the beach at sunset - and one early morning jog where V came face to face with a seal on a rock.

Further along the road, a helicopter trip (taken by everyone except V & D) to get amazing views of the 12 Apostles.

The scenery at Hall's Gap, in the Grampian ranges, where kangaroos came to check out the football pitch near the youth hostel at sunset.

A steaming hot day at Sovereign Hill, a living museum set in the goldrush times, where we all went underground to find out about the lives of miners in the 1800s (not good lives , as you'd imagine.)

A trip through the Otway forest on the Otway 'fly' - a vertiginous suspended walkway which was apparently supposed to sway in the breeze, giving stunning views of the prehistoric ferns below.

A couple of child-free trips into Melbourne at night, checking out some fine restaurants and getting into the warm city night vibe.

Matt and Will enjoyed a day at the Boxing Day test at the MCG in the members area, courtesy of our friend Raeche who took them as her guests. This was before the test got controversial and was apparently a top day. Sarah & Vics got their own child free day at the end of the holiday when they did their best in the new year sales.

And I could go on. Except that we're a bit busy getting ready for W's parents who arrive at the weekend.

We're all well. W's work quite hectic at the start of the year, kids missing the cousins a bit. But doing good.

November catch up

So many adventures, so little time to blog about them...

Earlier this month we had Will's company family Christmas fun day. This was great fun although rather strange in some respects. Firstly, it was of course no where near Christmas. Secondly, it was a blazing hot day and a bearded, costumed man seemed somewhat out of place. Thirdly it was at Melbourne's answer to the Masaai Mara, Weribee Safari Park. T was predictably slightly unsure about sitting on Santa's knee but nevertheless accepted his gift (a cheap version my little pony) whereas Dulcie thought the whole thing hysterical (although Mummy has 'lost' her gift, a delightful pink bear that sings an abridged version of rockabye baby in a high pitched electronic tone.)

Last weekend we went camping with friends Paula & Pete and their three girls Lia, Rosie & Liberty, to Wilson's Promontary, a beautiful bit of coast about 3 hours south east of here. The wildlife was amazing. Our campsite was regularly raided by cockatoos, possums & wombats and with a couple of toddlers dropping half chewed bread on the dust, there were rich pickings! We camped by a serene tidal river, and the beaches were pristine. One had amazing sand that sqeaked when you walked on it. It was called squeaky beach - well, that's the Aussie way. Tell it like it is. Disappointingly it was the coolest weather we've had all month, so not quite the sunbathing & swimming in the sea vibe that we'd hoped for. Of course, since heading back to Melbourne it has been hitting the 30s on some days.

Did we say that Dulcie learned to walk? Also, her hair suddenly went very very curly. Odd. Also, V started doing one day's work a week on a trial basis for an e-learning company.

Well, hopefully that's brought us all up to date. Enjoy advent!

Gallivanting with Grandma

Phew. How busy have we been lately? You'll have noticed the rather large gap between blogs. Sorry about that. I'll try to do a few over the next few days to catch us up with each other.

We spent most of the last month having far far too much fun doing touristy things with Vicky's mum.

First of all we headed down the Mornington Peninsula to stay at St Andrew's Beach where there was plenty of appropriately beachy type activity. A real highlight was a tour we did of the bay in a little boat looking for seals and dolphins. Grandma donned a wetsuit and got up close to the seals. She did pretty well as a novice snorkler to manage to hang on to the back of the boat and see stuff!

Following the nature/water theme, we had another great evening in the city harbour on a penguin tour. There is a colony of 'little penguins' which has taken up residence on a man made breakwater off St Kilda Pier, and by going out on a sunset cruise we got the chance to see them all coming in from a day's fishing, zooming round the baot underwater, and clambering up the rocks to find their nests. They were most cute.

Then Vicky & her Mum headed off for a relaxing girls' weekend away to the red centre of Australia - Uluru. It rained for the first time in 5 months when we were there so some of the activities we planned to do weren't possible, but we had one wonderful sunny day when we did a walk near the rock in the morning and went on a tour of the nearby Olga rock formations in the afternoon. And lots of time for chatting and chilling out.

Finally, you can't be a Brit in Melbourne without visiting Ramsay Street. Yes, we are far more serious about Neighbours than the locals and the bus that takes you to the residential street where they film is full of UK citizens. We got to walk around the street, go to the set of the garage & greasemonkeys, and meet one of the cast. Unfortunately I (Vicky) haven't actually watched Neighbours for a while so the chap we got to meet ("Fraser") was a mystery to me, but my Mum seemed pretty happy to get her arms round him.

All too soon it was time to wave V's mum off again at the airport. Sadly her journey home was a bit eventful, with a bout of food posioning necessititating a short stay in a Singapore hospital en route.