Don't Panic

I've not posted for two months.  Its funny really because I started to write this a week ago and that seems just like yesterday, but as I read over my musings from last week I realise that the seven days has completely changed the way I feel about being here and that this experience is still a roller coaster for me.

This week has been good and the weekend has just ended on a high of wading in big surf at Narabeen with Hannah, Dave and Lucy with the warm Autumn sunshine causing us to lose track of time,not leaving until almost 6.00 p.m. on a school night!.

Independence by the skin of our teeth

We are here to stay (for now.) Having been reliant on friends and family now for too long for our own sanity, let alone theirs, we are now independent again.  Hannah and I live together with our two girls in a two bedroom apartment in Killarney Heights and I can just afford to fund it and sustain us from the salary I will earn from February.  Zoe will start school on Thursday and we are looking for a place in nursery for Esme.  Hannah remains optimistic of the Australian system accepting her qualification bolstered by numerous further university qualification before the turn of the decade.

This is a time for questions though.  Did we do the right thing?  For me it is too late to ask that question for practical reasons, but interesting none the less for its academic value.

Coffs Harbour: Above and Beyond

Christmas and New Year are now out of the way and things are returning back to normal.  We have now found a house which all-importantly will allow us to send Zoe to the school with a bilingual English-French programme. Also, I had my third interview with a company in Sydney yesterday.  Actually it was a test which lasted three hours and reminded me of being at school.  Still, I passed that so I now have a final interview with the New South Wales regional director on Tuesday.

I'm looking forwards to writing my next article more than this one because it will be my latest "Observations on Australia" which is far more interesting to write than a diary of events.  Still, we had a great time in Coffs Harbour and north of there on our summer road trip and I want to make a record of it for my future enjoyment.  This is a fantastic place to be.

A Car or a Lemon?

Arriving at Coffs harbour was a relief and after stress over running out of money and the car, we took a few days to recover while Matt and Fiona carried on their routines of work and taking the kids to and from Nursery.  Actually, the first day, Matt took me to the Deep Sea Fishing Club for a couple of beers and had second half of the afternoon off.  We looked out over the sea, drank cold beers and enjoyed the scenery.  It was pretty good really.

We came back to his place and drank half a carton of beer between us.  This was inevitable, as was the fact that we have probably done more or less the same thing every night since, although we did have onenight off, just to keep the ladies happy.  We did have a dodgy car on our hands though and that would prove to be a weight on our minds which needed lifting.

Meeting Bob McTavish

Last autumn in England, before I went to Australia, I went down to visit my brother in Devon.  Mike had previously helped me acquire a new longboard to replace the 7'6" minimal I had been using.  This longboard is a beauty, it is a 9'6" McTavish longboard and it rides like a dream.  If the waves are good in Devon, when I get on that board I am in heaven.

My brother raved on about Bob McTavish, telling me he was a really cool surfing legend from the 60s who had pioneered new technicques in surfing and shaping.  I just wanted to get out on the board.

The first month in Australia

We've been in Australia for a month now and certainly have found it difficult to find time to make new posts.  When you have no schedule it is really hard to fit blogging into your schedule.  Therefore I'm going to try and summarise the first few weeks in Australia with as few words as possible.  I will probably ramble on as ever though.

A perfect day in Sydney

This is Zoe's first post, actually the whole family are contributing. We have really had a perfect Sunday with the family in Sydney despite the fact that the westerly winds have brought day long 40 degree heat for the past three days.

Zoe: I think it is just a fabulous day in Sydney, I have just got hot the whole day and have got thirstier and thirstier. It's just the best day ever. We saw the ferry going round and round that we went on. It was always the same ferry. We saw a long green ferry and a yellow ferry and a short green ferry.

There were lots of people making sand castles on the beach. When we got to the party, there were people jumping off the side into the deep water of Sydney harbour but it didn't matter because they could swim.

Esme: I enjoyed my food. I enjoyed my fantastic cooking pizza yesterday. I liked swimming in Hans's pool. I liked all the pools, there's one, two, three there is mummy. I liked it when I throwed the balloons in the air, the balloons that i didn't like. I liked everyone on the TV putting the balloons up in the air and they sprinkled. I didn't like the beach. I did like walking in the rock pools....where's my seat, can I get on my seat? Thank you for my Holiday.

Hannah: we started with a perfect beach morning which was surprisingly busy at 9.00 am but made sense with the temperature. Zoe, Nick, Esme and Sue swam while I paddled. Then we went for a beautiful walk along the shoreline and onto the little island at Balmoral where Sue used to play when she was twelve. We saw where the shark nets were tied until last year and saw the manly ferry and round the headland. Then back to Nick for a wonderful swim before home for a late breakfast.

During that time, Sue phoned and said did we want to go to Hans's for a swim? We agreed to go after a quiet half hour in which even the children read silently which ended abruptly when Nick said "We've got 10 minutes to catch the ferry Hannah". We literally hot-footed it down to the ferry in the hottest heat I've ever experienced and made it with two minutes to spare.

At Hans's we had a wonderful afternoon swimming and eating and drinking with the Kirribilli community from three sets of flats and arranged New Years at Kirribilli. That means front row seats for Sydney harbour fireworks.

Nick: I am shocked that no-one mentioned that we travelled to the beach in the 4L Ford Fairlane Passion Waggon.