Just the three of us

We have accumulated about 500 photos of Dylan over the past two years and, give or take, approximately 4 with all three of us in.

5 now.

This is us, on the front steps of our gaff, saying a BIG HELLO to all of you out there reading this...

Spring in July?

So how stuffed was I on Sunday morning after the game? Very, in case you were wondering. I'm going to say it once then it's done with.... Why the h*** can't England kick the ball from a spot on the ground into a huge net from a few yards away? What? Why? It's one of those never-to-be-solved mysteries right up there with the Bermuda Triangle and the Yeti. Give me strength. Still, it's all over now eh? Poor old Zizou...

So what's been going on in the real world now the World Cup has finished? I have no idea, I've been halucinating from sleep deprivation. Young Dylan is having plenty of fun and has recently been painting at daycare, dancing to his CDs and getting lots of cool toys every week from the toy library. He continues to astound us and others with his linguistic skills (favourties this week are "possum and teapot") and he can do a pretty mean half-volley with a footy. Actually, the poor little guy has had a bad cold the last few days and he had to sleep in until 10:00am on my early morning shift. Shame that.

Still, colds aside, I think it's warming up slightly as it seems to have nearly cracked 20C a couple of time recently. The trees are doing their best to wake up and there are definately bulbs etc. starting to grow. All very strange for this particular Englishman... I keep seeing things on the net like: "Sunset in London: 9:31pm" then looking outside at the crispness of it all :-) Our turn will come!

And it's not just the flora. Fauna is out too! We saw a possum! Yey! He was shimmy'ing along the telephone cables in the street as I came home from work on night. He was a cool little guy with BIG eyes! Isy gave him a name, which eludes me at the moment, but hopefully we'll see him (and his mates) again soon.

This weekend has seen us acquire some more creature comforts! We were genuinely excited about having our bedside tables finally arrive and we've invested in a decent set of pots, pans and crockery. Exciting eh. I had a big fast sports bike once you know. Sheesh...

This entry has taken a few days to get round to and the big news today is that Ms. Smarty-Pants dos Santos has an interview on Wednesday!! Fingers crossed all goes well...

See ya later.

p.s. If you use the customised google as your home page, you can add our blog to it!

1) Click "Add Content" in the top left
2) Click "Add by Url" on the right next to the Search button
3) Enter http://cidinoz.blogspot.com, click Add and then Close
4) Click "Back to homepage" in the top left
5) You should see "Chris, Isy and Dylan in Oz" as a new section!! Wey hey!!

Also, adding the link or http://cidinoz.blogspot.com/atom.xml should work in most RSS readers...

The Big One

At last the most important game of the competition is nearly upon us. It's the usual 2:00am kick off but there are no trophies, no medals and no ticker tape parade at stake for this one. Oh no. This is serious. The loser has to get up with Dylan at 7:00am!

Yup. It's England vs Portugal tonight and Isy and I will be glued to the TV, bleary eyed.

Whoever said "Football is not a matter of life and death. It's much more important than that!" obviously had kids who bounce like Tigger in the small grey hours of morning too...

So it's the first of July then! I was led to believe the seasons were reveresed here in upside-down-land but it's got to be said it's a beautiful day today. (Here's a pic of the sky...) We've both earned our points and been to the gym this morning and now it's chill out time until sleepy head wakes up then we're going over to Dee Why to hang out with our mates, Mike, Tae and little Stephen (who got a new bike last week apparently. Cool.)

Not a great deal else happening at the moment to report on. Work is going well and we're now into designing a new architecture for one of the company's products. All very nerdy stuff... Isy is still job hunting. Her CV is getting lots of attention but the part time thing tends to throw a spanner in the works :-( Frustrating but we'll just have to keep plodding on.

Speaking of work, my mum has finished! For good! Yup, retirement last Friday! Well done mum! There's plenty of time for you to read this blog now eh!?! :-)

Oh yea, one last thing, we bought a web cam a few weeks back and have successfully done a live link up with my folks back in the UK! Awesome stuff - sound and picture worked a charm. If anyone fancies hooking up online for a laugh, drop us an email and we'll arrange a time...

Footy Fever

So the footy is on then. The whole world switching on to watch the beautiful game being played on the world's greatest stage. Switching on, bleary eyed with a cup of cocoa at 3 o'clock in the morning if you live Down Under that is...doh :-( Still, everything is going to plan so far. Unless you're called Michael Owen that is.

And what about the ol Socceroos eh? (Or Sheilaroos as I'm led to believe they are called in the UK). Ranked 44, into the last 16. You'd think they'd won the cup the other night after the draw with Croatia! Chants of "You're red! You're white! You're going home tonight!" ringing out before kick-off. Heh Heh! Mind you it is all quite a new experience for them. The last time they were in the World Cup finals was 1974 when I was Dylan's age! Their win over Japan was their first ever in the finals! Confidence is running high and they're bigging-up the Italy game... hmmm time will tell.

So anyway, by the time most of you read this, we'll either be going on about how Ecuador were never going to be a problem, or Sven\Becks will be the most hated man on the planet (according to the British tabloids anyway...). Fingers crossed all goes Ok. If we beat the south americans we've only got to get past the Brazillians, Argentinians and then...dare we think it... The Germans...

in the final...

on penalties.

Winter Sports

You know those times when you wonder what on earth you've done all week...we'll I guess we've just had a couple of those as it seems to be a good while now since we last put up a blog entry. Oops.

The good news is that, we have actually been up to a few things! Yey! At the weekends we've started to explore a bit further afield and spent an afternoon down at Coogee beach in south Sydney. It's a bit further south than Bondi and personally I thought it was much nicer. It was pretty chilly despite the sun but Mr.D enjoyed running amok and chasing the seagulls and playing with other toddlers who were out and about. (Some crazy old guys were swimming in the sea. Mad.)

The main event recently though has to be our nice long weekend away playing in the vineyards of the Hunter Valley about two hours north of Sydney. We booked our stay in a small cottage on the edge of the wine lands and while it was quite basic, it did have a log fire and a TV (neither of which we have at our place!) so it was quite cosy in the evenings sipping on a glass of red or two. As you know, it's winter here in Oz and things can get a bit chilly (down to single figures at night) especially as the houses aren't really built to keep you warm! The log fire really was very nice, it has to be said...

We covered most of the wine lands touring around popping in to the odd vineyard here and there (we like to try and find the small boutique ones) and spent a few hours in the Hunter Valley Gardens one afternoon which was very nice. I think our favourite vineyard would be Brair Ridge just for the overall atmosphere of the place - we'll definately will be making a trip back in spring or summer next year :-)

On a different sporting note, we spent the morning of June 1st hammering away at the Australian Ticketek web site trying to get hold of tickets to this year's Ashes series. Talk about busy website\phone lines! The good news is that our hard work paid off and we've secured some good seats for days 1 & 4 of the Sydney test and a few for a day-nighter one day game. Half of Syndey was furious about the way the tickets were sold complaining that they couldn't get through. I wanted to ring in and tell them to try getting U2 tickets in London...

Still on sport, I did manage to "borrow" the BBC streaming TV feed of the England vs Paraguay game last night. I just switched on to see Becks whip one round the wall and some Paraguian (sp?) bloke stick it in his own net. Unlucky mate, but we'll take 'em any way they come... I must admit, I've got a wierd feeling at the back of my mind that England might just do it this time, and buggerlugs here is going to be miles away from the party. Hmmm...

And finally, on the sporting topics, it's round to my cousin Dave's tonight to watch England vs Australia in the rugby union. I've not been keeping too close an eye on their form recently but I'd imagine the Aussies might have the upper hand. Who knows.

So that's about us for now. Dylan can now say amongst other things, careful, coffee, juice, water, bubbles, please, "Daddy Cool" and Bic! (biscuit). He's also a pretty keen footballer and does quite a respectable half-volley when he's not picking the ball up or running away! Isy has been trying to avoid giving Dylan his dummy too much recently so when he moans for it, typically she plays ignorant and responds with "What?". The result of all this is that Dylan now calls his dummy his "What"...

All The Trees Are Brown...

...but fortunately, the sky isn't grey. Another week has passed down here in 'stralia and we are now definately into the Autumn. Nice warm sunny days but a touch on the cool side in the evening, especially as the houses aren't really geared for keeping you warm! We have a real fire in the living room but as of yet, haven't figured out how to spark it up. Necessity they say is the mother of invention... time will tell. As promised, here's a couple of pics of the neighbourhood in full colour.

The season has also brought out one or two interesting creepy crawlies and itchy things... check out our pet Preying Mantis! He was awesome! If you moved, his beady eyes would follow you. After much deliberation we decided to name him Sir Archibald as he was truly a very statesman like fellow...

We've also booked our weekend away in the Hunter Valley at the end of the month. Yey! Isy's organised it all and all I can remember is we're staying in a log cabin amongst the vineyards and there's an open fire. I mean, what more do I need to know really? It should be great and give us a chance to start mapping out the Sydney surrounds. (At the moment, it feels as it does when you first move to London and all you know is a 200m radius around your tube stop. Imagine that, but Sydney is your tube stop and you'll see what I mean.... The map might as well say 'There be Dragons' 15km around Sydney in all directions.)

Today is Mother's Day so we all headed off to one of the parks for a picnic and a bit of a mess around. My cousin and his family were there with all their kids so it was quite a laugh. Dylan was being his usual adventurous self and wandering off all over the place followed by dad who had to keep going and 'fielding' him. *sigh* The little chatterbox is now repeating lots of what we say and I'm sure he called a truck driver something un-printable the other day. Oops. Amongst many new words, his vocab now includes turtle, beetle, DeeeLan (!), park, digger, and, (this was a proud-dad-moment-of-note)..... beer. He's also very keen on high-fives and handing out the kisses much to everyone's delight!!

Anyway, as I said, it's Mother's Day so I'd better get off this computer and make myself useful. Here's a picture of our little romeo...

Autumn In Oz

Well, I don't remember reading this in the brochure, but apparently, it can get cold and rain in Oz sometimes. Unbelievable. When I say cold of course, I mean it's recently dropped below 20C and the rain amounts to about as wet as you'd get walking through a sprinkler, but all the same... bit of a shocker! I've even started to wear a jacket on my way to work. Nightmare.

Our part of town is quite a leafy suburb and the trees have started turning all the colours of autumn. I'll try and get round to taking some pics if I remember, but the place looks pretty stunning at times - especially in the evening sunshine. I cleared the path to our house (once) and won't be doing it again for a bit as the leaves were covering the place up as fast as I could sweep 'em. My gardening skills also extended as far as watering the back lawn... an hour before it chucked it down. Green fingered me.


Speaking of a bit of the rain, here's a couple of pics of young Mr.D in his rather fetching blue mac at the fair on Anzac day. I can only say it was a bit like having your very own little blue penguin follow you around. Very funny to watch and as usual the young fella made quite a few friends...

He also took a keen interest in the fire truck and loved sitting in the driving seat. Lots of lights and switches to play with but I just managed to grab him just before he let the handbrake off though. Phew.

What else have we been doing? Bought some cutlery. Feeling very posh now we're not eating with plastic forks (The plates are still plastic mind). We're also plugged into broadband which has been a big boost as we can now manage all the boring things like bills etc. more easily and can also check out the local info on things to do and places to go.

Dylan is off to daycare for a few hours this week, just so he (and mum) can get used to it. He starts properly the following week and I'm sure it'll be good for him. Surprising words Dylan can now day include Turtle, Moon, Star, Sore (as in a "Niles Crane" injury to his finger) and he can also hoot like an owl on demand and wave his arm like an elephants trunk. Wicked :-)

Other stuff happening includes us thinking about taking a long weekend up in the Hunter Valley at the end of May. We'll probably try and find a nice cabin or cottage to rent with a log fire and purchase some of the local produce for sampling in the evening. Nothing too hectic you understand.

We've also signed up to get our names down for tickets to see the next Ashes series this November. Unfortunately (for Brits outside Oz) the tickets go onsale to Aussies with a local address first. Seems a bit unfair but hey, when in Rome... (p.s. Anybody interested, email me and I'll see what I can do).

Anyway, thats us. Catch ya next time.

Easter Eggs and Pony Rides

It's been a funny couple of weeks one way or another down here in the land of plenty. Over Easter there were the usual national holidays and then the following week it was ANZAC day. Work-wise I wasn't sure if every day felt like Monday or Friday...

For Easter we did the usual shopping for furniture thing with mixed results but also managed to escape the city on the Saturday for an afternoon up at Lake Macquarie. Very nice it was too. A leisurely drive north out of Sydney and an afternoon pottering around small towns and villages along the lake side. We even made good use of our esky and had plenty of padkos to keep us going :-) One thing I have noticed about Australia so far is that typically, you can actually drive your car on the road and get to where you're going in a time which relates to the speed limits. If it's a 60kmh limit and your journey is 60ks then it's not uncommon for you to arrive in one hour. Exactly. A novel concept that after living in London...

Sunday saw us round at the Rowlinson household again for a huge BBQ spread and good natter over some cold ones. Unfortunately a stomach bug kept half the family away (and bed-ridden) so we had to make up for the lack of numbers :-) The kids did the traditional Easter Egg hunt round the garden and surpisingly some of the eggs hadn't actually gone molten in the sun.

For ANZAC day we went to the St.Ives showground to check out a local fair which had been put on by the churches in the area. Lots of things like pony rides, bouncy castles, clowns, kids climbing on fire engines etc. Dylan liked to look at the ponies but definately wasn't too keen about sitting on one bless 'im. Mind you, the doggie balloon from the nice clown man put a big smile on his face. Excellent fun and a certain little boy was absolutely bushed afterwards... (p.s. Names for Dylan so far include: Sir Sleep-a-lot, Fidgety Small, Little Lord Farty Pants, Bumpus and obviously, Mr.D)

On the "putting our lives together" front, we've moved on a bit. We now own a bed, some garden furniture, we're getting cable broadband in on Monday and Mr.D is signed up for daycare two days a week starting in May. The daycare should be good for both Dylan and Isy as, while they are obviously best mates and have a lot of fun together, they both could do with people their own age to talk to now and again. Also, Isy is going to start job hunting soon and see if 'stralia has a COBOL programmer shortage or not... We've also had a gardener round at our place recently and, now that it's been recovered from the undergrowth, our brick BBQ looks like it might have potential!! Just need a grill and some coals and we may well be looking at our first Aussie cook-off soon!

Work for me is going well. For those interested I'm currently working on getting a web-site tuned so it'll scale up a lot better (more users). Lots of work from the nitty gritty to full scale re-working of the architecture which is pretty nice...

Anyway, that sees us just about up to date. Hopefully we'll be plugged into the grid at home next week and can put some more pics etc. up. Keep the comments coming and don't forget to drop us an email now and again from your corner of the globe...

Apologies for the break in service

The ol' blog has been a tad difficult to keep up to date recently
folks due to a number of reasons but the main ones being: no internet
connection at home yet, busy at work, Easter weekend and a wonderful
24 hour bug which I'll spare you the details of...

Needless to say we're still here, putting it all together and having
fun exploring and what-not when we can! Dylan is rapidly turning into
a little toddler and can say more words than I can. count. :-) His
favourite trick at the moment is to bring you a book to read. Ah. Then
another one. And another, until you've read them all. Not-so-Ah I can
tell you.

Anyway, it's getting late. We should be getting our home internet on
1st May when we will really have some fun. Until then, I'm going to
see if I can beam this in an instant from my phone into your office,
living room, bedroom or net café. (They'd have burnt you at the stake
for that not so long ago...)

Speak soon and don't touch that dial...

Monkeys at the zoo

As requested by some of our most fervent readers, here are some pics of young Dylan up to his usual antics.

Last weekend was spent the afternoon at Sydney's Taronga zoo and had loads of fun. Mr.D was sent into a flat spin at seeing so many funny looking animals which, up until then, he thought only existed in his bedtime story book. His reaction to seeing monkeys for the first time was a sort of laugh-choke-splutter-o-my-god-what-are-they kind of explosive reaction!!!


Much time was spent being his now ever-so-independent self walking about in the park and pic-nic areas making lots of friends and attracting more than one or two of the local papparazzi. A group of japanese girls were particularly taken with him... although I'm afraid the feeling wasn't mutual. Such a showbiz luvvie....




I think that Isy and I have come to realise that when you're only 16 months old, running up and down on a bit of grass is definately a favourite activity. Things like where the path meets the grass can keep a little guy fascinated for, oh, minutes! And never forget that no matter how much stuff is going on around you, there's nearly always an aeroplane going overhead. Not that you have to look at it however, just pointing it to everyone out is fine...


Phew!! All that running around can make a you pretty thirsty I can tell ya....



Not to mention a bit sleepy.....



...one monkey...two monkeys...three monkeys....zzz

Definately must buy some furniture

... 'cos I'm starting to I feel like a squatter in my own home. Beer and pizza tonight then... :-)

p.s. New house pics are below in case you didn't notice.

The New Gaff

Wey Hey!! Finally, we've found a house!!

As of this Saturday we became the new tenants of a rather nice (well, we think so) pad in Pymble in Sydney's North Shore. It's a twelve month lease so with a bit of luck we won't be going anywhere for a while now. We didn't quite manage to get a place with a pool but it's a still pretty great and in a good location (I can walk to the station and it should be about 40 mins to work). Oh yea, there's about 3 golf courses within a 5 minute drive so here's hoping I like the game once I get a chance to play eh?!

So, what's it like? Well it's 3 bedrooms with a bathroom and office. The living room, kitchen and dining area are open plan and there's also a utility room. All the bedrooms have "built-ins" which I particularly like 'cos it means I'll spend less time winding my way around the Ikea yellow-brick-road trying to remain calm...

Outside, at the front there's a nice garden with lots of established plants and a BIG tree which I must find out the name of. We've got a lockup garage on one side and a covered car port on the other.

Round the back is where the fun begins. There's a big decking area overlooking the back garden which will be perfect for sitting back and drinking G&T's (with lemon from our lemon tree). The garden is also large-going-on-huge with plenty of space for Mr.D to cause havoc in. At the back of the garden is an enclosed reserve with some great trees for us to look out on (as opposed to nosy neighbours) and there's yet more storage space in the form of a cellar. Mad. All coming in for less then you'd get a certain 2-bed flat in Clapham for...

All that said and done, we're still short of a few essentials such as a fridge, washing machine, sofas, TV, bla bla bla but we're getting there.

The Greatest Game!

How about that cricket!!

I simply can't believe that I missed out on watching the greatest ever game of one day cricket this week. My only hope is that it was good enough for them to make a DVD of it. For those of you who have been on the cricket equivalent of Mars, Australia posted a world record 1st innings total of 434... only to lose by 1 wicket with a ball to spare. That's going at nearly nine an over for the WHOLE INNINGS!!*#?%$#! Mind you, I imagine Boeta Dippenaar took a healthy interest in his shoes the following day after opening for South Africa and leaving them on 3 for 1, a mere 431 runs behind. Unbelievable stuff. Bring on the test matches!!
Match Report Morning After

Meanwhile back on earth, it's been a funny week of sorts. We still haven't managed to find a house yet despite surfing the net daily and cruising around the North Shore on the weekend, viewing 5 places. Unfortunately, we couldn't move into any of them comfortably for any stretch of time. Bascially, there's just very little on the market which means we'll have to just soldier on :-(

We did manage our first night out in ages though! Tae (friend we're staying with) kindly baby-sat Dylan while Isy and I went off to Manly to meet our friends Barry and Richard for a couple of drinks. They are living in Singapore at the moment and were in Australia for a few days. It was quite strange seeing them here as we were long time friends in London but it was great to catch up! Small world eh.

Speaking of friends, we've also been invited to our first BBQ (by someone we didn't know when we got here!!). Marcus, a guy at work has his brithday this week so we're off to Shelly Beach in Manly for a bit of a get together on Saturday. Should be fun :-)

On a slow boat to Manly

Welcome to our first mobile blog entry...

I'm in Circular Quay, sitting on the 17:45 ferry to Manly waiting to head home. It is a lovely warm sunny evening so I'm on the open deck at the top. Below, an aboriginal guy is on the quayside, setting the mood, playing a didgeridoo for the tourists.

We're now leaving the dock and the city skyscrapers are fading away. On my left the Opera House slowly passes by and on my right the Harbour Bridge moves into view, the setting sun behind it.

As we head further out into the harbour, the swell picks up a bit and a cool ocean breeze begins to blow. All around are boats of every kind - yachts, cruisers, ferries and even water taxis!

Time for a bit of music me thinks. We'll be arriving in Manly soon.

O Carro

It's been a busy old week I'll tell ya. After some last minute wheelin' and a dealin' on the car front, we finally became the proud owners of a Ford Laser sedan. (I told you cars weren't inspiring). Actually, we're quite pleased with it. It's an automatic so drives easily around Sydney's urban freeways has lots of electric bits and pieces and even a double cup holder! (I think the cup holder will prove it's worth in no time at all...) It's also big enough for getting Dylan in and out and I've been reliably informed that we should be able to get two sets of golf clubs in the boot :-) Dylan has also become the proud owner of a spanking new car seat and can finally see out of the windows shouting 'O Carro!' almost constantly...

As I mentioned earlier, I'm now a proud member of the gainfully employed again. The first few days have gone well and the guys and girls in the office are a good laugh. There's plenty of work to be done and it's all very much hands on (C# web development for those interested...) - ideal as I'm a bit rusty after 3 months of R'n'R.

We also managed (as usual) to find some time for having fun and generally messing about. Dylan had a fantastic time splashing in David & Tina's pool on and the weekend and we all went for a wander around the harbour, Opera House and botanical gardens on Monday just to remind ourselves that we really are here... We were also treated to seeing the Oriana cruise liner docked at Circular Quay which was spectacular to say the least. (You know a ship is big when it starts to make the Harbour Bridge look small!) It was a bit of a scorcher that day and I did that very English of all things and got my first (minor) dose of sunburn. "Slip Slap Slop" kids and don't you forget it!!

Still on the hunt for a more permanent roof over our heads. The rental market in Sydney is reasonably competitive at the moment as property prices have been a bit flat over the past year or so. All the would-be first time buyers seem to be biding their time which basically means, we're gonna have to be quick when we spot a decent gaff!! :-)

Ah well, I'm just waiting for the little guy to wake up from his nap then we're going on a 'expotition' and a look around.

Later.

Putting it all together

It's been a busy week again for those fresh off the boat. Mostly we have been pounding the car lots of North Sydney and Parramatta and mostly it's been in vain. I hate cars. They are 99% uninspiring and you always view them with the constant dread that you're about to embark on a long dark period of untold headaches. Anyway, we are getting there slowly and hopefully we'll be mobile in the next week...

On another key front, things are moving very quickly. The anticipated start of work for mid March has been shunted up the agenda and I'm heading back down the coal mine this coming Wednesday. Almost three months to the day since I last did anything productive it's time to get the old-grey-matter firing again.

We have managed to have a bit of fun as well. On Monday we took a trip from Manly to Circular Quay on the ferry to meet our friends Conley and Lindsay (over from the UK). Good fun but rather dodgy weather...

We also spent a few late afternoons down at the local Dee Why beach. It's one of the quieter beaches and a few minutes walk from where we are staying. All was well, but unfortunately, Isy got zapped by a Blue Bottle Jelly fish (alternatively known as a Potuguese Man Of War. How appropriate...) before she made it into the water and got a big red toe for a few hours. Mr.D however seemed to enjoy himself enormously. Apart from trying to eat the sand at each and every available opportunity, he had quite a time!!

House hunting looms large now. Seen a few on the net we like and thanks to cousin Tina lending us her car for a week, we now know a few of the suburbs. We just need a 5 bed with a pool, double garage and ocean views for $300 a week and we're set... ha ha ha...

p.s. Apologies for the quality of the pics - phone cam.

Sydneysiders!!

Phew.

21000km (12900 miles), a lot of money, too much hard work, some laughter and some tears later, and we've finally arrived in Sydney. No more plane rides for a bit, that much I can tell ya.

Famous for it's sun soaked beaches and gorgeous people with tanned bodies and pearly white teeth, we turned up with our pearly white bodies, tanned teeth and in a near thunderstorm. Marvelous. Collected from the airport by our good friend Mike, we drove up to our new (temporary) home at Dee Why and dumped the suit cases for the last time. Cracked a beer, flopped in a chair on the veranda and thought... "Now what the hell are we going to do?"

Since then we've been busy "achieving". Mobile phone sorted. Bank account sorted. We've got our eyes on a few cars and are starting to figure out where's a nice place to live... However, today is Saturday so it's time to play. Been for breakfast this morning at Curly's cafe followed by a nice walk around Curl Curl and this afternoon it's a BBQ at cousin Dave's where, I've been faithfully informed, we will "Play it by beer."

I'm sure we will.

(p.s. I've added a few more pics to earlier posts)

Australia!!!!

Wahooo!! We're here!!

Arrived in Perth yesterday lunchtime to glorious sunshine and a very pleasant 29C. Had a fantastic flight over from Joburg with Qantas as Dylan slept for most of it. (If anyone from BA is reading this - sort your baby seats out!) Getting through Perth airport was a dream and the nice man at customs even stamped our visas which was a helluva relief :-)

We are now staying with our friends Megan and Michael and their kids in their wonderful house in Sorrento (Dylan has never seen so many toys). After breakfast this morning we walked down the road to the beach, took a dip in the Indian Ocean and watched the kids cause havoc. Might summon up the energy to go for a coffee this afternoon.

A couple of days of this then the final leg to Sydney to catch up with family and friends.

Can't wait.

Lightening, Lions and the odd Lager

It seems blogging in Africa is a full contact sport. A second PC as succumbed to the awesome power of African storms and I'm starting to wonder if I should wear rubber boots when typing. Back to the net cafes it is...

Well, we're now averaging something like 4.5 braii's a week (BBQs) and I'm starting to pine for a egg mayo sandwich rather than flame grilled red meat. Curiously however I'm still Ok with the level of beer consumption. The last one was watching England show Wales how to play rugby which was most enjoyable. (Ronan, fancy another tenner this year on Ireland?)

Having said that, we have managed to venture out a bit more and "do" things this week. First up was our introduction to the wonderful sport of golf at a local 9 hole course. I managed to get round in 46 and one lost ball. Or to put it another way, 18 over. Look out Tiger, I'm coming for ya fella.

On Tuesday, Mr.D was introduced to some of Africa's finest at the local Lion and Rhino park. The males were out and about strutting their stuff and coming very close to the car. I think the little guy was impressed but on first sight of his first lion ever he let out a sort of "huh" and continued to play with the gear stick. Dylan's latest party trick goes something like:

Me: "Dylan what do lions say?"
Dylan: "Grrrrr"

Awesome.

Tomorrow we're heading up to Pretoria for the day for a bit of a look the on Friday it's Sun City and a play in the "Valley of the Waves" amongst other things. Then on Saturday it's lunch with the family and then the short hop (!) to Perth where we will finally stamp the visas and in the Lucky Country and begin our adventure in Oz. Ulp.

Later.

Sunny South Africa

Well, we're on our way. Arrived in Joburg about a week ago. It's fair to say that it's been rather a pleasant experience so far. Our days have typically been a lunchtime appointment with friends followed by one in the evening with a bit of sunning and lounging around in the meantime. These people know how to eat and drink hey?! Eish!

For the first week we stayed with Isy's cousin, Mike and his wife Shim in their "castle" in South Joburg. Dylan thoroughly enjoyed running riot around their garden and even plucked up the courage to pat their two Jack Russells, Jack and Russell :-) This week we're with our pals Marli and Ken and doing some catching up and a fair bit of reminiscing abouth the halcyon days in London Town. (The parts we can remember anyway...)

Tonight's bash is Trevor's 40th birthday party (Fancy dress with the theme of 60's). We're all going as Hippies... heh heh heh.

Anyway, it's lunchtime here and we're off out in a minute. Apologies for letting another week pass without an update but what can you do when your mates' PC gets taken out by a lightening bolt? (I kid you not).

Ciao.