sarah leonard The Sky Above Our House Ivor's folks have arrived. My family went home a couple of weeks ago and I was still feeling a little homesick - but the distraction of their arrival has been really good and my homesickness has worn off a bit. Ivor's parents have had a great trip and have come down to us via Thailand, Singapore and then Darwin. They caught the train from Darwin to Adelaide where they met up with Sharon's parents (we should re-name Sharon and her family the "Leonard Support Services" as they have looked after both mine and [View Full Entry]

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Friday afternoon 2nd March - Mum, Auntie Jackie and Uncle Richie arrived in Hobart. I picked them up from the airport and drove them to our house on the hill. They had already spent three days in Melbourne so fortunately were not really suffering from jet lag. They learnt whilst there, on asking where were the main shops, that apparently a line of shops are called "strip shops", which shocked my mum somewhat when a lady said to her "oh.....you're after the strip shops??" "I am not" she said!! Whilst in Hobart - they managed to pack in loads of stuff!!! [View Full Entry]

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Two days back at school and I, for one, am shattered. Fortunately, a weekend has arrived and I am having a couple of lazy days in the house ( I was keen to go for a run after the New York indulgencies, however, the weather has actually been in the 30s the last few days - 34 today - which is way too hot to do anything active!!) Our washing machine has packed-in - which is a bit of a shame given the great drying weather (blimey, I must be getting old!) but there is supposed to be a bloke coming [View Full Entry]

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The end of the Summer holidays is nigh (though Ivor has already been back for a week of training days!!) and I went off to New York to meet my mum.............yes it is 10,329 miles (16,623 kilometres ) from Hobart (.........and why not meet somewhere mid-way??, I hear you cry) but for a variety of reasons, our last trip was aborted -and we thought that if we didn't go back now, we never would. Needless to say, after 8 plane journeys and over 44 hours of flight time/ more than 60 hours travelling (return) - it was a bloody long way [View Full Entry]

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The South Coast Track is an 86km(about 50 miles) track across the South Coast of Tasmania which is out of any mobile range, has no road access until the end of it at Cockle Creek and has some very very muddy (waist-deep in many parts) sections. There are some very basic camp-sites (that are sheltered areas with just a pit with a wooden lid which is the toilet!!) but otherwise, it's the middle of nowhere!!!!! Wednesday the 24th January - we set off for the airport to catch a flight in a very small aircraft to a place called Melaleuca in [View Full Entry]

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We have arrived home after spending 2 and a half weeks at various locations on the mainland - and so far, I am pleased to say, our house is still standing. In fact, they apparently had tons of rain over Christmas which is good news in terms of the dry conditions here. We began with the "Joneses". we greeted a heavily pregnant Sharon, Marcus and Sharons' parents on Sat 23rd Dec. As a result of the imminent birth of Sharon's baby, Ivor and I (later Steve Jones from the UK - who used to lodge with us) stayed in a little [View Full Entry]

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Ok, I think if I mention one more time that it's weird to have a hot Christmas - people will accuse me of having an obsessive compulsive disorder. I have noticed,however, having Christmas in the sun is not the only strange thing over here- it has come to my attention that there are other strange idiosyncrasies in Australia. Regarding Christmas things (just one more time)I was shopping yesterday in Hobart and it was stinking hot. A female bus driver passed me by as I walked into town, wearing a full Santa outfit. In town, tinsel glistened in the sun, and Christmas [View Full Entry]

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We've finished!!! It's 30 degrees outside - and we have finished for an 8 week holiday!! How strange do we feel ??!!!- Doesn't feel like Christmas because it's Summer - and it doesn't feel like Summer because it's Christmas!!! We had a great day at school - culminating in a massive spread and lots of wine/beer in the staffroom. Unlike my other teacher friends - it's 16 months since I had my Summer holiday. Staff wore their "Christmas T'Shirts" (as opposed to Christmas Jumpers!!). Ivor and I have decided to do the South Coast track - a beautiful but fairly remote [View Full Entry]

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Not long left to go now until the hols. Ivor finished yesterday and has had a lie-in this morning. I finish next Thursday, though the children finish on Wednesday. I have had to come to school dressed in a suit this morning, as I am giving out awards at "Achievement Afternoon" to the children who have made a significant impact in deaf issues and the Deaf Community. As I normally only wear leisurely attire here, I have already had a few chuckles directed at me "I'm sorry to hear of your loss..." being amongst the pranksters comments (Ah the Aussie humour..it [View Full Entry]

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The rellys have gone...........it's very sad. The house feels very empty and I feel really quite upset. I suppose it has also been a reminder of how far we are from our family- Ah well, only 7 weeks until I'll see mum - first in New York ( yes I know it's a long way from Aus but we wanted to go one more time as last year's trip ended early!) and then in Aus when she comes out with Auntie J and Uncle R- though mum said she won't come if it makes me so upset!!!!! My friend Mari (an [View Full Entry]

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